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Nyx's Family

by RealityCheck

Chapters

Chapter 1

       Twilight dashed back and forth through the library, frantically trying to organize twenty different things simultaneously, with Spike alternately dogging at her heels and running off in his own direction. She was in her default mode: frantic. Things were so urgent that she and Spike both had their own checklists and were running amuck trying to check them off. Peewee had given up on following either and was whirling around in a circle overhead, cheeping in excitement.

"Posted the "CLOSED" sign, check--"

"Packed 'An Abridged Guide to the Dewhoof Decimal System,' check--"

"Shut off the gas and water, check--"

"Business suit for official meetings, check--"

"Cancelled the milk delivery, check--"

"Extra extra quills, extra extra parchment, check--"

"Attic window open for Owlowiscious, check--"

"Snacks and munchies for train ride, check--"

Nyx stood in the middle of the room, watching them both trotting back and forth. "We're going to the Crystal Empire!" She said for what had to be the hundredth time.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Spike groused irritably as he ran past,  his arms loaded with--- Nyx wasn't sure what.

"Because it's exciting!" Nyx squeaked. "I've never been to the Crystal Empire before!" Which was more than obviously true. She'd read the few books in the library about the wondrous sparkling kingdom, and listened to Twilight tell her stories about the time she and her friends went there to defeat King Sombra. When Twilight had told her they were actually going there.... well, she'd flipped with glee.

Spike just rolled his eyes and decided to focus on his work.

"Nyx, why haven't you started packing your things yet?" Twilight said as she ran past in the opposite direction.

Nyx looked down at the bag next to her. Her brush and comb, her toothbrush, her towel(1), three extra vests just in case, her favorite book, her journal, her cutie mark crusader cape (2), her summer dress, her winter coat and boots(?), her Smarty Pants doll.... Yup, all packed. "Right here," she said, pointing.

"When did you pack that?" Twilight stopped and asked.

"Three days ago!" No lie; she'd even slept with the bulging bag next to her, in case something happened and they had to leave right then, in the dead of night.

"Spike," Twilight said over her shoulder, "You did go over what Nyx packed, didn't you?"

Spike huffed. "She's old enough to pack her own bag," he said dismissively, scowling.

"Darn it, Spike, you and she were supposed to make a checklist of things she had to pack!" Twilight huffed. Spike grumbled and shot a look at Nyx. Nyx seemed a little cowed by it, drawing her hoof up and scratching the back of her leg. "'I'm sorry, Mom," the alicorn filly said.

Twilight frowned to herself. What was that all about? Lately Spike seemed a bit, pardon the pun, prickly around Nyx. And Nyx seemed to be a touch intimidated by it. Were they having a problem? She hoped it wasn't that sibling rivalry thing she'd read about in the books on parenting.

Twilight gave up and let it slide. She gave the contents of Nyx's bag the once-over. Well, everything seemed to be in order. Then she gave her daughter the once over. "....What is that you're wearing?" she asked.

"Sunglasses," Nyx said. "Twist loaned them to me. Cool, huh?"

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. "Um, yeah," she said, regarding the shades. They were enormous, horn rimmed things that nearly covered Nyx's entire face. "The rhinestones are a bit much though. Why are you wearing them, anyway?"

Nyx shrugged and fidgeted a little. "I... know some ponies are kinda weird about my eyes," she admitted, corner of her mouth twitching. Her memory flashed back to the sight of the Cake twins seeing her without her eye-disguising glasses for the first time and wailing in fear. That had been no fun. "My old glasses are gone, so I figured sunglasses were better than nothing."

Twilight smiled in sympathy. All things considered, it probably would make things a little easier, especially around strange ponies. "Well, if they make you more comfortable, go ahead and wear them," she said.

"Oh!" Nyx jumped to her feet and ran from the room. When she came back in Twilight burst into laughter. "And what in Equestria is that?" she said. Nyx was now wearing an enormous floppy sun hat with a flamboyant purple silk florette. The hat was so large it could have been stood on stilts and served the filly as a lean-to.

"Rarity said it goes with the glasses!" she said, cheerfully plunking down on her bottom  next to her luggage. "She said if I wore it, it would keep somepony from looking like a tourist." Peewee landed on it and began marching around the brim.

Twilight didn't even bother trying to restrain her giggles. "How? That is the most touristy looking hat I've ever seen. It looks like it lurks in tourist traps and mugs tropical cruise passengers for their money!"

"She didn't say it would keep Nyx from looking like a tourist," Spike said drolly. "Rarity gave it to Nyx to keep her own mother from wearing it."

Twilight giggled. "I have no idea what to say to that." She quickly trotted around the pile of luggage that they had accumulated. She looked at Spike. "Your checklist done?"

"Check." Spike nodded.

Twilight perused her own. "My checklist done? Ah, check, all except for one last item." She stepped back from the pile of luggage and lowered her horn. The entire heap became surrounded in a rippling purple glow. Twilight strained silently for several seconds, thirty seconds, a minute; then, with a sound that could only be described as

SMEEeerp!

The pony-high pile of suitcases and bags suddenly shrank to doll size. "Cool!" Spike and Nyx said, stepping forward to look at the shrinkified luggage. Twilight scooped the tiny stack up in her magic and dropped them into her saddlebag.

"Whew," she said. "That shrinking spell is the best spell I've learned yet. But boy does it take it out of you." She buckled her saddlebag. "well, is everyone ready?"

Heartfelt "yays" went up from the rest of the family.

They arrived at the train station in plenty of time, and took their seats in a private car (rank hath its privileges, after all, even in the Land of Friendship.) An hour on their way they had all settled in quite comfortably, much to Twilight's relief. It hadn't taken her long to discover the perils of traveling with children. Spike had been a handful when he was younger, and a couple of trips to Canterlot with Nyx had reinforced the lessons she'd learned the first time. Granted, her new daughter didn't breathe fire on anything or 'accidentally' eat some noblepony's jewelry. Anyway, Nyx seemed quite happy to settle down in the clacking train car and peacefully burrow into a book.

If anything the trip from the library to the train station had been more trying for the filly. At home, or close by her friends in the CMC, she was the same sweet, exuberant, intelligent filly Twilight had always known. When they went out in public among strangers though, she tended to become quiet and withdrawn, speaking little, avoiding eye contact with anyone, and staying close by Twilight's side. The trip to the station had been no different. The instant she was outside she had fallen quiet and kept her head down, only speaking up whenever Twilight tarried to speak with somepony, quietly asking if they could hurry up and get to the station.

Twilight looked over her own book at Nyx. The filly was sitting there alternating between reading and playing with Peewee, who was hopping back and forth on top of her book and pecking at the pages. Twilight fretted. She hoped Nyx wasn't becoming an introvert... just look at the problems it had caused Twilight.

Nyx finally seemed to tire of the game of pick-the-page she was playing with the little phoenix and closed the book. "Mom?" she said. "I don't get it. Why do they need you to fix up the library in the Crystal Capital? Don't they have librarians of their own?"

Spike looked up from his snack of amethyst chips. "I've kinda been wondering about that myself," he said.

Twilight settled in to explain. "It's a little more complicated than that, " she said. "The library itself is in pretty good shape, actually. Because they traveled through time a thousand years, In fact, it's probably got hundreds or thousands of books that haven't been seen in centuries. And just-like-new copies, too."

Nyx oohhed. "But don't we have new books that they've never seen yet?"

Twilight nodded. "That's why Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence want to set up a book exchange between the two," she said. "So they need me to organize the exchange system." Her smile grew a little pained. "And... to help update their filing system..."

"What, didn't they use the Dewhoof Decimal system a thousand-plus years ago?" Spike chuckled.

Twilight gave him a look. "Short answer, no. They didn't. But that's not the real problem." She sighed. "Spike, you remember how much trouble we had finding that book on the Crystal Fair?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah, it was a mess. And that librarian was no help at all with her memory erased."

"It wasn't just her memory that was messed up," Twilight said. "King Sombra didn't want to destroy the library. He might have wanted to use the books himself." She snorted. "But he didn't want any of the Crystal Ponies using what was in the library against him, so he made it impossible for anypony to find anything except for him."

"What'd he do?" Nyx asked.

"He burned their card catalog," Twilight said dully.

Spike gasped like he was having a heart attack. Nightmare visions flashed through his mind of slaving for all eternity as a librarian in an endless library with shelves jumbled into incomprehensibility by a malevolent tyrant-- and no card catalog. "The horror," he moaned.

Twilight noticed his reaction and nodded. "I know, right?"

"So you gotta help them make a new card catalog?" Nyx said.

"I have to help them make a whole new kind of card catalog," Twilight said, holding up her "Dewhoof Decimal for Dummies" book. "Fortunately we'll have lots and lots of ponies to help with that. But it means I'm going to be spending all day, every day, at the Crystal Capital library. So you'll be staying with your aunt and uncle while I'm working."

Nyx, to her surprise, looked disappointed. "But I wanted to go to the crystal library with you," she said plaintively.

Twilight shook her head. "It's going to be a busy place, Nyx," she said. "And there's not much for a little filly to be doing there."

"Yeah," Spike said. "Besides, you don't need to be under everypony's hooves, anyway."

Twilight winced inwardly and quietly sighed. Why'd you have to use just those words, Spike? Nyx's lower lip stuck out and she scowled; Twilight realized there was a serious threat that the filly was about to throw a tantrum. Ever since--- well, "ever since" seemed to sum it up--- Nyx had developed a bit of a bad temper, and it could flare up at the worst moments. Twilight found she had to be on guard to snuff those bad moments out. "Tuck that lip in, young lady," she warned. "I won't have you throwing any little fits on this trip." Nyx pouted, but she relented, her imminent tantrum turning into a sulk. "Really, Nyx, it wouldn't be much fun for you anyway. We're going to be doing nothing but stacking books, sorting books, filing books, and having meetings TALKING about stacking, sorting and filing books."

"Try not to make it sound too exciting," Spike said, resting his chin in his hand. The more Twilight talked, the less he was looking forward to the end of this trip.

"Besides, I want you to take this time to get to know your aunt and uncle better," Twilight said. "You have a whole family you haven't even met yet."

Nyx's sulk faded away. "Do you think they'll like me?" she asked.

And there's the rub, Twilight thought. "You'll grow on them," she said confidently. Nyx seemed to accept that.

The trip took a day or two-- it was as far to the Crystal Empire from Ponyville as it was from Ponyville to Appleoosa. Every hour the countryside outside got colder and whiter. Nyx had gaped in awe at snow falling in mid June. By the time they finally arrived, the train was passing between snowdrifts as high as the bottom of the windows.

Their disembarking was thankfully more civilized than the last time Twilight had visited. Since Sombra's defeat, the Crystal ponies had been putting efforts into making a proper arrival point for those coming to the empire. Something of a small outlying village had sprung up next to the tracks. They got out of the train, bundled in their winter coats, and found themselves in a proper railway station, just like at home.

Well, not exactly like home. "It all looks like ice!" Nyx exclaimed.

It did, actually. The buildings around the Crystal Empire junction (as the sign proclaimed it) were made of sheets and pillars of gleaming crystal that shone blinding white under the wintry sun. It was dazzlingly pretty, in a rather unforgiving way. Nyx stepped forward, stumbling a little as she squinted against the glare. "It's too bright," she complained.

"Well put on your sunglasses then," Spike said.

"Oh yeah," Nyx mumbled. She fished them out of her coat pocket and donned them, sighing in relief as the tinted lenses blotted out the glare. A fluffed-out Peewee peeked from out of her coat hood, his magical flame keeping her cheeks warm. Best, pet, ever.

A winter-clad stallion came trotting up to the platform, pulling an open sleigh. "Ride to the city, folks?" he asked. "Two bits.."

"We'll take it," Twilight said in relief. It was even more bitter cold than she remembered, and she had not been relishing the idea of slogging through who-knew-how-much snow to get to the Crystal City's magic dome. They hopped aboard eagerly.

"Where to?" the sleighpony asked.

"The Crystal palace," Twilight said. With a nod and a shake of his mane, they were off.

The sleigh ride was quick... They arrived at the edge of the dome before they realized it. When they passed through the barrier, the runners of the sleigh magically changed into thin elegant wheels. "Saves a lot of trouble mounting and dismounting at the barrier that way," the sleighpony chuckled.

Immediately they were hit by the balmy warmth inside the dome. They hastily shucked their coats and boots, relishing the sunshine. Nyx kept her sunglasses on, though. Everything was so bright! Gleaming crystal buildings in every color of the rainbow were visible in every direction. Fountains, sculptures, even the street signs were made of shining gems. Spike must be drooling right now, Nyx thought. Even the ponies in the street were sparkling like they were carved out of gemstones. Nyx was starting to have to squint, even with her sunglasses on. She pulled her Tourist Hat out and donned it, trying to fend off some of the excess light.

It was then that she realized that she, Twilight and Spike were all sparkling too! "Ooh, look!" she said, holding out her foreleg to show Twilight her coat. She was twinkling like a polished onyx. Then she looked up and saw Twilight. "Oh, Mommy, your mane!"

"What about it? Is it mussed--?" She reached up and patted it with a hoof self-consciously, only to realize something was different. She blinked in surprise as she caught her reflection in a passing building; somehow her hair had been done up in a very elegant coiffure. "It's so pretty!" Nyx enthused. "Did the crystal magic do that?"

"It must have. I forgot about it doing that, the last time I was here." Twilight brightened. "Ah, we're almost to the palace!"

Nyx blinked. "We're staying at the palace?" she said apprehensively.

The sleighpony laughed. "For a little filly, you don't sound very enthusiastic about staying in a palace," he noted.

Nyx flashed back to the last two palaces in her life--- the Castle of the Sisters, and Nightmare Moon's Castle Nightstone. "I haven't had much luck with palaces," she mumbled.

Twilight chuckled. "Of course we're staying at the palace," she said. "Where would you expect your Aunt Cadence and Uncle Shining Armor?"

"Uncle Shining Armor...?" Some very awful thoughts started percolating in the alicorn filly's head. Up until now, Twilight had only referred to her uncle as "Uncle Shiny." And there were certain details that were kind of fuzzy from when she had been Nightmare Moon--- she hadn't overseen the running of Canterlot herself, after all... but those names-- Cadence and Shining Armor-- were ringing a bell louder and louder in the back of her head. And not a nice bell either. This was more of a razzing buzzer, like on Scootaloo's "Doctor Sawbones" game, the kind you heard when you got something very wrong or had just made a very, very bad mistake.

The carriage pulled up to the front entrance of the palace. And there they were, standing together, waiting for her and her mother: a white unicorn and a pink alicorn, neither of whom looked happy to see her at all. They disembarked, and a hundred unhappy little memories tumbled into place, filling the gaps in the puzzle, as the unicorn stallion  came down the steps to meet them. He glared down at Nyx angrily, looked over at Twilight, and demanded to know:

"And what is she doing here?"

Yup. It was her Aunt Cadence and her Uncle Shiny.  Or more properly, Princess Cadenza, the leader of the rebellion against Nightmare Moon, and her husband, Captain Shining Armor of the Equestrian Royal Guard--- whom she had magically brainwashed and enslaved and sent to arrest and imprison his own wife.

Guess who was coming to dinner.

"Oooooooohhhh horseapples," Nyx whimpered, faceplanting on the royal front steps.

1)A bright purple towel monogrammed with the words "Hoopy Frood." The towel had been a gift from Snails, of all ponies. She had no idea what a Frood was or how it was supposed to be Hoopy, but Snails had assured her that she would always be one if she had it with her.

2)Just in case she met a pony that needed some crusading to get their cutie mark.

Chapter 2

        Prince Shining Armor was mad. Princess Cadenza was mad. Twilight was fuming.

Nyx, she was just scared sick. The moment Shining Armor had clapped eyes on her, he'd called his Guard. They'd come at a gallop, six stern-looking and huge stallions in gleaming crystal armor who fell in step on either side of her, Spike, and her mother. Shining armor had ordered them to "escort" Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and "the foal" to the "petitioner's chamber" and stand watch over them. The unsmiling Guards promptly led them into the castle and down stark, glittering halls, past still more stony-faced guards.

In her growing panic Nyx forgot what "escort" meant. She hoped it didn't mean the same as "arrest". And "Petitioner's chamber"--- what was that?? She slunk lower and lower under the guards' accusing glare as they walked until she looked like nothing but a hat with feet.

As it turned out, the petitioner's chamber wasn't a dungeon cell, much to Nyx's relief. It was a large, clean, if somewhat bare room lined with benches and with a few amenities laid out on tables, meant for people waiting to petition the Princess for one thing or another. It didn't help much, though, when the door was locked behind them and all six of the guards took up posts around the room, watching their every move.

Nyx's mood had sunk further into gloom at this. What had she done now? She was so distressed she crawled under one of the tables and curled up there, afraid to move.

Twilight, on the other hand, had gotten madder and madder with every passing minute. When Shining Armor and Cadence finally made an appearance nearly an hour later, she had proceeded to beat her brother about the head and shoulders with her saddlebags. "What--the BUCK--Do you think-- you're-- DOING?" She yelled, telekinetically whaling him upside the head.

        Shining Armor didn't reply; he was too busy saying words like 'ow' and 'oof' and 'jeez!'

One of the guards stepped away from his post, advancing aggressively. "Cease and desist! That's the Consort Prince of the Crystal Empire!"

Twilight shot him a glare that would have blown out a cockatrice's eyeballs. "Oh yeah? Well I'm his SISTER."

The guard considered his options. "As you were," he said, stepping back to the wall.

Twilight gave her brother a couple more thwacks, just for the therapeutic effect, before dropping the saddlebags to the floor. "What did you think you were doing, you idiot? Calling the guards on us, locking us in a room---" She pointed at Nyx. "You scared your niece half to death!"

Shining Armor reared back, his temper flaring. "That thing is not--" he started in a low tone before Twilight's hoof whipped out and corked his mouth. She spoke just as quietly as he did.

"Finish that sentence, brother dear, and I'll ram a flugelhorn so far up your rear end they'll be able to honk it by squeezing your nose." Shining Armor wisely shut up. "She is not a thing, she is a pony. Her name is Nyx. She is also my daughter, which makes her your niece. And I brought her up here in the hopes that you would actually get to know her, instead of just resenting her for her past."

        Her tone softened a hair. "We all gave Luna the benefit of the doubt. Don't you think Nyx deserves at least that much?"

Cadence had stood aside and watched the whole exchange. She now stepped in, sighing in aggravation. Her face was just as stern as Shining Armor's had been. "Twilight, we do understand what you're trying to do here," she said. "But you've put us in a terrible bind."

"What do you mean?" Twilight scowled, still angry, but put off her stride.

"No matter how you feel about Nyx, the fact remains that she is Nightmare Moon-- and don't give me that look, you know very well it's the truth--- and she's effectively a convicted criminal, one out on parole. One which you just transported across national borders."

Twilight's face became suffused with shock. "I see you're figuring it out," Princess Cadence said stiffly. "Technically that forfeited her parole. And by doing it you might have committed a felony yourself. By my duties as Princess of the Crystal Empire I could throw her in a dungeon right now..."

Twilight's face was a portrait of shattered trust. "Cadence-- You wouldn't--"

"Of course I wouldn't," Cadence said with a tsk... the closest she ever came to snapping at anyone. "It's me, Twilight, remember? I would never do something like that." She looked over at the frightened alicorn filly hiding under the table, her stern expression softened a touch. "I'm hardly frightened of a powerless little foal. But there are ponies watching, all the time. Ponies from the Empire, and from Equestria. Troublemakers who would insist I 'do my royal duty'--" here she made quote marks in the air, rolling her eyes "--and lock up the scary nightmare menace... just to try and get me over a barrel when I wouldn't."

"So you're not gonna lock me up?" came the faint question.

Cadence heard the tiny bell-like voice and  looked over to where Nyx was hiding. She could see two glowing cat-like--- and very afraid looking--- eyes in the shadows under the table. "Of course not," Cadence said, years of babysitting softening her voice. "I don't throw little fillies in jail. Even if I was that mean, can you imagine how bad it would make me look? Come on out." Reluctantly, Nyx crawled from her hiding space, wincing and donning her sunglasses and hat as she came out into the light.

A part of Cadence chuckled at the sight of the tiny filly in the enormous sunglasses and hat. Cadence was still wary, but if this was just Nightmare Moon putting on an act then she'd studied acting under the masters. For now, her gut said 'filly,' and she'd go with it. For now.

Besides she was pretty sure she could take this 'Nightmare Moon' in a fair fight.

Twilight was getting distressed. "Oh I'm so sorry, Cadence," she fretted. "I feel like such a fool-- maybe Celestia can smooth things over--"

"Hopefully she will when the official report arrives," Shining Armor said grimly. "We can't afford any more political....." He realized that Twilight was glaring at him with fury and panic. "What?"

"You filed an official report?" Twilight shouted. "That's going to go on her permanent record! There'll be inspections and inquiries and nasty officious little ponies with inkwell cutie marks and-- wait, wait,  It will take at least a day to arrive at Canterlot, right? Maybe I can write Princess Celestia and...Spike!"

"Yo," Spike said, popping up by her elbow. He pulled a scroll and a quill off one of the nearby tables. "Lemme guess, "Dear Princess Celestia--ahurk!" Before he could put quill to paper, he grimaced and cut loose with an enormous belch. A scroll with the royal seal appeared in midair. He grabbed it out of the air. "Yup... from Princess Celestia." he said.

Twilight bit her lip. "Go ahead and read it, Spike," she said. Spike nodded and unrolled it. A second, official-looking lined document fell out. He caught it in one claw and handed it over to Twilight. He started reading the first scroll:

My Most Faithful Student,

I fear I may have some egg on my face. In respect to your recent summons to the Crystal Empire to aid in the library reconstruction, I realized that I may have made an oversight. It occurred to me that you would most likely be traveling with Nyx, and my sister pointed out that Nyx's legal status as 'parolee' would make doing so a felony! It is with some embarrassment that we consulted with our legal advisors and had Nyx's status revised from 'parolee' to 'time served.'

(Along with a tremendous amount of legal jargon explaining why this made sense, of course.)This should prevent any legal problems when you arrive in the Crystal Empire today, and make Nyx visiting her extended family a little less stressful.

Enclosed are the official documents, just give them to Cadence. I've already filed duplicates. And yes, this will nullify any reports subsequently filed... say, as of two hours ago.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

"Wow," Spike said. "She's good." He looked at the scroll and turned it over. "Whups, here's a postscript..."

Dear Spike,

Darn tootin' I am.

-Celestia.

Spike's eyes glazed over for a moment. "Urrrh...."

Twilight deflated like a balloon. "Oh thank you Celestia," she said, magically passing the document over to Cadence.

Cadence chuckled and rolled the paper up, tucking it under her wing. "That's Auntie for you," she said. "Closest thing she has to a hobby. Would you like to go to your rooms now? We have a guest suite connected right to our living quarters."

"Yes, we would." Twilight picked up her saddlebags--- and swatted Shining Armor across the head again.

"Ow, HEY! Man I shoulda worn the freaking helmet-- OW!!" Shining tried to duck. "What now??"

"You idiot! You filed a guard report on an eight year old filly?" She beaned him again. The beatings were obviously going to continue till Twilight's morale improved.

Nyx suddenly gaped, her eyes going round behind her sunglasses as she suddenly remembered something. "Mommy! Wait! The bags--"

Spike caught the drift as well. He waved his claws frantically. "Twilight, stop! The luggage, you--"

They were a split second too late. With a tremendous BWOMPF, Twilight's saddlebags exploded. In the blink of an eye, Prince Shining Armor, Consort Prince of the Crystal Empire, was buried in a pile of re-enlarged luggage. Cadence, Twilight, Nyx, Spike, even Peewee still perched on Nyx's hat gaped in astonishment.

There was a brief silence. Shining groaned from somewhere under the mass of luggage. Twilight didn't miss a beat. "And you can just bring our luggage to our rooms, Big Brother," she said. She turned on her heel and left the room, nose in the air.

Nyx decided discretion was the better part of valor. She ran up and grabbed the handle of her travel bag in her teeth. "S'okay, I'll carry my own."

Spike was right behind her. "YYeah, I got this one, thanks." the two ran out the door.

Under the remaining baggage, Shining Armor muttered to himself. "That mare could make Tirek himself bail out of his own chariot when he saw her coming..."

Chapter 3

"I'm sorry, Shiney," Twilight said. She was genuinely contrite, if still a bit miffed. "But you really did make me angry."

"I never would have guessed," Shining Armor said from where he was sitting. He had an icepack to his head and a disgruntled look on his face.

Twilight sighed and cast her eyes heavenwards. "Can you blame me? I brought Nyx here in the hopes of... of smoothing things over between us all. I was hoping for a happy reunion and a little reconciliation, and what do I get? Armed guards pouncing on us!"

" I had to do it," Shining Armor said tersely, "Whether I wanted to or not."

"I doubt she was going to overthrow your kingdom, Shiney," Twilight snarked.

"He's right, Twilight," Cadence said over her cup of tea. "It wasn't for your or Nyx's benefit. It was for the benefit of whoever was watching or keeping track. Like I said before, we have a lot of-- well I won't call them enemies; let's just say political pests. He had to put on a show of 'properly handling the dangerous criminal' so they would have a harder time of using the news of your arrival to their advantage."

The royal quarters were surprisingly cozy. They were fairly spacious, yes, and elegantly appointed, but they weren't much larger than the rooms one would find in a typical middle to upper class house in Ponyville or Canterlot. A drawing room, a study, bedrooms, bathrooms, even a small kitchen and a private laundry; one could be forgiven for thinking one was in a slightly posh apartment flat back in Canterlot rather than the royal quarters of a palace.

Once they had arrived, Cadence had called for tea, so they could all sit down, soothe their frazzled nerves, and try to make peace.

They were all sitting together in the drawing room of the royal couple's private chambers. Cadence, Twilight and Nyx were seated on cushions around a tea table, with a full high tea set out for Twilight and Cadence. Shining Armor was taking his tea over in a large overstuffed chair by the fireplace, where he was nursing the bump on his head and, it has to be said, sulking a bit. All the adults had been a bit snappish at first, but hot tea and biscuits had worked their magic and some sincere, if brief and somewhat noncommittal apologies had finally crossed the room.

Cadence regarded the source of contention. The filly was sitting very still and quiet and, if Cadence was any judge, very wary, as if she expected the slightest hoof out of place to bring all sorts of trouble down-- like any other foal who had gotten into a lot of trouble in the recent past. Considering the circumstances she was probably right, the Princess of love realized with a bit of sympathy. Her husband and her sister in law had apologized, but the tension in the air was palpable.  It was hard to believe this was the very alicorn who had conquered Equestria. No, heck with that, it was darn near impossible.

The second thing she noticed was an absence of a cup and saucer. "Didn't the maid set you a cup, dear?" she asked. Nyx shook her head no. "No ma'am," she said softly in her glass armonica voice.

Cadence found a cup and saucer on the tea cart and set them out for her. She poured her a half-cup of tea, put a biscotti next to the cup on the saucer, and placed them in front of the filly. "Thank you," Nyx said. With great focus and care Nyx levitated the cup to her mouth, took a careful sip, and set it down. She dabbed her mouth with a napkin, took a bite of her biscotti, and repeated.

"Well, I can't fault her manners at tea," Cadence muttered to Twilight, amused.

"Afraid I can't claim credit for that," Twilight confessed. "Rarity is the one who has been giving her lessons."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. High tea, and all sorts of other lessons in high society etiquette," Twilight said. She rolled her eyes. "Of course it's counterbalanced by Rainbow Dash giving her belching lessons." Cadence laughed at that. "Between her and Applejack trying to teach her rodeo, she's getting an interesting upbringing."

Nyx was doing her very best to be very quiet and very, very still and not bother anyone. But there was no suppressing her natural inquisitiveness. Ever since they'd arrived in the Capital she'd had questions tickling at the back of her mind that just wouldn't stop. She cleared her throat. "Um," Princess Cadence or Auntie Cadence? Which should she go with? "Um, Auntie Cadence? Why isn't everything in here sparkly like everywhere else?"  Frankly it was the first thing the filly had noticed. It had been quite a relief to be able to take off her sunglasses without her eyes starting to hurt.

Cadence smiled self-consciously. "Shiney and I convinced the interior decorators to use Canterlot furniture and fixtures," she said. "We were getting a little homesick."

"Besides which, pretty as it is, all that crystal gleam everywhere gets a little bothersome after a while," Shining Armor said ruefully.

Nyx nodded, rubbing her head with a hoof. "How do you keep it from giving you a headache?" She asked meekly.

At Cadence's puzzled look, Twilight explained. "Nyx's eyes are kind of sensitive," she explained. "We found out that Nyx's eyes are more like a nocturnal animal. She can see incredibly well in the dark, but it makes them very sensitive to bright light."

Cadence leaned in to look at Nyx's eyes. "Ah, I can see," she said. "She even has tapeta lucida."

At Nyx's puzzled look, Twilight clarified. "Eyeshine. You know how Opal's eyes reflect light?" Nyx nodded. "It's because she has a shiny surface at the back of her eyes, like you do."

Despite himself Shining Armor was intrigued. "Must make it easy to read in bed at night," he grunted. Or sneak around in the dark when noone's awake, he couldn't help thinking. He repressed a shiver at the thought; alone in the dark, nothing but those two gleaming eyes peering at you... "Anyway, the reason Cadence and I don't get headaches is because of the crystal lens implants," he said.

"The what?" Twilight said.

"Lens implants. In our eyes," Cadence said. She leaned in, pointing at her eye with a hooftip. "See?" Twilight looked; indeed, Cadence's pupil had that "crystally" reflective look that she'd noted in the native ponies.

"You mean they took a scalpel, cut into your eye, and stuck a piece of glass inside?" Twilight exclaimed. "Cadence, Shiny, just--- ewww!" Twilight shuddered in revulsion.

"They used magic," Cadence chuckled. "We didn't feel a thing. The crystal ponies are born with these little crystal lenses naturally."

"Really?" Nyx said, suddenly interested. "Do their coats sparkle like that when they're born, too? Or is it because of the Crystal Heart magic? And why...." she remembered herself. "I'm sorry," she said, abashed, falling silent as suddenly as she'd spoken.

Cadence blinked. The filly seemed worse than shy; almost wary, in fact. "That's all right, dear," Cadence said. "And yes, actually. Crystal ponies are 'born sparkly,' as you put it. The crystal heart just makes it brighter." She paused. "And what else were you about to ask?" She asked patiently.

Nyx bit her lip. "And why does it make our coats all sparkly? We're not crystal ponies."

Cadence was surprised. "That's a rather good question," she said. "I think... well, I think it's because the Crystal Heart is powered by love and happiness. And those things bring out the sparkle in anyone, whether or not they're a Crystal Pony."

"I kind of like that," Twilight said with a smile.

"So that's why Crystal Ponies go all shiney when they're happy,whether the Crystal Heart is there or not, right?" Nyx said, "And why they go all dark and un-sparkly when they're sad or scared." Nyx beamed at being clever enough to figure this out. "Miss Fluttershy would say that was a pretective adaption..."

"Protective adaptation," Twilight corrected automatically.

"Uh huh, that," Nyx said. "'Cause you wouldn't want to be all sparkly and shiny if you were being chased by a monster or something. At least I know I wouldn't," Nyx amended.

Hunh. I never thought of that, Shining Armor thought to himself. The little ex-Nightmare was certainly clever enough.

"But, um, Auntie Cadence?" Nyx asked. Oh, I saw what you did there, Shining armor thought. "Why

does the Crystal Heart change ponies' manes? We came in through the barrier and it made Mommy's hair

all done up and pretty, like." she pantomimed doing her mane up on her head. "And there were ribbons

in her tail and stuff and..."

Cadence threw her head back and laughed. "That's the fault of one of the rulers before King Sombra.

Queen Fabulosity wasn't the best ruler ever, but she was certainly fashionable. She dedicated the first

five years of her rule to casting a Stylish Coiffure spell on the Crystal Heart and copying all her

favorite hairstyles into it."

"What'd she do her second five years?" Nyx asked.

"Tried to keep from being lynched by all the hairdressers she put out of business the first five

years," Shining Armor said drolly.

Cadence snerked. "Her husband was furious," she added. "She'd wasted a fortune and tampered with the

Heart. He actually had the nobles unite and depose her, transferring the crown to him. The fighting and

feuding between the two of them-- there was almost a civil war..."

Shining armor suddenly flushed and got up from his seat. "If you need me I'll be in my study," he said

brusquely, leaving the room. There was the sound of a door closing quite firmly elsewhere in the suite.

"Oh dear," Cadence said. She set her teacup down and looked away.

"What, what just happened?" Twilight asked, setting her own cup down.

"It's nothing-- " Cadence said. Twilight reached across the tea table and put a hoof to her old

babysitter's lips.

"Don't say it's nothing," Twilight said. "It's me, remember? You don't tell me I'm just gonna research

you to death till I find out."

Cadence smiled, but she sighed worriedly all the same. "It's just that... oh where do I begin? It's a

couple of things, really. Shining is still kind of smarting over what happened with..." she glanced

over at Nyx.

"Oh..." was all Twilight said.

"He was magically brainwashed by the cult, turned against us all. It was bad enough after Chrysalis.

You remember how long it took to forgive himself after being controlled by that-- that bug."

Cadence grimaced. "But then not a year later and he's brainwashed again... by Nightmare Moon..."

"That wasn't Nyx," Twilight protested. "It was Spell Nexus. He was the one who was spreading Nightmare

Moon's 'blessing' to everyone." Twilight shuddered. "He even used it on me. Nyx was the one who had to

undo the curse on everyone, including Nexus himself."

Cadence shook her head. "That isn't how Shiney sees it," she said. "And even so, it was Nightmare

Moon-- Nyx--- who got past all his guards and his defenses and his tactics like they weren't even

there. He was humiliated by that. And the fact that we were on opposite sides of the rebellion... that

he was made to fight against me... he's never quite forgiven himself for that."

"I'm sorry," Nyx said, stricken. Her eyes were filled with guilt. "I'm so sorry."

Cadence looked at her and for a moment the memory of that pain-- being an outlaw, on the run, afraid,

at war with her own husband-- pricked her heart. "Nyx, I'm afraid that sometimes 'I'm sorry' doesn't

fix what's broken," she said, a tad sharper than she intended. She regretted it an instant later when

she saw the look on Nyx's face, but she held her tongue. Whatever else, it was a lesson that Nyx

needed to learn.

"There's more to it than that," Twilight said.

Cadence nodded. "But it is all tied together, in a way," she said. "You know that the Crystal Empire is

different from Canterlot. As you probably guessed from my little story about Queen Fabulosity, the

Empire only has one ruler. Even if they have a husband or wife, they are the only one who wears the

crown."

"Both may reign, but only one may rule," Twilight recited. "I read it in 'The Canterlot Guide to the

Crystal Empire.'"

"Exactly," Cadence said. "And as I am the Crystal Princess, Shining Armor doesn't really have any

authority. And factions in the Court have basically... well they've used their authority to demand he

step down as the Commander of the military and Captain of the Guard and find a replacement."

Twilight gasped in shock. "But Shining lives for that! He dedicated his life to being in the Guard!"

"I know. But Crystal Empire tradition and law demands otherwise. I got around it by issuing a royal

decree, but the courtiers switched tactics. They dug up the Changeling invasion and the Nightmare Moon

rebellion, and have been waving them as proof that Shining Armor is unfit for duty." Cadence kept her

composure, but she wouldn't look Twilight in the eye and she had to set her teacup down because it was

so unsteady. "He's been spending the past week reviewing candidates for his own replacement. "

"Oh no," Twilight said.

Cadence managed a smile. "So you can imagine," she said. "This nonsense has been keeping his wounds

fresh. It's making it a little hard for him to forgive and forget."

"And then we show up," Twilight groaned. "Worst. Timing. Ever."

"It was hardly your choice when you would be asked to come reorganize the Library," Cadence said.

"Though it might have been better if Nyx had stayed home this time."

Twilight shrugged. "Applejack and her family had to travel to Manehattan," she said. "Rarity too; she

had a fashion show. Fluttershy was dealing with an outbreak of flu in her animal friends, Rainbow Dash

was going to Wonderbolts Flight Camp, And Pinkie Pie, well," she winced,  "the Cake twins are still

scared of Nyx."

"Excuse me, please," Nyx said suddenly. She pushed her cold tea and unfinished biscuit away and got to

her feet.

"What is it, Nyx?" Twilight asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I'm just gonna go lie down for awhile."

Twilight was hardly fooled, but she let it slide. "Try not to wake up Spike," she said. Nyx nodded

obediently and left.

Her aunt and mother kept on talking after she left. The suite she and Twilight and Spike were staying in was connected by a short hallway. She went in and closed the door behind her, shutting off the sound of voices.

Spike was already there. He'd taken one look at the (by his standards) luxurious bed they'd put out for him and, after assuring Twilight didn't need anything, had conked out on it on the spot. He was there right now, sprawled out on the feather mattress, snoring like a drowning warthog. Nyx snerked in spite of her mood and carefully made her way across the bedroom to her own bed. She tossed herself into it and pulled the downy blankets up over her head, hiding herself from the world.

This was not turning out to be a fun trip.

Although Luna had managed to revert Nyx to her foalhood innocence, even before becoming Nightmare Moon Nyx had been far from stupid. Several months as a full-grown alicorn, and her own past as Luna's alter ego, had left her as far more than precocious. Unlike most fillies her age she actually had a fair to middling grasp of what was going on when everypony started talking politics. What she'd heard, she was fairly capable of filling in the blanks and reaching the obvious conclusion: She'd cost Shining Armor his job.

Nyx's stupid, stupid, stupid actions as Nightmare Moon had cost her new uncle Shining Armor his job. No wonder he hated her. No wonder he and Aunt Cadence were so tense.

Nyx had to fix this. Aunt Cadence was right; no matter how sorry she was, 'sorry' wouldn't fix anything.

But what do you do when you don't have anything else to fix things with?

Chapter 4

      Everypony got an early start the next morning. Twilight, as always, was up at the crack of dawn, with a sleepy Nyx and a grumbling Spike trailing in her wake.(1) To Nyx's bleary-eyed surprise, Cadence and Shining Armor were up as well and already scurrying about to prepare for the day. It seemed that they both had busy, and unpredictable schedules, and the early hours and the late evening were among the rare times they had together. Because of this they made a point of always taking breakfast together, no matter what.

Breakfast actually was rather nice, with every little frill you could imagine: fresh fruit, pastries, juice, toast, coffee, little pats of butter set out on a dish, cream in a little pitcher... The serving staff had given Nyx and Spike both a heaping stack of flapjacks. Nyx's appeared to be blueberry, while Spike's were layered in between, to his delight, with a syrup made of crushed emeralds. Both were chowing down with a hearty appetite.

To Nyx's surprise, Shining Armor had waved aside his own proffered plate of berry pancakes with a shake of his head. A good night's sleep and a plate full of warm buttery flapjacks had temporarily cured her of her timidity, so she piped up. "Why doncha wan' yo' pancakes?" She asked, her mouth full. "Dey're good!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Nyx," Twilight said automatically without looking up from her oatmeal. Nyx mumbled an apology. For all Rarity's coaching, Nyx was still a little filly and tended to forget her manners when she was in a good mood.

Shining Armor twitched a little. "I'm afraid I've gotten a little sick of Crystal Berries in everything. It's like they don't grow anything else around here," he muttered to himself. One of the servants give a little moue' of disapproval at Shining Armor's comment, but said nothing. Oblivious, Shining Armor served himself some fresh fruit and a plain danish.

Nyx, surprised, raised her fork and pointed at it with an inquisitive noise. "Yes, those are Crystal berries," Twilight said.

Nyx carefully swallowed and dabbed her mouth with a napkin like Rarity had taught her. "They taste like blueberries," she said, then paused and licked her lips thoughtfully. "Well, almost like blueberries... but... tingly? Like you can taste the sparkles." She looked closer at her pancakes; now that she was looking she noticed that the berries studded in each flapjack were twinkling a little bit in the light. "Wow, even the food sparkles here!"

"That's the Crystal Empire for you," Cadence chuckled.

Nyx thought for a moment. Aunt Cadence was smiling at least. She seemed a lot friendlier than she had last night. Maybe she should keep talking? Rarity called it 'friendly chatter;' she said it was important to make people feel at their ease. "Always pick a nice safe neutral topic," the fashionista had told her.  And there were a few questions Nyx had, that had been bubbling up in her brain the entire train ride to the Crystal Empire. "Auntie Cadence?"

"Yes?"

"How do you keep dragons away?"

This question was so odd that it made everyone set down their utensils and look at her. "What do you mean?" Cadence asked, puzzled.

Nyx hesitated, a little self conscious at their reaction. Obviously what she thought was a nice casual topic and what everypony here thought was a nice casual topic were two different things. She decided to forge on ahead. "I mean, dragons eat gems, right?" Cadence nodded. "Well, everything here is made of shiny sparkly crystals! If a dragon saw it he'd be chomping up everything in sight!" It seemed a fair enough question, and a nice safe topic. Well, safe as anything could get that had to do with dragons.

"Not all crystals are gems, Nyx," Twilight said. "I'm not sure a dragon would find just any old crystal to be appetizing." Or would they? She silently wondered. She looked at Spike.

Spike saw her glance and interpreted it. He made a so-so motion with his hand. "Eh, kinda sorta," he said. "Most of 'em just don't taste real good. "

"But how would the dragon know?" Nyx insisted, caught up in the topic. "Like, suppose there was a dragon flying over the Crystal Empire..." she held up her fork in one hoof and held it over her plate, miming a dragon flying over the countryside. "Flap flap flap, rarrr, boy I'm hungry," she said, making her voice low and growly. "Oh, look down there! Lots and lots of shiny gems to eat! Arrr..." the fork dove into the plate and Nyx scooped up a load of pancake, stuffing it into her mouth. "Arm narm narm narm..."

Shining armor snorted, spraying coffee out his nose. He mopped his face with his handkerchief, huffing and snorting while he composed himself. He mentally scolded himself for falling for the act. Doggone it, this was still Nightmare Moon...

Spike and the girls laughed out loud at Nyx's performance. Twilight giggled, "Well I suppose Mister Dragon would get a big mouthful of crystal buildings and find out they tasted bad."

"But then it'd be even worse!" Nyx exclaimed. "Arm narm narm, AUGH, this is awful, it tastes like brussels sprouts and cough syrup! Argh, now I'm angry, let's go break stuff!" Nyx walked her fork through the pancakes, mauling them. "Stomp stomp stomp, buildings squished in my toes, arrr..."

Shining Armor snorted coffee again. Great Maker that Fancy Roast made his sinuses burn... No. I am not falling for this charade, he thought, annoyed at himself.

"Eat your pancakes," Twilight managed to say between helpless giggles. Nyx complied, digging into her monster-mashed plate.

When Cadence finally composed herself she tried to venture a reply. "A dragon couldn't fly overhead, anyway," she said. "The Crystal Heart protects us from outside dangers, a dragon couldn't get through. But I'm sure that the Crystal Guard has a response plan for a dragon attack."

"Really? What is it?" Nyx said, turning to Shining Armor.

Shining Armor blinked. "I have no idea," he said. He was darned well going to look it up later.

"And what about Changelings?" Nyx went on. "The Crystal Heart is full of love energy, the Changelings must go bonkers for it."

Shining Armor scowled at the mention of the creatures. " I added an anti-changeling forcefield to the Crystal Heart, first thing." No need to tell her it was a revised version of my own. "And we've got magic lanterns set all over the castle and every street in the Empire that dispel Changeling disguises."

"Besides which, we're far from their home in the wasteland, and the weather here is too far cold for their tastes," Cadence said.

Nyx's nose scrunched up as she thought. "But we got here," she pointed out. "If a pony can get somewhere, a changeling that looks like a pony can get there. And why would a forcefield made out of love stop a Changeling that eats love?"

Shining Armor rubbed his chin with a hoof. That was an unpleasantly true point about the Changelings. They weren't mindless insects, after all; they were thinking creatures and could figure out a way around an obstacle.

"When we defeated Chrysalis, our forcefield was made out of our love," Cadence replied, smiling at Shining Armor over her coffee cup. Shining blushed and smiled a bit at the memory. "And she and her Changelings certainly didn't seem to care for it."

Nyx "huh"ed at that. "It musta been like getting beat in the face with a sandwich," she commented, forking another load of pancakes in.

Darn it, the orange juice burned his sinuses even worse than the coffee. Doggone it, it's Nightmare Moon, remember no matter how much she makes you want to bust a gut, it's Nightmare Moon....

With a heroic effort and a hastily grabbed napkin he managed to disguise his reaction as a bought of coughing. Coughing, choking and strangling... "So what's on the schedule for everyone today?"  he managed to get out.

"A long list of meetings, as always; There's a group that wants to change the zoning laws. Their argument is that they want ponies to build what they need, not what some city official thinks they should want. The city planners of course are opposed... Diplomats from several countries that want to negotiate trade agreements--- I'm having trouble getting them to understand the Crystal Empire's stand."

"Which is?" Twilight queried.

"We only trade with nations that have the same civil rights protections that we do, and some form of representative government. The Crystal Empire was just freed from rule by a tyrant; the ponies here have no interest in making another tyrant fat off our trade." Cadence rather primly buttered a scone. "Then there's the royal treasury, the holidays and festivities board--- that's a lot more important when your country depends on something like the Crystal Fair to keep its greatest protection recharged--- then the office of roads and rails, to discuss adding a zeppelin port.... then to the parliament to speak to the house of nobles about all the bills we're trying to get passed or revoked...." she sighed and regarded her scone. "Basically another day of silliness.... telling everypony 'Yes, go do that like you decided" and telling the ones who complain 'no, you can't do that.' " She took a bite of her scone and chewed thoughtfully.

"Well my day sounds almost simple compared to that," Twilight said. " Spike and I are going to head to the Crystal Empire library and see what sort of progress they've already made."

"And that's the end of my vacation," Spike said, resting his chin in his hand. "What about you, Shining Armor? You gonna be going to all those meetings with Cadence?"

Shining coughed awkwardly. "Um, no. Crystal Empire law; the royal consort doesn't have any say in such matters, and in fact it's a breach of etiquette for them to attend."

"...Oh," Twilight said awkwardly.

"Ouch," Spike muttered.

"What I am going to be doing," Shining Armor said, hastily moving on, "Is doing a round of interviews for promotions within the ranks of the Guard... as well as talking with several ponies about my, um, replacement." Shining Armor turned his attention back to his plate. "But all that is in the afternoon, so I'm going to probably be spending the morning going over the Guard paperwork. Or something." His mouth set in a thin line.

"Well... then that's good," Twilight said. "You and Nyx can spend some time together, get to know each other better--"

Nyx and Shining shot each other horrified looks neither was able to quite suppress.They both looked about as enthused with the idea as a trip to the dentist.

"Wait, what?" he said. "I thought she would be going with you, Twiley."

"She can't go with me, Shiney, Spike and I are going to be up to our eyebrows in it working on this library. And they're going to be renovating... everything! And I'm going to be in meetings or running around helping sort their archives and arrange their new cataloging system... There'll be no space for her, nothing for her to do--" She looked him in the eye. "Besides, I didn't bring her all the way to the Crystal Empire to spend her time watching me stack books."

"It's what she brought me here for," Spike grumped. Noone paid him any attention.

"And I certainly can't have her follow me around today," Cadence said. "The... the ponies I'm meeting with would be constantly griping... about a filly underhoof." She glanced aside. Actually they'd be doing something a lot louder than that if they clapped eyes on Nyx wandering around their offices, she added mentally. Equestria was distant, but it wasn't that distant. When the sun fails to rise for weeks on end, word gets around as to the reason why. The ponies in the Empire darn well knew who Nightmare Moon was, and it wouldn't take much brains to figure out the connection between her and a little black alicorn filly with turquoise cat eyes. "It would be best all around if you did keep an eye on her, Shiney."

Shining Armor started to protest that he was going to be at least a little busy himself, perhaps one of the servants could take Nyx on a tour of the city or something--- when he suddenly realized what he was about to say. He was about to foist Nightmare Moon off on some maid or butler for safekeeping. He quickly decided that the absolute last thing he wanted was to let the former Mare in the Moon out of his sight in the middle of the Crystal Empire for even a minute.

Nyx saw Shining Armor's face go from reluctant, to pensive, to calculating. She felt her exuberance deflate like an untied party balloon. "On second thought, you're right. I'd feel much better if I was watching her..."

Twilight was naive about some things, but she knew her brother. She gave him a less than gentle kick under the table. "Play nice, BBBFF," she said, forcing a smile.

Shining rubbed his hock. "Calm down, sis," he said. "So long as she behaves herself, we'll get along just fine. Won't we, Nyx?"

Nyx slumped a little lower in her seat, but nodded dutifully. She hadn't had a sinking feeling like this since the day Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had shown up on the library stoop, saying that they wanted to be best friends...

"Okay, let's keep it simple," Shining Armor said. He and Nyx were in the study; he was pacing back and forth in front of a glum-looking Nyx, unconsciously behaving like he was in front of a squad of cadets under review.  "You want something, you ask for it first. If I'm working on something, or speaking with someone, you wave your hoof and wait, you don't speak unless spoken to. You are not to go anywhere without me, you stay in the same room I am in at all times. Do all that and we'll be just fine." He stopped and regarded her with a raised eyebrow. "Is that all clear?"

Nyx nodded.

"I can't hear you," Shining Armor said.

Nyx rolled her eyes. "Yes, sir," she said dolefully.

"Great! I'll be working right over there at the desk. You... read a book or something." He waved at the bookshelves lining the walls; Nyx visibly brightened at this. "Now I'm going to be busy so just leave me be.... what?" he said to her meekly waving hoof.

Nyx squirmed a little. "Umm..."

"This isn't working," Nyx said irritably. The closed door muffled her words.

"Well tough," Shining Armor said from the other side of the bathroom door. "I'm not leaving you unsupervised for a second."

"I can't GO with you standing there!" Nyx yelled. Having a boy standing right outside the bathroom was giving her fits.

"You think this is bad, try having your wife march right in while you're sitting there, like there isn't even a--- forget it, never mind," Shining Armor grumbled. Please, dear Maker, don't let one of my interviewees show up while I'm standing guard on a little filly going wee....

"What?? Ewww." Nyx was horrified. She couldn't imagine a violation of sacred personal space like that. "....Stop staring at the door."

"How did you know I was even looking at the door?"

"I didn't till you told me."

Grumbling at being 'zinged', Shining Armor turned in a circle, turning his back on the door. "I'm looking away from the door, better now?"

"And stop listening!"

"Look, just--- just turn the water on in the sink, that way nopony can hear you tinkle," Shining Armor said patiently. He flashed back briefly to the first time he gave that advice to somepony; a certain little purple filly with a starburst cutie mark and a terrible self-conscious streak...

There was a sound of someone turning on a faucet, then silence. "Nyx? You in there?"

"No," came back the drippingly sarcastic remark, "I fell in, pulled the handle and flushed myself away."

"Would you hurry up in there?"

"Would you stop talking to me??"

The clock in the study ticked softly. Shining Armor was at his desk, sorting through several stacks of files on the Guardsmen and cadets he was about to interview for their promotions; Nyx was lying on the floor, reading one of a pile of books she had picked at random from the shelves. Tragically, whoever had picked the books to add to the shelves had done so based on the principle that books in a study were supposed to impress the visitor rather than enlighten the owner; they were mostly old dry tomes with few illustrations even where they would be advisable (the book on Crystal Empire botany, complete with a large section on potentially toxic plants and fungi, was a glaring example) and acres of wheezy, self-important maundering by "respected scholars" of yesteryear-- who had largely been respected for their ability to sound intelligent and to praise their own genius.

The unknown librarian who had selected these works hadn't reckoned with the daughter of Twilight Sparkle, however; Nyx was dutifully burrowing her way through one of these juiceless volumes like a worm through an apple. (The aforementioned volume on Crystal Empire botany, if you must know.)

She would be making more headway, though, if somepony would just stop staring.

Every time she looked up from her book, Shining Armor was squinting at her suspiciously over the top of whatever folder he was reading. He didn't say anything; he just looked at her. Then he'd look away again, quickly, like she'd caught him looking.

Nyx gritted her teeth and decided to pretend it wasn't happening.

Shining Armor couldn't help it. Even looking away from his papers once in a while wasn't helping the itch at the nape of his neck. The filly was just too quiet. Worse, every time he tried to sneak a glance at her, he would catch her staring at him with those creepy cat-pupil eyes. Every. Single. Time.

He ground his teeth and decided to pretend it wasn't happening.

He heard her get up and trot to the bookcase; he risked watching from the corner of his eye. She went over to the bookshelves and pulled down another volume-- earth-pony style, with the spine of the book in her mouth. Why didn't she use her magic?-- and add it to the slowly growing book fort in the middle of the floor.

Oh, the memories that brought back. Had she picked up that habit from Twiley? Or maybe even inherited it from her...?

Shining Armor gave himself a mental shake. Don't be ridiculous. They're not even blood relatives!

Still... those gaps in the bookshelves, all in the bottom two rows.... that little three-sided pile of books... that little clip-clop of a tiny filly trotting back and forth... that suspicious glare as she stopped and turned to stare at him...

---whups.   "What?" she demanded, half guilty, half suspicious.

"Nothing." Shining Armor went back to his work. Nyx grumped to herself. The big bully was just pushing her buttons, she knew it. With a will she turned to her new book.

The minutes ticked by. Nyx felt eyes on her. She couldn't help it, she looked up.

Shining looked back.

They both looked away.

The clock ticked.

Shining sneaked another glance. Met Nyx's eyes.

Both looked away.

"What??" Nyx demanded.

"Nothing!" Shining Armor insisted.

"Why are you staring at me?" Nyx whined.

"I am not staring at you," Shining Armor said truthfully. "Go back to your book."

The clock's ticking seemed slower. And louder.

Nyx could feel that itch on her neck. She clenched her teeth. She would NOT LOOK.

The clock ticked even louder.

Nyx couldn't read the words in front of her. She was forced to just focus on the crease between the pages. Doggone it, she was not going to--

She peeked. There he was, staring at her again.

Just like. Every. Other. Time.

Nyx's trigger temper finally went off. She jumped to her feet, kicking her book in Shining Armor's direction. It went a whole half foot, but the intention was there. "WHAT?? WHAT IS IT??" she yelled.

Shining Armor jumped in startlement, then got to his own hooves, his own temper flaring. "Nothing!" he yelled back. "What are you yelling about?"

"YOU!!"

"I am not bothering you," Shining Armor said angrily. "And I do not appreciate being shouted at, little filly!"

Nyx got right up in his face, her face flushed red under her black coat. "Then STOP STARING AT ME, you big dumb PLOTHEAD!!"

Her timeout lasted until the first guard arrived for his review.

The first guardpony arrived in his armor, looking both rather dapper and rather nervous.  He was looking to be promoted from second lieutenant to first, and he had no idea what to expect from the foreign unicorn who had been in charge of the Guard since the Crystal Empire's return.

He certainly hadn't expected to find the acting Captain of the Guard in his study... with a coal-black alicorn filly sitting in the corner, sulking.  "Ah, Second Lieutenant Diamond Bright, come in, have a seat. I've been reviewing your file, and... is there something wrong, Lieutenant?"

It was an understandable question, as Diamond Bright hadn't taken his eyes off Nyx from the moment he stepped in the room. The crystal pony seemed to think over his words. "I'm... sorry if I walked in on a family thing, sir...." he digressed.

Shining Armor shrugged. "Sorry about that. Okay, Nyx, your time out is over. Go on." Her lower lip stuck out in a pout, Nyx slid off her little stool and left the corner. "I'm going to be in a meeting with this pony for a while, so I'm going to trust you to go entertain yourself. Don't leave the royal quarters though." Head down, the alicorn filly shuffled on out, closing the door behind her.

The instant she was gone, Diamond Bright's head whipped around. "Was that--?" he whispered conspiratorially to Shining Armor, pointing over his shoulder.

Curiosity piqued, Shining Armor said, "Was that who, Lieutenant?"

Diamond Bright gulped. "Nightmare Moon." He corrected himself. "Or the filly who used to be Nightmare Moon."

"You recognized her?"  It was easy to forget, but the Crystal Empire had disappeared over a thousand years ago... shortly before the rise of Nightmare Moon. The Mare in the Moon didn't have the same meaning for the ponies here.

"After our return, several of us in the Guard took the initiative of updating ourselves-- reading up on current forces and powers like King Sombra that might be a threat to the Empire," Diamond Bright said. "Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, Parasprite infestations..."

Shining Armor was impressed. "So you make a point of studying Eques-- studying the Crystal Empire's potential enemies? And for your information, yes, that was the ex Nightmare Moon... she calls herself Nyx now. No need to worry. She was depowered when she surrendered. She's no more powerful than any filly her age... er, size... well. You know."

Diamond Bright nodded. "Yes sir, I do. It took some time to get a debriefing from Canterlot on the whole Nightmare Moon situation in particular."

Shining Armor nodded. "Well that's a good start on impressing me with your qualifications, Lieutenant." The pony guard sat up a little straighter. "So let's begin this interview by testing that noggin of yours with a few hypothetical situations."

He thought for a moment and smiled. "Tell me, Lieutenant: what's the standing Guard protocol for dealing with an attack on the Capitol by a hungry dragon?"

Nyx lay on her mother's bed and moped. Her big promise to fix things between her and Shining Armor sure wasn't off to a great start. But was it her fault he was such a big grouch?

Maybe, said a tiny little voice. Mom always talked so much about how much fun he was. How he was her BBBFF. What's different here, except you?

Nyx shook that off. She wasn't going to give up that easy, was she? She'd been chomped by a hydra once, she was tougher than that! She just needed to try harder... For one thing she needed to apologize to Uncle Shining for shouting at him. She thought that over. Had she ever really apologized to Shining Armor or Aunt Cadence for what happened? Really really apologized?

"How do you apologize for something that big?" she muttered aloud. "'I'm really really sorry I brainwashed you' doesn't really cut it, does it."  She thought back. How did ponies do it in books?

She remembered one story where a prince who had hurt a village of ponies with a foolish law because he was angry had apologized by throwing the village a big feast. Nyx thought it over. She couldn't possibly throw a big feast. But maybe she could make dinner?

The more she thought about it, the more she liked it. She would make Shining Armor some lunch; she'd bet he'd be hungry after his meeting. And maybe write an "I'm sorry" letter to go with it? She clapped her hooves; yes, that was perfect. She jumped off the bed and trotted to the kitchen.

For convenience the royal chambers had their own kitchen; that way not only could the staff prepare their meals right at hand, but if either of the royal couple got the urge to fix themselves something for a change they could do so. When Nyx got to the kitchen, it was empty of staff--- Cadence and Shining Armor both preferred to fix their own midday meals, and so gave the servants the middle of the day off.

Nyx took quick stock of the kitchen and larder. What would be good, but easy to fix? Soup and sandwiches, she decided. She began gathering supplies for celery soup and daffodil sandwiches. It took several trips and several precarious climbing expeditions, headbutting a stool around the kitchen to stand on, but she finally got it all. Lucky, they had all the fixings for daffodil sandwiches, even a bread toaster. Double lucky, the soup was already pre-made, in a jar! This was going to be easy.

She pushed the stool to the stove, climbed up, and set a pot on the burner. She dumped the jar of soup in and turned on the heat. She regarded the results. It didn't really seem like a lot of soup. Maybe another jar? Thought was deed; another trek across the kitchen with her stool and back, and she dumped a second jar in. A little spilled down the side; she'd clean that up later.

Leaving the soup to boil, she went to the counter where she had set out the sandwich fixings. She had a bit of trouble with the toaster-- one slice got stuck inside. Poop. Disgruntled, she went with plain bread instead. She slathered on plenty of butter and heaped on the cut daffodils, unknowingly failing to snip off the bitter stems first. There, done! She mashed the sandwich down firmly to make sure it stayed together, scooped it off the counter and plopped it on a plate, adding a sprig of parsley she found in a jar to the side.

The soup was just barely steaming. It was taking too long! Impatiently she cranked up the heat to twice what it had been. She waited a bit, but it didn't seem to be warming any faster. She decided to write her apology letter while the soup cooked.

She trotted down the hall, hurriedly looking for a pencil and paper. She could've run back to her and her mother's suite but she was worried about leaving the soup alone that long. With a moment's hesitation, she ducked into Uncle Shining and Aunt Cadence's room.

Her first impression was "Wow. Swanky." The royal bedchambers were dominated by an enormous four-poster bed, with a canopy full of ruffles and ribbons and a beautiful silk bedspread. Laid out across the bed were a gorgeous ballgown in pink and what looked to be Shining Armor's full dress uniform.

To Nyx's delight there was an inkwell and quill sitting on a tray on the nightstand. She trotted in and picked the tray up in her mouth and turned to gallop back to the kitchen.

It was then that what everyone in Ponyville called "the curse of the Crusaders" struck.

Individually, there was no denying that the ever-growing membership of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were smart, clever, gifted, and precocious colts and fillies. When they put their minds to it they could accomplish feats of physical prowess, inventive design and artistic skill that left their peers wondering why the hay all of them hadn't gotten cutie marks on day one. But at the same time, paradoxically, they had a knack for having their plans come apart at the seams on them without warning.

Granted, it was largely due to the fact that if capability were propulsion and wisdom were steering the average CMC was the equivalent of a pair of bicycle handlebars duct-taped to a giant skyrocket. Yet at the same time, even simple things could go awry on them in spectacular ways. The curse struck in direct proportion to the number of Crusaders involved, but even a lone pony who wore the Crusader badge could suddenly find themselves in the middle of chaos that would have left Discord giggling.

And the Curse was working overtime today.

Nyx's hoof caught on the fringe of the exotic rug. She tripped and fell flat on her chin, the tray bouncing off the floor like a springboard. The ink bottle... the unsealed, open ink bottle... inscribed a perfect arc in the air and splashed down...

Right on the bed....

Spraying ink all over both the ball gown and the dress uniform.

"No," Nyx breathed, her brain seizing up. "No no no nononoNO!"

She was dead. Dead, dead, dead. They'd banish her to the Moon. they'd banish her to the Sun. They'd find someplace even worse to banish her to, and banish her there twice. She did a frantic hoofy-dance in the middle of the floor. After a few seconds of hysterical silent panic, a thought floated to the surface of her panic-frozen brain like words in the window of a magic 8-ball:

You have to get those clean before the ink dries.

"The laundry room!" Nyx whispered. She seized both the suit and the dress in her mouth, ignoring the taste of ink, and dragged them down the hall to the laundry room.

The laundry room had been put in for the same reason as the kitchen; convenience of the servants. It was mercifully modern; several extra large, magically powered industrial capacity washers and dryers graced the walls, as well as equipment for pressing and dry-cleaning. Nyx ran to the first washer and crammed the dress in as fast as her hooves could; with a second thought she crammed the fancy uniform into the second. She dashed around, looking for soap. There was an enormous box labeled "detergent," she opened it...

And stared. Instead of powder or flakes, the box was full of these little... pods. Nyx prodded one with a hoof. They were vaguely squishy, and about the size of a marshmallow. What were they? She tipped up the box and read the label aloud:

"Crystal brand Detergo-Pod laundry soap. One pod to a load gets everything sparkling clean!" She gave the pods a skeptical look. They were apparently soap, but... one to a whole load of laundry? No way. She didn't trust that to be enough, not by a long shot. This was an emergency! She emptied half the box into one washer, and dumped the rest into the other. She slammed the lids closed, cranked the knobs over to "heavy duty" (that was for heavy duty messes, right? Of course) and hit "start." Thank goodness all the buttons were labeled.

Whew. That was close. Then she remembered the bedspread... she ran back and, with a great deal more trouble, dragged the bedspread to the laundry room. One more washer, another box of Detergo-pods, and the day was saved.

"Whew," Nyx said, sighing in relief. She might actually live after all. Leaving the machines to do their job, she trotted back to the bedroom to get the spilled ink bottle, mop up the few drops on the floor,  and write her apology letter.

"Well, Lieutenant," a smiling Shining Armor said to a hopefully smiling Diamond Bright. "I have to say that I'm impressed with what I see here. I think it's fairly obvious that your promotion is--"

Both smiles were wiped off in the next moment, when from elsewhere in the royal quarters came the shrill scream:

"FIRE! FIIIIIRE!!"

Both soldiers bolted from their chairs and out of the room. they stood in the drawing room, looking around, trying to determine where the scream was coming from. "This way sir!" the Lieutenant yelped, darting down the connecting hallway. Shining Armor right on his tail.

Both ponies skidded to a halt. Halfway down the hall terminated in a wall of white.  "What the...?" Shining Armor said. A blob of foam dripped down  to float at his feet.

From somewhere in the white mass a filly screamed. "FIRE! HELLLP!"

Without hesitation, Diamond Bright dove into the white mass. Hesitating for a brief moment out of confusion, Shining Armor followed. They flailed blindly through the foamy mass, blundering through the laundry room door by sheer luck. Shining could hear washing machines rumbling and juddering somewhere. "Nyx! Where are you?" Shining shouted. He acked and spat out the bit of soap that got in his mouth.

"I don't know!" The filly wailed. "Everything's all white!"

"Okay, just keep talking, I'll follow your voice..."

After several seconds of floundering and shouting and coughing out soap suds, Shining Armor managed to find Nyx. He picked the filly up and threw her over his back. "Lieutenant! Where are you?"

"Over here sir--- shutting off the machines!" There was a series of clicks, and the rumbling machines fell silent. Slowly the soap suds settled, revealing three foam-covered ponies (or at least three pony-shaped foam blobs) standing in the middle of billowing mounds of suds.

"The heck happened here?" Shining Armor said, wiping his face clear.

"Looks like someone dumped a whole box of soap pods in these machines, Sir," Diamond Bright said. "And um... ouch..." He pulled the remains of the laundry out. "Three casualties to report, sir. Looks like they used to be a silk ball gown, a royal dress uniform and a bedspread..."

"What..." for a moment a dozen questions warred in Shining Armor's mind for precedence. But before he could speak, Nyx started to sniffle. Then the floodgates opened and she started to bawl.

"I'm sorreeee!!! It was supposed to be a surprise, and I wanted to apologize for stuff and then the ink spilled and I tried to clean up and---" In a torrent of wails, sobs, and hiccups, Nyx conveyed the sequence of events that had led to the disaster around them. She finally trailed off with "...and now I made a huge mess and ruined Auntie Cadence's dress and your bedspread and your nice uniform and...." She sniveled and buried her face in her hooves.

Shining Armor, to his own surprise, couldn't find it in himself to be angry. Not in the face of a sobbing little filly. "Well," he sighed," I suppose Aunt Cadence won't be happy about the dress. But we can buy new dresses and bedspreads. And it's only soap suds, I'm pretty sure it'll be easy to clean up..."

"I'll send for a cleaning crew, Sir," Diamond Bright said.

"Yes, do that," Shining agreed, with a wave of a hoof.

Nyx sniffed. "But what about your nice uniform?"

Shining Armor regarded the thing. He recognized it, even as a soapy and ink stained mess of wrinkles. It was the "new" dress uniform created for him by-- he forgot the name of the designer picked to make it, but he cursed it daily. It had been a hideous thing with pleats, gold braid, enormous buttons and plumes and had made him look, in his opinion, like a circus clown. It had been intended to debut at a royal ball that weekend, despite all his protests. Oh, what a tragic loss; they would have to design a new one. "Ehh... I'll live with the loss."

There was a "snerk" that sounded suspiciously like it came from the Lieutenant.

A question finally bubbled its way to Shining Armor's forebrain. "Nyx, why the heck did you yell 'FIRE?' "

"Well," Nyx said with a mournful little sniff, "Nopony would've come if I'd yelled 'LAUNDRY.' "

Lieutenant Diamond Bright began wheezing and sneezing violently. Shining Armor was having a little trouble himself. "First Lieutenant, go fetch that cleaning crew, would you?" he managed to say with a straight face.

"Yes, sir," Diamond Bright saluted.... then did a double take and grinned. "Really, sir?"

"You earned it," Shining Armor said. "And I like the fact you think fast on your hooves. Congratulations." Diamond Bright beamed.

At that second all three of them smelled smoke.

Nyx gasped. "The SOUP !!" She jumped off her uncle's back and galloped for the kitchen, leaving a furrow in the foam. A moment later her shriek came from the kitchen.

"AGH! FIRE!! FOR REAL THIS TIME!!"

Both soldiers ran to the rescue again.

Chapter 5

"Oh Maker," Cadence giggled, gasping for air, "tell me the part about the soap suds again."

It was late in the evening. All had returned to the nest, and having all had a long and wearisome day, made for bed. The castle staff had cleaned up the mess admirably; it had been left to Shining Armor to debrief Twilight, Spike, and Cadence what had happened in their absence. He had kept it to "a minor laundry/kitchen accident" in front of Twilight; misgivings about Nyx or not, he couldn't bring himself to rat out a little filly to her Mom. The explanation had been enough for Twilight.

Cadence, however, hadn't been satisfied with that one-sentence summary. Once they were back in their own bedroom and ready for bed, she had demanded the full story. Shining had relented and related the events of the day to her, in detail. Shining was very glad the walls of their bedchamber were soundproofed(1), because her shrieks of laughter would surely have alarmed the staff. "No, I am not telling you about the soap suds again," he said, half annoyed, half amused. "I already recited that bit three times."

"And it's funnier every single time!" Cadence laughed, flopping back on her pillow, head tossed back. Shining Armor blushed. She always was so beautiful when she laughed.... She rolled over on one side, raising up on her elbow to look at him. "Now do you feel a little less suspicious of her?" she teased.

Shining Armor dodged the question. "I'm wondering why you're not more upset about your dress," he said.

Cadence sighed. "Well, I'm not happy it was destroyed, but it's only a dress," she said. She smiled. "Besides, I have another one exactly like it in the closet."

"You do?" Shining Armor felt an unhappy chill run down his spine.

Cadence nodded. "I always get two of anything, in case of, well, something like this." She shrugged. "It's a policy that's proven itself wise, all things considered."

"Aaand the dress uniform?" Shining Armor asked, awful thoughts crossing his mind.

Cadence smiled and nodded. "It's in your wardrobe."

Dreading what his eyes were about to see, Shining Armor lit up his horn and opened his wardrobe from where he lay with his magic. The door swung open silently to reveal....

... His original dress uniform, from Canterlot. The cut was slightly different and the colors had been changed to match those of the Crystal Empire's flag, but it was otherwise the same sensible design he'd worn at royal gatherings and ceremonial events, including his own wedding. He blinked. "But--" then he saw the look of utter glee on his wife's face.

"The butler and I had a running bet on how many times you'd wear that awful thing before you set it on fire," she said.

"You---" He said no more; he just sat there in bed and sulked while Cadence rolled on her back, kicking her pretty little hooves in the air. "You are terrible," he finally said when she ran out of air.

"And you love it," she said, giving him a smooch on the nose.

"I will neither confirm nor deny anything," he said in a monotone.

"So what did you do while they were cleaning up the mess?" Cadence asked.

Shining shrugged and sighed. "I finished reviewing the other candidates for promotion, rescheduled the candidates for my replacement for tomorrow after the review of the new cadets, and ordered daisyburgers and hay fries up from the castle kitchens for lunch." He shrugged again. "No sense in trying to fix anything with the kitchen covered in soot and soap."

"What was she trying to fix?" Cadence said.

"To judge from the mess, toasted daffodil sandwiches and celery soup," he said. "I could tell it was hers by the hoofprints in the bread." Cadence snickered. "Bread jammed in the toaster, two empty jars of soup on the floor, daffodil petals all around the kitchen..."

"Wait, daffodil sandwiches and celery soup?" Cadence asked. At Shining's answer to the affirmative she said "Awww. She was fixing you her favorite meal."

"How do you know that?" Shining Armor asked.

"Aunt Celestia and Luna told me," Cadence said. "It was the last meal she requested when she--" Cadence hesitated. "When she thought she was going to be banished to the moon." Why was it so awkward to mention now? "It was the very first meal your sister fixed her after rescuing her from the Everfree Forest. It's a special thing to her, I suppose."

Shining Armor had to ruminate on that one for a bit.

"And I note you didn't answer my question," Cadence said firmly. "You've spent the day with her. What do you really think of her now?" She was suddenly sober.

Shining Armor lay there, staring up at the canopy. His jaw worked while he struggled for words. "I want to, Cadence," he said. "I want to like her. She's a cute kid... okay, a little odd looking, with the eyes.... and she's got a bad temper---"

"So I hear." Cadence snickered. " 'Plothead.' "

Shining gave her an aggrieved look. "Yeah. Okay, so maybe I went a little overboard with the constant surveillance." Then again, after what happened to the kitchen and the laundry... "But she's clever, and funny as heck... I really want to like her." He looked back up at the canopy. "But I can't. I can't lower my guard."

"Why not?" Cadence said.

Shining Armor smacked the mattress with a hoof. "Because she's Nightmare Moon!" He threw the covers aside and got out of bed and began to pace. "She was so dangerous Celestia banished her to the Moon! She turned the tables on both Celestia and Luna and conquered Equestria-- in less than a week after regaining her powers! She, she brainwashed thousands, including the entire Guard... including me... " He stopped and looked at Cadence. "And don't fuss about the details. Whether it was her or her cult, she was the one who made it happen."

Cadence said nothing.

Shining Armor looked off into the middle distance. "Cadence, do you remember me telling you about that mad doctor the Guard and I had to track down? The one who was performing experiments with parasprites?" Cadence nodded. "Do you remember what he was doing to them? He was magically altering them to be carnivorous." Shining Armor shuddered. "One of them nearly took my face off. We had to burn his laboratory down to make sure we destroyed them all."

Cadence shivered. "I remember you telling me."

"Well I feel that way every time I look at her. I see this cute, innocent looking little thing in front of me, and in the back of my mind all I can do is wonder when it's going to sprout an enormous mouth full of razor-sharp fangs and leap off the table at me."

He looked at Cadence, half demanding, half pleading. "What happens if she regains her powers? What happens if she regains her memory? I know Princess Luna is supposed to have erased her memory, turned her back into a filly, again, but--"

"Shining, she never lost her memory," Cadence said.

"Wait, what?"

"She never lost her memory," Cadence repeated. "Luna never took her memories away. She couldn't anyway. Luna only took the thousand-year-old memories that were from when Luna herself was Nightmare Moon. And she could only do that because those memories were really hers. Nyx, she remembers everything. From the time she was 'reborn' to the time she was a full grown Nightmare, to conquering Equestria. Everything." Cadence shifted under the covers. "She even recalls the time when Luna became Nightmare Moon, and the thousand years' exile in the Moon.  Only secondhand, vaguely, like a dream, but she does remember it." Cadence shook her head.

"And what of her abandoning the throne? Defending Ponyville with her life? Freeing the Princesses and surrendering to them? She had her full powers then, and the full bitter memories of Luna's imprisonment on the Moon. And yet she repented of it all and put herself in Celestia and Luna's hooves."

"Nyx isn't the way she is--- a sweet, loving little filly--- because she forgot everything, it's because she remembers."

Shining Armor stared at his wife, thunderstruck. He hung his head, smirking at himself. "I am so glad I married you," he said. "Because a stallion like me with no brains wouldn't stand a chance on his own." He looked at her. "How did you see all this?"

"I'm a wife, it's part of our mysterious cosmic powers," she teased. "Come back to bed."

With a wave of his horn he extinguished the lights. As he climbed back under the covers, he asked, "You. How is it you can forgive so easily?"

She huddled up close and nuzzled him on the neck. "Forgiveness is a part of love, sweetie," she said. "And forgiveness should come when repentance is offered."

He sighed and kissed her on the forehead, just below her horn. "That's a thought for me to sleep on, I guess."

She gave a chuckle and nipped him on the ear. "Not yet you don't," she said.

"Ohoho..."

Over in the guest suite, Twilight, Spike and Nyx were going through their own little confessional. A sober-faced Nyx was reciting, for the fourth time, all of the events of the preceding day.

Not because Twilight was demanding it.

Because Spike was.

The dragonling was lying on the floor, laughing helplessly as Nyx described all that befell her. "....and I got so mad I called him a plothead," she said.

"Don't use that word," Twilight said automatically from where she lay on the bed. She had already scolded Nyx for being disrespectful to Shining Armor, but had otherwise let everything slide(2), much to Nyx's relief.

"Sorry, Mom," Nyx said sheepishly. She gave Twilight a second look. "Did everything go okay at the library?" she asked carefully.

Twilight looked at her. "Why do you ask?"

"'Cause your mane's going all sproing-y like it does when things don't go right," Nyx said soberly. She reached up and poked at a couple of flyaway strands on Twilight's mane.

Twilight groaned and faceplanted in the mattress. "It's not going well," she confessed. "Not at ALL."

"What went wrong?" Nyx asked sympathetically.

Spike answered for her. "To start off with, they wouldn't let her number one assistant in to help," he said. "I ended up sitting in a meeting room all day with nothing but Peewee and the coffee maker to keep me company."

"Why?" Nyx said, baffled.

Spike glowered. He jabbed himself in the chest with his thumb. "Fire breathing dragon." He pointed at Peewee, who was perched on his dorsal spikes. "Fire bird." He picked up a book from the coffee table. "Not fireproof."

"But we live in a library. In a tree!" Nyx said. "And you never had a problem."

"We told them that. They didn't care," Twilight said. "They weren't taking any chances." She rolled over onto her back. "And that wasn't the worst of it. The library--- it's a disaster. They've pulled all the books off the shelves and just stacked them everywhere. King Sombra was thorough. Nopony has the vaguest clue what filing system he used. We are literally going to have to re-catalog every single book. I'm pushing for them to triple the number of help they hired, otherwise it will never get done.

"That is, if I can get anypony to listen to me."

"Why won't they listen to you? Didn't Cadence put you in charge?" Nyx asked.

"Yes, and it doesn't seem to help. Everypony there is about three times my age. Most of them are these fussy little old mares that have been working in libraries longer than I've been alive.  As they each made a point of telling me." She rolled her eyes. "At first everypony is all enthusiastic--- 'oooh, somepony from Princess Celestia? A Master's degree in modern library science? Fantastic!' The instant they set eye on me, though, they pucker up like someone stuffed a peeled lemon in their mouth."

Nyx giggled at the mental picture.

"I managed to hammer it into their heads that they HAD to use the Dewhoof Decimal System if they wanted to coordinate with the Equestrian libraries. But anything else I've suggested-- classes in the DDS for the new librarians, hiring extra help, even organizing teams to start cataloging the books-- they fight and they argue and they quibble, or they just flat out ignore me. It's like trying to herd cats! Cats in hairbuns and little pinc-nez glasses!"

"At least the helpers listen to me. But every five minutes one of the others on the board was going behind my back, contradicting my instructions..." Twilight's head clonked against the bedpost.

Spike snorted. "Sounds to me like you need to stop giving instructions and start giving orders," he said.

Nyx nodded in agreement. "If you're the boss, they gotta listen to you. And if they won't listen to you, you gotta make 'em."

Spike gave her a look from under a cocked eyebrow. "You'd know, having been Nightmare Moon, I'm guessing..."

Nyx looked pouty. "I wasn't thinking of that. I was thinking how Miss Cheerilee is the boss in school. Boy, if anypony gave Miss Cheerilee that much trouble, she'd be all over them like chalk on a chalkboard!" She remembered the last time Diamond Tiara had sassed back to Miss Cheerilee in class. Nyx rubbed her nose with a hoof and shuddered. Yikes.

Twilight had to chuckle at the sight of the former Nightmare Moon, intimidated by an angry schoolteacher. "I'm not sure I can handle it like that, Nyx," she said. "It's a little more complex than school."

Nyx stuck her lip out thoughtfully. "Spike is sort of right though," she said. "About... learning that from being Nightmare Moon, too." Twilight cocked her head in curiosity. "I mean," Nyx continued in a rush. "When I was turned into Nightmare Moon, pretty much all my problems happened because I let Spell Nexus boss me around, when I was supposed to be bossing him. I let him tell me how Nightmare Moon was supposed to be. I let him tell me to lock up Applebloom and SweetieBelle and Scootaloo. I let him tell me to lock you up. I did everything the way he said it was supposed to be, instead of doing it the way I wanted-- and I was the Queen! And it all stunk." She shrugged and the corner of her mouth quirked. "Not that I probably would've done much better... but, y'know."

Twilight hmmed. Her daughter just might have a point, she realized. Life lessons can come from strange places. "I'll think that over," she said. "For now we should get ready for bed.

"It looks like Spike and Peewee will be staying with you and Uncle Shining Armor tomorrow," she continued as Spike and Nyx climbed into their own beds. "Spike, try and see if you can get my brother to leave the Royal Chambers for something besides a daisyburger, would you? I'd rather he and my daughter didn't spend another day staring at one another." Nyx giggled.

"I'll give it a shot. Are you gonna be okay without me tomorrow?" Spike asked worriedly.

Twilight smiled and got down off of the bed. "I think I'll survive," she said. She stepped over to Nyx's bed and tucked her in. "Good night, baby girl," she said, giving Nyx a kiss on the cheek.

"G'nite mom," Nyx said with a yawn.

Twilight caught Spike watching her out of the corner of her eye. Ages ago he had grumbled at her to "stop smoochin' him goodnight like he was a baby." But there was no mistaking the expression in his eyes. She stepped over to his bed and tucked him in too, and gave him a kiss on top of the head. "Good night-- my special little guy," she said.

Spike smiled and snuggled down in his bed. Twilight put the lights out and climbed into her own bed, and was soon fast asleep.

Chapter 6

Shining Armor regarded the stack of papers on the desk before him with distaste. "Recruitment day," he sighed. "Oh how I hate this part of the job."

Spike was seated next to him on a low stool, behind a small, official looking desk of his own (borrowed from a nearby kindergarten, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.) He looked up at Shining Armor. "Why?" he asked. "What's so bad about it?"

"Well, Spikester, we got three divisions of the Guard here in the Crystal Empire. The Imperial Guard, that protects the Empire from outside invaders, the City Guard, that enforces the law on the street, and the Royal Guard, that defends the royal family and the palace-- and the Crystal Heart, coincidentally. Each will have its own recruitment drives and officers to handle inductees, so on and so forth. " He began sorting and stacking the papers. "Or at least that's the final plan. But right now I'm the interim Captain of the Guard-- All the Guard--- so all the recruiters who talk ponies into joining, have to send them to me for final approval. Which means in practical terms that I have to sit here in this office and give the final official hoofshake to all our new Cadets." He rolled his eyes. "At least till we get the policy changed to something more sane..."

"Ouch, and there are a ton of 'em, right?"

Shining shook his head. "Actually, enrollment is low. The whole Guard is only a couple hundred strong. I think ponies are skittish about joining an army that would've been King Sombra's not too long ago. Well, not too long ago from their perspective." The corner of his mouth quirked. "As to what the problem is-- well, just wait and see."

Shining Armor, once again babysitting Nyx and now babysitting Spike and Peewee as well, had brought them across town to the Guard's office building so that he could handle some of the more mundane tasks that awaited him. Spike, at odd ends without his usual tasks as Number One Assistant, had volunteered to help Shining Armor. Nyx on the other hand had been given a stack of books and paper and crayons and been asked to sit patiently out in the waiting area (Shining could see her quite easily through the office window, thank you very much.) She was sitting out there now with her Smarty Pants doll, dressed in her vest, sunglasses, and that ridiculous hat(1), listening to Ponyville Radio on a headset(2) and alternating between reading, coloring, and answering questions on the Radio Quiz Show.

Shining let the venetian blinds fall back. She was quiet now; hopefully that, and the promise of an outing later if she behaved, would hold her for the next couple of hours. Come to think of it, he kind of wished someone else had made him a promise to help him hold out...

"Okay, you know the drill, Spike. Accepted ones are "File A." You fire-mail those to the head office. Rejects are "File B." you just burn those. Got it?"

Spike gave him a thumbs up. "got it!"

Shining looked out the office window. "And here comes our first customer..."

"Okay, everything seems to be in order, Mister..." Shining cocked an eyebrow.

"Northern Breeze, sir." The sparkling yellow and white stallion seated in front of Shining Armor said.

"Well, Northern Breeze, let's begin with the obvious: Do you have any questions?"

"Uh, yeah. I understand that the Guard will provide a scholarship to finish out my education?"

"Yes, if you apply and qualify."

"Oh. Well, is there any way I can make sure I get the scholarship without being sent into battle or anyplace dangerous?"(3)

Shining Armor stared. "I think you are seriously misunderstanding the purpose of the Guard, Mr. Northern Breeze," he said dryly.

"What, so there isn't a way to do that?"

"....Spike? File B." Shining magically rolled up the application and handed it to the dragon. There was a whoosh of flame and the scroll was now a tiny pile of ash at the bottom of Spike's trashcan. Shining Armor stood up and shook the pony's hoof. "We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors, sir. If you don't hear from us in three months, assume that your application has been rejected. Good day---" he pushed the pony out the door, perhaps a little more firmly than strictly necessary.

Spike stared after the pony in disbelief. "Was he for real?"

"Spike, Spike, Spike," Shining Armor said. "The day is but young !"

""Have you ever been ticketed, cited, or arrested by any law enforcement agency?" Shining said. "Your answer here is kind of... unclear." Actually, 'scribbled out repeatedly' would have been more accurate.

"Yes, but I don't like to talk about it," The scar-cheeked, heavily tattooed stallion in the interviewee's chair said gruffly.

"Well, you really have to tell us what you did."

A distressed look crossed the pony's face. "Bein' arrested for armed bank robbery won't count against me, will it?"

"Spike, send this nice young stallion's recruit to file B."

This recruit was a pale yellow pony with a brown mane and possibly the worst case of shakes either Shining Armor or Spike had ever seen. He sat there clutching an enormous thermos, trying, and failing, to pour himself a steaming cup of java. "Mr. Vanilla Bean, we do require you to reveal any prior medical conditions. Um, including any, ah, chemical dependencies," Shining said, warily eyeing the wildly bobbing container of boiling hot coffee.

Miracle of miracles, he actually managed to fill the cup, which he then began to splash about. "Oh no, oh no, no prior conditions or chemical addictions, oh no," Bean said, bringing the shaking cup to his lips. "Well the doctor does say I might be a little twitchy but that's mostly from the coffee, I need it to soothe my nerves, nerves you know--" he took a hasty gulp. "And the ringing in my ears is mostly gone now that I switched to Fancy roast--"

"Do you drink... a LOT of coffee, Mr. Bean?"

"Oh no no, I spill most of it." noticing that the last of his coffee had splashed out, Vanilla Bean began the laborious process of filling his cup again.

"Spike, um, send this to File B..."

"I WANNA BE A MARINE! YEAH!" the tan and khaki pony screamed as he stood on Shining Armor's desk. Shining Armor and Spike had both scooted their chairs to the back wall to give him the space he apparently needed.

"Well that's good son, but--"

"A MARINE!"

"And that's great! But--"

"DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR!!"

"Fantastic! But this is the Guard, we don't recruit Marines here--"

"HOOOAAAAAHHH!"

"Okay! Great! Terrific! Just let me send your application right in! Spike-- File B please!"

"You got it," the terrified dragon said.

The mint-green mare had a wide smile, a cutie mark of a razor blade, and a very unnerving stare. "....And so I thought, 'hey, I'm really really good with knives and sharp things. And don't the Guards get swords and knives and stuff?' So here I am." her smile was all teeth.

Shining Armor nodded and smiled pleasantly and "mm hmm"ed at all the appropriate points while carefully sliding the letter opener on his desk away from her. "Fascinating. Spike?"

"File B, right."

The day continued much in this vein. There were one or two marginally acceptable candidates, but as for the rest even the ones that weren't outright insane were too old, too young, too unhealthy, hadn't finished grade school or had a rap sheet as long as their leg. Twice he had to refuse "recruits" sent to him by the courts, three times he turned down ones that were dragged in by their parents.

The highlight of the day was when a family brought in their teenage son. It was mother, father, and grandfather, all pushing for him to take in their no-account son and "straighten him out." The lanky, scruffy haired colt sat there in his chair, shoulders tense, head drooping, and looking like he'd forgotten where he'd put his sneer, while his family bent Shining Armor's ear and tried to talk him into turning their son into one of the Guard. Tellingly, the boy's 'sparkle' was completely out.

"We've tried everything else," the mother lamented, wiping her eyes. "He doesn't get any job that lasts. He won't mind us, he spends all his time in the basement, making excuses about how he's 'waiting for an opportunity to open up.' But nothing ever does--"

The father was busy berating the boy. "I told you this was what it was coming to, boy," the short, stocky stallion said. "This slacking about is finally coming to an end! These ponies will smarten you up, all right. You'll shape up, walk the line and like it! They'll make a stallion out of you! If I had my way every jack pony one of your generation would be drafted into the army right out of school..."

The grandfather was an awe-inspiring horror in his own right. He didn't seem to be talking to anypony in particular; he simply rambled on about his own experiences in the Imperial army back before King Sombra's time, chatting fondly about various hells his Sergeant put him and the other soldiers through, and complaining about how weak and wussified and a bunch of 'prancies' the current crop of of stallions were, they could never go through what he did in his day--

Shining Armor simply sat there, not saying anything. It was starting to make Spike nervous. That vein in Shiney's temple just kept throbbing, more and more and--

Shining Armor slammed his hoof on his desk. The sound was like a cannon shot in the small office. Everypony jumped in place and fell silent. "I've about had enough," he said calmly. he got to his feet and came around his desk.

"You ponies," he said, pacing back and forth while glaring at them, "have pushed my last button.

"YOU--" he pointed at the mother, "need to get it through your head that the Guard is not a dumping ground for your parental failures. This is the Guard, we are not a substitute parent for when you get tired of screwing up the job. " The mare gasped in shock; he ignored her.

"You," he pointed to the father, who was gaping at him, "need to get it through your head that we're not a whipping post for you to tie your son to when he disappoints you. And no, we would not 'make a stallion' out of him. We don't 'make stallions out of colts,' we make soldiers. We take them, teach them to take orders, break things, and kill ponies. They may become stallions along the way, but that's only if there was something there to become one in the first place. But that probably goes right over your head, as you apparently think all it takes to be a stallion is to have a big mouth." The stocky stallion sputtered. "Shut it!" Shining Armor barked. He shut it.

"And by the way," Shining Armor added. "We don't have a draft. There's a word in Equestrian for coercing people to serve you against their will: slavery. We don't want an army of ponies that we had to bully or strong-hoof into wearing the uniform.

"And you, sir," Shining Armor, standing in front of the grandfather, his muzzle an inch from the grandfather's wizened face. "I've been listening to you flap your gab about the good old days in the Imperial Army since you arrived, and you're right-- no pony from the Equestrian armed forces would ever make it through that kind of treatment." His next words would have sent windmills spinning a mile away. "Because we outlawed that kind of head-up-the-plot stupidity nearly a thousand years ago!"

"We run our cadets through the toughest training regiment on the planet. Up to fifteen percent don't make it through for one reason or other. But only a complete stone-age craps-while-he-walks roadapples-for-brains tinpot backwater King Nothing wannabe IDIOT thinks that psychologically and physically torturing your troops makes them fit for service! Your leaders thought that way; your leaders got overrun by King Sombra. King Sombra thought like that; King Sombra got his plot kicked all over the tundra by two princesses in tiaras while his big bad army of psychotically disturbed sadomasochists ran for the hills!

"And one other thing. Tell me, old timer; had any problems lately with frost wolves in your neighborhood?" The old pony, still dazed by the drill-sergeant level blasting he'd got, blinked in confusion. "Well?" The grandfather finally shook his head. "Any windigoes, yetis, or ice moles? Had any run ins with hydras, manticores, dragons, rogue sea serpents, roaming bandits, pirates, diamond dogs?" Grandpa mumbled a negative. "Well, then, on behalf of my weak, wussy, 'prancy' generation to yours, you're welcome."

He looked over and saw the colt, head still hanging  low, trying to hide a smirk. He reached over and cuffed the boy upside the head with his hoof. The colt yelped and covered his head. "hey, what--"

"Don't think I'm on your side here, kid," Shining Armor said sternly. "Something tells me that you've done nothing to keep from living down to their expectations. You're not out of the woods just yet." He sat down behind his desk and looked at the other three. "The rest of you get out. I'm going to have a word with this little screwup in private." The mother began to whimper and the father began to bluster-- "OUT!" Shining Armor said, pointing at the door. They outted.

"Now lets start out with the obvious," Shining Armor said. "You're fifty pounds underweight, you have a mild but chronic breathing problem-- 'diamond lung', the papers here call it, from the months you spent down in the mines before Sombra's defeat-- and your grades from school are shot. Even if you wanted to sign up, we couldn't take you. So you can relax a little; even your Dad can't force you in. File B, Spike." Shining Armor rolled up the papers and handed them to Spike, who silently torched them. "That's above and beyond the attitude problem you've been radiating since you came in. I imagine you've spent every day just like your parents described it; lurking in your parent's basement, hiding from work, mooching off of them--" the boy flinched hard at this-- "and generally being a pain in the plot.

"Stand up, boy. What's your name, Roller? Let me see your mark." The colt obediently stood up and turned sideways, lifting up his oversized t-shirt so Shining Armor could see his cutie mark-- a film reel. Shining Armor cocked an eyebrow. "I didn't think the Crystal Empire had movies a thousand years ago," he noted.

"They didn't," Roller said. "They arrived after we, y'know, returned. Free movies, out in the courtyard. Y'know, sort of a morale booster thing?"

         "Do tell," Shining Armor said.

          "I spent a lot of time out there that first year, watching movies while I was recovering from diamond lung. Heh. Anything they had-- old instruction films, documentaries, educationals, historical films. I even volunteered to run the projector a couple of times. That's when I got this baby."

"Bit of a late bloomer, eh?" Shining Armor said.

Roller snorted and rolled his eyes. "Who isn't? Most ponies my age got theirs way late. Kinda hard to find out what kind of rare precious snowflake you are when you're working down in a crystal mine or hiding from the press gangs in your basement." Roller huffed and glared at the floor. " Didja know that the later a cutie mark comes in, the more likely it is to just be a spur of the moment thing? Like the magic finally gives up on you and just grabs a logo for whatever you're doing at the time to slap on your butt. Least that's what the eggheads say." His voice was sour. "So naturally I get stuck with a cutie mark in watching movies. Try getting work with that on your butt. I might as well have the word 'failure' stamped on my flank. The only way it coulda been worse is if I got one with a liquor bottle and a reefer." His face slid into a sulk and he looked away.

"Mister, I know I'm a screwup. I've done nothing since we escaped King Sombra but make my parents miserable. I get in fights with my folks all the time. I got it marked right on my butt that I'm not good enough to be a real stallion like my Dad or Granddad.  Do I gotta come here and get it rubbed in my face, too?"

Shining Armor said nothing. He took a scrap of paper and wrote something out. "Here's my advice, kid: get a job, it doesn't matter what, and move out of your parents' place, it doesn't matter where. There's tons of places around here hiring warm bodies now that trade with other countries has opened up. I've written down the address of a place across town that's looking for cheap help, and the work isn't too heavy, even for someone in your shape. I suggest you take it. But even if you don't, whatever you do, get out on your own and start paying your own way. As long as you're hanging on the apron strings, you're never going to be anything but their spoiled little colt."

He floated the paper over to the colt, who took it, looked at it and looked at Shining Armor with a confused frown. "The Crystal Empire Library?"

"They just quadrupled their job openings. I hear they're going to open a whole new film department," Shining said casually. "Do a good job, work hard, and they might give you a permanent position. At the very least they'll need someone to run the projector." Roller's grin spread.

"Good luck, kid." Shining paused. "Oh, and by the way, the head librarian in charge of the refit is my baby sister. You give her any horseapples and I'll be there to kick a new religion into whatever she's left of you."

Roller's grin faded a little and he grimaced. "Yes sir," he said. He started to salute and thought the better of it. He opened the door and started to leave.

"Oh, and kid?" Roller looked back. "Don't let anypony tell you that you're less of a stallion because you don't wear a uniform or do a bunch of heavy lifting. I've known donut makers who were better ponies than a lot of soldiers. And don't give up on that cutie mark just yet. You may surprise yourself."

Roller looked back, his face half-concealed by his scruffy mane. "....Thanks."

The door closed. "Heh. That was pretty cool," Spike said.

Shining Armor stretched and groaned. "Too bad I don't get to do it more often," he said. "I've got I don't know how many cadets right now who are there because Daddy wanted to make a 'real stallion' out of them or wanted to punish them for some family blunder. Half as many again who I would have marked as physically or mentally unfit, except we're short hooved and had to lower the induction standards to bring the Guard up to sufficient numbers."

"Can't you get more from Equestria?" Spike asked. "At least they'd already be trained. And you could use a few more unicorns and pegasi anyways..."

Shining shook his head no. "Not very many," he said. "We're thinner spread than the Princesses like as it is. Besides, Cadence wants the Guard here to be staffed with native Crystal ponies. I have to agree with that." There was a knock at the door. "Must be our next candidate," Shining said, casting a spell to open it. Hello, and who may I holy mackerel."

"Big Macintosh?" Spike exclaimed in surprise. At first glance it did look like the stallion from Sweet Apple Acres(4); it was an enormous colt with a red coat, a yellow mane and broad shoulders that filled the doorway.  It took a second glance to confirm it wasn't him. This fellow was a bit younger, and had a different mane cut. He also had a few faint scars that Mac didn't, and was lacking Macintosh's ubiquitous collar. His cutie mark was of an anvil.

He blinked. "I don't know who Big Macintosh is," he said. "My name's Rock Steady."

"Ahh, um, yes, Rock Steady, here we are," Shining Armor said, glancing down at the papers on his desk. "Come in and have a seat." The young stallion moved into the room and sat down, seeming to fill the room with his muscle. Shining Armor looked over the recruit's papers for a silent minute, frowned, and set them down. "I'm afraid I have bad news for you, Rock," he said finally. "You have a clean record, you're in excellent physical shape--"

"And how," Spike muttered, eyeing the enormous colt warily.

"---and you got passing scores on your psych eval. But... your school records--"

"I don't have none," Rock Steady nodded, sighing. "I know."

"Yes. None at all." Shining Armor paused, waiting for an explanation.

Rock looked at him. "You know what things were like before Sombra was defeated, don't you?" he asked. "Mister, I don't have an education 'cause I spent the last ten years of King Sombra's rule working in the mines."

"Ten years?" Shining armor gaped. "But you would have been a foal--"

Rock Steady nodded. "I was a big bruiser even as a little colt," he said.  "And Sombra's press gangs caught me and my family early on. They threw us all down in the mines. I got lucky, I suppose; they put me to work hauling the mine carts in and out, so I got a little more fresh air and a little more food. That's how King Sombra's soldiers thought," he explained. "Keep the weaker ones down in the mine, and the stronger ones wouldn't run away." He flexed a leg. "It's how I got so big."

"My mama was a schoolteacher before that--" he paused and clenched his teeth, muscles in his thick neck flexing-- "before he enslaved us all. She taught me what she could, lessons and readin' and writin' and 'rithmatic and recitin', whenever we were given a minute's rest. But that don't go down none on no government paper." He shrugged. "By the time we were freed, I was too old to go back to school anyway."

"I know I don't got no school diploma, and that you say I need one to get in the Guard," he finished. "But I had to at least try. Ain't there some way you can wrangle me an option? Anything, I'll take it."

Shining Armor looked the colt over. "Tell me one thing," he said. "Why do you want to be in the Guard so bad?"

Rock Steady was quiet for a moment, brooding. Finally he looked Shining Armor in the eye. "I was just a baby when that d- that dang unicorn took over our country," he said. "None of us could defend ourselves against his magic. All any of us could do was stand there and watch while they did all the fighting with their fancy magic. We couldn't defend ourselves. Then the curse came and we couldn't do nothing about that, either; unicorn magic threw us over a thousand years into the future. We had to let foreigners--- an alicorn princess and her unicorn husband--- come in and run our country for us, just to keep from starving and freezing.

"Then that... that summabitch comes back, and nearly gets us all again. And all we could do was stand there and watch, again.

"Now my pa is old and weak, and my ma is bedridden from the diamond lung. All that trouble... and they're still helpless.

"At least if I'm a Guard, if I let you teach me how to carry a sword or a spear and fight, I can at least try to protect them. To protect us." The half-grown stallion's eyes burned for a moment. "I'm sick of Crystal Ponies not being able to defend themselves."

Shining Armor listened. Silently he took a rubber seal and stamped Rock Steady's papers. He wrote out and attached an extra slip of paper before rolling it up and handing it to Spike. "Spike, File A."

"File A?" Spike repeated.

"File A," Shining Armor said. "This is the deal, Mr. Steady. You may be too old to go to school again, but you can get an equivalency test at any school in the Empire."

"Equiv--?" Rock Steady asked, puzzled.

"Basically an oversized test, to see if you know what a graduating student should," Shining Armor said. "Go to any school and ask to take it. Bring a passing grade to us within three months, and you're on board."

Rock Steady's grin split his face. "Thank you, Sir," he said, holding out his hoof. "You won't regret giving me this chance."

"See that I don't," Shining said. "I recommend you study up before taking the test, by the way."

The muscular pony left, beaming. "Holy moley," Spike muttered as the door closed. "Too bad more of your recruits aren't more like that."

Shining Armor said nothing. The last two candidates had left him with a lot to chew over.

Shining Armor and Spike stepped out of the office. Spike hung the "closed" sign over the doorknob. The recruiting office was open only twice a week, and only for about four hours.... but it had certainly felt like a long day. They turned around to leave. "Okay, Nyx," Shining Armor said, it's time to go--"

It was at this point that Shining Armor realized that Nyx was not alone. She was seated in the waiting area around the coffee table with one City Guard and one Royal Guard, and a nondescript pony who might or might not have been a potential recruit. All of them, Nyx included, were holding playing cards. A few other ponies, desk workers from the look of them, were gathered around watching in amusement. "Nyx, what are you doing?" Shining Armor asked in surprise.

"Learning Five Card Stud," Nyx said cheerfully. She slapped her cards down. "Read 'em and weep, Full house, aces high!" The gathered ponies groaned; the pot, consisting of a few bits, some pieces of candy and chewing gum, a largish loose crystal and one horseshoe, was pushed in the direction of the filly. She giggled gleefully and scooped the winnings into her hat, then mashed it down on her head.

"You shoulda warned us your niece was a card shark, Captain," one of the Guards groaned.

"Oh, don't you try and blame the filly, Odd Luck; you could lose your paycheck playing Solitaire," an onlooker taunted. The group laughed.

Shining Armor shook his head. "Okay, you, it's time to go," he said to Nyx. "Let's get out of here before you corrupt my poor innocent Guards any worse." The group laughed again.

Nyx put on her saddlebags, tucked her books and her Smarty Pants doll in them, and hopped down out of her chair, wobbling slightly under her top-heavy winnings. Peewee hopped onto Spike's head, and the four of them made their way out the door to the farewells of the ponies there.

Chapter 7

For lack of anything more concrete planned, Shining Armor opted to take everyone on a stroll through one of the many marketplaces in the city. It had been a long time since he'd done a regular hoof patrol; it would feel good to get cobblestones under his hooves again, even if these had a tendency to glitter. Besides, a little informal public appearance always helped public relations. Or so he'd heard.

It was close to noon, and the sky was clear as a crystal goblet. The sun beamed down through the magical dome of the city, warming the face and dazzling the eye as it sparkled off street, building, and pony alike. Not for the first time Shining Armor was grateful for the magic work they'd done on his eyes, otherwise the building-shine would be unbearable. For the others' part, Nyx had kept her hat and sunglasses firmly on, and had used a few coins from her winnings to buy Spike a pair of sunglasses from a booth they passed. Peewee seemed to have no problem with the light; unsurprising for a sun-bird.

Two of the guard tailed along behind; not so close as to keep people at a distance, but more than close enough that if anyone made trouble for the Prince Consort they could leap in.

It was actually rather pleasant.The market was as colorful as any in Canterlot, with traders hawking wares of every kind. There were more than a few non-pony traders working their stalls, Shining Armor noted; He saw a gryphon, a minotaur,  a pair of donkeys.... Once Sombra had finally fallen and the Heart had been restored, eager entrepreneurs of every race had flocked to the newly-arrived nation, products both exotic and mundane in tow. It was a good sign; it meant the Crystal Empire's economy was thriving.

The crystal ponies seemed to be taking it all in stride: another good sign. It had crossed both Shining Armor and Cadence's mind that relations with other races had been rather different a thousand plus years past. Who knew what ancient rivalries and enmities, things that were forgotten history to everypony else, were still fresh in the memories of those who lived in the Empire. They had done research on the era, of course, but the Canterlot libraries were woefully sparse on details about that time... and Celestia and Luna were a bit vague themselves. A thousand years is a thousand years after all, and plenty of time to forget, even for an alicorn.  

Thankfully, no old rivalries seemed to be bubbling under the surface; the crystal ponies were behaving as cheerfully and civilly with the other races as with any of their own... albeit a bit nervously. It had been a while since they had seen outsiders in the Empire, especially ones like minotaurs and gryphons.

There was something off about how ponies were behaving, though. Shining Armor couldn't quite put a hoof on it. The native tradesponies and pedestrians seemed... stand offish with him and his men. Not merely like he would expect anyone to be around ponies in uniform, or even around low ranking royalty like himself (and wasn't it a thing to think of himself like that!) But something different. Something with more of an edge to it.

He fell back a bit so that he could talk to his guards. The two were recent imports from Canterlot who had followed him up to the Crystal Empire; he felt he could speak freely with them. "Tell me," he said to them, keeping his voice casual. "Have you noticed anything different about how the native ponies here react to you fellows?"

The one on his left gave him a hesitant glance from the corner of his eye. He let the stiff-faced professional stance drop just a bit and nodded, briefly. "I was going to say something, sir," he admitted. "The crystal empire citizens seem a touch more..." he paused, obviously searching for the words. "A touch more chilly, I suppose is the word, around myself and Swift Wing."

Shining Armor turned his attention to Swift Wing. The other guard nodded also. "Same here, sir" he said. "Ever since we arrived."

"Don't think it's the armor?" Shining asked.

The guard shook his head. "No sir. If anything the reception is chillier when I'm out in my civvies."

Shining Armor looked them over. It posed an interesting question. Thanks to the "sparkle" effect of the Crystal Heart, everyone in the Empire, native or foreigner, had the same glittery effect on them. If it weren't for their wings, they could have both easily passed for ponies born and raised--

If it weren't for their wings...

Shining Armor looked around at the teeming crowds of ponies. For the first time since he first set hoof in the city, he noticed something that was missing. Or rather, two somethings. " Silver Streak, keep an eye on my niece. Swift Wing, come with me," he said, casually detouring down an alleyway. Once all three of them were out of sight, to his guard's consternation he promptly shucked out of his uniform. "Hold this," he said, tossing it to Swift Wing.

Shining then applied a few spells to himself; the standard-issue camouflage and emergency disguise spells taught to every Royal Guard. His mane and tail turned pale yellow, and his cutie mark changed from a kite shield and stars to a kite on a string. One could only do so much to magically disguise a cutie mark.  "Not my best work, but it'll pass," he muttered.

"What are you doing, sir?" Swift Wing asked, confused.

"A little experiment." He took his uniform and tucked it into one of this saddlebags. The wrinkles would iron out. "You fall back a little bit and watch what happens." Still confused but ready to obey orders, Swift Wing nodded.

A few moments later a blonde unicorn pony with a kite flying cutie mark made his way down the main drag. He picked a random booth, a lemonade stand, and sidled up to the pony behind the counter. "How much for a glass?" he asked cheerfully.

The pony working the stand turned around to look at his customer-- and froze, for just the briefest of moments. His eyes flicked up to Shining Armor's forehead, then down to look him in the eye with a carefully neutral expression. If Shining hadn't been looking for it, he never would have noticed it. "Two bits," he said, his voice cool. Shining paid his two bits, took his glass of lemonade and left. Was it his imagination or did the serving pony glower at him just a bit when he thought Shining wasn't looking?

It was the same story at every booth run by a Crystal Pony(1): That quick darting glance up at his forehead, the suddenly neutral or downright chilly reception. After about seven or eight booths, and a few tries at striking up idle chit chat with ponies on the street, Shining Armor retreated to another alleyway and removed his disguise. He rejoined his two guards. "Well?" he asked Swift Wing.

Swift Wing nodded. "I see what you mean, sir," he said. "Every native pony seems to get a little less friendly the instant they clap eyes on your horn." he scuffed a hoof, not taking his eyes off the surroundings. "You may not have noticed sir, but some of them seemed to get outright hostile once your back was turned..."

"I did catch that," Shining Armor murmured.

"I've noticed ponies glancing at our sides in the same way," Silver Streak said, ruffling a wing by way of demonstration. "It's like they never saw a pegasus or a unicorn in their lives."

"Or they did once and didn't like what they saw," Swift Wing said.

"I'm starting to get a few theories about that," Shining Armor muttered, "and not any that I like."

"Sir?"

"Take a look at the crowd, soldier. I mean really look at them. Notice anything missing?"

The two guards looked around. It took them a few seconds to realize what Shining Armor was talking about. "They're all earth ponies," Silver Streak said, marveling. "I don't see a single pegasus or unicorn in the bunch... not any I'd mistake for a native, anyway."

"And I'd bet my monthly stipend there aren't any. Or they're so rare that you'll never see them," Shining Armor said. "This is a kingdom made entirely of earth ponies. And like I said, I don't like any of the theories I've got as to why..."

"Sir? what I was saying about them looking at you when your back was turned?" Swift Wing said. "I think I should add sir, not all of them looked hostile.

"Some of them looked afraid."

Spike and Nyx were enjoying themselves, trotting back and forth from booth to booth, gaping at all the items on display. If there was any problem in their world, they were blissfully unaware of it. Nyx and Spike had divvied up and eaten the hard candies from her winnings, and the horseshoe had gone into her saddlebag. That still left her with a handful of bits to spend on whatever she liked. It was a giddying choice. There were sweets and treats and toys and trinkets of every kind, sparkly (what else but sparkly?) bric a brac, pretty things for your mane and tail, books and hats and kitschy tourist junk...

The choices were all so tempting that she sat down in the middle of the road, desperately trying to think. So many choices. But do I get one big thing? Or lots of little things? I want my money to last -- well a little while anyway...

Spike had his own money and was eager to spend it. "C'mon, Nyx, make up your mind already," he said, tapping his foot. He had his eye on a booth that was selling loose semiprecious stones down the way.

"Okay, okay, give me a minute," she said. She looked around, then brightened when she saw a particularly colorful stand. Perfect! It would be a nice start to her splurge... And it only cost a quarter-bit. She ran over and, after a little thought, bought five.

Shining Armor and his guards were discussing what they had just observed when they were interrupted by what appeared to be a large hat bearing a pink and blue cloud. "Cotton Candy!" The hat sang. A quick double check revealed it was Nyx, bearing several enormous sticks of cotton candy on a cardboard tray in her mouth. She stopped in front of Shining Armor and held the tray up, smiling hopefully. "Mommy said once that the blue kind is your favorite."

Surprised, Shining Armor levitated the blue cotton candy stick out of the box. "I.... well thank you, Nyx." He took a bite of his unexpected treat.

Nyx turned to the two guards. She set the box down and with some effort she levitated two more cotton candies out and forced them on the guards. "And I got some for you, too," she said. Bemused, they took the sticks in their hooves. Cotton candy treats weren't exactly listed in their typical rules of engagement. Spike came waddling up; she levitated another over to him. "And one to Spike," she said. Then she floated the last one out of the box, smacked her lips and prepared to take a huge bite...

Just as an errant breeze kicked up, wafting her fluffy treat off down the midway. Nyx's teeth chomped down on thin air. "Hey!" she proclaimed angrily and took off in pursuit. She came back a minute later, clutching her cotton candy by the stick with one hoof, trotting along threelegged and grumbling to herself. The three stallions present wisely stifled their chuckles at her mishap. Spike and Peewee, not being so wise, kept right on snickering and cheeping in amusement. She shot them both a death-glare that was somewhat muted in its effectiveness by her pooched lower lip.

There was a muted rumble(2) in the distance. "Oh darn," Shining said, looking up. Through the magic dome clouds could be seen massing on the horizon, a humdinger of a blizzard. The warm air inside the dome would turn it to rain, but it still wouldn't be pleasant to get caught out in it. "Welcome to another little feature of living up here in the Crystal Empire, everyone; the weather around here happens when it darn well pleases." Ponies all around them started hustling to get off the street. Vendors began closing up, preparing to ride out the rain in their tents and booths. "Let's find someplace to get out of the rain."

Nyx turned in a circle. "Oh, oh!" she said, pointing with a hoof. Shining Armor looked; there was a movie theater just down the street. "Can we go see a movie? Can we?" She risked levitating her cotton candy again and started digging through her saddlebag. "I think I have enough bits for a ticket."

Shining Armor pondered. After his little chat with Roller Reel, he found himself curious about the state of the cinema in his new kingdom. "Iiiii think I got us covered for ticket money," he said.  "Come on everypony, let's go spoil our dinner with some bad popcorn." The group trotted for the theater, hastily snarfing their cotton candy as they went.

They stepped inside just as the first drops of rain pattered to the street. Inside it was quiet, comfortable and much to Nyx's relief, dimly lit. She propped her sunglasses up on her hat to look at the movie posters lining the lobby.

"Huh, looks like they've imported a lot of the big hits from Canterlot," Shining said. "Well, it's not like they've had time to build their own movie studios up here. Let's see, what do they got?"

Spike took a look himself. "Lessee, 'Curse of the Vampony.' Looks like a pretty cool horror flick."

Nyx looked over at the poster in question. It looked pretty scary all right. There was an abundance of bats and creeping things all around the edges and letters in gory drippy red font, and in the middle of the poster was a coal black mare with a wild midnight purple mane and white fangs and and black bat wings and glowing eyes and...

Nyx shuddered. "Not that one, please."

"Awww," Spike said, but he relented. A bad tempered or whiny Nyx was bad, in his opinion, but a Nyx waking everyone up with nightmares all night was the worst.

"Hmm. 'Evening Sky,' " Shining Armor read. " 'A love story like no other.' " The poster for this one featured a couple in a 'passionate' embrace. Or, well, at least an embrace of some sort. The leading lady was an earth pony with a face so bland and expressionless it could have been vanilla pudding. She radiated her lack of personality right through the poster.

The male lead was, allegedly, a diamond dog. Allegedly, because the creature on the poster had closer kinship to a groomed long-haired poodle than any diamond dog on this world or any other. "He" was tall, slim, graceful, with pouty lips, high cheekbones and a coat of long flowing silken locks. He also, inexplicably, sparkled.

Nyx gaped in bafflement. Spike on the other hand took one look and fell down laughing. The final verdict: the two of them pretended to stick their hoof/finger down their throat and made gagging noises.

"Dodged a bullet with that one," Swift Wing muttered to Silver Streak. Streak nodded.

"How about this one?" Shining pointed to a poster featuring an enormous dragon stomping its way through some hapless city.

Spike gave him a particularly hard stare. "Pass," he said.

"Oh right, Twilight told me about the, ah, birthday incident," Shining said with a cough. "Moving on...."

"'The Pony of Steel' looks like it might be good," Spike suggested.

"Oh! Oh oh oh!" Nyx suddenly squealed. "It's the My Little Kewpie movie!" At the others' uncomprehending stares, Nyx elaborated. "It's based off this book series about these little creatures called Kewpies," she said, pointing to the pink-ish, monkey-like creatures on the rather flowery poster. "They raise flowers and make candy and they love the color pink, and they have parties and adventures together and... boys... probably... wouldn't... care for them very much," she finished lamely, looking at Spike.

"Hey, got it in one," Spike said dryly. He glanced over at the ticket counter. "We'd better hurry and pick something or we'll miss the first screening." Ponies, mostly young colts and fillies, were pouring through the doors and piling up at the ticket counter.

Curious, Shining Armor snagged one of the colts. "Hey, fella," he said. "Scuse me, but what's the big rush for?"

The colt pointed to a poster they'd missed. "It's the premiere of 'There and Back Again,' " he said, eyes shining with excitement. "It's gonna be the most awesomest movie ever!"

Shining looked at the poster. It featured  a party of rough and ready looking earth ponies, a tallish, bearded unicorn in grey wizard robes, and a small donkey standing in front wielding a glowing, leaf-bladed sword in his mouth. In the background was the silhouette of a lonely mountain, over which the shadow of a dragon flew. "There and Back Again: Part one of three," he read aloud. He looked over at the crowd. "Well they seem pretty enthusiastic about it," he said. Here and there he saw colts carrying toy swords or plush dolls of the burro, or wearing wizard's hats... one or two were dressed in full costumes, medieval clothing like the earth ponies on the poster.

Nyx and Spike gave each other a look. "Well, umpty jillion ponies in goofy costumes can't be wrong," Spike shrugged. "Let's give it a shot."

"You sure, Spike?" Shining Armor asked. "It kind of looks like the villain is a dragon..."

Spikes brow furrowed. "Yeah, I know. I've met other dragons.They're jerks." He crossed his arms. "I kinda think I can cope with one being a villain in a movie."

"Okay, then..." Shining Armor said. "five tickets for 'There and Back Again...' "

Tickets purchased, jumbo sodas and tubs of popcorn secured, they made their way into the theater and found their seats. The projector rolled...

And Nyx and Shining Armor were entranced.

They found that they were watching a legend set "in an ancient, long forgotten time, in a distant, long forgotten land" called Centre World, and the adventures of a humble little mountain donkey named Bilbo Burro as he journeyed with a band of earth ponies and Canter The Grey to defeat the evil dragon Smoak and reclaim their mountain homeland. There were giant spiders and Diamond Dogs (real ones, not like that frilly sissy one on the other poster) and a city of unicorns called Rivendale and a creature called Gargle who told riddles and a magic horseshoe that must've been really important because all the fanponies in the audience went "ooooo" when it appeared and heroic battles and...

And oooh boy, that soda was awful big...

Blushing, Nyx whispered her excuse to Shining Armor, who just chuckled and moved to let her out of her seat. She galloped for the restrooms as fast as she could go. Silver Streak started to stand up to follow her; Shining Armor put a hoof out. "Don't stand outside the door," he said. "Just wait in the lobby for her."

"Sir?"

Shining grinned wryly. "Trust me on this one. It'll make things easier on both of you."

Nyx bolted for the restroom at top speed, frantic not to miss any of the movie. She thought she was going to burst! The moment she clapped eyes on the 'restroom' sign she dove for it like it was her last and only hope. Unfortunately, in her haste and her unfamiliarity with Crystal Empire door symbols, she went into the little colt's room by mistake...

She got through the swinging door and into one of the little stalls just in time. She sat there for a minute or two afterwards, sighing in relief. But before she could get to her hooves and open her stall door, a bunch of rowdy colts came tumbling into the bathroom, shouting and laughing. She froze, her hoof on the stall door latch. Boys? What were boys doing in the girl's bathroom--   oh, horseapples.

Instinctively, she shrank back and pulled her hooves up on the toilet seat. Maybe if she waited until they left she could sneak out. Oh gross. She was going to hear them peeing and stuff...

They didn't seem to be interested in 'tending to business,' though. They were all laughing and jeering at something; No, at some pony. And it sounded like whoever it was really wasn't happy about it.

Curious, Nyx put her eye to the gap in the stall door. There were four or five colts gathered around one, jeering, taunting and pushing at him. He was barely half their size, a scrawny white foal with a tousled mane and tail. "Leave me alone!" he kept saying unhappily.

The leader of the bullies, a stocky, dark red colt with an orange mane, sneered. "Oh, widdle blank-flank pointy-head wants us to leave him alone," he jeered. He gave a shove, knocking the other colt off his hooves. "Think you're so much better than us, huh, Bright Eyes? Think you don't gotta talk to us, huh? You wanna look down on us, your highness? We'll fix that. Let's put him up high, fellas!"

The colts closed on the small one. There was a tumult of yelling, screaming and crying. When they backed away, the small colt was hanging upside down from the coat hooks by the door. They'd tied a knot in his tail and left him hanging there. It obviously hurt a lot. He was crying aloud, tears starting in his eyes while his tormentors laughed.

Nyx smothered a gasp. She'd never seen foals do anything so cruel!

His saddlebags had fallen to the floor. The leader of the group kicked them open. Out rolled a plush doll; one of the Bilbo Burro dolls Nyx had seen one or two other foals carrying in the theater. The bully picked it up and waved it about, grinning like he'd found the prize at the bottom of a box of cereal. "Aww, man, look at this! He still plays with stuffed toys!"

The foal hanging on the wall panicked. "No, don't-- that's mine!"

The bully laughed. "Awww, liddle pointy head loves his little dolly," he said. The other foals joined in, hooting in derision. The colt dropped the doll on the floor. "Bet you'd be real upset if I did this." He stomped on the plush violently.

The doll's owner wept. "Stop it, you're hurting him!"

The bullies howled. "Oh yeah?" the brown colt said. "We told you to never show your ugly pointy-head face in our neighborhood or our movie theater ever again. But you show up anyway, and when we try to talk to you you're all 'leave me alone, leave me alone....' So I guess you gotta learn your lesson like this!" He pinned the doll to the floor, grabbed its forelegs in his teeth and began to yank, jerking his head back and forth savagely.

"Nooo!!--" There was the sound of ripping cloth---

Then an almighty bang from the other side of the bathroom as someone kicked their stall door open. The gang of bullies, even their leader, all stopped and whirled about in surprise. There stood Nyx, head lowered, glaring at all of them over her sunglasses and from under that ridiculous hat. "Leave him alone!"

The group froze. Finally one of them spoke up. "What the heck is a girl doing in here??"

Nyx's temper was running away with her mouth again, but for once it stood her in good stead. She felt her face flush but stood her ground. "Kicking your flanks if you don't leave him alone, Plothead," she said. It was delivered with such cool confidence that the lead bully actually backed up a step, uncertain.

Another of his toadies spoke up. "Dude, are you gonna let a filly talk to you like that?"

He heard this and seemed to remember himself. He sneered and kicked the torn plushie into a corner. "Like heck I am," he said. He strode across the room and gave Nyx a shove that sent her sprawling. " Guess your girlfriend isn't any tougher than you are, Bright Eyes," he laughed, the others joining in.

Nyx got back to her feet, her hat and sunglasses knocked off. She was mad. She was beyond mad. She was, in fact, so angry that she was unaware that her horn was sparking and eyes were glowing and her voice had taken on a strange, tinny echo. "I told you to leave him alone," she said. A spark shot out of her horn on the word alone and bobbled across the room, grounding out on the light switch. The lights dimmed and flickered, throwing the room in shadow. She started walking towards them deliberately, trying to look tough, her tiny wings sliding out of their sleeves in her vest and mantling.

Comedy unexpectedly ensued.

This particular collection of juvenile delinquents had been at the theater proving their machismo to each other by ragging one another into sitting through whatever horror flicks the theater (fifteen screens!) was showing at the time. They had been theater-hopping from one gruesome movie to the next all day, gassing each other up and more or less guaranteeing that all of them would be suffering rip-snorting nightmares for at least the rest of the week.

As it so happened, they had just finished watching "the Curse of the VamPony," which was even more lurid and gory and terrifying than its poster had promised, when they decided to take a break and torture a colt they didn't like. One of the many delightful plot devices in this cinematic masterpiece was the existence of several VamPony foals, who managed to make several appearances throughout the movie, springing out of random corners, pouncing on the hapless cast of victims just when everypony thought they were safe and scaring the utter high-fiber crap out of the audience. Later reviews would describe them as being the highlight of the movie, being even scarier than the titular monster herself. They were small, night-black fillies with indigo manes, wings and glowing cat-like eyes....

The astute reader can see where this is going.

One of the toadies summed it up, his proclamation of panic ascending on a rising note. "...OohhhHHH HORSEAPPLES, she's a VAMPONEEEEE!!!"

Give him credit, 'Dude' held his ground. More or less. "No, no way," he stammered. "Vamponies ain't real, they ain't REAL, guys!" He backed up, forcing the ponies behind him back against the wall. They weren't exactly resisting. In fact they seemed intent on merging with the grouting in the tile.

Nyx paused, gobsmacked. They thought she was one of those monsters on the movie poster? Her? She was about as intimidating as a sofa cushion. These guys were morons!

Nyx didn't like being scared. She hated it. And she didn't like scaring other people. She'd hated being Nightmare Moon because everypony had been afraid of her. But in every heart there lies a mischievous streak that cannot be entirely suppressed and that enjoys a good prank. Besides, these ponies were jerks. And anyway, nopony alive could resist after getting an opening like that.

She stalked forward, head lowered and wings raised, till she was nose to nose with the lead bully. She looked him right in the eye.

"Boo."

Silver Streak was standing in the middle of the lobby, idly waiting for the Consort Prince's niece, when the men's room door burst open and what looked like half a dozen screaming colts exploded into the lobby. They tumbled over one another, then got to their hooves and ran past him, out the front door and into the rain, screaming about 'vamponies.' Caught flathoofed, Silver Streak could only stand akimbo, looking back and forth from the bathroom door to the direction the screaming colts had fled. "What the loopty-loop...?" he said, looking at the startled ticket pony.

The ticket pony sighed and got out of his booth. "Don't worry about it, Mister," he said. "That lot is always causing trouble around here. Let me go get the boss and we'll take care of-- whatever they did in there."

At that moment Shining Armor stepped into the lobby. "What's taking that girl so long?"

Silver Streak saluted. "Sir there seems to be some sort of ruckus in the men's room," he said. "Should we--?"

"Was that all that yelling I heard?" Shining Armor growled. "Come on then, let's go in there. We're the Empire's protectors, on duty or not."

Nyx rolled on the floor laughing. It was the funniest thing she'd seen all week. It took her several seconds to calm down enough to stand up again.

The bullied colt was still hanging upside down by his tail from the coathook. He hung there, his legs tucked into his belly, and stared at Nyx with wide, bulging eyes. Nyx wiped her eyes and looked back at him. "Oh gosh," she said, sobering up. "Here, let me help you down--" She reached up to the colt to try and lift him off the hook.

The instant her hooves touched him though he started screaming. "AAAH! AAAH! AAAH!" He waved his hooves around in a panic as Nyx tried to grapple with him.

"Calm down," she said. "I'm trying to help!"

It was this scene that Shining Armor and Silver Streak burst in on; Nyx, in the middle of a recently panic-abandoned bathroom, roughhousing a foal who was screaming in panic. "What are you DOING?" Shining Armor shouted in anger.

Nyx nearly jumped out of her skin. She let go of the colt and backed into the center of the room, eyes wide. "I... I..."

Shining Armor felt his anger swell. "What is this? What are you doing to that colt?" Shining Armor stormed into the room, stiff with anger. Silver Streak came after, lifting the colt down off the hook while Shining Armor faced down Nyx. "Is that what you get up to when you think we aren't looking?"

Nyx curled up in a ball, eyes wide. "But I didn't-- I--"

"AAAAH! VAMPONY!"

The ticket pony's supervisor, a teenager barely older than the ticket pony, had arrived. He, too, had seen the movie, and upon clapping eyes on Nyx had drawn the predictable conclusion. He grabbed a nearby metal wastebasket and threw it over Nyx, and then jumped up on top, holding it down. "Oh not this again!" Nyx yelled.

"Vampony? What--- She's not a vampony!" Shining Armor yelled in annoyance.

"I caught a vampony! Call the Guard!"

           "I AM the Guard!"

"Let me out!"

"Aaah!"

"YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF PLOTHEADS!"

After everypony finally calmed down, they reconvened out in the lobby. Nyx, fuming and unhappy, had finally managed to relate everything that happened. All the arguing and yelling was now taking place between the movie theater manager, who was complaining loudly about the Guard not being able to do anything even when trouble was happening right under their noses and why hadn't they sent anypony when the manager had called about hoodlums in his theater before, and Shining Armor who was feeling angry and embarrassed and not on his best game and who had been reduced to turning the argument around on the manager and demanding to know why the manager was incapable of keeping his own theater under control... Spike, for his part, was just sitting on a nearby bench and watching everypony fuss and argue with a look of disgust on his face.

Nyx finally decided to ignore the fussing grownups. She noticed that the colt she'd helped was still there. He was sitting on the other side of the lobby, cradling the torn pieces of his stuffed toy and crying quietly. His sparkle, she realized, was almost completely out. Nyx trotted quietly over to where he was sitting. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

The colt nodded. He sniffed and wiped his eyes with his foreleg. "Th-thank you for helping me," he said, his voice thick with tears. "I'm sorry I screamed at you."

Nyx shuffled her hooves a little. "Well I was kind of trying to be scary," she said. She restrained a giggle. "It was pretty funny, though. I thought they were gonna have to mop the floor after those bullies." The colt gave a halfhearted smile. "The best part?" Nyx went on. "When I yelled 'boo' and all their sparkles went out-- all at once. Eeee!" Nyx threw her hooves up in mock horror. This elicited a giggle, and the colt brightened a little more. Literally, in his case; his sparkle regained some of its luster. "My name's Nyx. What's yours?"

"Bright Eyes," the colt said.

"Why were those dorks picking on you?" Nyx asked.

Bright Eyes looked down. "'Cause I'm a Pointy-head," He said. At Nyx's puzzled look, he parted his rather tousled mane, revealing a horn. "There aren't very many of us," he said. "Not any more. And lots of ponies don't like us." His face turned sour and his sparkle dimmed again. "I'm weak. Weaker than anypony in my class. Unicorns are supposed to have magic, but I don't. So they beat me up, because I can't fight back. All because I'm a pointy-head.

"Mom is a normal pony. Dad is a normal pony. Why'd I have to be the freak?"

Nyx was slack jawed. They bullied him because he was a unicorn? "You're not a freak!" she protested. "Being a unicorn doesn't make you a freak!"

"It does in the Crystal Empire," Bright Eyes said somberly.

Nyx was left speechless.

She looked down and saw the torn doll in Bright Eyes' hooves. She held out her hoof. "Can I see?"

Warily, unwillingly, Bright Eyes handed her his damaged Burro. Nyx looked it over. the legs had been torn loose and the seam down the side had been busted. Nyx pulled her own Smarty Pants doll out of her saddlebag. "This is Smarty Pants," she said. "She was my Mom's when she was a filly, then she gave her to me. She's really old, so I gotta fix her a lot." Nyx magicked a small bundle out of Smarty Pant's vest pocket; a pincushion, a needle, a spool of thread. Carefully she threaded the needle and picked up Bilbo.

"I can fix him up a little, so at least he'll hold together till your Mom can fix him up better," she said as she carefully tucked the loose stuffing back inside the donkey. Slowly, she began laboriously stitching the ripped seams back together. Rarity had shown her how to do a little sewing. Nothing fancy, but it got the job done.

It took several minutes and the stitches were crude and obvious, but the sewing was straight and the thread was good and stout. Bright Eyes took him back joyfully. "He's.. he's okay. He's good as new," he said. "Thank you!" He cuddled the plush donkey, a smile wreathing his face. His sparkle lit up the room.

Nyx smiled. It was sure easy to tell when a crystal pony was feeling better.

A shadow fell over the two of them. Somepony cleared their throat. Nyx looked behind her; Shining Armor was standing there, his face a mask. Nyx wilted inside. "Come on, Nyx," he said, his voice tense. "We're going back to the castle."

"You live in the castle?" Bright Eyes said in surprise. Nyx nodded. "Um, I'm visiting," she said.  Bright Eyes looked up at the unicorn stallion standing behind his friend. His eyes went wide as he realized who it had to be. He gulped and bowed, then beat a hasty retreat, leaving Nyx alone.

The walk home was a terribly quiet one. Shining Armor cast a light shield overhead, warding off the rain as they walked. He said nothing, his face stony. Nyx refused to look at anyone, walking with her head down and her hat drooping down over her ears. Even Peewee was unusually quiet.

When they returned to the castle, Shining Armor dismissed the guards with a quiet commendation for their professionalism. The rest of them trooped into the royal quarters, weary and disgruntled.

Nyx didn't say a word. She went straight to her bedroom and closed the door.

It wasn't lost on Shining Armor. After a few brief words to the servants, he walked down to the guest rooms and knocked on the door. "Nyx?" he said softly.

The answer was faint. "Come in," Nyx said.

Shining Armor pushed the door open. Nyx was lying curled up on her bed, Smarty Pants cuddled up to her, her back to the door. Her hat and sunglasses and vest were on the dresser, her saddlebags on the floor. She didn't move or look up when Shining Armor stepped in.

He sat down on the floor next to the bed. "Nyx, I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have... jumped to conclusions. I heard all that ruckus and saw that little colt and-- and I just assumed you were responsible. That was wrong. I was wrong." He looked at her turned back and hunched shoulders.

Nyx still didn't look at him. "It's okay," she said emotionlessly. The tone of her voice made Shining want to kick himself. "It happens a lot. I'm used to it."

"It does, does it?" Shining Armor said.

Nyx nodded. "A couple of weeks ago I went to visit the Apples," she said. "And Granny Smith stuck me under a wicker basket and made my friends sit on it till she got back with a guard from Ponyville to have me arrested."

Shining Armor stifled a snort of laughter. "She actually did that?" he chuckled. "So that's what you meant by 'not this again,' " he said.

Nyx nodded. Shining Armor's amusement faded. He tried to imagine what that must have been like from her perspective...  stuck in a cage by your own friends while a crazy old mare screamed accusations at you and threatened to have you hauled off to prison. Shining Armor felt a wrench of pity for the filly.

Yes, filly. He really believed it now, he realized. He genuinely believed that Nyx really was just a little filly, like any other. Till this moment, he'd always had a little mental twitch of denial whenever it was said, whenever some pony called her his niece. That was gone now. She was his niece; she'd always been his niece. It wasn't a happy realization.

That dreadful mess after trying to make him lunch...That hopeful look on her face when she handed him that cotton candy....

"...That still doesn't make it right," he said.  He put his hoof on her shoulder. She raised her head up and looked at him. "Nyx, I've been.... tricked a lot in the past. And what you did when you were Nightmare Moon wasn't the first. I've gotten untrusting and suspicious, and I took it out on you, even though you did everything you could to make it right afterward. I'm so very sorry. But if you give me a second chance, I'll try to be a better uncle. A real uncle. Can you do that?"

There was a sniffle. Nyx rolled over to face him, tears welling up in her eyes. Wordlessly she threw her hooves around his neck and snuffled into his shoulder.

When repentance is offered, forgiveness should be given.

It felt good.

Chapter 8

"I don't understand why we can't just use the system we always used before," the crystal pony librarian said for what had to be the hundredth time.

For what had to be the hundredth time, Twilight Sparkle smiled through clenched teeth and explained. "Mrs. First Edition,(1) even if your system was better than the Dewhoof Decimal System, and I'm sure it had many positive features to recommend it, the fact remains that you want to integrate your library with the Equestrian national library network, and that means the books have to be filed in the Dewhoof system anyway, which means if you insist on using your own system in your own library, we'd have to file the books TWICE, once in your system and once in the Dewhoof system. We might as well save time and just convert to the one library archive system that is already used by all the libraries in Equestria anyway."

First Edition was barely any older than Twilight herself, but she had the ability, passed down from librarian to librarian since time immemorial, to look at a pony in a manner that clearly implied that she outranked them in matriarchal hierarchy by at least a thousand years.(2) She was using that glower at full strength right now on Twilight. Twilight merely gave her a wide-toothed smile that sparkled more than the crystal pony's peach colored flanks and ignored it. "Just do it," she said, smile never faltering.

First Edition strode off, pushing a cart full of books to be catalogued in front of her. Twilight could hear her muttering under her breath about ponies " coming in and changing things just to be changing them...." with the rather odd euphemism "Prancies" thrown in. Twilight sighed. Another day of ponies being difficult. What was she doing wrong?

And why did everypony keep glancing at her horn?

She wearily went on about her rounds. This was getting frustrating. Some of the staff were respectful and pleasant to her, and did as she said without hoof-dragging. Some. But she was spending all her time riding herd on the few who didn't. And even the ones who were nice seemed... she didn't know.

They acted a lot like the ponies did back in school , She realized. When she was, against her wishes, pushed by Celestia into going to one of their parties or other little get togethers, and they found themselves hobnobbing with the Princess' protege.  Intimidated. Unhappy. Like they wish she wasn't there... And it was making her feel just about like she did back then: like the most unwanted filly in the world--

Why was there perjoratives coming out of the media room?

Twilight had been trotting right past the door when she heard the imprecations coming from within. Curious and a little alarmed, she peeked in.

Roller Reel was in the room, working away. He'd arrived at the library earlier that week, looking for work. He did have a bit of a sulky disposition, but a lifetime of working with Spike had made her more than used to that. He'd inquired about the new movie and media department and she'd put him right to work. Despite his morose attitude he'd been fairly respectful toward her and had done the work the way she'd told him to do it, so she was more than satisfied.

He was a scrawny teenage pony, with a silver coat and a black disheveled mane and a predilection for baggy black tee-shirts with grim logos on them. His cutie mark of a film reel marked him as a lover of movies and cinema, and one of fairly recent vintage, as she learned in his job interview.

His job consisted of cataloging the stock of records and film reels that had arrived from Canterlot's library as a sort of seed starter for the new media department. He was also expected to examine each of the reels and vinyl records by hoof for damage.... which by necessity included playing them. He had taken to the job like a duck to water, and it looked pretty certain he had a permanent position there. At the moment he was running a film through the reel-to-reel film box. Judging by what he was sputtering at the screen, he didn't approve of what he was seeing. "What's wrong, Roller?" she asked.

He turned and looked at her, then waved a hoof at the rear projection screen in front of him. "Miss Twilight--- What is this load of happy horseapples?"

Twilight looked at the screen. She saw several ponies in Hearthwarming Day costumes; the tinny notes of a Hearthwarming wassail played over the speaker. "It looks like a Hearthwarming Day pageant," she said with a smile.

"It's the biggest load of prancy elitist propaganda I've ever seen!" Roller said angrily.

Twilight reared back, shocked. "Roller, that's the story of how Equestria was founded !" she said, upset.

Roller snorted. "Yeah, if you ignore all the outright lies from beginning to end," he sneered.

Twilight's jaw nearly hit the floor. "You'd better explain yourself, mister!" she said. "That story has been carefully passed down in Equestria for thousands of years. Celestia herself taught it to me when I was a filly."

Roller gave her a half-lidded look. "Yeah, and I'm sure Princess Celestia has never, ever left out any little details in the things she taught you," he said.

Twilight started to make an angry retort, then cut herself off. A few unhappy little exclusions of detail in the past started crossing her mind. The Crystal Empire's existence, just for starters. Or Discord. Or Nightmare Moon. She shut her mouth and settled for glaring at him.

Roller's expression actually softened a little. "Geez, you really didn't know at all, did you?" he said. He pulled up a chair each of them and sat down. Twilight followed suit. "Okay, look, I'm sorry," Roller said. " You're cool, and maybe you didn't know. Let's start from the beginning. Didn't any little details of that nice little story--" he waved at the projector  "--strike you as kind of funny?" At her head shake no, he tossed his head. "Come on, you're super smart. How logical does that story really sound? Aren't there any holes in it?"

"Well it's obvious it's mostly a parable," Twilight said. "I mean I'm sure that there were more than two ponies from each tribe.."

Roller just shook his head. "Nah, c'mon, think bigger than that," he said. "Think about the three tribes. Do you really, really think that the pegasi and the unicorns treated the earth ponies like equals?"

Twilight paused. "Why.... why wouldn't they?"

Roller looked at her for the longest time. "You know, now I really want to visit Equestria," he said with a wistfulness that surprised her. "More than anything. I wanna see what kind of place makes a unicorn ---a unicorn--- think like that." He shook his head. "Miss Twilight, the pegasi and the unicorns hated each other. But they treated each other with respect because they both had power. But the earth pony tribes were slaves." At Twilight's disbelieving jaw drop he said "Oh come on, Miss Twilight. do you really think it could have been any other way? We got 'Chancellor Puddinghead's' journals and letters floating around in this library someplace. We know better."

"You have Chancellor Puddinghead's--"

"His real name was Level Head," Roller snapped. "He was the first Earth Pony leader. The Prancies and th--- the unicorns and the pegasi named him 'Chancellor Puddinghead as an insult." Roller looked away. "Anyway, use that big brain of yours. The pegasi could fly, and walk on clouds, and control the weather; storms, blizzards, lightning, tornadoes. The unicorns could throw fireballs and turn ponies into frogs and move the sun and the moon. What do earth ponies got? Nuthin.' Yeah, we can make plants grow better. So can a bag of fertilizer. And being strong just means you can work harder for whoever's cracking the whip.

"You tell me, Miss Sparkle; who do you think was in charge--- and who do you think was somepony else's slave?"

Twilight was speechless.

Roller went on. "The earth ponies were the first to leave the old country after the Windigoes came," he said. "And yeah, they knew what was causing the ice age right from the start. The earth ponies escaped while the unicorns and the pegasi were trying to fight the windigoes. Level Head led them to New Land, started a new settlement.

"Then the unicorns and the pegasi came after them, and tried to put themselves in charge of everything. Again. And while the unicorns and pegasi were fighting over who got the biggest share of new land and earth pony slaves, the windigoes found them all again."

"Following their hate," Twilight said.

Roller snorted. "They followed the unicorns and the pegasi." He shrugged. "In the end it was the Earth Ponies that saved everyone. " He looked at her, like he was waiting for her to catch the hint. "A forcefield saturated with love? Big pink heart shaped glowy thingy, anything starting to sound familiar?"

"The Crystal Heart?" Twilight yelped.

Roller nodded. "Not like that Prancy Propaganda has it. Clover the Clever didn't invent the way that drove the Windigoes off... an earth pony did. A magic force field generator, made out of an enormous crystal grown with earth pony magic by an earth pony rock farmer.   That didn't need a unicorn to cast or a pegasus to keep running. Powered by the energy of love, fueled by magic from earth ponies,  that could drive off the windigoes and keep the New Land safe.  It was earth ponies that saved Equestria. Not the Magic of Friendship and not Clover the flippin' Clever."

He hung his head. "They say for a while there, For half a minute it looked like the earth ponies would finally be on equal footing with the Pegasi and the Unicorns. Pegasi with the weather, Unicorns with the sun and moon, and earth ponies with the Crystal Heart. It was just about perfect. Well you can see how that panned out." He snorted.

"As soon as the threat was gone it was back to the same old routine. They didn't even wait till Equestria was completely defrosted before Clover the Clever stole the heart--" Twilight gasped "--- and found a way to copy the Hearthwarming Spell without the Crystal. From there it was all downhill. We had nothing again.

"So a band of ponies led by Level Head stole back the heart. Wasn't hard, it wasn't like they were really guarding it too much.... They had Clover the Klepto to keep their little tushies warm now, didn't they? And they took the Heart, and led about a third of the earth pony population out of the New Land and up into the frozen north, where the Equestrians wouldn't follow them and wouldn't bother them, and founded the Crystal City. After a while the magic of the Crystal Heart changed us..." he waved his hoof at himself, indicating his sparkle.

"And that's how the Crystal Empire was made."

Twilight's mind was reeling. Was this possibly true? "Wait," she said. "Your rulers were unicorns! And you've had Pegasi in the Crystal Empire too... I've seen pictures and..."

"Babies," Roller said, rolling his eyes.

Twilight looked at him. "What?"

Roller actually blushed a little. "You know. Babies. Foals. The next generation? Even way back when, there was a lot of, you know, crossbreeding between the tribes. Isn't a Crystal Pony family that doesn't have a little pegasus or unicorn in their family tree." He held up his hooves. "I ain't like my grandad; I don't think there's nothing wrong with that." He half grinned and got a faraway look in his eyes. "Can't say I blame 'em, even back in the day... I mean, heh, now I've seen some pegasisters and unicuties---" his eyes took on the far off gleam of an adolescent who'd just recently discovered girls. "I mean, I saw this one rainbow maned pegasus filly, she was tight. And you unicorn girls are seriously smoking. I mean look at you--" he realized the verbal cliff he'd just leapt off a hair too late. "Urk."

Twilight couldn't help but be amused. "Tell me more," she said, leaning forward coyly and fluttering her eyelashes like she'd seen Rarity do. The look of panic on his face was worth the price of admission.

He clapped his hooves over his face. "I just told my boss she has a nice flank," he muttered out loud.

Twilight barely restrained her laughter. "Well no you didn't." She paused. "Not till just now--"

"Argh!"

Twilight Sparkle busted out laughing at him. "I'd clear out my desk, if I had one..." Roller groaned. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

"I'll let it slide this once," Twilight said.

"Anyway. Babies," Roller said, his face flaming. "Within a couple generations Crystal Pony couples started cropping up that had Crystal Unicorn and Crystal Pegasus foals. And once those foals grew up...." he sighed. "We were being ruled by unicorns again. The Crystal unicorns made themselves the royal family, and proclaimed that any unicorns born henceforth were of 'royal blood,' regardless of what family tree they fell out of. They made any pegasi born their enforcers, the Royal Knighthood. And there we were, right back at square one."

"Was it really that bad?" Twilight said, sarcastically.

"Was it really that bad?" Roller mimicked right back. "Whaddya mean? When they put any non unicorns and non pegasi out of the government? When they started banning all crystal magic research, and confiscating or burning any books about it? When they started raising taxes clear to the Dome and wasting it on royal frippery and spending the Empire into debt? When one of our Queens was so frivolous she altered the spells on the Crystal Heart just to pretty up ponies' manes?" He pointed to his own shaggy mop, then showed her a tiny crystal on one of the piercings in his ear. "It takes deliberate effort to not be made up like a royal girly-boy in this city.

"Or how about when they turned the Guard into a useless bunch of royal bully-boys, because hey, who needs a real army? We've got the Big Magic Crystal and the Prancy Pretty Unicorns to save us!

"Or how about when King Sombra ascended to the throne by slaughtering all the other unicorns? That bad enough for you?"

Twilight's pupils turned to pinpricks. "Sl-- slaughtered...."

Roller nodded. "All of them," he said. "Even the foals." Twilight made a horrified sound.  "Standing orders during his reign; anything born with a horn was to be killed. On the spot. He didn't want any pretenders to the throne during his reign. Anything with wings was drafted into his army at birth, where he used magic and good old-fashioned beatings and abuse to turn them into his personal band of sadistic psychos. Not that there were many left; he wiped out most of them climbing into the throne.

"Then he spent a couple of decades turning the Crystal Empire into a new suburb of Tartarus. I can't breathe right because I didn't run fast enough from his press gangs and spent the last six months of his reign choking on crystal dust in the mines. There isn't a pony alive in the Crystal Kingdom who didn't have to bury somepony they loved while your Princess Celestia and Princess Luna decided whether or not to get off their plots and overthrow him. We lost our homeland, our magical heritage, our freedom, and our loved ones--- over and over again---  because we got ruled over by a bunch of crooks, boobs, idiots and tyrants whose only claim to the right to rule was a bone sticking out of their heads. I dunno, you tell me: Was it really that bad?"

Twilight was shaken. "Is that why... why ponies here--"

"Treat you like horseapples?" Roller's head hung low. "Pretty much."

"Try and look at it from our side," Roller said. "We got ruled over by a bunch of idiots who were unicorns. We got conquered by a unicorn. We got "liberated" by Celestia and Luna---"

"Celestia and Luna are alicorns," Twilight said automatically. "They represent the equal balance between the three tribes, being part unicorn, pegasus and earth---"

Roller shrugged and rolled his eyes back. "Yeah, yeah, makes a nice speech. But all they are to anyone with eyes is just another pair of unicorns with wings. And then we get thrown over ten centuries into the future by a unicorn. And then we nearly get conquered again by the same unicorn... and we get saved by what? Another unicorn with wings.

"Who then takes over and starts ruling our country, along with her unicorn husband. And nopony says a darned thing."

"But we're not like those unicorns..." she protested. "We're not. There's no reason to fear or hate us." Her eyes were wet.

Roller looked away. "You only need to get bit once to learn to be afraid of a dog," he said.

"It's not like that!" Twilight said, getting to her hooves. "In Equestria, all three tribes are equal!"

"In Equestria you have two all-powerful winged unicorn princesses to make everypony play nice," Roller said. "How long would that last if they took a powder?

"...And you really think you're all equal? Tell me this, Twilight Sparkle, Faithful Student of Princess Celestia; how many earth ponies are there in Equestria with noble titles?"

Twilight looked down. "I don't know any," she admitted.

Roller almost looked sympathetic. "For what it's worth, I don't think most of us fear or hate you. You're pretty cool, yourself. And I met your brother; he's cool. And Princess Cadence, she's pretty, and nice, and all that...she's certainly a heckuva improvement on Sombra. Some ponies probably resent you, but I don't think many of them hate you. Or any unicorns.

"I think it's just that we've all given up hope of ever being anything but somepony else's property."

There was a flipping noise from the projector; the filmstrip had come to its end. Roller turned back to it and started taking the finished reel off the machine. "I better get back to work," he mumbled.

Twilight left the media room, shaken. Every inch of her wanted to dismiss what Roller Reel had told her as the grousing of a typically whiny teenage colt, the reciting of a half-remembered grievance speech. She was too honest with herself for that, though. Everything Roller had said, had the ring of truth to it--- the painfully learned and lived truth.

But it was so much to swallow! Was that really the true history of the Crystal Empire, of Hearthwarming Day, of the start of both their kingdoms?

Was she really part of a system that was so perfect looking on the outside-- yet so badly skewed on the inside?

She looked around her, at the endless rows of half-sorted and half-misfiled tomes. In the past books and research had been her solace and rescue in times of doubt. Could she find the answer here? But wouldn't these books all be biased as well? And even as ancient as they were, still written centuries after the fact....

There was one resource that would be closest to the truth. Even closer than Celestia or Luna; they had been born centuries after the founding of Equestria, to begin with. No, she needed an eye witness account.

Course set she marched through the aisles till she found the head librarian. The elderly pony looked up from her work in wary curiosity. "yes?"

"I want to see the journals of Level Head," she said firmly. "Now."

Chapter 9

Of all the answers Twilight Sparkle expected from the Crystal Pony librarian, an explosive "NO!" was not among them. Twilight  gaped in astonishment at the vehement mare, who stood there with a look of terrified defiance on her face, was all Twilight could think to call it.

The yellow-and-grey pony seemed to catch herself, realizing what she had said, and tried to cover for her own outburst. "I mean...Nopony can see the original volumes... without special permission and preparation," she stammered. She regained some of her composure.  "The original are over a thousand years old, and are very fragile. You can understand that. We have several very good transcripts available here, though..." She looked around at the half-dismantled library. "...Somewhere," she finished lamely. "Ah, well-- ah, here's a copy!" She snatched a book off one of the stacks and held it out to Twilight in her teeth with an anxious smile.

Twilight shook her head. "I'll be looking at those as well. But regardless, I need to see the original journals to confirm what I've read and been told," she said.

"Need it all you like," Miss Lore said. "But the original volumes are not going to be seen by you, or by anypony else. It's... against protocol."

Twilight was naive about many things, but even she could see the obvious: this mare absolutely positively did not want any stranger... like her... seeing those journals. She could understand reluctance; she'd worked around the Canterlot library long enough to know how crochety archivists were about ponies messing with original volumes and manuscripts. But this was beyond simple caution and fussiness. This was outright fear. Like she was afraid that the young librarian in front of her would steal the journals or attempt to destroy them.

Twilight had an epiphany.  "Mrs. Lore, you're not just a librarian. You're a lore keeper, aren't you?" It was a statement, not a question. There wasn't any real professional term for it, it was just something that ponies did, without even calling it by name. She'd encountered a few; every community older than a few years had one. There were families in Canterlot who had lorekeepers of their own, dedicated to keeping the history of their family name intact and preserved;  Granny Smith could be regarded as one for the apples. Regardless of how big or small their job, they all had something in common; they were somepony who would push heaven and earth out of the way by sheer force of will, just to protect the remains of the past.

Precious Lore hesitated, then nodded.

"I'm guessing that was your job even before King Sombra came into power, am I right?" Twilight said. "Somepony put you in charge of preserving the archives and historical documents of the Crystal Ponies. "

The yellow pony nodded again.

"Even when whoever was on the throne didn't approve," Twilight guessed.

She hit the mark. Precious Lore's lower lip trembled. "You're a sharp one for somepony so young," she said stiffly. "How did you guess?"

"You're not the only librarian with hidden archives," Twilight said. "And I've known a few lore keepers."

Precious Lore sighed sadly. "You're right. It's a job that's been passed down from pony to pony since the first days of the Crystal Empire," she said. "We've been doing it since before the Empire was even a decent sized kingdom. I protected our heritage even through the worst of King Sombra's reign."

Her eyes grew damp. "Then the curse happened, and Sombra erased our memory. I forgot. I forgot all about my job. I..." she looked away, ashamed. "I'm supposed to protect our heritage from harm, from conquerors, from invaders, even from the throne, and I forgot about it. " Lore looked at Twilight, silently beseeching.

"Lore," Twilight said gently. "I have to see those books. I swear to you I'm not going to try to take them, or to harm them in any way. But if half of what I have been told is true, then this will change...it will change everything. For Crystal Ponies, for earth ponies, for everypony. For the whole world! But the only way to prove what I suspect is to do the research, and to do that I have to see those journals first."

Conflicting emotions warred on Precious Lore's face. She seemed to sag in defeat. "So be it," she said. "It's not like it's anything but an open secret anymore. Everypony and their uncle knows that we hid our most important relics here during Sombra's reign." She looked at Twilight. "Please, just promise me you won't let anything happen to them."

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in... my... eye. Heh." Twilight's voice petered out at Lore's nonplussed look. "It's a ... pinkie promise," Twilight explained. "Something from my home town of Ponyville and....  never mind."

"I... suppose that will do," Precious Lore said, raising her eyebrow at the odd traditions of unicorns.  "I don't care how you promise, so long as it's a promise you don't break."

Twilight chuckled. "Believe me, not even Princess Cadence would break a Pinkie Promise," she said. "Do you want me to, I dunno, wear a blindfold or something?"

"Not much point in that," Precious Lore said.

Twilight frowned. "Why not?"

"Because as it so happens you're standing on the trap door," Precious Lore said, pointing at Twilight's hooves.

"Oh. Heh heh." Twilight  shuffled to one side. Precious Lore scanned all around them, making sure nopony was nearby(1) before carefully tapping on several tiles on the floor.  With only the faintest of sounds a five-foot-square panel dropped down and slid aside, revealing a dimly lit descending staircase. The gray-maned mare quickly descended, Twilight close behind, ears pricked in curiosity. The door slid shut silently behind her.

The staircase curved down through solid stone, lit every few yards by clusters of glowing blue crystal in the corner between the wall and ceiling. It opened into...

Well, it certainly wasn't what Twilight had been expecting. A lifetime of experience in Canterlot and Ponyville had her expecting some dark, stony, vaulted chamber lit with flickering torches and rife with gothic trimmings.(2) Instead it was a small, rectangular room, not much larger than the first floor of the Ponyville library,  dry and cool and meticulously dust-free, with decent lighting and filled with sturdy, no nonsense shelves. The shelves were stacked with items, mostly books and scrolls, and those sealed in translucent containers. Twilight couldn't help but rubberneck as they passed among the shelves. For a nation countless centuries old, the collection was disturbingly small. But great care had obviously been put in preserving and storing each and every item.

Precious Lore walked past all the shelves and let Twilight to a long, low table at the back of the room. Set out on the table were what looked like three or four clouded blocks of crystal, about a foot on each side and only slightly less tall. It wasn't until Twilight stepped closer that she saw that the blocks were actually stacks of crystal sheets, about twice as thick as a window pane, with ancient-looking sheets of paper suspended inside. "Encased in shatterproof crystal," Lore said proudly. "The journals were already ancient when we got them-- it was the best way to preserve them, one page at a time. Protected from moisture, fire, cold, air... the crystal even protects the pages from bright light. We've already made hoof-written copies and just made photographic ones this year, but even then these pages should be safely preserved for centuries yet."

"Ooo," Twilight clapped her hooves. "You must teach the Canterlot archivists the technique." She sat down and started to reach for the first preserved stack, then paused. "...With your permission?"

Lore seemed to finally relax at this. She gave an awkward smile and nodded. "There are some crystal cleaning cloths in that box, there, just be sure and wipe off your hoofprints before... Oh, right," she finished as the first rigid sheet floated over to Twilight. "Unicorn. I forgot."

Twilight didn't hear her. She'd already begun to read.

..Cookie has made some progress in his research on earth pony magic. Clover is most enthusiastic. Pansy has contributed her own few notes on pegasi magic-- more often, poor thing, she acts as their test subject. .... they have quite a collaboration going, I think, despite their differences... they are close to a unified thaumaturgical theorem for all three branches of pony craft. But time passes and duty calls-- they are destined to be right-hoof ponies for their respective rulers;Smart Cookie, to

I wish they could stay at the tri-house collegium forever, and forget their differences... still, for now it warms my heart to see young ponies so relatively carefree...

...My role is a farce. I knew already the bitterness my father had over his task, but to know it oneself--! I am no representative of the earth ponies but merely the figurehead, to be chastised and upbraided for not wringing more work or more taxes out of my people. Our only reward for meeting our goals is to be given a higher one for the next year. The excuse is always the same: "We need more taxes to pay for all the charity and hard work we do as your rulers." Charity and hard work my marked flank. The most work they all do each day is finding a cushion to sit on while they raise the sun and moon, and their idea of charity is to feed the sparrows by passing the birdseed through their own greedy gullets first....

...another round of demands from Princess Platinum for more crops to pay for our 'fair share' of taxes. Several more ponies arrested by her guards and jailed for failure to pay. Fat, spoiled fool. How does she expect us to pay her exorbitant taxes when nothing grows? How does she expect us to grow anything when she throws all our farmers in prison? Even the rock farmers cannot produce jewels from our overworked land and in the ever-longer winters, yet in the name of her father she demands ever more...

...Conflict with the Pegasus cities. The pegasi are claiming that the unicorns are not dividing the spoils fairly. In retaliation they have begun kidnapping earth ponies to work as slaves in their fields. At first only colts and fillies (only! as if this were the least crime they could do to us!) but word arrives of entire earth pony villages being swept away. Commander Hurricane does not bother to deny this, proclaiming that if the pegasi do not receive fair tribute for the rain they bring, then they will take it in the form of slaves-- Though where in the Maker's name he plans for them to work I have no idea. The land overshadowed by the Pegasus cities is as barren and frozen as everywhere else...

....I pleaded with Queen Platinum to negotiate for the return of our people. She laughed. Laughed right in my face, demanding to know when an earth pony serf had gotten the delusion he had a right to make demands of the Queen. She dubbed me "Chancellor PuddingHead" in mockery. Chancellor Clover, bless her, pleaded my case as well, but Platinum brushed off her advice. As always... are we forever destined to be ruled by fools?

...Burned. All Smart Cookie's hard work, burned! By order of the wretched King. The poor boy, he broke down and cried after the guards had left... perhaps Clover still has some of her notes--

-- no, she does not. Her papers were among the first to be burned.

...ponies are starving. Not enough food to sustain us after slaving in the fields, and to feed the gluttonous mouths of the unicorns and the pegasi... unicorns have been talking of altering the length of the day and night and changing the angle of the sun, trying to deny the pegasi sunlight in retaliation for the pegasi withholding the rain and failing to control the freezing winds... Chancellor Clover has managed to talk Queen Platinum out of such foolishness, thank the Maker... though the poor girl is little more than the pampered queen's hoof-stool.

...attempt at a meeting between the unicorn and pegasi. I was forced to attend and bear witness. Broke down into a squabble over whose serfs and slaves were whose, and how much food was allegedly "hoarded." All that Chancellor Clover, Brigadier Pansy and I could do was sit there and watch them squabble over the remains of our tribes like two snarling dogs squabbling over a dried-out bone.

...Disaster! The unicorn and the pegasi are in open war. Madponies. Fools. The blizzards blow, the summer never came this year, our stores of food are gone, and they go to war?

In my own anger I was more than ready to have our ponies take up what arms we have and strike them from behind, but cooler heads prevailed. Counselor Smart Cookie, bless the Maker for sending you to me. Your plan is underway. Chancellor Clover has tricked the Queen into releasing the earth pony prisoners from debtor's jail, claiming that they were a burden on her soldiers and their dwindling resources; Pansy likewise has done the same for the slaves of the Pegasi nation, convincing Commander Hurricane (the empty headed blowhard) that they could easily round their earth ponies back up after defeating the unicorns (and I wonder how he plans to raise the sun again? With a winch?)(3)

Both sides plan for a massive battle on the frozen heath that was once Manticore Moor for this very night.  Once their forces are committed, the Earth Ponies will gather and strike out for new territory. We travel light, we do not stop. Clover-- clever, clever Clover-- devised a means by which we could travel as a group without stopping. We march in a column several miles long. After a certain distance, the first carts will pull to the side, stopping to rest till the last cart passes them. Then they will fall in behind the last carts and resume the march, till they pass the last resting cart, at which point they will stop again. We should be able to maintain a pace of ten miles an hour without stopping, with quarter to half hour rests for each wagon in between. If we see signs of pursuit, both columns will pick up and flee.

I pleaded with both Clover and Pansy to come with us-- they would have no friends here, were their treachery uncovered. They refused; they had hope yet that they might persuade their tribes out of this folly.

We leave tonight. Even now I am working to secure the few tomes of Earth Pony magic we saved from the Unicorn King's bonfires. May the Maker speed us on our way.... and may the gods rot those who have brought this upon us.

... at long last we have found new land. Smart Cookie is in raptures over the richness of the soil; the rock farmers likewise over the bountiful minerals in the stones. The land is wild and dangerous, with many perilous creatures and dangerous plants and wild magic running free. But it is lush and fertile; already the famine is forgotten as full bellies and rested hooves testify. Fields have been cleared, and the first crops have been planted. For the first time peace, plenty and the end of the foreman's lash.

We have voted to name this land "Everfree..."

...Another year, another bountiful harvest. Work proceeds apace on study of earth pony magic. Alas for Pansy and Clover, their insights would have been so valuable! .... I have gathered a few other scholarly minded ponies to help Smart Cookie carry on the work. Already they have made a few insights which I have noted down in my other journals. What we have already learned and formulated has proven invaluable against the manticores and hydras teeming in this land....

They found us.

The unicorns and the pegasi found us. It seems that their bitter war of attrition in the middle of the blasted ruins of our old homeland finally whittled down their numbers and forced them to flee. I received word today that two columns of ponies-- the unicorns to the west, the pegasi to the north-- were bearing down on us. Worst of all, Queen Platinum and General Hurricane had survived.

I cannot express, I cannot describe the rage I felt when I got word that those two miserable, wretched creatures had survived their own pointless war. They have destroyed whatever was left of our ruined land, and now they come to steal what we have made and put our foals in chains once more? No. Never again.

They will learn to their regret that the Earth ponies are more than prepared for them. I had feared this day would come; I have had our ponies prepare accordingly. There is not a pony in Everfree without sword, shield, and crossbow; there is not a settlement without arbalist, catapult and trebuchet.  Air cavalry? We have an air cavalry of our own, now; hot air balloons bristling with archers. Likewise our earth mages have prepared; the arrogant unicorns will have the shock of their lives when they see what lowly peasant earth magic can do when focused through stone and crystal. In two short years we have amassed a force to be more than reckoned with, as our enemies will soon learn.

...I cannot forgive them.

The fate of us all hinges on that, and I cannot.

We clashed on the land and in the air, as foreseen. Their shock at our resistance was written plain on their faces, even as we smote them out of the sky and snuffed their spells aborning. They were on the ragged end, and we were fresh to the fight.

The battle itself lasted little more than an hour, with terrible loss on all three sides. Then the windigoes caught up with them.

It was the windigoes all along. Those evil creatures, translucent as air, had fed on our hate and our warmth and our pain, gorging themselves even as they fanned the icy embers of our rage. When we earth ponies had fled we had been too filled with fear for them to feed. But the armies of the unicorns and the pegasi had still been fresh from the hot blood of battle. The two tribes had skirmished back and forth the entire journey, laying out a trail of battle and bloodshed like a trail of breadcrumbs for the windigoes to follow.

They came on the wings of a blizzard, ending the battle abruptly, forcing all of us... all of us who survived... to seek shelter in the caverns and tunnels under the hills of Equestria. We are all down here now, and even now the cold enroaches on us.. slowly, slowly freezing us to death. Some few of the unicorns and the one or two earth mages left have begun casting Cold Sleep spells on the weaker ones, the elderly and the young, so that the cold will not kill them outright. Will anything wake us, ever again? The scholars cannot say.

And the greatest irony of all, the one thing that could save us all, lies at my hooves.

The Crystal Heart.

It took a year and a day to be crafted. It was to be our nation's ultimate defense; a field of magic and light, powered by the innate magic in all the earth ponies of Everfree, that no creature of evil intent could ever penetrate. Even now it could save us, drive back the ice and the cold, drive away the windigoes who cannot digest magic or warmth with the taint of love upon it.

But it takes a spark to ignite it. A spark that none of us here can find, least of all myself.

Forgiveness.

The heart was a symbol of harmony and unity. We earth ponies had that as a lone tribe. But now the remnants of three tribes filled with hate are under its aegis, and it cannot work.

I look across the chamber now, and I cannot forgive. I cannot forgive Queen Platinum for her folly and wastefulness, her self indulgence at our expense. I cannot forgive Commander Hurricane for his arrogance and callous cruelty, his slave-taking and his warmongering. Neither of them, clearly, can forgive the other for the war they both wanted.

Our three 'advisors'... who we never heeded enough... are the same way. I could hear loud, angry words between the three of them. They will not speak or look at each other.

Oh, Smart Cookie, my poor grandson, what have I done to you?

Old fool. Old fool. Look at the Crystal Heart. If you had spent as much time working on this as you did on anything else, you might have finished it in time. Your tribe might have ignited it before the other tribes arrived; you might have prevented the war entirely.

I write these last words as I prepare to cast the Cold Sleep upon myself. I have failed my tribe. I can only ask that, if any survive to read this that they forgive me

...

...

...


The final page hovered in front of Twilight, unmoving. She looked up. There were several empty coffee cups and a few paper soup cups as well. Precious Lore had apparently come and gone several times, making sure that the unicorn was fed and watered during her marathon reading binge.

It was true. It was all true. And the journals were no fakes, either. The writing was in ancient Equestrian; the writing style, the ink color, the deterioration pattern of the paper... A quick passive age-testing spell came back as what could only be translated as "fricking older than you would believe." These volumes predated Celestia and Luna by generations, easily.

This turned everything she knew about Equestria on its ear--

Okay, maybe not everything. But a lot of really really important stuff about it.

And it made for some shattering realizations about the ponies around her.

Twilight paused, the page still hovering in front of her, and looked up at the elderly pony. "Precious Lore," she asked, "do the Crystal Ponies... hate unicorns and pegasi?" her eyes held a tiny bit of hurt.

Lore made a "Mmph" sort of sound. "You've been talking to Roller, is that it?" the older pony asked. At Twilight's blush and nod she said, "don't take what youngsters his age say completely to heart, dear. A lot of them make a lifestyle out of being bitter about the past and believing that 'the Hoss' is out to get them."

"The Hoss?"

"Oh, you know-- the Big Horse, the powers that be, the pony in charge!" Twilight made a silent "oh" with her mouth. Lore waved a hoof and went on. " It's a thing with a lot of the younger colts and fillies. Nursing a grudge and slouching around and wearing those earrings that let them keep their manes all mussed up.... don't you have youngsters like that in Equestria?"

"Yes, we have a few," Twilight said. "Well, not specifically like that but... anyway. Believe me, Lore, I have enough sense not to derive an entire graph from a single data point. That's why I'm down here, after all. And it's why I'm asking you. I want to know how ponies here really think and feel about us." She set the crystallized page down. "How do ponies here really feel about non-earth ponies?"

Lore bit her lip. "It's... complicated," she said. "Some are like Roller-- angry about the past, stumping about full of resentment and calling it 'earth pony pride.' Some are outright prejudiced, think that the other kinds of pony should be driven out of the Empire entirely. Some think we shouldn't even associate with non-Crystal ponies at all." She snorted. "But most of us... we're mostly just... uncertain."

"Uncertain?"

"Wary. Frightened. Gun shy. And you can't say you can blame us, can you?" Precious Lore pointed out. "Even before those horrible years under King Sombra, the throne went from being an earth pony throne to one filled by unicorns, and the throne's army filled with pegasi. And quite a few of our unicorn rulers, especially the last few before you-know-who, were bloomin' idiots." Lore snorted. "Tampering with the Heart to do our hair up. Imagine!

"Now Princess Cadence, she seems like a sweet and kind pony, and a good ruler. She and her consort prince are actually quite popular with ponies... a handsome stallion and a beautiful filly, newlyweds in the palace? Right out of a fairy tale," Lore chuckled, giving Twilight a nudge and a wink. "They have fillies and old mares all over the empire swooning at how romantic it all is." She sobered a bit. "But deep down every pony in the Empire knows; if Princess Cadence turned out to be a bad ruler-- if Equestria's armies of unicorns and pegasi marched in and took over-- there isn't a thing, not a single thing that any of us could do to stop it." She looked around. "Just like I know you could use your magic to smash and burn and destroy everything in this room, and I wouldn't be able to do a thing to stop it."

Twilight looked horrified. "I would never--"

"--But you could," Lore pressed the point home. "That's the whole point. And in the past, ponies like you did." She tapped the hovering page for emphasis, gently pushing it back down onto the table. "And not just umpty thousand years ago, either. It's made us a little bit fatalist, I think."

Another burning question rose in Twilight's mind. "The journals," she said. "Why did they end so suddenly? I mean, we know that they survived the windigo blizzard..."

Lore looked a bit sad. "The journals that came after this one were... lost. Destroyed. We don't know, but they were never found. Neither were the journals he kept about earth pony magic, or Smart Cookie's notes..." she shrugged. "Queen Platinum's father wasn't the last unicorn ruler to try to purge all research into earth pony magic. They may very well have succeeded..." she walked around the table and pulled out a small drawer in a nearby cabinet. Two pages came out. "These are all that we've ever found. One is from a journal written shortly before the departure from Equestria. One is from his journal written shortly before his death." She set the pages down before Twilight.

...Clover, you little fool. You silly little fool.

She had to find a way to replicate the Crystal Heart with unicorn magic. She just had to.

I can't help but feel angry at her, though I know better. She couldn't help it, she is as much a creature of science as Smart Cookie-- more so. Once the question had been laid she could not help but pursue the answer...

And she succeeded. She "borrowed" the Crystal for her research, and devised a spell that recreated the fire of the Crystal Heart. It was nowhere near as powerful-- the Crystal Heart alone protects all of the capital and grows stronger daily-- but hers can be created instantly, anywhere, and requires no carefully shaped and grown crystal to form. Already the balance of power in the triumvirate is shifting in the favor of the unicorns, and the disfavor of the earth ponies...already the discord grows.

She has realized what she has done, and come weeping to me, begging my forgiveness. I fear it will take me a long, long time to give it.

We have already taken the Crystal Heart back, and are organizing all those willing to follow us. I will not wait this time for famine or war to befall our people....

... So many years have passed. So many decades since we fled, yet again, leaving Everfree behind us. (Oh how my heart breaks at that loss!) Decades since Everfree fell into the clutches of a Draconequus, scarce few years after we left. The land we now live in is cold and wintry, but the Heart keeps our growing little kingdom warm and lit, and keeps both the cold of those who hate us and the madness of the usurper at bay...

...My grandson, bury me in the tomb prepared for me and mine. Bury me with my most precious treasures, as you will be buried with yours, that their memory may be preserved against some dark day long hence.

"Bury me with my most precious treasures, as you will be buried with yours..." Twilight murmured the words aloud. "Could he have meant his notes and journals? The long lost secrets of Earth Pony magic?"

"I know what you're thinking, dear," Precious Lore said. "But noone knows where his family tomb is. It was deliberately hidden by his descendants, its location deliberately unrecorded."

"Way too many ponies forgetting and losing things around here," Twilight grumped. "I swear it's a miracle anypony can find their shoes in the morning--"

"Hundreds of ponies over the centuries have tried to find it," Lore went on. "I even did a little snooping about for it, in my younger days. It's just a silly pipe dream."

Twilight looked Precious Lore in the eye. "Well that's not gonna stop me! Who was it that found the Elements of Harmony, huh? Who was it that found the Crystal Heart?"

"I don't know, who was it?" Precious Lore asked, curious.

Twilight gave her an exasperated glower. "Me. It was me, okay?" She jumped to her feet. "And now it's time for me to make it a hat trick. I'm Twilight Sparkle, prodigy, faithful student of Princess Celestia, bearer of the Element of Magic, and I'm going to find--" At that moment half a dozen cups of coffee and at least as many mugs of soup hit her bladder at once. "--a bathroom," she groaned. She bolted for the stairs.

"And right after that," she yelled as she hobbled frantically up the stairs, "I'm going to find the lost tomb of Chancellor Puddinghead!"

Chapter 10

The sun was beginning to set, early in the day as it was wont to up in the far north. Everypony save Twilight, who was still out at the library, was gathered in the drawing room, huddled around the fireplace. Nyx was sprawled out on the floor, reading her way through her favorite book of pony tales. Spike was snoozing in a beanbag chair, toes practically in the coals of the fire. Peewee was sitting IN the fire, perched on the top log, cheeping happily. Shining and Cadence were sitting in a pair of comfy overstuffed chairs nearby, sorting through an enormous stack of letters and scrolls the butler had brought in on a silver tray, sorted into two piles.

Cadence mumbled idly over one roughly hoofwritten letter. "Oh how nice," she smiled.

"What is it?" Nyx asked.

"A letter from a schoolfilly," Cadence said. "Your uncle Shining and I get fan letters every now and then. This one is writing to me and says she thinks I am very pretty, and hopes I have 'a very nice time being Princess.' " Cadence and Shining both chuckled. Cadence pulled out a postcard and a quill. The quill danced across the card. " 'Dear Berry Bloom, thank you for your nice letter, it was very sweet of you. Love, Princess Cadence.' " She floated the card over and let it rest on Spike's belly. "Spike... outgoing mail!"

"What? Oh, gotcha." The sleepy eyed dragon spat a little green flame on the paper. It vanished in a puff of sparkly smoke. He went right back to drowsing.

"That should make her day," Cadence said with a smile.

"Do you answer them all?" Nyx asked.

"As many as we can," Cadence said. "When you're a ruler, it never hurts to do anything that helps raise goodwill." She magically flicked another envelope from the stack next to her. "Hmm. This one is from Auntie Celestia."

"Hmm, that's nice. Anything important?"

"No, just she and Aunt Luna sending their love, etcetera..." Cadence scanned down the letter. "Oh, and Auntie Celestia wants to know if you've been feeling well-- if you've had any unusual magic surges or little growth spurts, or if you've felt any itching down your back, that sort of thing." Cadence frowned. "That's rather oddly specific..."

"Can't say as I have," Shining said. "well, now that you mention it I do get little tingles or itches down my back now and then lately. I think my uniform jacket needs refitting." He scratched his back with a hoof absentmindedly.

"I get back itches when my wings aren't preened right," Nyx contributed, flexing one of her little wings by way of demonstration.

The three of them pondered this a moment, then shrugged. "Just another one of Auntie Celestia's odd little jokes," Cadence guessed.

Shining Armor picked up an envelope from his own stack-- and hastily stuck it down in the wastebasket on the other side of his chair, pulling a face. He wasn't quite fast enough though; Cadence spotted him out of the corner of her eye. "Shiney, what was that?"

Shining Armor flushed. "Just junk mail," he half-lied.

Cadence wasn't buying it. "Shiniiing...." she said in a warning tone. Sheepish and annoyed, Shining Armor levitated the unopened letter back out of the waste can with a moue of distaste. "Just another one of those letters," he said.

"Those letters?" Nyx repeated, peering at the envelope floating between them. Was that lipstick on the seal? "Omigosh, is somepony writing mushy letters to Uncle Shiney??"

"Wuh oh, trouble in paradise," Spike muttered. He made as if to get out of his beanbag. "I'm outta here--"

"Oh stop it you two," Cadence scolded, amused. Shining Armor, for his part, sat there looking embarrassed and disgruntled. "Every now and them some schoolfilly--"

"Or dingy mare," Shining added in annoyance.

"It's a filly, Shining. Glitter and puffy gel pens. Anyway, there are a few fillies out there who get a crush on my handsome stallion--" she leaned across the end table to give Shining a kiss on the cheek "-- and they take to writing him 'mushy letters,' as you put it Nyx. Some all the way from Equestria." Her eyes twinkled. "You should see the fillies when we go out together on a parade or the like. It embarrasses him to no end."

Nyx giggled. "You mean, they're all--" she lay her fetlock across her brow-- " 'Ohhh, he's sooo handsome,' and blowing kisses and throwing kerchiefs and stuff?"  Nyx squealed with laughter at Cadence's nod. Shining just grumbled and slouched down in his chair.

Cadence gave him another kiss, this time on the ear. "You are just so adorable when you're flustered."

"I didn't see any of that when we went out the other day," Spike noted.

"I made a point of avoiding where they might congregate," Shining said dryly.

"So what do you do when they won't stop sending you love letters?" Nyx asked Shining, still giggling.

"I let her handle that," Shining said, waving his hoof at his wife.

Cadence opened the letter and scanned over it. "Yes, little hearts all over pink stationery," she said. She gave a sniff. "And, yes, possibly a half-gallon of perfume--"

"Make it stop," Shining moaned. Nyx and Spike laughed mercilessly.

Cadence pursed her lips. "Well, I don't want to be mean to the silly little thing, but really, I think this is her third letter and she really needs to stop..." she pulled an eight by ten glossy out of her little basket of letter-writing materials. "I think an autographed copy of our wedding picture should drop the hint, without embarrassing her too much in mixed company," she said. 'Thank you for your kind letter, Diamond Tiara, warmest wishes from Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor--"

"DIAMOND TIARA??" Spike and Nyx shrieked. Shining Armor and Cadence looked on in bewilderment as the two of them collapsed, shrieking with laughter. Spike rolled clear out of his beanbag chair, clutching his gut and howling; Nyx lay there face down on the rug, pounding the floor with a hoof and laughing till tears rolled down her cheeks.

It took several minutes for them to calm down-- and a couple minutes more for Nyx to wipe her face and get her hiccups under control-- and then they told the royal couple who Diamond Tiara was. "She's your classmate?" Shining Armor asked in disbelief. Nyx hiccuped again and nodded, unable to wipe the grin off her face.

"Wait'll Sweetiebelle and Scootaloo hear about this--!" she giggled.

Cadence got upset. "Nyx! Now you're not going to use this against her, I won't have it. I forbid you to tell her you know."

Nyx's face fell in dismay. "Awwww...! But Aunt Cadennnce...!"

"C'mon, Princess," Spike had to say. "This Diamond Tiara really is a little toad. Just a little teasing...?"

"No." Cadence frowned. "Now promise me you two aren't going to breathe a word about this," she said. "Not to her, not to your friends, not to anypony."

The two youngsters slouched, but they went through the motions. "I promise not to tell anypony. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," they droned. At Cadence and Shining's stare, Spike said "Pinkie Promise. You remember Pinkie Pie, right? From the wedding?"

"Nobody breaks a Pinkie Promise," Nyx said with almost frightening seriousness.

"Ah, yes. So I've heard," Cadence said. Applejack had told her the story of the time Pinkie Pie had thought she'd broken a Pinkie Promise. Eek. At least she knew Nyx and Spike were serious.

"Do you ever get letters like that from colts?" Nyx asked Cadence. Ah the artlessness of youth.

Cadence smiled. "No, not really. Colts don't tend to do that sort of thing... write 'mushy letters' or the like. A colt is more likely to give you flowers, or chocolates, or maybe buy a HoofMark card..." she chucked. "They're adorable in person. They get all flustered and tanglehoofed and tongue tied when they see you..."

"Is that how you know a colt likes you?" Nyx asked, her inquisitive little mind filing the information away for future use.

Cadence didn't miss that little uptick in curiosity. She smiled enigmatically. "It's one of the ways you can tell," she said. She leaned over and gave Shining another nuzzle behind the ear. "Isn't that right dear?"

"Oh for--!" Shining suddenly shouted, startling her.  "Wait, what? No, not you--" he grumped and held out another lipstick-sealed envelope. "It's another one."

Cadence's magic aura plucked the envelope from his hoof. Cadence 'hmmed.' "Another one from Ponyville," she said.

Spike and Nyx shot one another a look filled with disbelieving glee. It couldn't be--

"From Miss Silver Spoon--" Cadence continued.

It was this scene that Twilight walked in on;  Cadence and Shining Armor sorting mail, Spike and Nyx rolling back and forth on the floor in hysterics. "Well, at least you all seem to be having a good time," she said warily. "What on earth is so funny?"

Nyx and Spike sat up, looked at her, looked at each other, and exploded into smothered giggles. "Can't say," Nyx said in obvious dismay.

"Pinkie Promise," Spike added between chortles.

Twilight started to say something, hesitated, started to say something again-- then shook her head, giving it up for a bad job. "I'll probably find out later," she sighed. "Spike, Nyx, would you go on to our suite? There are some things I have to talk about with your Aunt and Uncle."

At this Nyx started up the age-old whine. "Awww, but it's only six thirty!"

Twilight's response was firm. "And I'm not saying you have to go to bed, I just need you to give Aunt Cadence, Uncle Shining and me some privacy for a while. You can stay up and read or play a board game or whatever you like, but I need you out from underhoof for now. Go on..." She gave the reluctant filly a nudge and got her on her feet. Nyx grumbled but she obeyed. "You too Spike."

"Gimme a sec, just gotta get Peewee de-sootified, here," Spike said. He reached into the fireplace and plucked the phoenix chick out of the coals and gave him a cursory dustoff. Peewee cheeped and ruffled his feathers, scattering soot around him. Satisfied, Spike set the chick on his shoulder and trotted off after Nyx.

The adults waited until they heard a door close. Then Cadence and Shining Armor turned to Twilight. "Okay, so what's up, Twiley?" Shining Armor asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Cadence, Shining," Twilight said, pulling a transcribed copy of Level Head's journal out of her saddlebag, "I've learned some things about your kingdom's past, and Equestria's, that may change the whole world..."

Twilight spent the next hour relating the true Hearthwarming story to her brother and sister-in-law. There were copious notes and charts and maps; she had spent several hours after her discovery of the journal scratching together what correlated information she could from the scrambled shelves of the great library. It was all true; there were just too many historical and archaeological anomalies that suddenly had an explanation; too many odd puzzle pieces that suddenly fit.

When she was done with her presentation, Shining Armor and Cadence sat back, stunned. "This is, this is incredible," Cadence said. "Why haven't we heard any of this? Why wasn't I told?"

"Who would have told you?" Twilight asked suspiciously. Darn it, if Celestia was playing cryptic again...

"Twiley, Cadence is the heir apparent of the Crystal Empire," Shining Armor said. "She's related to Princess Celestia on her mother's side. But her father's side comes from a line of unicorns that... well, that we think is descended from the former rulers of the Empire before King Sombra usurped the throne."

"Family records were a little hard to come by after the Empire disappeared," Cadence said wryly. "We just know my great-great-great-however many greats grandfather and grandmother fled the Empire before it fell.

"I was raised on stories of the lost Empire. While Celestia and Luna kept it quiet, I was basically told from the very beginning about the lost Empire, that I was the heir to the throne." She looked back at her flank and smiled. "That's how I ended up with my cutie mark... the crest of the royal family of the Crystal Empire."

Her smile faded; she got to her feet and began to pace. "But in all this time I never heard anything about the origins of my kingdom. About the Crystal Heart, about the exodus, about any of it. Why would they not tell me all of this? And why didn't I learn about it here?"

"They may not have known the story," Twilight said. "Even before King Sombra, there was a concerted effort by the nobility to... suppress anything that might be embarrassing to the royal family or unicorns in general. Which at the time were one and the same thing. The reason the legend persists is because it was passed down as folklore, from parent to foal, in secret. There are at least five major oral versions of the, I suppose you'd call it the Crystal Hearthwarming-- The differences are fairly minor, but they are there.

"As to the library, I found out they've been doing things the way they did during King Sombra's reign: Hiding any books from you that they thought might get somepony executed."

"Executed?" Cadence gasped.

Twilight Sparkle nodded. "Simply being in possession of the wrong book during his reign got ponies beheaded." Cadence looked sick. "And he wasn't the first, either. Most of the unicorn rulers limited themselves to ruinous fines or even imprisonment. All the same..."

Twilight paused. "I don't think knowing that you are the rightful heir to the throne would be much of a comfort to the ponies here," she said.

Cadence turned and buried her head in Shining Armor's shoulder. "How in the Maker's Name am I supposed to fix that?" she lamented. Shining nuzzled her consolingly.

Twilight pressed on. "There might actually be an answer to that in the story," she said. "Remember what I said? The Crystal Heart was crafted by earth ponies. Not by unicorns. Chancellor Pudd-- Chancellor Level Head, Smart Cookie, Clover the Clever, Private Pansy... they were all engaged in research into earth pony magic. They were successful enough over the years that they were able to craft defenses for the Crystal Empire, and even to make the Crystal Heart."

"I don't see where you're going with this, Twiley," Cadence said.

Shining Armor straightened. "I think I do, sweetheart," he said. "Half the reason that the ponies here are so resentful and angry about the past is because they feel helpless. For all that earth pony magic can do, it's-- it's still just a plowshare to the pegasi's sword and the unicorn's shield. But if we could give them back their heritage, magic that the Founders knew... real, potent earth pony magic...."

"Level Head's lost tomb," Twilight continued. "It says he and his grandson Smart Cookie were buried 'with their greatest treasures--' "

"Which could only include their books and research," Shining armor said.

"Which would revolutionize magical studies in ways we couldn't imagine!" Twilight finished, practically bouncing on her hooves in glee.

Cadence's eyes went wide.  "To say nothing of what it would mean to find the long lost tomb itself...recovering such a national treasure..." She looked at Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle, I hope you have an extended vacation planned, because as Princess I am commissioning you to find the lost tomb of the Founders!"

"Yes! Oh wait, we need to inform Celestia and Luna about all this," Twilight said. Muttering to herself, she got out scrolls and ink. "Spike! I need you to-- oh right, sent him to our room..."

"Why'd you send him and Nyx out of the room anyway?" Shining Armor chuckled.

"Because little pitchers have big ears," Twilight said with a wry twist to her voice. "And bigger mouths. This is sensitive stuff, and I'd rather not have either of them blurting it out by accident-- Pinkie Promise or no Pinkie Promise. It's better that they know as little as possible till we have the whole story in one piece and ready to be heard."

"So what are they saying now?" Nyx asked. She was lying on the four-poster bed in the middle of the room, half-reading her book of pony tales and half watching her foster brother.

Spike looked over at her. He was leaning against the wall, ear pressed to a drinking glass. "Wow," he said. "Looks like we're all gonna be staying here a lot longer. Twilight's found out about some super secret long lost treasure tomb here, and Princess Cadence wants her to go and find it."

"Like in Daring Do? Cool," Nyx said.

Unknown to most, the Crystal Palace was riddled with what some would call 'secret passages...' in actuality servant passageways, made so that the staff could come and go through the palace unobtrusively and without tripping over the residents or guests. They were accessible through unobtrusive or even outright hidden doors, which were almost impossible to find unless you were deliberately shown or were cunning enough to know what to look for.

Naturally Nyx and Spike had found them all within a few hours of arriving.

There was one separating the drawing room and the guest suite bedroom. The instant they had gotten to the guest suite, Spike had beelined for the hidden door, glass in hand, and had positioned himself out in the servant's passageway with his ear (and glass) pressed to the wall. Nyx had fretted a bit, but had eventually decided that since Spike was in the hidden hallway for their room he was technically still inside the suite, so she let him eavesdrop without tattling on him. Besides, as Spike had argued, he was Twilight's number one assistant, and he had to do this sort of thing just to stay one jump ahead of her.

He was also being nice enough to keep her updated on what was going down. That was a big plus. Ever since her time as Nightmare Moon, she hated being kept out of the loop. Spell Nexus and his flunkies had done it to her, and it had caused no end of trouble for her. "Huh," Spike said. "I can't believe it. The whole Hearthwarming Day story--- turns out it was all wrong!"

"Really?" Nyx said, a little worry creeping into her voice. She'd gotten wind of this Hearthwarming Day thing from her friends, and like any foal the idea of a holiday with games, stories, candy and presents had appealed immediately. "You don't think they'll cancel it, will they?"

"What, Hearthwarming Day? Nah," Spike said. He reflected for a moment and his brows flattened. "But man are some folks gonna make a rumpus about it when they find out, oy. " He adopted a fake, nasally voice. "But it's traditioooonnn,' 'But it's inaccurraaaaaate,' blah blah blah blah blaahhh... It's enough to put you off your eggnog." He grumbled. "And then there are the ones who complaint about Santa.'But Santa isn't REAL.' How hard do you have to work at it to be offended by a fat guy who gives away free stuff?"

"Santa isn't real?" Nyx asked.

Whups. "Umm... not exactly." Nyx gave him a look. "Actually... no."

To Spike's surprise she took the news well. "I kind of figured," she said, only a little disappointed. "I measured our chimney. No way in heck." She rolled over on her back and looked at Spike. "So why does everypony keep talking about him?"

"I dunno," Spike shrugged. "Just a nice story somepony made up."

Nyx thought about it a bit. "I guess it's like when ponies say 'a little birdie told me,' " she theorized. "When they're giving away presents and don't want to tell who got it, they say 'Santa got this for you.' "

Spike shrugged. "I'll go with that."

Nyx rolled back over on her stomach. "Spike?" she asked.

Spike was distracted, trying to hear what Twilight, Cadence and Shining Armor were saying. "Yeah, what?"

"Are you still... angry at me?"

That got Spike's full attention. "About what?" he said.

Nyx looked at him. "After I, after I came back," she said. "You were afraid of me. And you hated me, I could tell."

"No, I--"

"Did so," Nyx said with finality. "You hated me, and you were scared of me too. I could tell. I'm not stupid."

The words stung. Spike came back into the room, closing the hidden door behind him. "I... I was angry at you," he admitted. "And scared of you, yeah." He stood there at the foot of the bed, twiddling his thumbs awkwardly. "You turned into Nightmare Moon. You banished Celestia to the sun and Luna to the moon! You locked the cutie mark crusaders up, and threw Twilight in a dungeon. You hurt a lot of folks, Nyx." Nyx bit her lip but said nothing.

The words burst out of him. "You nearly hanged Twilight, Nyx! Of all the things you did, that was the worst! If she'd died, I--"

"I didn't!" Nyx protested out in horror. "That was Spell Nexus! I saved her!"

Spike swallowed. "I know that now, Nyx. But back then I didn't. Nopony would tell me exactly what happened. Not for ages. They thought I couldn't handle it." He scowled. "Yeah, and me not knowing what happened was so much better." His face softened. "I-- when I thought you'd done that, I-- I did hate you." There, he'd said it. It hurt, but he said it. "I'm sorry I let myself feel that way."

To his surprise, Nyx leaned forward off the end of the bed and nuzzled him. "It's okay," she said. "I... kind of hated myself after all that, too."

Spike was taken aback. "Why do you forgive me?" he asked.

"Why did you forgive me?" Nyx said back.

Spike shuffled his feet. "Because... because you said you were sorry,and you meant it," he said. "Because you changed your mind and said you were wrong."

"And so did you," Nyx said. She broke the somber moment by 'boop'ing him on the nose with her hoof. Spike grinned. "But why did you change your mind?" Nyx asked. "I know you were angry at me, and scared of me. Why not anymore?"

Spike's smile turned droll. "Well first off it's kind of hard to be scared of Nightmare Moon when she's scared of Fluttershy's chickens," he said.

"Heyyyy," Nyx complained. "Those chickens have sharp beaks!"

"So? They peck me all the time, I'm not scared of them."

"Yeah, well I'm not covered in thick tough scales," Nyx said. "I'm softer and smooshier than you." She used her hooves to smush her cheeks in for illustration.

"Okay okay," Spike chuckled. He suddenly looked abashed. "But, the real reason I stopped being angry at you is Twilight talked to me and reminded me of some things I did..."

"But I don't trust her!" the little dragon finally blurted out. "I can't! I just can't forgive and forget, Twilight. Not after all she did!" He sat down on the floor, arms crossed, his face a mixture of defiance and unhappiness.

Twilight didn't get angry or shout. She just lay down on the floor next to him. "I know, Spike," she said. "I know it's hard to forget what she did. But she's our little Nyx again. Maybe a little worse for the wear, but it is her." She nuzzled the dragonling; he pretended to ignore her. "Please try to remember you love her. She could use somepony-- or somedragon-- like you right now."

"Why?" Spike demanded to know.

"Think about it, Spike. Think about what she's been through. She lost control... turned into a monster... did terrible things... hurt and frightened her friends... nearly destroyed the town... "

She rested her chin on the top of his head. "Hmm. Or is that somepony else I'm thinking of?"

"Hey, you promised never to bring that up again--" Spike huffed. His bout of 'greed-growth' was still a sore point with him.

Twilight chuckled. "Well I had to this time," she said. "Spike, you're probably the only one in Equestria other than Princess Luna herself that gets what Nyx is going through right now. And I'll bet she could really use a big brother who understands her like that. We all forgave you for what happened; please try and forgive Nyx in the same way."

She stood up to go back into the library, and looked back. "You know, there's one other thing that you and she have in common," she said.

"Oh really? What's that?" Spike asked, curious.

"You were brought back by somepony you loved."

"...Wow. You really turned into a giant dragon and... oh, that's why you didn't want to see that monster movie," Nyx said.

Spike nodded. "Yeah. They think it happened so fast because my egg was hatched with unicorn magic."

"So being greedy can make you grow into a giant?" Nyx frowned. "But I've seen you be greedy all the time!"

"Like when?" Spike said belligerently, hands on hips.

"Like any time you get near a tray of Pinkie Pie's cupcakes," Nyx teased. "You snarf 'em down like you eat out of a trough." She pulled her nose up with her hoof and made piggy noises at him.

"Heyyy..."

From elsewhere in the royal quarters came the call: "Spike!"

"Whups, that's my cue. She probably wants to write the Princesses, call it a hunch..." Spike grabbed a quill and ink and an armload of scrolls and hustled for the door. He stopped briefly. "Nyx? I never said it before but-- I'm glad you're back."

Nyx smiled. "Me too."

Spike waddled out the door.

Chapter 11

The spit-take was epic. Then again they always were. For a student of economic history, Market Forces(1) was easily startled by what others would see as fairly mild turns of events. Then again, his natural talent for seeing the long-range consequences of even fairly minor events, indicated by the row of three dominoes on his flank, was what made him such a valuable economic advisor to the Princesses. What insight they had gained by long planning and even longer experience, he was able to grasp almost intuitively. From time to time he even managed to leap ahead of the Princesses' own projections by a step or two.

So it was little surprise when, at an unscheduled debriefing over First Breakfast with the Princesses(2), Princess Celestia's casual one-sentence announcement caused him to spray tea over the table like a fire hose:

"It appears my faithful student is about to discover the secrets of Earth Pony magic."

Several minutes of choked out apologies and a round of napkins passed about to mop up the spillage, Market Forces managed to squawk "What?"

"He seems alarmed at the prospect," Celestia noted to her sister, amused.

"Methinks he is sharper than the average castle assistant," Luna retorted drolly.

Celestia regarded Market Forces with her trademark enigmatic smile. "Let us see what he thinks," she said. "Very well, Market Force, tell us; why does that little bit of news alarm you?"

The blonde-maned, green pegasus stared at her. "Let's start from the beginning," he said. "When she says 'The secret of Earth Pony magic,' she means--"

"A way for earth ponies to perform magic as powerful, controlled, and focused as Unicorn magic," Celestia finished. "Yes, that was the implication of the news she sent me."

"News?"

"Yes," she said. "It's all rather shocking." To his astonishment, she actually seemed to be perturbed. "It seems that there is an entire chapter of Pony history that was lost to us, that Twilight Sparkle only recently uncovered in the Crystal Empire's archives... in fact, a significant portion of our own country's history has been discovered to be... mistaken." She shook her head in disbelief.

In brief, she told him the story; the truth of the hearthwarming tale, the Crystal Heart, the schism, the founding of the Crystal Empire. With every passing sentence Market Force's jaw hung a little lower. By the time Celestia finished, his mind was reeling. "The implications," he said. "They're just staggering." He poured himself a fortifying cup of tea and downed it.

Luna looked distressed ." Strewth," she said unhappily. "What changes will this make in yon Hearthwarming Day celebrations? When tis discovered how much of the tale is fore to aft..."

"Indeed," Market Forces admitted. "But I'm thinking more of the economic and political implications. When the unicorns find out that earth ponies can sling spells like they can--" He did a double take. "And your highnesses didn't know about this?"

"Market, the Hearthwarming Tale was already unbelievably old when Luna and I were born," Celestia said. "The founding of Equestria was as much folklore to us as it is to you."

"In truth, I do feel distraught," Luna said, picking up her cup and looking at Celestia, distressed. "I did love the pageants as a filly. To find out they are a lie..." She looked down in her cup, disconsolate. "Chancellor Puddinghead was my favorite," she said in a small voice.

"It is rather like when we found out Santa wasn't real, isn't it," Celestia said sympathetically. She sighed. "In retrospect this version of the tale makes far too much sense."

"How do you mean, your Highness?" Market asked.

Instead of answering, Celestia set down her cup and got up. "Walk with me, Market Forces," she said kindly. Nodding obediently, Market Forces got to his hooves.

Luna got up as well. "If you will excuse me, Sister, I must be off to my chambers." She gave Celestia a nuzzle and turned to leave. "I must needs be rewriting the Hearthwarming Play for this coming winter," she mumbled to herself in discontent.

Celestia and Market Forces strolled slowly through the halls of the palace. "Tell me, Market," Celestia said. "When you were growing up, did the Hearthwarming pageant story ever seem off to you?"

Market Forces paused in mid stride, then continued walking. "Well, yes," he admitted. "Now that you say it. Yes, it did."

"In what way?"

Market Forces reminisced, speaking slowly. "Even when I was a colt, the ending of the tale seemed too pat. Too trite. 'Oh, they all became friends and the Fire of Friendship drove the windigoes away, and they lived happily ever after, the end.' Oh I'm sure the Fire of Friendship... or rather, the fire of the Crystal Heart, if what your student has found proves true... did save the day. But in the end they hadn't solved the real problem."

"Which was their prejudice and racism," Celestia said.

Market Forces shook his head. "No. Not that those weren't problems, but they were caused by another, deeper problem."

"Which was?"

"Economics." At Celestia's glance he shrugged his wings. "Look, your Highness, I know ponies crack wise about how I have a cash register for a brain, but I see things in these sort of terms. And the real problem that was causing all the strife was an economic one."

"Continue," Celestia said, ever benevolent.

Market Force's thoughts began to pick up steam. "You see, let's say the Hearthwarming version we all know is correct," he said. "Even as a colt I knew it made no sense. It's always presented that all three ancient tribes contributed equally, and that all three tribes were equally at fault for the conflict. But that's rubbish. It's plain as the nose on your face that the earth ponies were getting shafted."

"But all three tribes contributed something," Celestia pointed out. "The pegasi controlled the weather; the unicorns raised the sun and moon--"

"Yes, but the earth ponies were the only ones making an actual sacrifice," Market Forces said. "They were having at least two thirds of every crop taken away. Two thirds!" He shook his head and snorted. "That was food right out of their children's mouths. I dare you to find any subsistence farmer today who could survive on one third of all his crops, and that's with modern agricultural methods. And for all their work, did the pegasi get two thirds less weather? Did the unicorns get two thirds less sunshine? No. They suffered no actual capital loss-- and they were producing what they had to anyway, whether the earth ponies existed or not.

"You can see where this would have to lead. The earth ponies are laboring under a tax burden so high as to be unsustainable, and seeing nothing substantial for their contribution; and because the earth ponies had less and less to themselves each year, the unicorns and the pegasi would get less and less tribute each year--- a bigger and bigger piece of a smaller and smaller pie. And then the windigoes moved in." Market Forces shook his head. "It could be an object lesson in the folly of socialist or communal systems, the consequences of price fixing, the fallacy of absolute values, tax revenue curves..."

"An enlightening insight from an interesting perspective," Celestia said.

"Um, thank you?" Market Forces said uncertainly.

She lowered her head and looked him in the eye as they walked. "I'm not politicking, Market Force," she said, amused. "It really is. And it's also one hundred percent correct."

"It is? I mean, it was?" Market Forces was pleased. Knowing you were right was one thing, but having other ponies say it was always so much more validating.

"Yes." Celestia straightened up. "Though the Hearthwarming tale does get the timeline wrong." She frowned prettily. "More than Luna or I suspected, to judge by what I read in the book Twilight sent me."

"Er, timeline?"

"Yes. One can put the puzzle pieces together, with Level Head's journal. The arrangement the three tribes had-- the one that the Hearthwarming Pageant shows at the beginning-- is the arrangement the three tribes had after the Windigoes were defeated," she said. "Arranged because it seemed the fairest to all three tribes. It was obviously a vast improvement over the slave and serfdom system of lost antiquity. Which, I have to repeat, neither my sister nor any of our generation I knew of. When we were born the hearthwarming legend was already old...

"At any rate, we were born during Discord's reign. After we overthrew him (and finished scraping the caramel off the palace), the ponies of Equestria began to return to that three-way system. It took barely a year for its flaws to start to surface.

"My sister and I went into deep discussion over the matter. We consulted with every sage we knew of every race; dragons, griffins, the buffalo, the zebra-- we even used the Window of Dimension to peer into other realms and speak with creatures of other times and planes of existence. Von Mises, Hayek, Bastiat, Sowell...(3)

"After much consideration, we took the necessary step..." Her eyes twinkled. "Can you guess what it was?"

"Um, you took the throne and forced everypony to play nice?" Market Forces hazarded.

"Well, we did do that," Celestia admitted. "But--"

"No wait," Market said, coming to a halt so suddenly he sat on the marble floor. He tapped his hoof as the thought gelled, a smile spreading on his face. "Oh, brilliant-- you took the Sun and Moon out of the equation."

Celestia nodded, pleased. "Exactly! Mind, the fait was rather accompli when our cutie marks appeared. But in retrospect they were perfect. By their natures, they could not be biased, could not be used to show favoritism to one group over another, could not be used divisively, or at least not without terrible difficulty.  Their light was a utility that had to be, by their natures, distributed with perfect impartiality to all ponies, great and small, and nopony could prosper from it at another's detriment."

"But more importantly," Market Forces said, interrupting in his eagerness, "was what it did to the unicorns. It put them out of a job." He got back to his feet and trotted alongside the princess.

"I think you have the gist of it," Celestia said. "But continue."

"I can imagine what it was like," he said. "One morning all the unicorns wake up and discover that the Sun and Moon are no longer in their control--"

"You should have seen the look on Princess Platinum the Fourteenth's face," Celestia smirked. "Ah, I wish I'd had a camera back then. Or a portrait artist; she held that pose for nearly half an hour."  The ever-dignified Sun Princess reared her head back, bugging her eyes out and dropping her chin dramatically.

Market snorted with laughter. "---And suddenly the entire tribe is, well, unemployed," he finished. " They have to go looking for new ways to earn their daily bread; paying for it with their actual labors, rather than relying on their 'fair share' for raising the sun every morning.

"Unicorn magic makes unicorns the most flexible of the three tribes, with more diverse abilities. With effort, they can do whatever the other two tribes can. A unicorn can make weather..." he mentally recalled a stage magician who had summoned small storm clouds as part of her flamboyant stage act. "A unicorn can grow food, too. They won't be as naturally good at it, mind, but they can work their way around.

"Which means the other tribes now have marketplace competitors. So they have to step up their game; find better ways to use their natural abilities, or maybe work outside them... and the free market requires everypony to give their best value for the bit, while working under the same rules-- fairness, equality, open trade, free and voluntary exchange. Nopony can just demand payment anymore; they have to earn it."

"By offering other ponies what they want and need," Celestia said, "and by accepting what ponies are willing to pay for what they offer." She came to a halt; they had traversed the length of the castle and were now standing on one of the many open-air balconies that dotted the sides of its many towers. A fresh morning breeze blew, ruffling Market Force's mane. "That's the secret of Equestria," Celestia continued. "It's not the Magic of Friendship that makes it go. Oh, make no mistake, that magic is the lubrication, the vital grease in the gears. But it is competition that makes those gears turn."

"Not perfectly though," Market Forces ventured.

"Nothing is perfect, nor ever will be," Celestia said. "But no, it is far from perfect. The triangle is still lopsided. The pegasi still hold a monopoly on the weather and on the sky. We ameliorated that somewhat by making the weather service a government agency, on the grounds that it was something that needed to be administered impartially--- but it's far from a satisfactory fix. Perhaps even a step too far in the wrong direction, for their sakes. And the unicorns still hold a vast advantage over either of the other two tribes, due to the power and versatility of their magic."

"That wide an advantage?"

"Take a pegasus, an earth pony, and a unicorn and show them a doorknob and see which one has the advantage," Celestia said dryly. "Did you know that earth ponies are nearly eighty percent more likely to get infectious diseases, including oral infections, just from having to turn doorknobs with their mouths?" Market Forces winced. "Off the hoof, Market Forces," the Princess continued. "What will be the result, if Twilight Sparkle's research yields fruit?"

"Short version, the economy will go nuts," Market Forces said. "Wild speculation, stock bubbles, ponies throwing large sums of money at fringe market investments and outlandish speculative industries. An explosion in questionable businesses and outright scams ranging from 'learn the secrets of the Earth Pony ancients' to 'Don't fall behind! Triple your hornpower!' " Market snorted at that one.  "A push for either the doors of the School for Gifted Unicorns to open to Earth Ponies, or a new school solely for Earth Ponies. Agitation for more investigation and research into pegasus magic..."

"And all that from those who are not actively hostile to the discovery," Celestia nodded. "And there will be a few who are hostile to it. Very much so. My little ponies don't like change very much."

"To say nothing of what it will do to the Hearthwarming Day," Market Forces added. "No small issue; Hearthwarming is a huge economic 'bump' right at the end of the year. The ripples from that won't exactly be trivial."

Celestia nodded. "It appears that my sister and I have a lot of planning to do," she said. "A lot of damage control to plan in advance."

"I'm afraid my advice is limited in that regard," Market Forces said apologetically.

Celestia chuckled. "That's quite all right, my little pony," she said. "Your job is to read the tea leaves for me, not to brew the tea." She looked out over her kingdom, shining in the early morning sun.

"No, I have others who do that..."

(1)A young pegasus from the Forces family. His aptitude for economic, rather than aerial combat had been something of a disappointment to his family. At least till the day he earned his cutie mark by doing a financial takeover of every cloudberry-juice stand in his neighborhood.

(2) or after dinner tea, in the case of Princess Luna.

(3) She didn't mention consulting with Keynes, Marx or Galbraith, for the same reason you would not mention the time you had passed through a small town in a foreign land and patiently listened to the ramblings of the village idiot... Marx was an eighteenth century crackpot who thought a cherry pie and a mud pie should cost the same because they both took an hour to make. And Keynes thought that having the government take your wallet and max out all your credit cards would improve your finances, because spending lots of money was proof you had a robust economy... This sort of thinking requires a lifetime of higher education; No mere mortal could be that idiotic.

Chapter 12

"....But doesn't that just mean that all the tribute stuff that went to the unicorns just now goes to the Princesses?" Nyx frowned.

"Actually no, it doesn't," Twilight said. "Can you guess why?"

Nyx scrunched up her face, trying to think. "Beeeeecause  the Princesses stopped all the taxes?"

Twilight laughed. "Noooo, we still pay taxes. Try again."

Princess Cadence was going to make a public announcement that day. It was going to be a formal occasion, and Nyx and Twilight were in the process of getting ready. They were dressed in their best outfits, and Twilight was brushing out Nyx's mane. While she worked, she'd been giving Nyx an impromptu lesson on some of the quirks of Equestrian-- and Crystal Empire-- government and history.

Nyx frowned. "I need more data before I form a hippopotamus," she said solemnly.

"That's 'hypothesis,' dear," Twilight said, amused.

"Hypothesis. And I do need more data," Nyx said.

"Okay, I guess that's true," Twilight said. "How about this: why could Princess Celestia give Granny Smith's family that big chunk of land?"

"Because she owned it?"

"Got it in one," Twilight said. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both own lots of land; farmland, city land, beachfront property too. They own lots and lots of businesses and buildings and other things, too. Even if they weren't Princesses, they'd be very very rich."

"So they don't need any money because they make lots of their own, right?"

"Actually they don't get a single bit."

"Wait, what?" Nyx tried to twist around in her seat to look up at her mother in confusion.

Twilight gently but firmly turned her around so she was facing forward again. "Eyes forward, please." Twilight said. Nyx grumped, but she complied. "You see, about five hundred years ago, since Princess Celestia owned land, Princess Celestia had to pay bills and taxes and other things like anyone else. And Princess Celestia was having trouble with debts. And taxes. And bills. And bills and bills and bills and more bills....

"So Princess Celestia made the House of Lords a deal. If they would clear out her debts, forget her taxes, and give her a yearly allowance, she would let the House of Lords have all the money made off Princess Celestia's lands and buildings and businesses. ALL the profits. For the rest of her life, or as long as she was on the throne. So they took the deal. They cleared out all her taxes, paid off her other debts, and put her on a yearly allowance. Princess Cadence is trying to make a similar arrangement here with the Crystal Empire."

"Gee." Nyx said thoughtfully. It was weird thinking  Princess Celestia was on an allowance like her or her friends. "How much does she get?"

"Oh, about fifty million bits," Twilight said.

"Fifty million bits?" Nyx squeaked. Holy cow. "That's a lotta cupcakes!"

Twilight chuckled. "It sure is," she said. "But you know how much the government makes off the Princess' lands? Two hundred and fifty million bits."

"Wow, that means--" Nyx concentrated for a moment. "That means they make two hundred million bits off the Princesses every year..."

"Well, a hundred and fifty million bits, since Princess Luna returned," Twilight said. "They have to give her an allowance too."

Nyx thought for a moment. "Wow. They're taking the Princesses to the cleaners."

Twilight snerked. "Well, Princess Celestia always told me it was worth it not to have to fill out tax forms," she said. "Okay, now turn around and let me look at you." Nyx stood up and turned around. She was dressed in a light summer dress of Rarity's design that brightened her appearance to a more 'summery' look. Her wings were covered-- not hidden, only lightly covered-- by a drape of light thin cloth over the shoulders. Rarity had wisely decided that Nyx should neither hide her alicorn nature, nor openly flaunt it; either approach would draw attention, she argued. One could tell that Nyx was an alicorn, but unless she flared her wings out from under the cloth, one would have to scrutinize her rather closely to see it.

The ensemble was somewhat marred by the addition of a pair of sunglasses. Nyx's sensitive eyes still hurt her in the dazzle of the Crystal Empire day, so it couldn't be helped. Thankfully Twilight had managed to find some more subtly sized sunglasses than the enormous pair Nyx had adopted on her arrival. "There, pretty as a picture," she said. "Even if you do look like a movie star with those glasses."

"Yes, I'm fabulous," Nyx said, striking a pose. She held out a hoof, nose in the air. "No, no autographs, please--"

Twilight chuckled and got to her hooves. "And how do I look?" She was wearing a dress based loosely on her gown from the first Grand Galloping Gala. It was more conservatively cut, though; the high collar had been changed to an off the shoulder cut, and the skirt was less billowy and more contoured to her torso. It went well with her Crystal Empire manestyling.

"You look very pretty, Mommy," Nyx said. "You always do."

"You better watch it, Twilight, she's buttering you up for something," Spike's voice came through the open door. He stepped into the room. He'd opted for his all purpose tuxedo... minus the hat and plus a pair of shades. Nyx blew a raspberry at him; he cheerfully blew a raspberry back.

"Looking sharp, Spike," Twilight said.

"As always," Spike agreed, smartly adjusting his tie. "Really though, you do look nice, Twilight."

"Thank you Spike," Twilight said. "And thank you too, Nyx." Twilight absently smoothed her skirt with her magic. "Come on, let's go join Cadence and Shining Armor."

"So what's this big public to-do about, anyway?" Spike asked as they trotted out of the royal quarters and into the hall.

"Cadence is going to make an official announcement about the hunt for the tomb of Chancellor Level Head," Twilight said. "She wants to let the Crystal Empire ponies know what we're up to-- and let them know who's going to be doing the hunting."

"You!" Nyx said, giving a little hop.

Twilight chuckled. "Yes, me. But not just me; there's going to be some other ponies involved, too. Some ponies from the Crystal Empire; some from Equestria. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are both very interested in this expedition; they say it will have repercussions for ponies in both countries, and all over the world!"

"Boy, no pressure," Spike grunted. He made a mental note to start stocking up on stress squeezy toys and chamomile tea; something told him Twilight was going to be going through both at an alarming rate.(1)

They met Cadence and Shining Armor in the hallway. Cadence in her royal tiara, torc and sandals; Shining Armor in his dress uniform. "Ah, are we all ready, then?" Shining Armor said. There was a muted chorus of agreements.

Cadence paused. "Wait, one thing..." She looked Nyx over, then looked to Twilight. "We've all been lucky so far. The Crystal Ponies don't associate Nyx's appearance with Nightmare Moon...."

"They don't even know about Nightmare Moon," Spike noted. "They slept through that whole mess."

"Exactly. But there's going to be ponies from the press at this, and photographers, and radio, and... well, let's just not press our luck."

A few potential headlines flashed across Twilight's mind. She shuddered. "Do you want me to get her disguise?" Twilight said, uncertain. She knew how Nyx hated having her wings covered up-- it was uncomfortable and made it easy for her to overheat.

"That won't be necessary," Cadence said. "Here." She tapped the tip of her horn to Nyx's forehead.

Nyx 'eeped' as a strange, tingly sensation spread over her from horntip to hooves. She looked down at herself; her inky black coat was now snowy white. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in a nearby wall. Weird. I look a little like Sweetiebelle this way, she thought. Well maybe not quite as curly in the mane and tail...

"There," Cadence said, satisfied. "That should last all day. It should be enough to deflect any undue attention, at least."

Twilight looked as if she was going to object, but she bit her lower lip and nodded. "I suppose it's the best thing," she said.  Ever since Nyx had been returned to her, Twilight had followed a policy of casual anonymity with Nyx. While she was careful not to do anything to draw pony's attention to herself or her daughter, neither did she disguise Nyx or hide her identity.  There were just too many ponies who knew Nyx already; besides, she wanted Nyx to have as normal a fillyhood as she could possibly manage-- and spending the rest of her fillyhood skulking around in disguise wasn't the way to do it.

So far it had worked. Everypony in Ponyville knew Nyx already, and pony's tendency to ignore or forget what wasn't deliberately attracting their attention had worked in their favor.(2) But Twilight knew when it was time to compromise; there was no sense in giving the press any printable opportunities for starting a national panic.

"Just for the evening, sweetie," she said to Nyx, giving her a nuzzle. "Okay?"

Nyx nodded, still looking herself over. "It's okay," she said. "It feels a little weird..."

"What, does it itch?" Twilight asked.

"No, it doesn't feel weird like that," Nyx tried to explain. She looked at her reflection again. "I just feel weird being a different color."

Twilight made a little 'oh' of understanding.

"Well, we can't keep our guests waiting," Shining Armor. He sounded a little nervous. "shall we, ladies?" They all trotted for the banquet hall, Spike bringing up the rear, the royal guard falling in behind them as they went.

Cadence, Shining and their advisors had debated how to make the announcement. They had settled on a banquet, inviting both the Crystal Empire nobility and the press. It was a diplomatic tactic as old as time; one didn't need to be a genius to realize that news tended to be accepted more amiably over a full belly and the rim of a full cup. Cadence, fortunately, had not succumbed to the same conceptual drift that plagued most cultures--- the accretion of time and tradition and formality that turned what was supposed to be a pleasant feast into a stuffy, nerve-racking ordeal. This was to be no rubber-chicken banquet, not on Cadence's watch; The food was good, filling, simple and plentiful, the beverages were served in large cups and the portions were hearty.

And yes, the Empire did have nobles, though they were even newer to their positions than their new Princess. Sombra had wiped out all the existing noble families, and erased any trace he could find of their family trees. Cadence had been in the ironically enviable position of being able to pick out new ponies upon whom to bestow the titles of knight and baron, lord and lady. Consequently there were few of noble title at all, as of yet. Cadence wanted to establish a system like in Equestria, but it appeared that whatever was formed was going to have to be drastically modified simply for lack of sufficent lords to fill a House.

This was all written on the wind, for now;  the rebuilding and recovery of the Empire took precedent, and for now Cadence was an absolute ruler and her few hoof-picked Nobles were supervisors, each given a portion of the Imperial territory to oversee on Cadence's behalf. The nobles and courtiers she was now going to address were consequently a skittish bunch; Many of them had already become tenacious in their scheming and powerbrokering, unconvinced that their positions of power and prestige would last-- and taking a distressingly short-term perspective as a result. Canterlot nobles made agreements and alliances and back-room hoofshake deals for an idle chance at a bit more prestige at court. These courtiers, on the other hand, were playing for keeps, determined to make hay while the sun still shined. Cadence was constantly working to persuade them that their positions truly were for keeps.

Hopefully, some of the announcements the royal couple were to make at this banquet would ease their concerns.

They arrived in the gleaming banquet hall, the Crystal Heart's bedazzling effect blanketing them as they stepped through the door. It was still early; ponies were still milling about, chatting with one another; those from the press chatting up various nobleponies or their aids in hope of an early scoop. Cameraponies were setting up their equipment to get the best angle or walking about snapping idle shots, flashbulbs popping, while others-- presumably from the radio stations-- were setting up the microphone and sound system at the head of the banquet table where Shining Armor and Cadence would be seated.

The three adults soon were engrossed in a conversation with one of the new titled nobility, who was nervous about some trade agreement or other and how it would affect the businesses in his community. Nyx found herself unable to follow any of it, and was quickly bored. She drifted away from Twilight's side-- just a little ways!-- so she could watch the pony setting up the sound system. He was a scruffy blue and teal earth pony with a  microphone cutie mark and an enormous pair of headphones wrapped around his head, and he was lying on the floor under the podium, mucking about with cables and wires and a box covered with dials. Every now and then he would stop and tap the microphone, making the speakers thump, then shake his head at whatever he heard through the headphones and go back to fiddling.

After a moment he noticed the tiny white filly watching him work. "Hey kid, do me a favor?" he said. She looked around and pointed to herself with a hoof. "Yeah, you. Would you be a sweetie, hop up on that chair, and say something into the microphone?"

Nyx blinked. "Okay," she said. She climbed up in the chair as instructed and faced the alien device. She hesitated, and looked down at the workpony. "Um, what should I say?" she asked uncertainly.

The pony pulled the headphones away from one ear. "What was that, kid?"

"Um, what should I say, sir?" Nyx said. She was trying to be polite, and his brusque manner was making her nervous. Her voice came out barely louder than Fluttershy.

The techie rolled his eyes. "Just say 'testing,' okay kiddo?" he let the headphone slap back against his ear and stuck his head back under the table. "Just say it loud and clear so I can hear it."

Nyx nodded and took a deep breath.

Now one needs to understand a few things. Nyx, at this point in her life, had absolutely no personal experience with microphones, speakers, or any of the more modern accoutrements of sound broadcasting. As a filly, she'd only seen ponies in Ponyville using megaphones. As Nightmare Moon, she'd relied on the Royal Canterlot voice. Lesson learned: the only way to be heard was to be loud. So when an adult pony with big clunky earmuffs over his ears told her to say something loud enough for him to hear it, she took him at his word.

It wasn't the Royal Canterlot voice, but Luna would probably have applauded the effort.

"TES-TIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!"

The walls of the banquet hall vibrated to the tune of well over a hundred decibels of sound. Ponies all over the room nearly jumped out of their skins. The speakers moaned in pain like ocean beasts and spat sparks and smoke, while the hapless techie under the table kicked his back feet into the air and yowled like a timberwolf that had fallen into a wood chipper.

Nyx ran for her life.

It took a few moments for the ponies present to figure out what had happened. When they did, a heartfelt belly laugh went up as the hapless filly ran back and buried her face in her mother's skirts. The laughter only redoubled when the techie made his appearance, wobbling slightly and glaring angrily about, wisps of smoke rising from his headphones.

"Whouf! Nyx, what in Equestria--?" Twilight exclaimed as Nyx plowed into her side. Nyx refused to explain, just trying to hide herself in the folds of Twilight's skirts as an embarrassing number of flashbulbs started going off. "He told me to," was all she managed to squeak out.

Mercifully, the chef and the waitstaff chose that moment to come out and announce that the meal was served. Everypony began cheerfully gravitating to their seats, appetites whetted by the brief wait.

The main banquet tables were arranged in an enormous horseshoe shape, with the head table and the speaker's podium at the top of the curve. Cadence and Shining Armor, of course, sat at the head table. Cadence sat at the exact center of the table with the podium to her right-hoof side and Shining Armor to her left. Twilight, Nyx and Spike, being in Shining's immediate family, sat to Shining's left, in that order, while the Duke, Duchess, and Mayor of the Imperial City sat on the right side of the podium. Two or three high-ranking officers (or ponies who soon would be, once the announcements were made) sat to either side, followed (going down the arms of the horseshoe) by  businessponies, dignitaries, high-ranking government officials and their families. The press, various minor celebrities and political hangers-on sat at the many individual tables in the center of the room, encompassed by the sweeping arms of the horseshoe; the serving staff scurrying between the islands or round the outside, offering various platters to the guests.

Despite being large enough to host a hoofball tournament the hall was packed to capacity. Between the gleaming crystal walls, the enormous overhead chandeliers and being packed with-- figuratively and literally-- the glitterati of the Crystal Empire, it looked to Nyx's eyes like a gigantic jewelry box, or a crystal figurine collection come to life.

Nyx looked around the room. Most of the bustle going on was meaningless and confusing to her, and to a young filly confusion and boredom were close cousins. The waitstaff was serving soup (that was all? soup? Wasn't this supposed to be a big fancy meal?) so she ignored them and started scanning the crowd to see if she recognized anypony. Maybe the Wonderbolts were here, or something.

To her surprise, she actually saw somepony she recognized. At one of the smaller round tables, at the very front, a familiar white unicorn colt was seated. It was Bright Eyes, the colt from the movie theatre. She almost-- almost-- shouted out his name, remembering herself only at the last second. Instead she settled for waving her hoof gleefully at the unicorn colt.

...Who saw her and stared at her in absolute confusion. It took Nyx a moment to realize: she had been black the last time he saw her, and now she was a very literal sparkly white. She facehoofed.

Taking a quick look around to make sure noone was looking her way, Nyx lifted up her sunglasses and let the colt see her eyes. Bright Eyes' mouth formed an "o" of recognition when he saw her cat-slit eyes. He looked a little confused, but smiled and waved back.

Twilight brushed her hoof down. "Don't do that," she whispered. A moment later she asked. "Who were you waving at anyway?"

"The colt in the front, there," Nyx said in a stage whisper, pointing at Bright Eyes.

Twilight followed Nyx's hoof. "Oh, you've made a friend here?" she said, pleased. "Where did you meet him?"

"Um, at the movie theater," Nyx said. She recalled certain portions of that little outing that she and Uncle Shiney had neglected to mention to Twilight, and was suddenly VERY attentive of her soup. She hastily spooned some up. "Umm. What kind of soup is this?"

"Bouillabaisse, I think," Twilight said, distracted by the question. "When--"

"It's awful thin. I think it needs more booya."

"--When did you go to the theater?" Twilight pressed on patiently.

"Um, Uncle Shiney took me and Spike," Nyx said casually. Too casually.

Twilight might have only adopted, but her mom-genes were fully active. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously; Nyx was clearly hiding something. "Oh, and what did you see?"

"It was called 'There and Back Again,' I think." Nyx hastily spooned up more soup.

"You think?" Twilight asked, suspicions fully aroused now. Nyx only mumbled something around her spoon. "Nyx, did anything happen at the theatre?"

Nyx gulped and hastily scooped more 'booya base' into her mouth, then pointed to her closed mouth. Can't talk, mouth full...

Twilight pursed her lips, vexed. Fine, we'll play it that way, she thought. "Shiney?" Twilight said sweetly, turning to her brother.

Shining Armor looked up from his bowl, ears pricked. "Yes?"

"I hear you and Nyx went to the movies the other day," Twilight said. "You didn't have any problems, did you?"

Shiney was far from dumb; he could hear the edge in his baby sister's voice. He could also see his niece over her shoulder, staring at him, hooves together in prayer and silently mouthing please! He was also fully aware that he would be in no small amount of trouble if the truth about their little movie theater fiasco got out. He made a quick verbal feint. "Oh, um--- oh, enjoying your soup, Nyx?"

With uncanny speed Nyx managed to spin around and start spooning her soup before Twilight turned around. "Mmm Hmm," Nyx said between spoonfuls. "Mom says it's booya-base."

Shining Armor regarded his own bowl. "Needs more booya."

"I thought so too..."

"You two-- " Twilight said, exasperated. "Tell me what happened at the theater..."

"Can't talk, eating soup," Shining muttered, sampling his.

"Mm hmm," Nyx agreed.

Twilight groaned in exasperation and flipped her hooves heavenward. "Fine. I have other ways to find out..." she said with overtones of menace.

"No you don't, I already bought his silence with a bag of emeralds." Shining didn't even look up from his spoon as he said this.

Twilight gaped at him, then turned and looked at Spike. Who was very busy trying to look innocent, all of a sudden. "Sorry Twi. Confidentiality agreement," he said. "Good soup by the way. You should try it."

Twilight looked to Cadence, silently pleading for help. The crown princess of the Crystal Empire offered no comfort. She was too busy trying to keep a straight face and pretend not to hear anything.

Twilight shot all of her family an evil look. Fortunately they were all spared a gruesome fate by the arrival of the salad course.

The meal proceeded without incident. Nyx found the procedure confusing, and a little exasperating; living with Twilight had made her accustomed to "one meal, one dish," and had been diligently taught to clean her plate. Here they kept switching her plate or bowl out, and often before she'd finished! Twilight didn't say anything though, so Nyx supposed it was okay this time.

She was actually hungry, though, and having her plate snatched away by hovering waitstaff in mid bite was starting to get on her nerves. She'd started to whine at the waitress who took her half-eaten salad that "I wasn't done yet!" but Twilight shushed her and told her there would be plenty of other things, just eat some of what came next. Nyx had obediently stifled her complaints. But she had taken to glaring at the waitstaff if they moved in too quick.  Being professionals, the waiters and waitresses ignored her scowls and continued about their task.

Dessert finally arrived. To Nyx's delight, it was ice cream, arranged in thick curling petals, like an enormous rose. For once she didn't mind the chefs making her food all fancy-schmancy.  "What kind of ice cream is this?" she whispered to Twilight, picking up her spoon.

"It's gelato," Twilight whispered back.

Puzzled, Nyx took a spoonful looked at it. "What's a gelato taste like?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Just eat your dessert..."

Nyx complied. Apparently gelatos tasted like strawberry. She dug in with a relish. I'll bite that waiter if he tries to take this away, she thought to herself.

Fortunately nopony got bit.(3) As ponies were settling back in their seats, chattering amongst themselves and digesting their meal, Princess Cadence got to her hooves and stepped up to the podium and the microphone. Spoons lingered over half-eaten desserts, flashbulbs popped, and countless ponies held their breath.

"My fellow ponies of the Crystal Empire... no, do continue eating," she said with a smile. "The dessert is excellent and it would be a shame to see it wasted. My fellow ponies, we thank you for your attendance. There are matters we must discuss.

"For close to two years now, since the final fall of King Sombra, I have been your Princess. It has been a time of recovery and adjustment for all of us, with many changes made to adapt the Empire to the new world it finds itself in..."

The speech went on in this vein for a few minutes. Most of it went entirely over Nyx's head. Everypony applauded politely when she finished; then she introduced Uncle Shiney-- "Consort Prince Shining Armor"-- and stepped aside as he took the podium.

"Thank you. It has been my duty and my honor in this time of transition to serve as your interim Captain of the Guard. As always, we have been aware that this has caused some uncertainty and... dissatisfaction... with some of you." He paused and cleared his throat. Several ponies looked nervous, as if he had pointed them out in particular. "I do know... and do understand. But like many temporary measures it was necessary for the moment. However we have finally reached a point where the Crystal Empire's standing forces are ready. So It is my honor to present to you the new Captains of the Civil, National, and Royal Guards.(4)"

Two crystal stallions and one mare, all in dress uniform, got to their feet, to enthusiastic applause-- and some surprised murmuring. Nyx leaned over to her mother. "Why is everyone acting so weird?" she whispered.

"I'm not sure, Nyx," Twilight confessed. "It couldn't be because one of them is female,(5) could it?"

"Not exactly," a voice whispered in both their ears. Surprised, the two looked around. Though Cadence's expression was unchanging, Twilight could see her horn glimmer faintly. Ah, the Wind Whistler spell, Twilight realized.

The Princess continued 'speaking,' lifting her wine glass to her lips to cover for the spell. "Traditionally in the Empire, the head of the King or Queen's personal guard was female," she explained. "Never male. Make of that what you will. Putting a stallion in charge of protecting the crown is... unusual, as is putting a mare in charge of Civil enforcement. Differences in perspective on where the back of the herd is, one supposes."

Nyx wasn't quite sure what that all meant, but she decided not to dwell on it. Some of the things ponies made a fuss about just confused her. She watched as Uncle Shiney sat back down. He looked... sad, and tired.

Cadence took the podium again. "This was just the first of several announcements we wished to make for the ponies of the Crystal Empire," she said. "Firstly, I am pleased to announce that in accordance with the Crystal Empire's Constitution, the transitional House has approved a final date for the elections of..."

It went on like this for several minutes, as Cadence announced several new laws, the repeal of some others, new construction projects, a meeting for a trade agreement... in the back of her mind, Nyx found herself thinking that she was very, very glad that she hadn't ended up ruling Equestria after all.  It looked like it would have been tons and tons of work-- and boring, too. And that's even when ponies liked you and wanted you to be the ruler!

There was a long pause in Cadence's speech as ponies applauded and flashbulbs popped. Nopony else would have noticed, but there was a slight tremor in Cadence's wings as she prepared to give the last announcement of the day. "There is one final matter that we will be addressing today," she said, her voice calm and clear. "Due to recent discoveries made, and recent revelations made to myself by trusted sources, as Princess of the Crystal Empire I will be commissioning a royal historical and archaeological project. One which shall have great historical significance for the Crystal Empire, and will be of great importance to both the Crystal Empire and Equestria.... and possibly all ponykind." A murmur rolled through the crowd at this. "To give you the full details of this project, I present to you the pony I have selected to lead this project: Twilight Sparkle, first apprentice to Princess Celestia."

Twilight took a deep breath and settled herself. Nyx leaned over and gave her a quick reassuring nuzzle as she got to her feet. Twilight smiled at her and then turned her attention to the podium. She addressed the crowd that was out there somewhere under the popping flashbulbs.  

"Since arriving here I have been involved in the reorganizing and restructure of the Crystal Empire's great library," she said. "In the course of my work I was made familiar with the history and folklore of the Crystal Empire. Particularly, the story of its foundation, by Chancellor Level Head." Few ponies exclaimed at this; it was after all a familiar folk tale among them. "And discovered, to my astonishment, it's connection to Equestria's own legend of the Hearthwarming. What I have already learned here, from you, is going to result in a great deal of changes in Equestria's own history books. Not to mention a great deal of yelling and mane-pulling in the Equestrian Historical Society." Laughter greeted her dry announcement.

"But what has been uncovered goes beyond correcting and revising of old folk tales... as important as that may be," she went on. "What has been revealed is that your nation's very founding was predicated upon scientific discoveries-- a whole branch of world-changing knowledge--- that has been lost in the sands of time. Discoveries made by your own founders about the nature of magic itself." The crowd muttered amongst itself. "Those I have spoken to, even those among your own number, dismiss those claims as exaggeration or fabrication, things added after the fact by folklore and tale-tellers to color the story." (This was true; though crystal ponies knew of the legends that the Chancellor had crafted the Crystal Heart, even the crystal pony historians thought it a misunderstanding or a distortion-- that the Chancellor had only overseen the work, or may have at best merely been a rock farmer who provided the crystal from which the unicorns made the heart.)(6) "But what I myself have seen, I know this is not true.(7) The evidence for the truth of the tale is sparse, but solid." (Again, true. She'd procured it herself. With Cadence's help and under the cover of darkness she'd examined the Heart. All magic had a 'hoofprint' of its own. Discord's magic was fundamentally different than unicorn magic; alicorn magic was closer, but still unique... And although the outer layers of the Heart clearly had the tell-tale print of unicorn work, the core of its magic had a signature Twilight had never seen, not from unicorn or alicorn or draconequus or any other magical race.)"The ancient earth ponies did practice true, constructed magic."

A sussuration of astonishment rose in the room. "What is more, The archives indicate that Chancellor Level Head took efforts to preserve his work against the ravages of time, even after his death.  Those secrets may have been lost to time, but they may yet be recovered. To those ends, for the sake of science, and to advance the betterment of the earth ponies, the crystal ponies, and all the pony tribes, I will be leading a joint expedition of Equestrian and Crystal Empire ponies to find, and unearth, the lost tomb of Chancellor Level Head."

The mumble of the crowd rose to a roar. The newsponies rose to their feet, trying to shout questions over one another. The popping flashbulbs turned into a torrent of light that made Nyx's eyes water even through her tinted glasses. She held up her hoof, trying to shield her eyes. The bulbs made her foreleg stand out in black and white every time they flashed--

No. It wasn't just the shadows. Her hoof really was black. Every time a flashbulb popped, her snowy-white "disguise" vanished for a moment. And now the flashes were coming so thick and so fast, it was like there was no spell on her at all.

Nyx felt her panic start to rise. She looked over at Spike, who was staring at her with wide eyes. "Uh oh," she heard him say.

They shared a look that spoke volumes:

What do we do?

"It's HER!"

Nyx squeaked in panic and nearly jumped out of her skin. Someone spotted her! Her disguise was failing and someone spotted her and recognized her! It was all over! She looked around frantically. Certainly not Bright Eyes? No, there he was at his table, hooves over his mouth. He was looking at--

Nyx followed his gaze to another table. A couple of upper-crust looking ponies were sitting there, along with a colt in an uncomfortable looking little-lord-Fauntleroy suit. Nyx recognized the colt almost immediately; it was the lead bully from the movie theater. He was scooted back, pressed into his father's side, and was pointing straight at her with wide eyes and a trembling hoof. "It's her! It's the vampony!" he shrieked in a voice as high as a filly's.

Oh, no.

The attention of the crowd turned to the colt and the ruckus he was raising. His parents were busy grappling with him and scolding him for making a scene; he was busy protesting at the top of his lungs that no, she was a vampony, it was a trick, she and her minions of the night were going to spring on them all and suck their blood...

The embarrassed family finally gave it up for a lost cause and hustled out the door, to the amusement and consternation of the crowd. while everyone was staring after the departing group that had made this baffling outburst, Nyx took the opportunity to vanish and dove under the table.

She was joined a split moment later by Spike; she could have hugged him for that. "Okay, great, what do we do?" he muttered under his breath.

"Maybe we could crawl under the tables to the door?" Nyx whimpered.

Spike shook his head. "None of 'em are close enough to get there," he said. "we'll just lay low under here till we get an opening--"

The hem of the tablecloth (thankfully not on the side facing the guests) flipped up.  The two looked up; it was Shining Armor. He was leaning over sideways as far as he dared, looking at them out of the corner of his eye. "What. The buck. Is going. On??" He rasped through clenched teeth, smiling desperately.

"The flash bulbs," Spike said. "They're making Nyx's disguise spazz out."

Shining sat up straight and regarded the cameraponies in front of him. They seemed to be using fairly standard equipment, ordinary cameras with those new crystal-crafted flash strobes-- "horseapples," he muttered to himself. "The magic crystals they're using for flashbulbs must be illusion-penetrating.(8)" He sat back and thought quickly. "Okay, Nyx, you need to go to the bathroom."

"No I don't," Nyx said, puzzled. What a crazy time to---

"Yes you do." Shining motioned with his hoof for her to come out.

"What? Ohh." Nyx hastily scooted out from under the table, Spike trailing behind. Shining Armor casually escorted her from the room, smiling idly and saying things like "little trip to the filly's room" to whoever they bumped into, ever the solicitous uncle... ever so coincidentally standing so that he blocked her from the view of the cameras and their flashing strobes. Between the tumult over Twilight's announcement (who had begun taking questions from the audience) and the lingering distraction of the colt's outburst, they made it out to the lobby unscathed.

All three of them breathed a sigh of relief as the doors swung shut behind them. "Now what?" Nyx asked.

"Now we drop you off in the royal chambers," Uncle Shining said. "Thank goodness there are no cameras out--whups."

"Your majesty!"

Nyx looked over to see what it was. There was one other group out in the lobby at the moment; the movie theater bully and his family. The bully was getting one heck of an ear-bending by what looked to be half his extended family for causing a scene. The father, a balding, broad shouldered pony who looked rather like somepony who'd had far too much put on his shoulders in far too short a time, had seen the consort prince and his niece and was leading his little group their way, his son's ear in his teeth. The colt squawked, but stumbled along after.

"Oh dear stay calm," Shining Armor muttered to Spike and Nyx under his breath. "Yes, can I help you?" he said, smiling at the approaching ponies.

The group reached them. The father spat out his son's ear and made a cursory bow to the consort prince. "Your majesty, we just wanted to apologize sincerely for the scene," he said. "My boy has gotten into these dreadful "moving picture horrors" things that are all the rage today, and I'm afraid it's made him--- excitable and addled--"

"I am not!"

A wrinkled mare, presumably the family matriarch, cuffed him upside the ear. "Hush up, boy," she said.

"--Ahem. Anyway, we do apologize," the father finished awkwardly.

"Ah well, yes... foals," Shining Armor said casually.

"Indeed. ... Come on, Gregory(9), step up and apologize to the young lady," the father barked.

The boy's face was stormy, but when he clapped eyes on Nyx it immediately became fearful. "I won't! I saw what I saw. She's a vampony. She's the one I told you about from before! From the theater!"

"Enough of that nonsense, Gregory," his mother said wearily.

"It's the truth! She's just wearing  a magic disguise!" He pointed at her dramatically, eyes comically wide, leaning back into his mother so hard he pushed her back a step. "She's EVIL!!!"

The contrast between the colt's wild eyed theatrics and the tiny white filly, bedecked in a frilly little dress, simply standing there looking befuddled was too much. Shining Armor had to choke back a laugh. "They all look that way at that age, don't they, kid," he said with a grin. Nyx shot him a scrunch-nosed glare. He chuckled and winked. "Don't worry, kid, you'll be a lot more interested in each other in a few years--"

"Ewww," Nyx said, looking at the colt with scorn.

Gregory looked wildly at all the chuckling adults around him. "Are you all STUPID? Why doesn't anyone believe me?? She's just wearing a magic disguise!" His eye lit on Nyx's hairband. "Here, I bet it's this hairband that does it--" He jumped forward and tried to yank the hairband out of Nyx's mane.

Nyx squealed and struggled, wrestling with the much bigger and more aggressive colt. The adults present shouted out in shock, but before anypony or dragon could move to intervene--

WHOP!

The colt went tumbling backward and landed on his back with a thud. He clutched his nose with his forehooves and started up an almighty howl. Everyone present gaped in astonishment. The most astonished had to be Nyx herself; she sat on her rump on the floor, gaping at her hoof. "I... I didn't mean to--"

"And I think that's enough for one evening," Uncle Shining sighed. "Come on Nyx."

Gregory's father facehooved as his wife and mother picked up the howling colt. "Take him out to the carriage, honey," he growled over his shoulder. He turned an apologetic face to Shining Armor. "Your Majesty, words cannot express--"

Shining Armor gave him a level gaze. "Then maybe actions would speak louder," he said, the tiniest bit of acid in his tone. "Your colt is obviously used to lifting his hoof to those smaller and weaker than himself. Maybe you should pay more attention to how you're raising him, if you don't want to offend. Nyx, Spike, come along." Spike helped Nyx wobble to her feet. He made a point of scowling and snorting smoke at the harried courtier as they trotted off after the consort prince.

Nyx trotted meekly after Uncle Shining, rattled by what happened. She'd never been physically attacked by a colt before. She'd never hit another foal before, either. Her insides were quivering; her ice cream dessert felt like it was sitting in her gut in a rock-hard icy ball.

Shining didn't say anything till they had rounded a couple of corners, and the noise the bloody-nosed colt was raising had finally faded out. "Nice jab," he murmured, just loud enough for Spike and Nyx to hear. "Your mother teach you that?"

Spike snorted. Nyx blushed, then dimpled briefly. "N-no," she said. "Really, it-- it just happened--!"

"Nothing he didn't have coming," Uncle Shining said. He sobered. "Life lesson, here; don't ever let a colt or stallion mistreat you like that. If they try, you pop 'em in the nose, just like that. Got it?" Subdued, Nyx nodded.

"This is gonna cause trouble, innit?" Spike muttered.

Shining Armor sighed and shrugged, then grinned. "One thing I've learned with this gig, is that there's always trouble. Usually of the small, petty and stupid kind, and you never know what it's going to be about. So no sense in worrying about it in advance."

"I can get behind that," Spike said, giving Shining Armor a thumbs-up.

"For now," Shining Armor said, "I think we've earned the right to cower in our rooms hiding from the press for the rest of the day. Let's get back to our rooms before Nyx has to punch out anyone else."

"Heyyy," Nyx whined. Shining just chuckled and mussed her mane.

They picked up the pace a little bit, the mood lifting.

It was the next day before everything came a-cropper.

It was a thankfully uneventful day. The Royal Court and most of the rest of the government was closed for the weekend, so the royal family-- niece, sister in law and dragon adoptee included-- had been puttering about in cheerfully enforced idleness.

Much of the previous evening had been spent with a certain uncle, niece, and number one assistant explaining their sudden departure at the dinner last night--- and subsequently interrogated about the events at a certain movie theater and a certain dust-up the night before. Both uncle and niece had gotten off with a light scolding for not telling the rest of the family about such things, much to their relief. Nopony had been happy about what had happened, but everypony agreed that it there was no sense in borrowing trouble, so they had greeted the following day with a lighter mood.

Uncle Shining was enjoying some light reading, and Aunt Cadence had decided to try her hoof at, of all things, baking cookies (a plan heartily approved by Spike, Peewee and Nyx.) Twilight, ever the workaholic, had taken a quick trip to the library to retrieve some more paperwork.

As for Nyx, her close shave the night before had left her feeling a bit giddy, and was currently having a fit of the sillies. She was skulking around with a blanket thrown over her like a cowl, pretending to be "Evil-Linda, Evil Mistress of Eviliality" and going about making "Evil" pronouncements at everyone. It was all Shining Armor and Cadence could do to keep from cracking up.

Nyx hunched her way into the drawing room like an enormous patchwork slug and crept up to Uncle Shining's chair. "Hurr hurr hurr," she said, making her voice raspy and croaky as the frog-creature from the movie they'd seen. "I am here, ! Evil-Linda, Evil Mistress of Eviliality. I'm, I'm so eeeeeevil..."

"You are, are you," Shining said, turning a page.

"Yesss. I'm so evil I... I freak myself out! That's how evil I am."

"Duly noted." Shining bit the inside of his cheek.

"I shall now stand here and be EVIL at you!" She waved her hooves at her uncle. "Evil evil evil evil!"

There was a 'ding' from the kitchen. "Well you might want to spread some of the evil over in the direction of the kitchen," he noted. "Sounds like the first batch of cookies are done."

"Ooo." With that bit of news, "Evil-Linda" dropped to the floor and hunched her way to the kitchen, muttering "evil evil evil" as she went. Shining Armor chuckled and went back to his book.

Cadence had just set the next tray of cookies in the oven to bake when she found herself joined in the kitchen by a mobile mound of patchwork quilt. "It is I, Evil-Linda!" the mound announced, waving two little black hooves at her. "Mistress of Eviliality!"

"Would Evil-Linda care to try some chocolate chip cookies?" Cadence tittered.

The blanket mound thought it over. "It depends. Are they eeeeeeeevil cookies?"

"Well, if you eat too many you'll get a tummyache," Cadence said.

"Works for me," 'Evil Linda' said. She hopped up into a chair at the kitchen table. Cadence poured the sinister blanket a glass of milk and set out two warm cookies on a plate. "Haha," Evil-Linda croaked. "I shall eat this one now...." she held up one cookie. "And this one later..."

"Why?" Cadence asked.

"To spoil my dinner. Because I'm eviiiiil, hahahah!" One cookie disappeared under the hood of the patchwork cowl, accompanied by loud munching noises. "Oh, wow, these are good, Aunt Cadence!" Nyx exclaimed in her normal voice.

"Why thank you--"

"Oh no!" 'Evil Linda' suddenly said.

"What?"

"I'm Evil-Linda, Mistress of Eviliality! and this was a GOOD cookie!" 'Evil Linda' fell to the floor. "Oh no, oh no, what a world what a world, who would have thought my beautiful evilness could be destroyed by a good little cookie like you, I'm melting, I'm meelllllting.... blargh I'm dead." Nyx lay flat on the floor, tongue hanging out, while Aunt Cadence laughed so hard she could barely stand.

Spike came trundling in, Peewee perched on his head. "Hey, I smelled cookies baking," he said. "Could I maybe have--" he paused in the doorway and regarded the scene: Nyx sprawled on the floor, wrapped in a patchwork quilt, with all four hooves in the air and cookie crumbs on her face, Cadence over by the sink, splashing her face and trying to quiet a case of the hiccups with a glass of water. He regarded the pair with creased brows. "Should I just go back out and come back in when this makes sense?"

There was the sound of a door opening and closing. Nyx hopped to her hooves. "Mom's back!" She hastily scarfed the remains of her cookies and galloped for the drawing room. Cadence and Spike trotted along in her wake.

They caught up with her in the drawing room. Twilight was indeed back. She was looking unbelievably frazzled.  "Hey, Twily, what's wrong?" Uncle Shining said, setting his book down.

Twilight sat down on the sofa and pulled off her saddlebags. One was stuffed full of the papers she'd gone after. The other was stuffed full of newspapers. "It looks like we didn't get away unscathed last night after all," she said wearily, flipping the first one open.

SPECIAL EDITION, the headline blared. Amid Crisis and Controversy, a New Royal Project.  Shining and Cadence pored over the articles. Most were about the announcements from the night before, especially about the 'expedition' being planned to unearth the lost tomb. There was a lot of kerfluffle and wild speculation, coming down both pro and con. "I don't see what you're getting at, Twiley," Shining said, shrugging. "Sure, a lot of it's negative but nothing more than we expected..."

"Not the stories, Shiney," Twilight said. "The pictures. Look--" She flipped over a few pages: there was a double-page spread of photos taken at the dinner. Several of them were of Nyx.

A completely black-coated Nyx. She was in almost all of them, and more than a few focused entirely on her. Nyx nuzzling Twilight, Nyx scowling at the waitstaff and huddling over her gelato, Nyx waving at her friend... one quick-eyed photographer had managed to catch a snapshot of her yelling into the microphone with all her might. You could even see her little wings flaring as she leaned forward.

Shining Armor facehooved. "Of course. The disguise spell kept flickering whenever the flashbulbs went off, and the flashbulbs were only going off when--"

"When the cameraponies were taking a picture," Twilight finished. She nosed through the pages. "They're already speculating; Who is she? Why was she disguised? And when these papers make it back to Equestria..."

"People will start connecting the cute little black alicorn dots," Shining Armor muttered. "At lightning speed."

Nyx bit her lip and huddled into her mother's side. "I'm sorry.." she said.

"None of that," Twilight shushed her. "It's not your fault." She sighed. "Rarity was right. Honesty would have been the best policy, right from the start."(10)  She looked at her brother and sister-in-law. "So what do we do now?"

"Only what we can do, I suppose," Princess Cadence said. "Take it as it comes."

Chapter 13

The train pulled into the Crystal Empire station in billowing clouds of steam. Ponies from all over Equestria poured out of the cars, eager to set hoof on new territory, greeting friends and loved ones, bustling back and forth on their way to meet family or conduct business. Out of this teeming mass of greetings and farewells came a middle-aged unicorn couple. The female a pale lavender, with a purple and white mane and a three star cutie mark; the male a darker blue on blue, with two crescent moons. The male was dragging a sizable stack of suitcases behind him, struggling to levitate it in his magic. "You know, I still think we should have let them know we were coming," he said. "It could cause problems showing up unexpected..."

"You are talking about our children, remember?" the mare replied. "Our son and daughter? If we did tell them in advance,she would spend the entire time spiraling into a tizzy...."

"And he would probably forget to mention it until the last minute anyway," the stallion conceded, rolling his eyes.

His wife tsked at him. "Now that's hardly fair, Night Light. He falls out of touch just one time-- and while on tour of duty no less-- and nobody lets him forget it..."

"He came back engaged, Velvet," Night Light pointed out. "To a Princess! That might have justified a post card or two, at least."

"As if you didn't know they were dating back when she was babysitting our youngest," Twilight Velvet teased. "Teach you to spend all your time squinting through a telescope. My, isn't this place sparkly...."

Twilight and Shining's parents had arrived in the Crystal Empire.

It hadn't taken long for the news, or the pictures of Nyx, to spread out to Canterlot and the rest of Equestria. True to Twilight's predictions, the little they had already discovered-- Level Head's truncated journals-- were giving the historians fits. Many were insisting that the journals had to be fakes; some had claimed it was everything from a scam by the Crystal Empire to a long-forgotten prank by Princess Celestia. (1)

As to the common pony in the street... well, it was hard to gauge the reaction. But Twilight Velvet and Night Light had raised both Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle, and when their children were involved they could smell trouble the way other ponies could smell gasoline. The moment they'd clapped eyes on the first news article, they'd dropped everything, pulled their luggage out of storage and boarded the next train to the Crystal Empire. Some ponies were messing with their children, and the Maker have mercy on them when Mama and Papa Sparkle showed up.

"Heavens, I wasn't expecting it to be this brisk," Velvet said, shivering as the wind blew some errant snow up onto the platform. A shawl levitated over her shoulders. "Oh, thank you dear," she said. "Now there must be some way to get to the palace from here besides walking..." She peered up and down the walkway, looking for a clue.

"Needing a lift to the palace, did I hear right?" A voice called out. The two Canterlot ponies turned and saw a stocky crystal pony hauling a sleigh at the end of the concourse. "Two bits. Two extra for the luggage, though," he added, eyeing the pyramid of suitcases.

"Of course, perfect!" Velvet said.  Velvet paid the stallion while her husband loaded their luggage. They boarded and the sleigh was soon moving along at a brisk trot. "Bundle up with those blankets at your hooves," the sleighpony said. "It's a few minutes' ride, no sense getting frostbit." The two happily complied. "Quite the thing," the pony went on as he trotted through the snow. "You two are the second fare I've had to the palace this month..."

A short while later, Nyx heard a commotion out by the front door of the royal chambers. It sounded like the butler(2) was having a 'bit of a word' with someone. She came trotting to the foyer to find the butler and two flustered looking guards in the middle of a discussion(3) with two older ponies.

Now to be fair, Nyx might have recognized them under other circumstances. Twilight had shown her photographs of Twilight's mother and father-- Nyx's grandparents-- and told her a little about them. The past few days, however, had been packed with strange ponies with cameras running up and shouting they wanted to ask 'just a few questions' and snapping flashbulbs in everypony's face. At the moment, these two ponies were decked out in sunglasses, odd floral print garb, and touristy hats; the mare was arguing machine-gun style with the guards and the butler(4) and waving about a notepad(5); the stallion had a cigarette holder in his teeth and, most alarming of all,  was carrying an enormous camera around his neck.(6)

At the sight of the camera Nyx came to a screeching halt. The pony couple looked up and saw her. The tableau froze for the briefest of moments; then the mare lit up with a delighted grin. "Oh, there she is! Quick,  Night Light, take a picture,!" The stallion obediently sat and hefted his camera up.

"MOOOOM!" Nyx didn't waste a second; she spun about and bolted as if Tirek, Discord and Chrysalis were at her heels.

For Twilight Velvet's part, their little encounter was something of an epiphany. From the events of Nightmare Moon's advent on, she had been... torn. The re-ascendance of Equestria's most perilous enemy, this time in a body all her own, had been a terrifying shock to every pony, she and Night Light being no exception. Then had come the confusing abdication, and all the events around it... and then the shock of learning, by parcel post, no less, that her daughter had adopted the... re-foaled? was that a word?... Nightmare Moon...

At first Velvet and Night Light had protested vehemently. They naturally, sensibly, had feared for Twilight Sparkle's safety, maybe even her free will and sanity, and had naturally, sensibly begged Twilight to reconsider, to get help, to let the Princesses handle the wayward Nightmare foal. Twilight's rather emphatic-- and lengthy-- reply had shocked them both. In a pages-long letter... poor little Spike, he must have been tuckered out by sending so many scrolls!... she had described all the events that had led to Nyx's existence and condition, and had calmly, but firmly, made it clear that Nyx was her daughter now and that she would brook no interference in that.

Surprised, and subdued, they had kept their silence since then. And, painfully, their distance. Twilight Velvet's worries had not vanished, though. Her children, her babies, had been tricked and hurt before. The entire trip to the Crystal Empire, that nagging, worrying voice in the back of her head, the one that kept whispering "But what if it's a trick? What if it's a scheme by Nightmare Moon?" hadn't been silent for a moment.

That instant, she realized that nagging fearful voice had a competitor.  The moment she clapped eyes on the tiny, wide eyed little black filly, a second voice had come roaring up behind the first, chased it down a back alley of her mind, and gleefully stomped it into the mud:

I'm a Grandmama!

"Oh my, there she is-- Quick, Night Light, take a picture!"

Her glee at this unexpected realization was only matched by the sudden pang when the filly-- her granddaughter-- took one look at her and bolted in panic, yelling for her mother. "Wha...? Was it something I said?" She asked, stung. Night Light lowered his camera, bemused.

A moment later Shining Armor appeared with Twilight close behind. Nyx was there too, half-hiding behind her mother's tail and staring suspiciously at the intruders. Shining Armor was the first to speak up. "All right, would someone tell me what-- Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?"

"...And what is with that get up?" Twilight blurted out, taking in their touristy kitsch. And she'd thought Rarity's parents were bad.

"Well, we are on vacation, kiddo," Night Light said. "Seems only fair to give the natives advance warning." He let loose with an incredibly canned-sounding laugh. His children simply rolled their eyes; It was the same as always; their father, the astronomer who thought he was a comedian.

Shining Armor regarded the two guards. He leaned in. "I won't bother asking why you broke orders and brought two strange ponies to the royal chambers," he said.

The guards looked mortified, but kept a stiff upper lip. They could hardly be blamed. Word had gotten round about what had happened when the Consort Prince's sister had arrived, and nopony in the Royal Guard had been looking forward to being there if his mother ever showed up. "We... thought we recognized them from your family photos, sir... and they were rather-- forcefully persuasive. We'll accept whatever discipline--"

"No, no, you don't get it," Shining Armor muttered. "I know my parents. Believe me, they've not made a guard force yet that could make either of them veer off. I still have no idea how they got past the portcullis on my first week at--- never mind. Just... go back to your patrol." Relieved, the two guards saluted and beat a retreat.  "Waldorf? Could you go set some tea for everyone? I'm sure my parents could stand some refreshment after their long trip." The butler made a cursory bow and glided off.

"Oh, and do send someone to bring our luggage, it's out on the curb," Twilight Velvet called after him.

Nyx stared at the two very strange ponies from behind her mother.  "Who are they?" she asked Twilight in a stage whisper.

Twilight ventured a smile. "Nyx, these are my parents," she said.

"--Our parents," Shining Armor chipped in.

"Which makes them your grandmother and grandfather," Twilight finished.

Nyx blinked in surprise, then nervously bit her lip. Grandparents? This wasn't very confidence building. She didn't really have any experience with grandparents, except with Granny Smith, and the less said about that the better. She stepped up beside Twilight, looking at Velvet and Night Light warily. "What am I s'posed to do?" She asked her mother. At Twilight's bemused look she protested, "I've never had a grandmother or grandfather! I don't know this stuff..."

Twilight Velvet felt her smile widen. "Well, sweetie, the usual routine is that you come over, say "Hi Grandma and Grandpa!" and give your grandparents a hug," she said.

"Go on, silly," Twilight said, giving her daughter a nudge.

Hesitantly at first but with warming confidence, Nyx crossed the space between herself and the two new ponies in her life. "Hello, Grandma and Grandpa," she said obediently. To her astonishment, the two immediately closed in and and enfolded her in a double hug, nuzzling her warmly. She squeaked in surprise and stiffened, then in the next instant relaxed and leaned into the affectionate embrace, a warm glow lighting her up inside. "I think I'll like having grandparents," she said.

They chuckled at this. Twilight Velvet pulled back and regarded her. "A granddaughter," she said, her voice full of satisfaction. "At long last, I have a granddaughter!" Then she sighed and looked at her daughter. "Though I had expected her to be preceded by a few other things. A marriage, an engagement... an actual fiance'..."

Twilight's eyebrows tabled at this particular . "What am I, an old maid?" she snarked. "Just because I haven't met a special somepony yet--"

"I'm just saying dear, it usually does come in that order," Twilight Velvet pointed out. "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby carriage--"

"And the diapers," Night Light quipped. "Can't blame you for skipping that part of things, punkin."

"Eww," Nyx interjected.

"Well, are you seeing anypony,dear?" Twilight Velvet said. "It would be nice to know."

"Mom!" Twilight said.

"Hey, we're working on it!" Nyx said in a miffed tone.

Twilight shot her a look. "Nyx!"

"Oh you are, are you?" Night Light said, cocking an eyebrow.

Nyx nodded. "There are a couple of ponies she likes," she said knowingly. "She likes Mr. MacIntosh...at least she likes watching him working when she thinks nopony is looking--"

"Nyx!" A blush rose in Twilight Sparkle's cheeks.

"Oh, is that so," Night Light grinned.

Nyx nodded again, soberly. "But I think she likes Mr. Time Turner better."

"Aaand how do we know that?" Shining Armor asked.

"Cause whenever he picks up a book at the library her voice gets all funny and she gets all goofy and flutters her lashes an' stuff--" Nyx put action to words, fluttering her lashes like she'd seen her mother do.

"NYX!" Twilight's face was beet red now.

"Whaat?"

"My, it looks like Twily might be the first to send us family photos on Hearthwarming Day after all," Twilight Velvet teased. "You're falling behind, Shiny."

Shining Armor cocked an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware we were in a race," he said dryly.

"All who is in what race?" said a voice behind him. Shining turned and looked; Cadence had decided to see what all the fuss in the foyer was about. Another round of hugs and greetings ensued. "What was this about us falling behind?"

"Mother and Father seem to think that Twily and I are in a competition," Shining said. "The Happy Nuclear Family hoof race. First one to the finish line has two point five foals, one point five dogs and a one-garage cottage in the suburbs."

"So are we winning?" Cadence asked, amused.

"It's a tie so far on points," Night Light said.  "Shiny got us a daughter in law, but Twily came through with the first grandchild." He paused. "Unless you have some news...?"

Cadence gave a wincing smile. "Ah, no royal heir just yet," she said.

"Hey now, you can't blame us, we're working on grandkids as hard as we can--" Shining Armor stopped in mid sentence, mouth hanging open and his face beet red.

"Shiny!" Twilight yelped, clapping her hooves over Nyx's ears.

Shining Armor facehooved as his parents hooted at his faux pas. "I can't believe I said that out loud," he said.

"So, working hard at it, is he?" Twilight Velvet asked slyly, to a tittering Cadence.

"Mo-ther!!" Twilight said, scandalized, pressing her hooves more firmly over her only foal's ears.

Cadence gave as good as she got. "You better believe it," she said, sotto voce, giving her red faced husband a hip-bump.

"Cadence!!!" Twilight said, her voice climbing into new octaves.

"Ow! Mom, you're hurting my ears," Nyx complained.

Shining didn't even bother. He knew his family too well. "Shall we go on in?" he said with a sigh. "We can sit down, have some tea, and scandalize the servants properly...Twily, why are you doing that? She's already heard everything." Twilight growled, admitting defeat, and uncovered her child's ears. "Come on, let's go into the drawing room, and Dad and Mom can tell us what exactly brings them to the Crystal Empire."

"And I get to tell our new granddaughter all about her mother and her uncle when they were foals," Night Light said, grinning around the stem of his cigarette holder.

Twilight rolled her eyes as she trailed after her brother. "This is going to be another long session of you telling those same old embarrassing stories about us two, isn't it?"

"Of course not, punkin," Night Light said jauntily. "I've got all sorts of brand new embarrassing stories about you two..."

Tea was served in the drawing room, by one Spike the Dragon.(7) Some time was spent resting from the road and catching up with family, and of course one or two embarrassing, yet allegedly amusing childhood anecdotes before everypony finally managed to beat their way around to the subject at large. "So why exactly did you decide to, ah, 'vacation' in the Crystal Empire?" Cadence asked mildly, sipping her chamomile.

"The news reports, obviously," Night Light said. He had discarded his hat and sunglasses and was lounging back in an overstuffed chair, regarding his children and granddaughter.

"We saw the first stories in the papers about Nyx, and the lost tomb, and the political changes," Twilight Velvet said soberly. "True to form the press ponies have gotten the facts rather jumbled up, but it was easy enough to figure out that you were all facing some complications. Ponies trying to gin up conspiracies and scandals over Nyx being in the palace, and the like."

"What have they been saying in Canterlot, then?" Shining Armor asked.

Night Light waved his hoof expansively. "Everything," he said. "Everything and anything. Nyx is set to be the new heir to the Crystal throne. Nyx is going to overrun the Crystal throne. Nyx is a cat's paw for Celestia's real plan, or Luna's real plan, or Cadence's real plan--- which is to conquer the Crystal Empire from within, or to steal the lost secrets of the hidden tomb, or destroy the hidden tomb, or turn the hidden tomb into an amusement park attraction--" He shrugged. "Every conspiracy theory is nuttier than the last."

"And then there are those who are just making noise about Nyx in general," Twilight Velvet added. "I think every reporter in Equestria is drooling at the prospect of doing a front page story on 'the return of Nightmare Moon,' or the re-re-return, as the case may be... " she turned her teacup in her hooves idly. "It didn't take any super secret parental knowledge to figure out that being here with Nyx was going to make what you're trying to do a great deal more difficult, if the press have their way."

"That's the truth, punkin," Night Light said. "Every reporter on the planet is going to be trying to climb up your plot--"

"Dad!" Twilight scolded. "Foals are present..."

Nyx meekly sat and nibbled at her danish, trying to look unobtrusive. "This isn't your fault, Nyx," Twilight said firmly. "Some ponies--" she searched for the words for a moment. "Some ponies just don't know when to let something go," she sighed. She looked at her parents. "You're right, though. For the past few days investigative reporters have been, well, hounding all of us. It's making doing any of the research impossible."

"Or anything else," Cadence added.

Twilight nodded. "Still, that doesn't tell us why you're here. I mean, I'm glad you came to show moral support and all but what do you expect to do?"

"Twily, I've been a novelist since before you were born--" Twilight Velvet said.

"Really? You write books?" Nyx squeaked happily.

Velvet chucked. "Yes, I most certainly do," she assured the bibliophilic filly. "I'll see if I can get you one of my books sometime. Anyway, I've been a novelist a very long time, and I've been dealing with publicity for ages. I think I know a few tricks for dealing with them."

"That's hardly the same situation as this," Shining Armor pointed out.

Night Light chortled. "Maybe it slipped your mind, son," he said, "but not too long ago our youngest daughter became Princess Celestia's protege'?"

"Don't you remember what it was like, Shiny?" Twilight Velvet said. "Twilight was too young-- and too nose-deep in her studies--- to notice, but... well, no, you were out on tour of duty at that time, weren't you. I suppose. But the moment word got out, we were hip deep in news hounds, speculators, opportunists, social climbers and just plain flat out rubber-neckers and snoops who wanted to gawk at the filly prodigy protege' and her family. We never had a moment's peace from them... till we finally learned a few tricks for dealing with such attention."

"Till your mother finally snapped and started going buck wild on a few of them," Night Light corrected with considerable amusement.

"I did not 'snap,' " Velvet protested.

"You climbed out on the roof of our house and started pelting the paparazzi with your great grandmother's second best china," Night Light said.

"It was cluttering up the attic anyway," Velvet said primly.

"I was impressed," Night Light admitted to the others. "She couldn't get much range out of the cups or sugar bowls, but she was right lethal with the saucers. Nailed a pegasus from the Cloudsdale Times while he was circling a hundred feet overhead."

"The point being," Twilight Velvet interrupted, "is that we both eventually learned some tactics for dealing with the press.You didn't spend your fillyhood being hounded by news reporters and the like, did you?" Twilight Sparkle shook her head. "Well," Velvet said triumphantly,  "who do you think kept it that way?

"We can't be much help for Shiny and Cadence, but we can at least help you and Nyx keep the buzzards at bay," Night Light said.

"-- And at the very least, we can help look after Nyx, keep her out of the spotlight a little," Velvet added. "You're going to be busy as a centipede with poison ivy what with this 'Lost Tomb' business. And besides... we do want to... make up for lost time with our new granddaughter." She gave Nyx and Twilight an apologetic smile.

"No more Nightmare Moon worries?" Twilight said. She could hardly be blamed for letting a little satisfaction creep into her voice.

"A few," Twilight Velvet admitted, sighing. She looked deliberately into Nyx's eyes. "But I guess I decided I was being silly about them, whether or not they were true.We kept our distance because--- well, even though everyone said Nyx was just a sweet little filly... and she IS..." She gave Nyx a nuzzle. "We were afraid that she might... well that she might turn back into what she had been. Then I guess I realized: I was afraid that Nyx would grow up into Nightmare Moon. And frankly, that's nothing more than what any parent fears."

Nyx made a quizzical noise and Twilight cocked her head.  At her daughter and granddaughter's puzzled looks, Twilight Velvet explained. "Every parent worries about what their children will grow up to be, girls. Whether they say it or not. But you still love them, all the same. You love them and teach them right and hope for the best, you don't--- let your fears keep you away."

"You were afraid I might grow up into Nightmare Moon?" Twilight Sparkle said, cocking an eyebrow.

"You turned us into potted plants once, honey," Twilight Velvet said. "It did cross my mind to worry that I was raising you right."

"She had a tizzy-fit where she was convinced you were going to grow up, go mad with power and turn the ponies in the noble houses into a topiary collection," Night Light said, blithely dunking a biscotti in his tea and pointedly ignoring the glare from his wife.

"Tizzy fit?" Nyx asked.

"Remember when Twilight lost her year planner?"(8) Spike muttered. Nyx made a silent "o" and nodded. Apparently the nut didn't fall far from the tree.

"Anyway, I'm not going to let my worries make me miss out on my first granddaughter," Twilight Velvet said. "Night cashed in his accumulated vacation time at the observatory, and I'm taking a semi-sabbatical. If you want we can stay in the local hotel, if staying here is too much trouble--"

Shining Armor rolled his eyes and gave his mother an 'are you serious' look. "No no, we insist," he said in a monotone. "Really, Mother, we live in a palace; you don't have to finagle us for one of the guest suites." Twilight Velvet had the grace to blush.

Cadence smiled. "Well, it's a wonderful idea, anyway," she said. "All of us together for a change. You, me, your parents, the children-- all three of them--" Spike beamed at this--- "Despite all the fuss, it's good to have a family reunion."

"Let's hope it doesn't end like Applejack's did," Twilight said wryly. "I'm not up to a barn raising, much less an entire castle."

"Oh, this is a story I have to hear," Cadence chuckled. "A barn raising?"

"Preceded by a barn flattening. Therein lies a tale..."

Nyx listened to her family (her family, squee!) chatter on, happy and cozy. She had two new grandparents! And they seemed nice, if a little funny. Nicer than Granny Smith was, anyway. She had her doubts though about them "handling" the newspapers and gossips and all. Those ponies were awful. And persistent. They'd fished one out of the ventilation ducts just yesterday....

Still, Nyx would wait and see. In her own short life she'd already learned to never underestimate ponies by first appearances. Grandpa Night Light reminded her of Scootaloo: like one of those ponies who'd do anything, no matter how crazy, and he didn't care what anyone thought... except that he thought their opinion was funny. And there was something about Grandma Velvet that told Nyx that, pretty and demure as she was, she was formidably strong underneath-- like flowering vines wrapped around a cast iron trellis.

If they actually had a way that would make those pestering ponies go away, maybe they could help Nyx with her problem:

How to get Shining Armor his job back.

1) It had actually come to blows; a professor from the "this changes everything" faction had made a snide remark to one of the "this is most certainly a fraud" scholars, who had been standing close at hoof to the dessert tray. The final toll was three black eyes, one broken tooth (some of the pies had still been frozen), seven dry cleaning bills, and fourteen one-serving fruit pies a la mode.

2)At least she thought that particular pony was the butler. The staff in the crystal palace were notorious for being unobtrusive to the point of near invisibility, and Nyx found it hard to tell who was what when they kept popping in and out. One would be thinking one was all alone and feeling a bit thirsty, and the next moment be jumping out of their skin when a servant appeared at their elbow with a glass on a tray. The butler, at least, was most visible from answering the door all the time.

3)That's what grownups called it when they started yelling at each other.

4)And winning.

5)Her checklist. The apple didn't fall far from the tree.

6)Picture Hunter S. Thompson as a blue pony. Not to draw parallels, but he had refused to take a rest stop on their way through Ponyville because it was fruit bat country.

7)He'd managed to intercept Waldorf Salad with the tea service and commandeer the job. The butler had refused initially but it's surprising how persuasive a toddler-sized creature with fire leaking from its nose can be.

8) A yearly planner approximately a foot thick at the spine and two feet on a side. How she managed to "lose" a tome the size of the average coffee table was a tale in and of itself.

Chapter 14

Twilight paced back and forth, looking over the staff she'd been given like a general reviewing his troops. In addition to the library's original staff there were now several historians, archivists and archaeologists from Canterlot, each with a small retinue of assistants and student interns. Some of them were looking a little rumpled from the long train ride, and a few of the more senior researchers were looking a tad miffed at being put under the authority of 'Celestia's pet protege.'

Twilight Sparkle was having none of it, though.

"Okay, we've all made our introductions, I think I'll do a quick sum-up of what we're doing here," she said. "The librarians and archivists of the Crystal Empire--" here she respectfully nodded to the library staff; they returned the nod stiffly "--have graciously given us access to some of their carefully preserved historical treasures. Among those are some of the rarest and most valuable artifacts in pony history: the preserved pages of the journal of one of the founders of Equestria." One of the interns hiccuped in surprise; apparently the professors hadn't filled all of their assistants in on the details. "Chancellor Level Head, the leader of the Earth pony tribe."

There was a rude bark of laughter. "Yes, the one we call 'Chancellor Puddinghead' in our Hearthwarming plays," Twilight said, without looking to see who had laughed. "It would appear that the name was a deliberate misnomer by his enemies. And that's just the first of many things we've already learned from it. Expect to have a lot of your foalhood folklore upended." She stood and faced the crowd. "Among other facts lost to history, it would seem that the Hearthwarming Spell was, in fact, an artifact. The very Crystal Heart that protects and powers this City." More whispers among the interns, and disturbingly a few sour looks from a couple of the scholars. "It would seem there was another schism in Equestria after the events described in the Hearthwarming lore. Chancellor Level Head and a large portion of the Earth Pony population split off from Equestria some time shortly before the Discordian reign, and went on to found the Crystal Empire, taking the crystal heart they created with them..."

One of the interns, a rather scrawny young fellow with a lime green coat rather like a young Mr. Cake in build, held up his hoof. "Miss Twilight, did you say 'That they created?' But they were Earth ponies, weren't they?"

Twilight nodded. "Exactly. We... I.... have good reason to believe that the pre-modern earth pony tribe had access to, and were capable of using, earth pony magic as powerful and complex as any unicorn's." Honestly, didn't these scholars tell their help anything? "That is why Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, with the gracious permission of Princess Mi Amora Cadenza, have sent you here. According to the information in the journal, Level Head collaborated with his grandson Smart Cookie--" another ripple of surprise in the crowd,  "Private Pansy and Clover the Clever to research earth pony magic, and eventually to create the Heart. Apparently Level Head was an earth pony mage of considerable power by the time he arrived here...

"And he kept an archive of his secrets.

" His last request was to be buried with all his books and work, to preserve them against some future time of need. Somewhere in the Crystal Empire, there is a lost tomb where Level Head was laid to rest, and that tomb contains the lost secrets of earth pony magic.

"And we are going to find them."

There was a muffled expletive. "Oh for the love of--"

Twilight turned around. There was a pony scholar in a tweed jacket and black bow tie standing in the front row. His strictly cut iron-grey beard and mane contrasted heavily with his teal blue coat. His cutie mark was a yellow triangle with a question mark in the middle. He was all but bristling with indignation. "Are you telling me that we've been dragged away from the University-- from our jobs and our lives-- to spend the Princess' bits on a wild goose chase, hunting down some nearly-forgotten earth pony fable?"

A bit startled at his vehemence, Twilight turned and faced him. "Is there something you wanted to share, mister---?"

"Dubious, Professor I.M. Dubious, PhD in folklore, mythology, oral folklore and ancient history," the unicorn said haughtily. "I've been researching a great deal of this earth pony mythos for some time. Earth pony folklore is rife with old myths and tales about 'long lost earth pony magic'. You find them everywhere you find earth ponies... half-forgotten stories of 'earth pony wizards' and other such tales."

"And doesn't that tell you anything?" Twilight asked dryly.

He sniffed. "It's self-evidently a wishful power fantasy, motivated by earth pony inferiority complexes and envy of unicorn magic."

Twilight saw several of the earth ponies in the room, crystal and non, stiffen at the subtle slur. Heck, even she was feeling her hackles go up. Something told her Professor Dubious needed taken down a peg. A memory clicked. "Wait, Dubious? Ignatious Mendicant Dubious?"

"One and the same," the stallion said.

Twilight gave a cheery smile. "Ahh, I thought I recognized the name! I've read some of your books and theses." As the haughty unicorn started to preen she lowered the boom. "You were the scholar who proposed that Nightmare Moon was, quote, "nothing but a consolidation of pre-modern era goblins and boogeymen,' am I right?" Dubious stammered a bit, blustering. "I should thank you for that." Twilight's expression went deadpan. "It put me off on a rabbit trail for over a month when I was trying to forecast her return.

"Ah, and I remember your book on the 'long debunked legend of the spirit of Chaos.' He was 'just a  cautionary fable, a fabrication of society's need to suppress discordant behavior.' Came out a week before he escaped."

Dubious tried to puff up. "Now see here--"

"What was one of your other titles? 'Sonic Rainbooms: the Persistent Belief in Scientific Impossibilities--'

"Oh yes, you're quite the renowned author in the circles I travel. Why they think you're one of the funniest writers alive." Several ponies snickered. At this point Dubious' face was a livid red. She stuck her face into his, their noses almost touching. " For your information, Professor Dubious, I am a personal eyewitness to all three phenomena. I was the one who predicted Nightmare Moon's return; I was also the one who found the Elements of Harmony using those 'old mare's tales' you prided yourself on having debunked. Discord?  That 'cautionary fable'? I can tell you everything about him right down to his table manners. And as to the Sonic Rainboom, I can introduce you personally to the mare that did it THREE TIMES thus far.

You should know by now: I do my homework. The evidence for this 'wild goose chase' is material, comprehensive, documented and confirmed by independent research.  As you SHOULD know, if you had bothered to read the exhaustive documentation I sent each of you, instead of handing it off to one of your longsuffering interns.

Perhaps you would be more renowned in scholastic circles if you spent more time studying those 'old mare's tales' than you do sitting on your plot in your University office sneering at them." She spun about, her tail all but flicking him in the face, and returned to pacing. "Now, as I was saying..."

Spike had managed to wrangle his way back into the library and back to Twilight Sparkle's side. He came toddling over from the plinth he was leaning against and handed a crimped tube to the sputtering scholar. "What is this?" the red faced unicorn demanded.

"Ointment," Spike said. "I figured you'd need it for that BURN."

"Spike..." Twilight said over her shoulder.

"Okay okay okay, I'm comin'. Jeez." He trotted after the mare, leaving Dr Dubious sputtering.

"Honestly Spike..."

"Well you started it---"

"As I was saying," Twilight Sparkle continued. A bit loudly. "The search for the missing tomb naturally begins here, in the Imperial library. As you surely know the shelves of this library, all on their own, represent a thousand year old treasure trove of lost knowledge. The staff here are already in the midst of a massive restructure and reorganization; we will be inserting ourselves in the middle of it all, aiding in the work-- and going through the archives of this institution, book by book, for any and all references to the Founders of either Equestria or the Crystal Empire, the work of Level Head, Smart Cookie, Private Pansy, and Clover the Clever, or the lost tomb itself."

"All of them??" a butter-yellow pegasus intern yelped. The ponies gathered looked around at the seemingly endless towering shelves--- the interns and flunkies with a bit more trepidation than their respective superiors. They knew who would be doing all the scut work.

Twilight actually grinned and hopped on her hooves. "That's another thing I wanted to mention," she said. She gestured to four unicorn stallions standing to one side. One was light brown with a dark brown mane and tail, and with what looked like a cutie mark of a beach ball. The next was white with a mane the tan color of straw, and a jigsaw puzzle cutie mark. The third was red, with a fiery yellow mane and a cutie mark of a fox holding a globe. And the fourth was teal, with a blue mane, and on his flank was a half-assembled pile of blocks. "These four gentleponies are contributing a series of spells that, working together, will work to search, sort, and file all the books in this library," she said.

"Mister Googleplex has created a spell that will search any book, scroll, paper or magazine for any occurrence of a word, series of words, or phrase."

"It also searches for images," Google said. He coughed. "Um, it's not as effective at that, so I'd recommend sticking to word searches."

"Mister Foxfire," Twilight continued, gesturing to the flame-haired unicorn, "has a spell that will make an illusory copy of a book's page and display it to be read."

"You can browse an entire book without opening it or taking it off the shelves," Foxfire boasted. "Or even while somepony else is reading it."

"And Wicker Speedy--" The straw maned pony waved "--- has an enchantment that will automatically cross-reference the contents of any two books.

"So long as they're of sufficient notability," He amended.

"How do you know what's of sufficient notability?" somepony asked.

Wicker looked a little abashed. "Umm, still sort of fine-tuning that..." he confessed.

"And Diamond Fragment--"

"D.Frag to my homies," the teal and blue colt said with a cheesy grin.

"His contribution is more indirect, but he has devised a spell that will properly reshelve all the books in the library... once they are properly labeled with the Dewhoof Decimal system." Twilight held up a hoof-full of stickers with runic symbols on them.

"Got tired o' climbing stepladders to reshelve my boss's book collection," D.Frag said. "My talent is putting stuff, especially busted up stuff,  together. So I applied a li'l abstract thought to my talent and innovated. Now all I have to do to reassemble the shelves in his mansion every night is hit the big red button--" he held up a wooden box with a suitably big red hoof-sized button on top-- "and go to bed."

Spike's eyes went wide. "You mean all you have to do to reshelve everything in your library is push that button?" D.Frag nodded. Spike flung himself across the room and wrapped his arms around the pony's leg. He looked up at him with worshipful eyes. "Don't take this the wrong way but-- I'm yours."

"SPIKE!" A purple glow enveloped the dragonling and yanked him away. "Sorry," Twilight said to D.Frag. "He gets over-exuberant when he thinks he's found a way to increase his nap time. Anyway," she went on. "By correlating these four spells to work together, we will be able to search the entire library for information relating to the location of the lost tomb of the Founders.

"I have composed a starter list of possible "search phrases" to pull up the information we're seeking. Foxfire, Googleplex and Wicker Speedy will teach all the unicorns in our group their spells. For the earth ponies and pegasi, these gentleponies have managed to design a... what did you call it?"

"An interface," D.Frag said. "'S like a control panel, but "interface" just sounds more jagged, y'know?"

"Rrright." Twilight cocked an eyebrow. Whatever. "Care to do a demonstration?"

"Can do." The four unicorns set up a tabletop podium, laid an oversized blank scroll with elaborate wooden rollers across the top, and set a chalkboard on an easel on one side of it and a crystal ball on the other. All three were quite ornate, and had gems and crystals inlaid in specific spots. "The next version will be much more compact and use floating illusions rather than solid props," Wicker Speedy said. "But this version is fully functional." He used his hoof to tap a rune carved into the podium: a circle partly bisected by a vertical line. The rune glowed with green light, and the scroll levitated up and unfurled, stretched between the two rollers. "Now... to conduct a search." He looked around. "Um, somepony suggest something to look for?"

"Bananas," Spike said. Twilight looked at him in bafflement. Spike shrugged. "First word that popped in my head."

Wicker Speedy shrugged. He picked up a piece of chalk with his magic and wrote "bananas" on the chalkboard next to him. A thin green tendril of light shot up from the crystal ball, struck the ceiling, and zigzagged off through the stacks, splitting and branching over and over again, sending out thinner and thinner lines that seemed to skitter over the stacks and shelves and carts full of books like searching, twitching fingers. Some of the lines froze on specific books, outlining them in a faint glow. Others skittered onward.

Immediately the levitating scroll began to fill with dense writing. Across the top appeared the statement, in bold black letters:

10,547 RESULTS FOUND FOR "BANANAS."

Several of the onlookers stepped closer, peering at the scroll. Below the the legend was a list, in a slightly smaller font. "These are the results," Wicker Speedy said. "It searches first by title, then by author, then by content. There are, woo, fifteen books here with the word 'Bananas' in the title. Let's try, oh, the third one..." he tapped the book title written in bold, with his hoof. The scroll went blank, and then rewrote itself with a title page. "Banana Farming in the Gallop-ogos Islands, by Summer Winds. Okay, to turn the page we tap this arrow--" he poked the named arrow carved in the podium with his hoof. The title page rewrote itself as the opening paragraph. "To go back, tap the other...."

"But it's only showing the top half of the page," Spike pointed out.

"Oh, you just roll the scroll," Wicker Speedy said. He began twisting the scroll rod with his hoof, rolling the paper up into the top bar. "Just scroll down---"

"But you're rolling it up," Spike said. "Shouldn't you say "scroll up?"

"No, you're going down the page, so you're scrolling down. Otherwise it's confusing."

"But it's going up--"

"Scrolling. Down," Wicker Speedy said, glaring slightly.

"Fine, fine," Spike said, holding his claws up in surrender. "Scrolling down." He pointed to the crystal ball. "So what's that?"

Inside the ball could be seen an image of a book, slowly tumbling as if in freefall. "That lets you see what book you're looking through," Foxfire said proudly. "A little add-on I made. If you wanna pull down the whole book, you just tap on the globe twice, like this." He reached past Wicker Speedy and tapped the top of the globe twice with his hoof.

"No wait--" Wicker Speedy said.

He never finished his sentence. In the blink of an eye one of the thousands of branching green lines overhead turned red, and a hardback tome came zipping back along its path. It struck Wicker Speedy full in the face, knocking him clean off his stool and laying him out on the floor. Googleplex looked down at the concussed archivist, then over at Foxfire. "Told ya you overclocked it," he said with satisfaction.

Twilight winced. "Maybe you should disable that feature till you have all the bugs worked out," she suggested. She turned back to the others. "All right then, once they get everypony set up, we'll all start searching--" she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Archive trawling? Magi-searching? Spellseeking?"

Spike looked up thoughtfully. "How about 'web searching?' " He said, pointing up at the glittering web of emerald lines traced over the library's crystalline ceiling.

Twilight pulled a face. "Ick. That'll never catch on, Spike...." she shook her head. "Ahem. We'll start searching for any volumes with information on the lost tomb. Meanwhile I want to show the archaeologists in our group the hidden chamber with the-- yeek!" She stopped in mid stride, barely missing mashing her nose into a camera lens. "Roller Reel, what are you doing?"

It was, indeed, Roller Reel. He had somehow procured a klunky super 8 camera and was roaming around the meeting, eye glued to the viewpiece. "I'm filming this," he said plainly. "There was some sort of shipping mistake or something, and they dumped this crate of stuff on me to get rid of. There's like, a mountain of these fifteen minute reels of blank film in back and..."

"Roller, will you please get that camera out of here? This is an important historical project, and we don't have time for--"

"But that's just it, Miss Twilight!" Roller protested. He stopped the camera and lowered it. His eyes were actually shining. In fact, all of him was shining. It was the brightest Twilight had ever seen the crystal pony's coat sparkle. "This is the biggest thing to ever happen to us crystal ponies. It's, it's like, our legends and our past coming to life, right in front of us!" He sat back and waved his forehooves expansively. His smile was so wide it had to hurt and his eyes had stars in them. "This deserves to be on film! This is.... this is our history. "

Twilight Sparkle regarded him, her head tilted to one side. A smile slowly spread on her face. She turned to address the roomful of ponies who were already bustling about, getting ready to set their hoof to work. "Attention everypony, there's one other thing I forgot to announce," she said, raising her voice above the noise. "This is Roller Reel, he works in the audio visual department. He will be recording everything on film for documentary and historical purposes. Just let him tag along, answer his questions, and he'll do his best to stay out of your way."

Roller blinked in surprise, then grinned with glee.

"Oh, and if he gets obnoxious just bop him on the head. He learns faster that way."

"Heyyyyy...!"

Chapter 15

Bright Eyes stood patiently in line, doing his best to neither shrink and skulk from place to place nor run anywhere in panic. He'd kept his calm thus far; following the Guards' instructions to the letter, going where they said go, standing where they said stand. It was all rather unnerving, really. He was really starting to question his decision to come here.

That morning he'd finally plucked up his nerve and come up the long stairwell to the palace gates. The ponies in armor there had forced him to halt and demanded to know what his business was. Stammering, he'd made his request. After passing a funny green lantern over him, the two guards had looked at each other, shrugged, and let him in. They gave him a paper they said was a 'day pass' and told him to go to the throne room and stand in line with the petitioners.

After a couple of wrong turns and some directions from some kind servant ponies, he'd made his way to the throne room. It was an enormous round room with tall windows and a ceiling so high it made him dizzy.  He could see the Crystal Throne far off across the room, and what had to be  Princess Cadence sitting there. There was a wide red carpet running across the room to where she sat, and all sorts of important ponies standing in line. He'd meekly taken his place at the end of the line, trying to ignore all the funny looks he was getting, and waited his turn.

He was almost to the front of the line now, and his jitters were getting worse by the second. He felt like he had a jillion guppies flopping around in his stomach. He really needed to pee. And the curious looks he was getting from everypony were making him want to turn around and run for his little pony life. Why did this have to be so complicated?

He was there. Princess Cadence looked down at him from her glittering throne in surprise. Her husband was standing next to her; he looked at Bright Eyes in surprise as well. Did he recognize him? "Well, hello there," the Princess said, smiling.

Bright Eyes felt his stomach unknot a little; she looked very kind. Surely she wouldn't get angry for him bothering her...

He bowed nervously. "Hello, your Majesty," he said. He just managed to keep the quaver out of his voice. "My name is Bright Eyes."

"And what petition would you make of the Throne, my little pony?" Princess Cadence asked.

Mistaking Bright Eyes' hesitation for uncertainty, the Prince Consort leaned forward. "She means 'what did you want to ask,' " he explained in a low voice.

Bright Eyes refrained from telling him he understood; he just nodded and looked back to the Crystal Princess. "T-the guards at the front gate said that if somepony had something they wanted to ask you, they had to come here and wait with the ponies standing here in line...." he said carefully.

"Yes? And what did you want to ask?"

Bright Eyes took a deep breath.

"Can Nyx come out and play?"

The laughter built slowly, then swiftly rolled across the room. Bright Eyes sat there, doing his best to look as small as possible. The Princess merely sat there biting her lip, but he could tell she was struggling not to laugh too. When the laughter died down, she said "Well... Nyx is going on an outing with her grandparents today; if you hurry you can go along with them. I'm sure they won't object. Guard? Escort Mr. Bright Eyes to the Royal apartments upstairs and tell them why he's there."

She leaned forward. "From now on, Bright Eyes, I'll have the Guards take you right there when you visit. It's faster that way."

"Thank you, your Majesty," Bright Eyes said. He hesitated, fidgeting, suddenly remembering something else...

"You're welcome. Was there anything else you wished to ask?"

Blushing brightly, Bright Eyes looked around and edged forward with the air of somepony with a secret. Taking the hint, Cadence lowered her head and pricked her ear. He whispered in it for a second. The princess chuckled and pointed with a hoof. "Down the hall, first door to your left, sweetie. "

"Thank you," Bright Eyes said in relief. He galloped off, the guard escorting him having to trot to keep up. It took a second for the petitioners and courtiers to get the joke; when they did the laughter was even longer and louder than before.

Cadence looked at Shining Armor. "I want one," she said wistfully.

Shining Armor leaned in close and murmured in her ear. "As you wish. Shall we shop locally or mail order one?"

Cadence slugged him in the shoulder. Discreetly.

Twilight Velvet, Night Light, and Nyx were just getting ready to leave when there was a knock at the door. Waldorf opened the door to reveal one of the royal guard standing there; at his heel was a small white unicorn colt with a silver mane. "Officer Silver Saber, presenting one Bright Eyes, requesting an audience with the Princess' niece," the guard said formally, clicking his hooves together.

Waldorf cocked an eyebrow. "Young miss," he said over his shoulder, "a young gentlecolt caller for you." Nyx came to the door, peering around the butler's leg in curiosity. A smile lit up her face when she saw who it was.

"Bright Eyes!" she said happily. "Grandma, Grandpa, this is Bright Eyes, a friend of mine." The two elder Sparkles(1) came up behind her as Waldorf stepped aside. They were interesting looking ponies; they were both wearing loud floral-print shirts and sunglasses. The mare was carrying a large camera around her neck on a strap; the stallion was wearing a bucket hat and clenching the stem of a cigarette holder between his teeth.(2) "Why hello!" Twilight Velvet said, smiling.

"Well, hey there sport!" Night Light said. "What brings you by?"

"--The colt was given permission by Her Highness to request the honor of accompanying the young miss and her grandparents on their outing, ma'am," the guard said, clicking his hooves together again.

Nyx looked up at her grandparents. "Ooh, can he come with us? Pleeeease?"

"Well I don't see why not," Velvet said, looking at her husband.

"Do your parents know where you are, though?" Night Light asked him.

Bright Eyes nodded. "I told them I would be visiting a friend at their house," he explained.

Velvet looked amused. A foal's notion of what constituted fully informed and an adult's notion were two different things, as always. "I think we'll stop by your house to let them know all the same," she said. "Where do you live?"

"We live in the caretaker's house in the Crystal Heart Park, under the palace, Ma'am," Bright Eyes said. "My father's the caretaker."

"Oh, really, how fascinating..."

"Eep!" Nyx said suddenly. "I forgot my stuff!" She started to run back into the depths of the apartment, than turned back. "C'mon, Bright Eyes, come and give me a hoof!"

Bright eyes hesitated and looked up at Nyx's grandparents. At their smile and nod he trotted after the little black alicorn. "Thank you kindly, Guardsman," Velvet said to the pony-at-arms. He nodded, turned around and marched off.

"...Sunglasses." Bright Eyes read off the list.

"Sunglasses?" Nyx donned her enormous tinted spectacles. "Check."

Bright Eyes dutifully ticked off the box on the list with a crayon. "...Hat."

"Hat?" The legendary chapeau floated out of the closet and plopped down on Nyx's head. "Check."

"...Spending money."

Nyx dropped a coin purse into the open saddlebags on the floor. "Check."

"....Towel?" Bright Eyes read, confused.

Nyx trotted out of the closet. In her mouth was a bright purple towel in monogrammed with the legend "hoopy frood." She dropped it in the saddlebag. "Check."

"...Smarty Pants."

The doll landed in the other saddlebag. "Ooh, did you bring Bilbo Burro?" Nyx asked. Bright Eyes nodded and opened his own saddlebag; nestled inside were a lovingly stitched burro doll, right next to a copy of "There and Back Again" and a toy sword made of wood. Nyx nodded in approval. "Check and double check. What next?"

Bright Eyes looked at the list. "PeeWee?"

"Right!" Nyx whistled. There was a loud cheep, and the fat little phoenix chick flew into the room and alighted on Nyx's hat. Bright Eyes stared in awe.

"Wow," he breathed. "A real live baby phoenix! Where'd ya get him?"

"He's not mine, he's Spike's," Nyx explained. "Spike got him on the last great dragon migration."

"So why does he hang out with you?" Bright Eyes asked.

Nyx looked around. "I give him lots of cookies," she whispered. The two foals giggled. Bright Eyes looked down at the list. "And... saddlebags," he said.

Nyx took the strap on the bags in her mouth and expertly flipped them over her head. They landed perfectly across her back. "And... check." She smiled at Bright Eyes. "Let's go!"

The detour to the park was a quick one-- after all, it was directly below the legs of the gleaming spire that made up the royal palace.

And as it so happened, Bright Eyes' parents were perfectly fine with their son going on an outing with the royal family; They said so once they stopped stammering. (It was probably the two guards that were escorting them, Nyx figured. They still made her nervous, and she was used to them.)  

Once that was cleared up they all took a quick trot around the park, just to take in everything.  Nyx wasn't sure she liked it; for a park it was rather long on monuments and rather short on green grass and trees and swing sets. The crystal heart was really pretty though...

"Where are we going?" Bright Eyes asked.

"We're going to meet my Mom at the library," Nyx informed him. "She's been busy all day there, and we were gonna have lunch together."

"Oh." Bright Eyes paused. "Say, where are your sparkles? I just noticed they're gone."

Nyx looked at herself in surprise. It was true; she no longer sparkled like a crystal pony. "Hey, you're right," she said. She looked over at her grandparents. They weren't sparkling either. "Grandma, Grandpa, what happened?"

Grandpa Night Light grinned around his cigarette stem. "Your uncle-- that's the Prince," he said as an aside to Bright Eyes, "finally talked them into peeling off those extra enchantments on the Crystal Heart. Said it was a necessary security measure."

"So they could tell visiting ponies apart from the Crystal Empire citizens," Grandma Velvet explained. She sighed. "Ah, well, I will miss having my hair done up the moment I stepped outside..."

"Speaking of which, m'dear, you might want to powder your nose," Grandpa Night Light said. "It looks like we're about to be in the news." He pointed; headed their way was a small herd(3) of ponies-- some sparkling, some not-- bearing notepads and cameras.

"Oh my," Grandma Velvet said. She pulled a compact out of her saddlebags with her magic and checked her makeup. "Okay, now pay close attention, Nyx dear," she said. "I'm sure this will come in handy in the future. Now keep walking everyone." In the next moment the mob was upon them.

The two guards took up defensive positions, keeping the reporters at spear's length. Flashbulbs popped and a dozen voices started in at once. One yellow and teal pony managed to edge forward, addressing Night Light. "Sir! We in the press have some questions we'd like to ask--"

"Good for you, sonny!" Night Light said, grinning around his cigarette stem. "It's important to stay inquisitive. Keeps the mind active." --And turned away and kept walking.

The pony in question stammered, foundering in his own words. Another one took a shot. "Sir! Ma'am!"

"Well which IS it, young lady? You should be able to tell at your age," Velvet quipped, smiling for the cameras.

This journalista wasn't as easily tripped up. "Ma'am, what is your relationship to the former Nightmare Moon?"

"Fairly good, I would think. We do get along, don't we?" Velvet asked the latter of Nyx.

"Yes ma'am," Nyx said.

"There, you see?"

The reporter deadpanned. "Seriously, Ma'am--"

"Oh I'm always serious. It's only professional."

"Sir, Ma'am, we understand you are the parents of the Consort Prince," shouted another. "What are his plans for the Crystal Throne?"

"You'll have to ask his wife, she's the one who tells him where to move the furniture," Night Light said. "Poor boy. He'll have a bad back before you know it..."

"Is it true that Celestia is trying to gain influence over the Crystal Empire?"

Night Light looked at the reporter who shouted this. "Young fellow, you're going to have to be more specific than that.  But nice try, lad, nice try."

"What are the royal families' plans for the former Nightmare Moon? Why was she brought here?"

"Well, first we're going to meet her mother," Velvet said patiently. "And then we're going out for ice cream." This was greeted by cheers from the two foals, to the amusement of some of the audience.

This went on for several minutes, with news ponies pitching questions and Twilight Sparkle's parents, for lack of a better word, bunting. Even the stoic guards were starting to smirk as the pony paparazzi found themselves stumbling and scrambling to do anything with the vague, frustrating or even bizarre answers these two unicorns were giving them.

Finally one of them crossed the line. A belligerent stallion edged forward. "How do we know all of this isn't a conspiracy to steal the contents of the tomb and keep the Crystal Empire under the hoof of the Diarchy?"

"Other than a complete lack of any kind of proof?" Night Light said dryly. "Common sense comes to mind..."

The pushy pony wasn't deterred. "Well, with all the questionable individuals and associations and nepotism among you, why should we believe that you aren't? How do we know you're not just releasing the contents of the tomb to lull everypony into a false sense of security--"

This one made Night Light stop in his tracks and turn to look at the one who spoke. His dark glasses gave him a blank, bug-like stare. "I cannot rightly comprehend the confusion of ideas that can lead somepony to ask something like that," he said. "Are you stupid, boy? Are you mental?"

He stepped forward, his stemmed cigarette nearly poking the pony in question in the eye. "Don't mess with me, boy. I am one of Equestria's fierce beasts.  I am the original steam powered animal; I have dual pistons and a built-in cowcatcher and I will roll over your tiny ego like a herd of pie-crazed buffalo. I have SEEN horseapples.

"I spent a portion of my daughter's cuteceneara day as a potted cactus. I nearly was father in law to a giant cock-a-roach. I have alicorns in my kitchen on a regular basis. My family pic-a-nics in Everfree Forest and likes it.

The Elements of Harmony swap Hearthwarming gifts with us. The fruits of my loins are forces of nature, boy. My daughter juggles ursa minors for a pastime, makes Nightmare Moon sit in the corner when she's naughty, and turned a Chaos god into a birdbath. She and her friends destroyed the Grand Galloping Gala and Princess Celestia applauded.  My son slaps armies out of the sky by snogging his wife. My daughter in law sits on a THRONE and held the sky up for three days by sheer force of will.

"And every one of them calls me SIR!"

"Now, listen closely you cut-rate Gabby Gums. If the Dual Throne was going to conquer your Empire, it wouldn't look like this. It wouldn't involve polite little press releases where you lot sit around slurping gelato while Celestia's protege' announces she's trying to find one of your long-lost historical treasures. You wouldn't have your precious Crystal Heart back. You certainly wouldn't see the lawful heir to the throne in her rightful place.

"The only warning you'd receive before you woke up to Celestia and Luna on your thrones would be the sun going out. "

The newspony swallowed. Night Light grinned fiercely, his teeth grinding on his cigarette holder. "That's right. Darkness in Day. That's the only warning the Gryphon Empire had before their little act of invasion 400 years ago got a response.... a nice little mid-day eclipse. Twenty four hours later Celestia and the Solar Army were rolling up the last of the Gryphon Emperor's army like a pastry chef rolling up a blintz. It was a century before the sanctions were lifted and before any Gryphon was allowed to carry anything more intimidating than a butter knife. To this day the Gryphon Kings whitewash the seat of their thrones at the very thought of going to war with Equestria. They're not too fond of eclipses, either, come to think of it.

"THAT'S what a takeover by Equestria looks like!

"Celestia and Luna do not want to conquer you, or control you.  They've already got one kingdom to run, they certainly don't need two. They want to strengthen you, to give you the power to take care of yourselves.That's why her protege' found your crystal heart, that's why she's looking for the lost secrets of earth pony-- of crystal pony-- magic. Nopony would be wasting their time on that if all they wanted was to conquer the Crystal Throne. And you bloody well know that, you bush-league muckraker.

"AS to what 'the former Nightmare Moon' is doing here, what she's doing is being with her family. And our plans for her are to help her mother raise her to be a good, kind, decent, upstanding mare-- though as for that, seeing as Nyx gave up her throne, her power and even her name and became a little filly again because of her love for her mother, I daresay Twilight Sparkle is doing a bang-up job of raising her as it is.

"Now step aside, you son of a bird cage liner. We're on our way to meet our daughter." With that, he marched forward, looking neither left nor right. The newsponies parted before him without another word. His wife followed, trailed by two foals, who were gaping in awe, and two guards who were having considerable trouble not cracking a grin.

"I wish I could deal with bullies that good," Bright Eyes said, lost in admiration.

"Thank you," Night Light said over his shoulder. "But to be fair, I had an advantage. None of them were likely to try and give me a wedgie."

1)We are aware that this is not their actual surname. We would kindly request that the audience give us a freaking break.

2) The cigarette was never lit. He just liked how it looked.

3)Unoriginal, but how apropos.

Chapter 16

"Okay, uh, Miss Sparkle; can you tell us what part of the plan this is to find the lost Tomb, exactly?"

Twilight turned around and nearly smushed her nose against the lens of the camera. "Yeep! Roller, back up a little.. Oh, um, ahem." She readied her 'lecture mode' as the camera slowly moved back, taking in the unicorn, the library behind her, and the cloud of books zipping back and forth through the air. "Actually, this is one part of two different projects. We were in the middle of a massive renovation of the Crystal Empire library when the issue of the lost tomb surfaced, so we're simultaneously completing the renovation and reorganization, and sifting through the archives for any references or information about the tomb or it's location.

"Over here--" she pointed; the camera panned over clumsily to focus on a set of tables, where ponies were laboriously sorting through stacks of books and putting little runed stickers on the spines. "--The staff is sorting the books by the Dewhoof Decimal System into their appropriate categories, and tagging them accordingly. Then D.Frag's sorting spell picks them up, transports them to the stacks, and shelves them accordingly." As the camera focused, an emerald glow surrounded a stack of books at the end of the table. The camera tracked as they zoomed through the air like a flock of birds, finally coming to rest neatly on a nearby shelf, shuffling themselves into the books already there. "Once they're shelved, they're accessible to a special set of content searching spells made by Foxfire, Googleplex, and Wicker Speedy that let us search them all rapidly for any information on the Lost Tomb." The camera followed her hoof as she indicated the flickering web of emerald lines that stretched from every shelved book, crossed the ceiling, and then descended to a series of podiums with chalkboards and levitating scrolls. Four or five ponies were gathered around each podium, muttering things, taking notes and making suggestions. Every now and then, a book would fly from the stacks to a set of mostly-empty shelves set aside near where they worked. "As you can see, any books with potential content are pulled so they can be gone over more thoroughly later."

"So how much have they found?" The camera turned back to Twilight.

Twilight bit her lip. "Not much," she said. "But it's still early in the process, so there's still a great deal that we could still find..." she looked over her shoulder. "What is this?" The camera panned again, revealing D.Frag, Foxfire, Wicker Speedy and Googleplex sitting at one of the browsing podiums. They were staring at the scroll in front of them, their heads all tilted to the left for some reason, their expressions indescribable. "What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"Umm, trying to calibrate the image-searching spell," Googleplex said in a distracted murmur.

"I think it needs work," Wicker Speedy said, his eyes glazed.

"Why, what's wrong with--- AIEEK!!" Twilight had stepped into view, standing behind the others to see what was on the scroll.  There was a scuffle and a purple hoof suddenly blocked the lens. "Turn that off this instant!" Twilight could be heard saying. "Now! Before Spike or some foal sees it!"

"Okay okay--"

"And find that book and take it off the shelves! Put it in a box or something! What kind of words were you using to get an image like--- THAT??"

"Umm, lessee. 'Macrame.' "

"What." The delivery was a study in monotone disbelief. " What in the world... Roller, edit that out later-- stop FILMING, Roller, for crying out--"

"Ahem. As I was saying, this is only the first step in the hunt for the lost tomb. While we're working here in the library, a couple of professors from the Canterlot University are researching the folklore and oral tradition of the Crystal Empire, while others are examining the relics and artifacts that till now were kept in secrecy in the chambers of this very library."

"So who's doing that?"

"Well, the interns are doing most of the actual work with the relics, under the watchful eye of Mrs. Precious Lore. But the folklore research in particular is being headed up by... ah, Professor Dubious."

"Dubious? That nozzle?"

"Roller! You can't say that on film--"

"But he is! He's a complete nozzle! And a unicorn supremacist too, the big frickin--"

"ROLLER!--"

"...nd you'd better edit that last little bit out, you hear? Is it running? Oh. Ahem."

"So why is Professor I.M. Dubious heading up the research? He doesn't even believe in the lost tomb. Or in Earth Pony magic."

Twilight sighed and bit her lip. "Because he's that good at what he does. He's thorough, and meticulous. He may not believe old folklore and legends, but he's very very good at fishing them out and piecing them together. He personally rediscovered the lost tales of Saddle Arabia, and documented the lineage of all the variants of the legend of Trotlantis. In the end I don't care if he believes the evidence or not, so long as he finds it for us."

"So... Professor... Why don't you believe the legends?"

Professor Dubious stood in the basement chamber, the archaic relics and tomes behind him. He huffed at the camera. "Let's cut to what you really want to say, boy. You want to accuse me of being an arbitrary skeptic. Somepony who just refuses to believe anything, even when it bites him in the tuchus. Am I right?"

"...Uh, okay, we'll go with that."

"Am I?"

"...Well... you've gotten a lot of things wrong lately, Doc."

Dubious snorted. "And how many things have I gotten right? Nopony ever talks about that." He looked past the camera at the pony carrying it. "Why do you think I'm such a bitter, mean old skeptic, eh?"

"Cause Santa didn't bring you that hoofball you wanted for Hearthwarming Day, is my guess."

Dubious froze. For several seconds he stood there. Then he sat down and took his pinc-nez spectacles off. His tone turned somber.

"When I was a boy, before I got my cutie mark, I believed in Santa. It wasn't hard; my family was well off, so there were always plenty of presents under the Hearthwarming tree. Even the ones I asked for. But, as I got older, I couldn't help noticing that other little foals, who were at least as good and kind and obedient as I was, rarely seemed to get what they asked for. Funny enough, the poorer your parents were, the less often it happened too.”

"Of course I finally caught them sneaking presents under the tree. Who doesn't figure out Santa isn't real, eventually? But that was the start of it all. Sakes alive I was a cynical little blank-flank after that...  But what made it bad was, even after I caught my parents out, grownups were desperate for me to keep believing. Even though it did me no good. Even though it was an obvious lie. They just got all sorts of upset; I was supposed to believe, no matter what.

I started noticing all sorts of things I was expected to believe. I had one of those horrible dowager aunts who had all sorts of myths she expected me to believe. 'If you're naughty the parasprites will eat you.' 'If you eat sugar straight you'll grow worms in your stomach.'  'Don't touch frogs, they'll give you warts.' 'There's a monster that lives in the old abandoned well, if you bother him he'll drag you in !' 'If you make a face it'll stick that way.' That sort of thing. No, she couldn't just tell me not to do something, she had to make up some horrible myth or mythical bogeyman---- to frighten me into behaving.

         Consequently I took particular delight in proving her wrong. I would ask doctors about the worms in the stomach or getting warts from frogs and dutifully report my findings. I would sit and make faces for hours on end then point out-- loudly-- that I STILL wasn't stuck. I went down that abandoned well with a rope ladder and a flashlight. I got stuck and they had to call the fire department to fish me out, but I found zero well goblins and made a point of telling everyone present just that. I debunked the parasprite thing by sitting all night in a closet full of them---

"How---"

"One closet, one parasprite, fifteen boxes of Oaty Hunny Puffs. By morning I had zero Oaty Hunny Puffs, about a hundred or so parasprites, and no bites. I even smeared peanut butter on my face; they licked the peanut butter off and left me be. And as to being naughty, well, Auntie certainly had nothing nice to say about me after she opened the closet and let all my parasprites loose in her house."

"...You were a rotten little kid."

"Say that and smile.  But that wasn't the clincher. No, even though I was going about disproving and debunking all sorts of things, I was still gullible. I still had things I wanted to believe were true.

"I'd earned quite the reputation as a little skeptic. Colts and fillies would even ask me if something was true or not, before believing it themselves. But there was one colt in school... Silver Tongue. He had everypony impressed, all the blank flanks looked up to him. Myself included. Even though I had reached the point where I doubted nearly everything anypony said, for some reason I always trusted Silver Tongue.

        "One day, I don't know, I suppose he decided it would be funny to convince the Doubting Pony of something ridiculous. So he took me aside, and convinced me that he knew a spell that would make unicorns fly.

"It was one of those things I'd always dreamed of as a foal. To be able to fly, like a pegasus! And here he was, claiming that he had learned "the Flutterwing spell." To my eternal shame, I believed him. On the spot. I asked him-- I begged him to cast it on me...

"It wasn't a flying spell, of course. Just an illusion spell that made it look like I had butterfly wings growing out of my back. He even had his friends stand behind me and levitate me for a minute to convince me.

"Now I knew he couldn't cast that spell. Grown unicorns couldn't cast that spell, and he was all but flunking his magical classes...he could barely levitate an orange. I could SEE his friends' magic aura around me, levitating me. But I wanted so badly to believe. So I ignored my common sense, and every clue that it was a trick... And I decided that I would impress the whole school with my new wings. So I climbed up on to the roof of the schoolhouse, yelled 'everypony, watch!' ....and jumped."

"I broke all four of my legs.

"I lay there in the hospital, in horrible agony, all four legs in casts. It was then and there that I realized the truth; that ponies were liars. They lied to one another, they lied to themselves, and they did it for all the worst reasons. And even though every pony was a liar they never caught on when they were lied to. It was faster-- and safer-- to just assume that something someone told you was a lie, because ninety nine times out of a hundred, it was. And you didn't need to break your own legs to find it out.

"And that, my boy, is how I earned my cutie mark."

There was a long silence. "Dude...."

"Boy, ponies are too ready to believe. Too ready to believe ANYTHING. Either because they're afraid it's true, or because they desperately wish it was. Just like little foals are desperate to believe in a fat pony squeezing down a chimney to give them their greedy little heart's desire, or that Princess Luna's alter-ego will jump out of the closet and gobble them up. Or a silly little unicorn colt believing that a smooth-tongued liar could make him fly.

"Ponies wonder why I research mythology and folklore and oral traditions. Well, I research old tales and stories and legends--- like this old myth of Secrets of Earth Pony Magic-- the same way a person living in Hosstralia researches poisonous snakes. So I can know what falsehoods are out there, garbling up the truth; so I can know where they came from and so I can keep from putting my hoof down where their fangs can reach.

"I doubt things because nopony else seems willing to. Ponies don't like me; they hate me for spoiling their fairy tales. But you know what? I can live with that. Because I'd rather break some silly daydreamer's heart than hear later about how they broke their legs."

The roll of film reached its end; the camera flipped and clicked to a halt. Roller lowered his camera, blinking. The Professor gave him a long, evaluating look, then turned away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to get back to."

Roller took his camera and quietly left.

Chapter 17

The walk to the library was-- well-- a bit tiresome. Despite Grandpa and Grandma taking care of the first group... and despite the large guards scowling and brandishing their spears in their magic... it seemed like every other block there was another bunch of ponies popping up yelling questions and snapping pictures. Eventually Grandpa and Grandma got tired of talking to them and just started picking them up with their magic and dropping them headfirst in trashcans and flowerbeds.

Nyx could only look on in envy. They made magic look so easy...!

Bright Eyes heard her sigh. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," Nyx said.

Bright Eyes watched Nyx's grandparents wield their magic. "Boy, I wish I was that powerful," he said, shaking his head. "If I was, boy, those bullies would never pick on me--!" He concentrated, puffing out his cheeks. Only a few sparks shot out of the tip of his horn. He let his breath out in a puff. "Nuts. That's about as good as it gets." He turned a little red.

Nyx nodded sympathetically. It was kind of lousy being a unicorn-- or an alicorn-- and not being able to do diddly. Even not having a cutie mark wasn't as bad, in her opinion. She was surprised Bright Eyes would talk about it.

"What about you?" Bright Eyes asked. "I bet you're really powerful and stuff. I mean, you're an alicorn. Even an alicorn filly has gotta be pretty awesome with magic."

Nyx felt her face get hot. "Me?" she squeaked. "Um..."

"What was that, kids?" Grandpa Night Light said. He was distracted, he was in the middle of magically tossing another paparazzi in a nearby fountain. There was a yelp and a splash. "There. Hope he learns some manners... now, what were you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing," Nyx said, looking away. Geez, she didn't want to talk about her magic, or the lack thereof, especially to grownups. it was embarrassing.

"Oh, I was asking how strong her magic was," Bright Eyes said artlessly.

Night Light's eyebrows went up. "Well, that's kind of a personal question, boy," he said, chiding.

Bright Eyes blinked. "It is? Oh. oh gosh," he said, ducking his head and blushing. "I- I didn't know that."

"Oh no no, not that kind of personal, dear," Grandma Velvet said, chuckling. "Just... personal."

Bright Eyes scowled uncertainly. "I don't know that sort of stuff," he complained. "Nopony ever told me that. I don't have any unicorns in my family. Or in my school, other than me. Or anywhere else."

"Really? Goodness," Velvet said.

"Must make things a bit rough," Night Light noted.

Nyx and Bright Eyes both flashed back to a certain incident in a movie theater bathroom and winced. "Yeah," Bright Eyes said. "You could say that."

"Sorry to hear that, lad," Night Light said. "Ah! Here we are--"

Nyx looked up. They'd arrived at the library. Up at the top of the steps were Twilight and Spike. She was wearing sunglasses and saddlebags full of scrolls, and talking with a skinny teenage Crystal pony with a shaggy black mane, enormous saddlebags of his own and a movie camera of some sort strapped around his neck. Twilight caught a glimpse of them and waved, heading down the steps to them. "Mom, Dad!" she said, skipping down the stairs.

"There's my girl," Night Light chortled, catching her in a hug. "How's your day going?"

"Pretty good, actually," Twilight said. "But exhausting. Roller Reel, Spike and I were just taking a break for lunch." She paused to give Nyx a nuzzle. "Been a good girl for Grandma and Grandpa?"

"Uh huh." Nyx nodded. She pulled Bright Eyes over. "This is Bright Eyes," she said. "You remember him from the fancy dinner?"

"Hullo," Bright Eyes said politely.

"Ah yes... the one you met at that incident that nopony will tell me about," Twilight said, a little dryly. "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Bright Eyes."

"Hey, Mr. N, Mrs. V," Spike said, strolling down the steps behind Twilight. "How's it going?"

"Oh, same as always, Spike," Velvet said.

"So, Roller Reel," Grandpa Night Light said, his cigarette holder at a jaunty angle. "So what's your role in all this?"

"At the moment, film documentarian," Roller said. He opened his camera, popped out the used film cartridge, stowed it in his saddlebag, slapped a new cartridge into the camera and snapped it shut with a flourish. "Getting all this awesome historical stuff down on celluloid, per Miss Twilight's orders." The camera swung up on its spring loaded braces and locked in place. The camera whirred to life. "Aaaand here we meet the immediate family of the head of the Lost Tomb project..."

Night Light grinned ruthlessly into the camera. "Watch yourself there, cowpoke-- I made things pretty uncomfortable for the last photographer to stick a lens in my face. He got him some footage he wasn't expecting when I caught up with him."

"Oh yeah? Of what?"

"Only his darkroom technician and his proctologist know for sure."

"Dad!" Twilight snapped. "Quit trying to intimidate my camerapony."

Roller Reel just smirked. "I can run fifteen miles an hour backwards with a fully loaded camera," he said. "Take your best shot, old timer."(1)

Night Light's grin turned genuine. He looked over at his wife and daughter. "Moxie. I like him better already." Nyx and Bright Eyes giggled fit to bust.

Roller panned the camera down. "And hey, who's this? Cute foal. Yours?"

"Ah, the filly's mine," Twilight said, smiling. "Roller, meet Nyx. Nyx, Roller Reel."

Nyx stepped up and struck a pose, hoof held out daintily. "Nyx Sparkle, future idol of millions," she announced in her best Mare-lyn Monroe accent. She tossed her head, nearly dislodging Peewee from his perch. Spike made gagging motions behind her back.

Roller snickered. "Hey, you're on your way, then," Roller said. "Just think of the hundreds of ponies who'll be watching this movie. Heck, maybe even thousands."

"Thousands?" Nyx said, suddenly a lot less confident. "Gleep." She slowly backed up between her grandparents till she was safely out of sight of the camera.

The adults had a laugh at her expense. Roller cocked his head and looked at Nyx. "Hey wait," he said. "Nyx? So you're the filly who used to be that Nightmare Moon? Huh. Cool."

Nyx came out of hiding and looked at him in surprise. "You're not afraid of me?" she said.

Roller shrugged while he kept filming. Cute kids made great footage. "I probably should be, yeah," he said. "but I mean, I was stuck in time along with the rest of the Crystal Empire before the whole Nightmare Moon thing even happened. And yeah, there was that time where the sun didn't rise for days, but we go through that every winter anyways, this far North. To me you're just another little filly." He took in her giant sunglasses, her hat, the phoenix chick snoozing on her hat, her horn, her wings, her slit-pupiled eyes... "Okay, a weird little filly with a freaky back story..." he admitted.

"Heyyy," Nyx scowled.

Spike gave a shrug of his own. "Hey, it's true enough."

"--But still just a little filly." Roller shrugged again. "Besides, when it comes to scary, King Sombra is kind of a hard act to follow."

"Yeah," Bright Eyes said fervently.

Night Light listened to all this. He stroked his chin thoughtfully, eyeing  and looked over at his wife. "Velvet?" he said, leaning over to her.

"Yes dear?"

"I think I have an idea on how to get the press off Twilight's back about Nyx, at least," he muttered.

Twilight overheard him. "Dad, what are you up to?" She asked suspiciously.

The grownups started putting their heads together, chattering over... something. Sometimes it was confusing for Nyx, being who she was;  she'd been a grownup, so she knew that the stuff grownups talked about should have made sense to her and been important. But it still got so boring listening in, sometimes. She idly looked around while they talked.

It was then that she noticed something odd. No, she didn't notice it, so much as she felt it. Something was off, something that made her mane prickle. They were all standing halfway up the broad stairway to the front door of the library, on a wide circular landing edged with park benches. They were the only ponies there at the moment, except for one crystal pony sitting on a bench on the other side of the landing. He was brown, with a black mane, and his eyes were red like he hadn't slept in a long time. He was laden down with two heavy saddlebags, even more enormous than Roller Reel's, and he was looking straight at their little group. No, he wasn't just looking, he was staring. He was glaring so hard at them all that Nyx could practically feel his gaze prickling on her skin.

His eyes met Nyx's. For one brief second his eyes went wide with surprise-- then they hardened. He got to his hooves and started walking toward them.

Then he started running.

Nyx felt her heart freeze. "MoooOOOM--!" she said, her voice ending on a scream.

Twilight looked up just as the red-eyed pony plowed into them. He caught everypony by complete surprise, body slamming the guards, using the bulk of his enormous saddlebags to knock them sprawling. Twilight had tumbled to the ground in the initial rush; before she could get to her feet the pony was on her, holding a knife to her throat with one hoof.

"Nopony move or she dies!" he yelled, his voice cracking. The guards froze halfway to their feet, hesitating. That was all the time he needed. "Death to the interlopers!" He shouted. He grabbed a loose strap on his saddlebags in his teeth and started to pull.

"No!" Nyx screamed. She'd been knocked sprawling with the others, and was behind the madpony. She didn't know what the strap was for, but she didn't need an explanation to know it was bad for Twilight. By pure reflex she tried to magic the horrible pony away; her horn only threw a couple of useless sparks. Desperately she did the only thing she could think of; she ran up, grappled with the red eyed pony's back leg, and bit his hock as hard as she could.

He howled and staggered back, dropping his knife. In a flash Twilight had rolled free. "Nyx, get away from him!" she cried out. The guards rushed him, but in an act of depressingly good thinking he kicked the little filly loose and right under their hooves. They stumbled, frantically avoiding stepping on her.

"Too late!" he shouted triumphantly, finally pulling the strap. Something in the bags started to spark and fizz.

"Great MAKER, it's a bomb!" one of the guards shouted.

Glong.

The madpony was suddenly underneath a shimmering purple bubble. It was joined a moment later by a pale blue, then a dark green one. A gold and silver one were next. All five unicorn adults got to their feet, horns glowing. Nyx could see it in his eyes, the split second he realized that his plan had failed. He screamed in frustration soundlessly--

Then the multilayered bubble over him went white.

Grandma Velvet pulled her and Bright Eyes close, and covered their eyes. "Don't look, children--" she said brokenly. Nyx didn't resist.

"Wait." Twilight sounded puzzled. "That didn't feel like an explosion..."  Nyx pulled away Grandma Velvet's hoof and looked. One by one the shields were dropped, revealing... a gigantic blob of foam?

The blob sagged and spread out. The red eyed pony's head poked out through the froth. Spluttering and coughing, He looked around, bewildered. "...That didn't work right," he said unnecessarily. An instant later he was dogpiled by the two guards. Foam flew everywhere. They had him pinned to the pavement in an instant, his hooves tied. One of them stood with his spear at the pony bomber's throat and his hoof on his back, while the other went through the extremely foamy contents of his bags.

The crowds all around raised a tumult. Twilight and her family huddled together as flashbulbs popped all around, comforting one another while the guards searched the prisoner. "Good Heavens, that was terrifying!" "Are you all right?" "Did he hurt you?" Queries and comforting nuzzles were traded.

"Well, it appears to be some sort of... attempt at an explosive device," the guard said, holding up a dripping, broken mess of wires, tubes and ruptured canisters. "And some sort of book of instructions." He held up a hoof-full of stapled together papers.

"Let me see those," Twilight Sparkle said. She took the papers in her magic, cleaned the foam off and began flipping through the pages. Among the pages were several blueprints, including what looked like one for the explosive device. After a minute or so she addressed the would-be assassin. "You," she said. "Where did you get these?"

"You'll get nothing out of---hngggh," he said as the guard pinning him pressed his hoof down on his back. "The Revolutionist's Recipes," he croaked. "Got a copy on the black market..."

Twilight scowled at him. "These aren't from the Revolutionist's Recipes," she said. "I've read that book. Somepony copied chapters five through eight of '101 Practical Pony Party Pranks!(2)" She held up a page; it showed in meticulous detail the proper construction of a Party Cannon. "Trust me, I know the authors."

"Congratulations, Wonder Horse," one of the guards said sarcastically. "You just tried to assassinate a VIP with a giant party favor." The bomber groaned and faceplanted.

"Are you all unharmed?" The other guard asked. At everypony's nods to the affirmative he breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Once backup arrives we'll be taking this scumbag in for questioning."

"It'll do you no good," the bomber pony said in bleak triumph. "I took a dose of poison this morning. I'll be dead in less than twenty four hours."

Twilight flipped through the hoofwritten pages again. "Let me guess. Pale blue flower, yellow stamens, tulip-like petals?" The pony nodded. "That's Poison Joke, fella. Good news is, you'll live. Bad news is, you're gonna be willing to tell us anything you know for the cure." She handed the stapled pages back to the guard. "Just sit on him for 24 hours. He'll be more than happy to cooperate by then."

The guard saluted and returned his attention to the prisoner. Twilight turned her attention back to her family and friends. "Is everypony okay?" she said, nuzzling Nyx. "Nyx, he didn't hurt you did he?"

"No mommy," Nyx said in a small, frightened voice. She huddled up close to her mother's legs.

The guards sent up a magic flare. a moment later several pegasi guards arrived with with manacles and a prisoner cart. One of them got Twilight's attention. "Pardon, Ma'am, but we're going to move all of you inside for the moment for safety's sake. He might have had collaborators willing to take a second shot."

"Certainly officer. Nyx? You and your friend go on inside the library with Grandma and Grandpa. I'll be right in, I just have to talk to these nice guards for a moment, okay?" Nyx gave her another worried nuzzle, but obeyed. They all hustled inside the library, accompanied by more of the guards.

Twilight waited several seconds. "Are they inside?" She asked one of the guards calmly. "All out of sight?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good." Without another word Twilight fainted dead away.

Chapter 18

The castle was in an uproar. When word arrived of the assassination attempt, Shining Armor had been ready to tear somepony's head off. He'd ridden the two guards who had been present up and down a rail over how they'd been so sloppy as to let down their guard, and had promptly demanded double the number of guards for every member of his family. The new Captains of the Royal, City and Imperial guard had immediately granted his request, too intimidated to do otherwise. He'd spent the remainder of the day fuming impotently at his circumstances.

Princess Cadence had been distraught. She had seen to her in-laws, sent her own physicians to make sure that Twilight was unhurt after her collapse and that the rest of them, Roller and Bright Eyes included, were unharmed. She'd even gone so far as to take them in as guests, till the circumstances surrounding the assassin were sorted out.

The Guard had been as discreet as possible, but they had thoroughly turned the pony assassin's life upside down and inside out, looking for clues or connections to a larger conspiracy. To their chagrin and their own growing sense of irony, what they discovered was that their incompetent assassin was a conspiracy theorist. His name was Glowing Ember, he was a single pony who worked as a street sweeper for the city, he had no family, no friends or associates, and had a history of psychological problems dating back to the fall of Sombra that was as thick as a Manehattan phonebook.  His apartment was a mess of abandoned takeout boxes, wallpapered with newspaper articles and strung with colored string running from wall-tack to wall-tack in a massive web showing nonsense connections between everything from the Equestrian Princesses to the price of cabbages in the gryphon kingdom. Glowing Ember had subsequently been pulled out of his cell, given medical treatment for the head to toe coat of live daisies he'd sprouted overnight, and remanded to custody of the Pokey Oaks psychiatric care center.(1)

Consequently leaving Shining Armor aware of the increased danger to his family, even at the very time he had been pushed into enforced idleness by Crystal Empire law.

The very next day Twilight, despite his complaints, had returned to work. She had insisted that the work had to continue, and unless Cadence and Shining were willing to sequester the entire blinking project team then there was no point in hiding away just one.

For some reason Night Light and Velvet had accompanied her as well; they said something about business to discuss with Certain Someponies, and had left it at that. Cadence had been forced to return to court to keep up appearances-- and to tend to the panicked queries by her infant court and probing inquiries by the press.

Leaving him, at the moment, a shut-in husband, he reflected grumpily. He had been clipped from the chain of command, he had no orders to give nor orders to follow. And circumstances were that he couldn't be a help to anypony.

Not anypony, he eventually reflected guiltily. There was one other pony in his family still here.

Nyx's little friend had been sent home, to cries of relief from his parents. Spike, though guilt had gnawed him, had gone with Twilight in the end (which made Shining feel marginally better; only a fool would discount the little dragonling as a protector, once his dander was up.) Nyx, however, was still here at the castle.

She had been something like second or third in importance in the delusional pony's obsessive conspiracy map.

Shining grimaced. He felt like a tool; he'd been puttering around the royal digs sulking because he wasn't in the middle of the action while a little filly was getting over the trauma of nearly being-- well, buried in shaving foam, but still.

When she'd gotten back to the palace her little legs had been shaking--

Time to get off my plot, he decided. He got up and went looking for the filly. She wasn't in Twilight's room; the last time he'd looked she'd been napping there. I hope she isn't in the kitchen again, he thought in mild amusement. Or the laundry room. Another event like that and she'll need therapy...

He started to go find Waldorf Salad or one of the other staff and ask them, but paused. He'd heard something. He listened for a moment to the quiet. Faintly, he heard a thump, like a book falling to the floor, followed by a muffled exclamation of frustration. The library of course. Twilight's daughter; he should have looked there first.

The library door was ajar. On an impulse he crept to the door and peeked in. Nyx was sitting in the middle of the floor, facing a large book lying on the carpet. She was glaring at it like it was her mortal enemy. As he watched, her horn lit up with an indigo aura. The same aura surrounded the book lying on the floor. Slowly, slowly the book rose up on one side. Nyx strained, her face scrunching up. The book flipped, rose up on one end, lifted up on one corner...

The filly held it there, straining for all she was worth, her eyes scrunched shut with the effort. The book didn't rise another inch. It stayed balanced on its corner like it was glued to the floor by it. A five count, a ten count, and she finally relented. The aura disappeared and she let out her breath in an enormous puff. The book flopped down, immobile once again.

She sat and looked at it for a second. Then her face darkened like a thundercloud. She got to her hooves. "Stupid stinking plothead BOOK!" she yelled. She gritted her teeth and gave the book a vicious kick right in the spine. It slid maybe five feet and flopped to the floor again, implacable as ever.

After the thunder, came the rain. Nyx's face scrunched up again, and tears filled her eyes. She started sobbing, her head hanging low. She stamped on the floor with her forehooves in an epic display of frustration. "Stupid book," she snuffled, wiping her nose on her cannon. "Stupid magic."

Shining rapped gently on the door. "Hey," he said.

Nyx started. "Uncle Shining!" she hastily tried to clean herself up, looking guiltily from the door to the kicked book lying on the floor. Shining decided to let the book go unmentioned. He came into the room and whisked a kerchief from his pocket to the filly's face, mopping her tears and wiping her face.

He pinched her nose gently in the kerchief. "Okay, blow." She gave a mournful honk. Shining wiped her nose and put the kerchief away. "Better?"

She scowled at the pocket holding the vanished handkerchief. "I can't even do that," she muttered.

Shining lay down on the floor next to her. "Problem, Nyxy Stix?" he said.

"You saw," Nyx said, accusing. "My magic is... doo doo." She waved her hoof at the book. "I can't even levitate a little book like that. I'm useless."

Shining regarded the book. Living with Twily had certainly given her a different perspective on what a 'little' book was; she was trying to levitate a Hoofster's Unabridged Dictionary. "Well, you're little, yet," he said consolingly. "Your magic's just growing in..."

"But I wasn't like this before!" Nyx burst out. She stood up. "Even before they turned me into Nightmare Moon, I was-- strong! I beat a whole team of colts at tug of war! I turned a pony into a tree and back again! I could DO stuff!" Her chin started to crumple. "And when I was Nightmare Moon-- and I know I'm bad for wanting it again, but I was so strong-- I beat up a manticore and a giant scorpion and a bunch of giant wolves and even a hydra! I saved ponies, I protected them! And now I'm so weak I can't even defend myself!

"And some horrible pony tries to blow us up, and I can't do anything except bite him on the leg..."

Shining reached out and pulled her into a hug. She buried his face against his neck. It was another painful epiphany; she and he were going through the same thing. Feeling helpless. To be that powerful, and then to wake up the next morning that weak, just when ponies needed you the most--  it had to hurt like hell.

He thought back to the first time he'd felt that helpless: Back when he'd been little older than Nyx was, and the bullies looked as tall as mountains, and his own magic had been struggling to come in. Maybe he couldn't help himself right now, but at least he could help her. "Hey you," he said softly.

"What?" Nyx snuffled.

"Quit wipin' boogers on my nice clean shirt." In spite of herself Nyx giggled. The kerchief made a repeat appearance, wiping her face clean. "Better?"

"I guess," Nyx said weakly.

"Come on into the kitchen," he said, getting up. "I got something I wanna show you."

"When I was your age," Shining said, moving around the kitchen, pulling an odd selection of things down from the shelves, "My magic was just... feh. Just wasn't happening. I was having all sorts of trouble doing the spells my teachers told me to do, I couldn't levitate anything, couldn't do transformations or shields or-- well, anything." He started setting things out on the countertop. "Well, there was this old codger of a unicorn who lived in our neighborhood, Crusty, his name was. Used to be a pie salesman. Grizzled old fella with a mashed up face and stubble all over his chin, always wore a squashed looking hat and a turtleneck sweater. One day he caught me moping over the magic practice exercises I was supposed to be doing. Something with pebbles, I think.

"Anyway, he asks me what the problem is, and I tell him that my magic is so lousy that I can't even do my magic school lessons with it. And you know what he says to me?"

Nyx sat forward on her stool, intrigued. "What?"

"He says, "Ya silly thing. Magic ain't for doin' homework. It's for doin' stuff ya need to do."

Nyx's brow furrowed. "Didn't you need to do your homework too?"

Shining Armor chuckled. "Well yes, but that wasn't his point. His point was that it wasn't about doing lessons or exercises. It was about getting things done that were useful."

"But what if your magic isn't strong enough to do useful stuff?" Nyx pouted.

"I asked that too. The next thing he said is that was "It ain't watcha got, it's watcha do wid it." "  He squinted one eye and puffed out one cheek as he said it. The imitation made Nyx giggle. "See, it isn't about being strong, it's about doing a LOT, with just a LITTLE. And you can do a whole lot of useful stuff with just a little bit of magic if you're smart." He set a pitcher of water on the counter, and set an empty cup next to it. "Now suppose I wanted to fill this cup full of water. How would I do it?"

"You pick up the pitcher with your magic and pour," Nyx said matter-of-factly.

"Well suppose I couldn't pick up the pitcher?" he said. Nyx frowned, stumped. Shining grinned. "Well, for starters I could do this--" and he picked up the cup and dipped it into the open pitcher, filling it.

Nyx facehoofed. "Oh, doi."

Shining Armor laughed. He emptied the cup and set it back down. "Okay, now what if you can't lift the pitcher OR the cup?"

Nyx thought it over. Then an idea lit up her face. Her horn glowed. Slowly, a dollop of water formed on the top of the pitcher, broke free, and floated over and down to the cup. There was a tiny 'splish' and the cup was nearly half full. "Very good!" Shining enthused. "Now try doing a steady stream..."

Nyx concentrated again. This time the water formed a pencil thin stream that arced out of the pitcher and into the cup. It was even easier than the dollop of water had been. To her surprise, once the water arced all the way down it was even easier, like the water was doing most of the work itself. "Oh, I get it-- a siphon!" she said suddenly.

"Exactly," Shining said.(2) "A lot of times, once you get something going, you can keep it going with just a little push here and there." He moved over to some paper napkins. "Now that's just the first thing he showed me. I'm gonna show you all the little tricks he taught me.

       "Okay, suppose you need something to burn? Being able to shoot fire from your horn is cool. But sometimes you just need a tiny flame to start...."

He went from there, showing her dozens of little tricks, tiny spells that her little bit of magic could do easily. A match lighting trick, a trick that would make a bowl of a spoon rust through, a trick for folding paper, one for knotting and unknotting string and (if you pushed hard) rope, one for cutting things, one for making them stick together, how to shoot a spark that would give a little shock-- like shuffling your hooves across a rug, only a little bit stronger, a spell to make water freeze, or ice melt, or (more useful) heat up your soup or cool it down if it was too hot, a trick that jiggled locks and other simple mechanical things till they opened or unlocked or turned on, a spell that made anything taste like soap (she was SO using that on Diamond Tiara when she got back home), one that would make a spot on the floor slippery.. they all only did a tiny little bit, or were slow, but they were all nifty. "And the stronger you get, faster they'll work and the more you'll be able to do with them," he told her.

The ones that interested her the most, of course, were the ones that were really useful in a fight. She was a foal, but she wasn't foalish; she didn't imagine for a minute that every conflict could be resolved by trying to make friends. Nearly getting eaten by a hydra was enough to learn that. "A good solid horn-zap, especially in the right place, can save your plot in a fight," he said. He jabbed his horn into a pillow he'd thrown on the floor, giving it a jolt. "In fact, even a weak blow or punch-- or kinetic jab-- in the right place can drop a pony right where they stand. For instance here--" he tapped the inside of Nyx's knee; to her surprise her leg seemed to fold of its own accord. "hit someone like that, even with a tiny little magic push, and they'll drop to the ground."

"Weird," Nyx said, flexing her leg.

"Okay, now let's try some cooler magic stuff," Shining said. He went around the kitchen, filling up the sinks, then filling up several pitchers and buckets.  "Pick up a ball of water from the sink. As big as you can make it." Nyx complied; after a few fumbles and spills, and most of it sloughing away, a rippling ball of water about the size of an orange rose from the sinks Shining Armor had plugged and filled. "That's an exercise you can do," Shining Armor noted. "Making globes of water over and over again. It helps you build up your 'magic muscle.' Okay, now throw it at me."

Nyx looked at him uncertainly. "Really?"

Shining nodded. "It's why we're in the kitchen. Tile finish and drains in the floors. Go ahead. Fire away."

Nyx complied. It never reached its intended target, splattering and spilling down a shimmering circular forcefield. "That's how you practice your shields," he said. "Pelting each other's forcefields with water is safe, easy to clean up, and it builds up your skill with shielding and with launching attacks. Here, now you try blocking me." He hefted a small ball of water, about the size of a grape. Nyx concentrated, building up the spell Shining armor had showed her. A pale, shimmering indigo wall, about the size of a kite shield, appeared between her and Shining. It wouldn't stop a real attack; anything much more than a softly lobbed baseball would punch through. But it would stop a few ounces of water, easy.

"Okay, I--" the grape sized dollop of water hit her between the eyes. She spluttered and shook the water out of her face. "What--" another blop of water drenched her. "Hey, I wasn't ready!" she scowled.

"Right, sorry," Shining said. "I'll give you a second to warm up."

Nyx scrunched her face up for a second, her horn glowing. "All right, I think I'm..." Splish. Water dripped from her mane. "Hey!"

"Oh come on," Shining teased, lowering his own shield. "Now would a bad guy stand there and let you warm up? Now, what you need to do is---"

Splursh. The glob of water hit him square in the face. He shook his drenched mane out of his face. Nyx stood there with an innocent look on her face, and another, slightly larger dollop of water,  hovering at the ready.

He smirked. "Oh, so it's going to be like--" Splosh. The second, unseen water ball hit him from behind. He stood there, dripping.

She stood there, smirking... her water globe still ready, shield still up.

The tableau froze just for a moment. "Oh, it is on now--" Shining said, grabbing another watery projectile.

"Eeeek!" Nyx squealed, tossing her waterball and running for it.

"Gotcha!"

"Missed me, ha--" BOOSH "Awgh!"

Splat!

"Yeek! Oh, you chilled that one, you little stinker!"

The water war raged back and forth across the kitchen. Splashing, shouting and hoots of laughter filled the air as anything moving and nearly everything not was spattered with flying tapwater. And, to Shining's unspoken satisfaction, he noted that as the fight raged on and Nyx let go of her anxiety she began levitating larger waterballs, and more of them at a time. In a few minutes she had half a dozen grape to orange-sized watery globes orbiting around her.  Her shield was pretty good too, and getting stronger as she relaxed and went with the flow; catching most-- but not quite all-- of the liquid flung her way.

Her aim might have improved too if they both hadn't been laughing so hard.

All good things must come to an end, or at least a transition. Neither of them had any warning when Cadence came walking in. It was too late; they had both unleashed a volley from opposite sides of the kitchen.

"Shining? Nyx? I came down from court for lunch and---"

Splosh. Splash. Spat. Blorsh. Boosh. Splush.

Everyone froze in various states of shock.  The two miscreants stared slackjawed as the Princess of the Crystal Empire, Alicorn of Love, great grandniece of the Diarchy of Moon and Sun, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza stood there, drenched from head to toe and dripping on her kitchen floor.

There was no hesitation. Hooves pointed.

"He did it!"

"She started it!"

"SHI-NING!" Cadence yelled through the drenched curtain of her mane.

Shining was a wise stallion.(3) "Retreat!" The two of them bolted.

"Come back here, you--"

Chapter 19

---New Ruler of Crystal Empire Sponsors Quest to Find lost historical tomb---Trottingham Gazette

---Crystal Princess orders royal expedition to find Lost Tomb of Founders--- Good Neighbor News

---Quest for Historical Treasure Begun--- Whinny Weekly

---Lost Treasure of Crystal Empire: The Hunt Begins for the Lost Secrets---Quarterhorse Times

---Hidden Treasure in Sombra's Former Kingdom--- Daily Steeplechase

---Earth Pony Treasure?--- Daily Hitching Post

---The Secret Treasure of King Sombra--- Equestrian Enquirer

It was a long, circuitous delivery route. The package in question crossed three rivers, a frozen tundra, countless rickety rope bridges over bottomless canyons, and up the donkey trail winding up the side of one brutal, lifeless mountain. The final leg of the journey it was not carried by any pony(1); it was raised to the charred stump of a blasted mountaintop by way of a miles-long rope and pulley system built centuries ago. From there the basket that contained it would be carried aloft in massive, stone-hard claws to a lonely caldera, where magma seeped and bubbled and sulfurous lakes boiled, and conveyed, with many a bowing and scraping, to one of the many caves that dotted the inside walls of the massive bowl of rock and ash; the home of Tirnog, the great red dragon and fierce master of a full seventh of a dragonflight.

The centuries-old resident who lived there would receive it with anticipation, carrying the wicker basket as if it were as fragile as an egg-- and in those massive claws it was so-- deep into his innermost sanctum where he would open it, to reveal what had cost such time and labor and painstaking care....

Newspapers. Copies of every newspaper published in every corner of the world; Equestria, Zebrica, Saddle Arabia, and more.

In dragon lands something as flammable as paper wasn't exactly common, and was consequently more precious than gold or gems. Information, any information, was conveyed by word of mouth or by other, clumsier means.(2) Tirnog had learned to read as a hatchling and in his adolescent years learned just how valuable information about the goings-on in the world could be in keeping a leg up on his rivals. The grueling and complicated system he had devised to get his subscriptions to all his papers and magazines delivered right to his cave was worth twenty, no a hundred times its cost.(3)

Today though, his precious package of publications was intercepted. Briefly. By a far smaller specimen than himself, whose russet red coloration had led to Tirnog grudgingly acknowledging him as his son. The younger drake took the basket from the dragon courier, hastily threw him a clawful of gems in payment, and absconded with the basket further down the rubble-strewn slopes to a retreat of his own choice; one more comfortable for poring over his illicit plunder.

"Move over."

"Come on, let me see it--"

"I can't read nuthin', it's too dark in here. Hold on, lemme light a torch..." There was a sound of someone inhaling sharply, then a small gout of flame illuminated the cave. There was a sharp smack, and the flame went out.

"Owww!"

"Stop that, you moron! You wanna set the papers on fire?"

"Jeez, they're just papers--"

"And if my old man finds so much as one of 'em missing, we're all dead meat! Now shut up a second." There was some muffled grunting and the sound of glass scraping on metal. A tiny flame glimmered in the darkness, catching on a wick. Slowly it caught, filling the teenager's cavern with light. Garble carefully lowered the lid on the storm lamp and adjusted the wick. "There, better."

"What is that thing?" Grundle said, tapping the glass with a claw tip. He scratched his ponderous belly with his free hand.

"Don't touch it, you'll break it. It's called a lantern. Found it in a burned out caravan. You fill it up with flammable liquid, light the wick and it lights the room. Cool, huh?" Garble said.

"Cool," Scrag, the scrawny, ram horned dragon said. "What's it filled with?"

"You don't wanna know. Trust me."

"C'mon, tell."

"Well, lemme put it this way. Our breath ain't the only thing that comes out of us that's flammable," Garble said, smirking.

The others thought this over for a second.  "Eww," said Grundle, wiping his hand off on the floor. "Aw, man, dude, tell us stuff like that beforehand."

"All right, whatever," Blizz, the white dragonling said. He crowded in to look at the papers Garble was sifting through. "What're we doing this for anyway?"

"I got a look at the last load of papers my old man got," Garble said. "They're sure to run a followup. There's stuff going down in the Crystal Empire you ain't gonna believe!"

"Crystal Empire?" Rockjaw muttered. He scratched his oversized chin.

Flange brushed his drooping yellow crest out of his eyes. "Ehh, some place full a wussy ponies," he said.

"Here it is! Check it out." Garble carefully picked the copy of Equestria Enquirer out of the pile and opened it up. It was a double page spread titled

THE LOST TREASURE OF KING SOMBRA(4)

Princess and Pony Protege' Seek Ancient Lost Treasure of the Crystal Empire

Garble held up the paper triumphantly so all could see. "You guys recognize any of these losers?" he gloated. Below and behind the blaring headline was a wide angle, full color photograph from the palace banquet. It showed the whole royal family: Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Twilight at the podium in mid-pontification, Nyx and Spike...

Rockjaw's eyes went wide. "Hey, it's that little twerp from the migration," he said, jabbing a claw at the picture of Spike. Garble winced, but paper was fragile; Tirnog would expect a little damage.

"Yeah, it's that runt who stole our egg! And look--" he pointed at a pudgy yellow ball of feathers hovering around Spike's shoulder. "That fat little twerp got a pet phoenix out of it! Whatta gyp!"

"Yeah," Grundle said. The group of teenage dragons muttered in anger and jealousy. The fact that they had planned to merely smash the egg was conveniently forgotten in the commiseration of envy. "It sucks. But what's the point, Garble?"

"The point?" Garble said, disbelieving. "Didn't you read the headline?" The others stared at him. "You didn't." He paused. "You can't read the headline, can you." No denials. He sighed. "Fine. It says that twerp and his little purple pony friend are looking for the lost treasure of King Sombra."

"Who's Sombra?" Rockjaw shrugged.

"See, this is why my old man runs this joint," Garble gloated. "He knows stuff. Sombra was some wizard a thousand years ago who ruled this Crystal Empire place. He was so hardcore he even came to the Dragonlands and threw his weight around. Took on the old Dragon King, mopped the floor with him, and stole his hoard. Not just some of it, the whole stinkin' hoard." the dragons' eyes glittered as Garble's fantasies took off. "You've heard the legends, man. The greatest treasure hoard any dragon ever owned... not just gold and gems, but magic stuff. Enchanted weapons, magic tomes, fire crystals, moonstones, leviathan bones, you name it. Stuff so rare that you can't find it anymore.  Any dragon with a hoard like that would rule the Dragonlands."

"Oh, I get it," Scrag said. "You think this is the treasure they're looking for?"

"What else could it be?" Grundle said. The glint in his eyes turned hard as he looked down at the picture. "And this little runt is sure to have first pick of it when they find it." The others growled. "That's dragon treasure. It belongs in Dragon claws-- not with little puny ponies or their phony-dragon pets!"

"Nothing we can't fix," Garble said ominously. "We just go there and take back what's rightfully ours."(5)

The others suddenly looked a lot more hesitant. "You mean us? Just the six of us against a whole empire of ponies?" Flange said in surprise.

Garble sneered. "Oh no, pretty little ponies!" He said in a falsetto, flapping his hands at the wrist. "whatever shall we do?" He glared at them. "You big wussies. Yeah, us against a whole empire of ponies-- the weeniest things on earth. That purple one is supposed to be Princess Celestia's super-magical student, and we ran her off without even trying! And these ponies aren't even the magical kind! look..." He flipped through the tabloid, showing them the pictures of the Crystal Empire. "No horn. No horn.... No horn here, either..." He snorted and flipped back to the double page spread. "Even their namby-pamby pony leader is the namby-pambiest one of the bunch. 'Princess Cadence, the Alicorn of Love." He snorted, coming perilously close to setting the paper alight. "Ooo, I'm shakin'."

Some of them were coming around. Others weren't so certain. "That's still a lot of ponies," Grundle pointed out. Even someone immune to stings would question the wisdom of chucking rocks at a hornet nest.

Garble smirked. "Yeah?" He dragged a covered iron pot from hiding. "I got us a fix for that." He lifted the lid; the cave flooded with purple-red light. 'Oooo's of amazement rose up. He watched with satisfaction as his friend's eyes lit up with greed.

"Fire opals," Flange said. "A whole pot of 'em."

"I never seen so many at once," Blizz said.

"This? Swiped 'em from the old man's hoard," Garble said loftily.

The others looked wary. "Won't Tirnog kinda notice these missing?" Scrag said.

"Eh, he' s got twice this just lyin' around," Garble bragged. "Besides, we bring back Old King Smirnoff's hoard, this'll be pocket change!(6)" He could see it in their eyes; they were on board now. He dug out a handful of opals and chomped them down. "Eat up, compadres-- we got a long trip ahead of us. But by the time we arrive...

"We'll be ready to give that turncoat and his namby pamby pony friends the worst day of their lives." His grin was all fangs as his friends chowed down.

Chapter 20

"The trick is," Night Light said over his sarsaparilla to Shining Armor, "that we need to get the common pony on your side." He took a long sip.  

"I wouldn't mind getting them on Twilight and Nyx's side too while we're at it," Shining Armor said wryly. He was busy behind the bar, making himself a birch beer float. He stuck a straw in the mug and sucked at it moodily. "I don't understand these ponies. I just don't. When we first arrived, when we defeated Sombra, everypony was united, one heart and one mind. It was the reason the crystal heart worked. But now everypony is divided..."

"Which is a good thing if you ask me," Night Light said. "It means they're individuals, with their own dreams and ambitions and hopes and worries and fears. Not cookie-cutter gingerbread ponies, not wind-up toys. What were you hoping, m'boy: that the effervescent light of the Crystal Heart and the Princess of Love would make them all live in perfect conformity?" He smirked and plugged his nose with one hoof.

"Oh, we are the Buddy Bears, we always get along

Each day, we do a little dance and sing a little song

If you ever disagree, it means that you are wrong

Oh, we are the Buddy Bears, we always get along--"

Shining Armor shuddered violently. "Yeesh Dad, stop that! You know how I felt about that radio show." He shuddered again. "Creepy little furry freaks..."

Night Light chuckled at his son's discomfiture. "Anyhow. I think you're overstating the situation just a little. Most ponies around here are actually fond of you and Cadence...at least the pony-in-the-street types that I've spoken to."

"I know," Shining Armor said. "For the ponies at large, it's more that..." He waved a hoof in frustration, searching for the words. "I don't know, that they see us as a symbol of their defeat. Their status as a conquered nation." He reflected on how depressed the crystal ponies had been before his sister and her friends had recovered the Crystal Heart. It was a whole new ball game, and a strange one at that--- having to lead a nation where the literal emotional health of the pony on the street was a national security issue. "That said, there are more than enough scattered among them who are genuinely hostile to us. And unfortunately many of seem to be in positions of influence."

"The press," Night Light ventured.

"For one," Shining agreed.

"Well," Night Light said thoughtfully. "Some ponies would say that means the press is conspiring against you. Others might excuse that as them as just doing whatever sells the most papers. Either way it boils down to them doing one thing: controlling the narrative."

"Controlling the what now?" Shining Armor said quizzically.

"The narrative. What kind of story is being told," Night Light explained. "See, it all comes down to storytelling. Always has, really; the cavepony who told the best stories while sitting by the campfire got to decide what stories his children would tell. And their children's children, too. You capture their attention, capture their imagination, and what you say will endure. While the poor storyteller won't even get a seat by the campfire.

"Right now, the story of the downtrodden crystal ponies ruled by the arrogant Equestrian Princess is selling really well. A lot of ponies are eating it up with a spoon... or washing it down like a bitter pill.

"You," Night Light said, poking his son in the chest with a hoof, "need to tell a better story than theirs."

Shining Armor ruminated on that.

Before he could say anything one way or the other, Waldorf Salad(1) materialized at his elbow. "The mail has arrived, your Majesty," he said in his bland, mellow voice. "Including a  number of packages and special deliveries."

Shining Armor managed to conceal his flinch of surprise at his butler popping out of nowhere. "Um, why tell me? Just put it in the drawing room like always..."

Waldorf raised a regally butlerish brow. "Perhaps I should clarify, your Majesty," he said. "A great deal of mail has arrived. Along with a very large number of packages and special deliveries."

Shining Armor raised a brow of his own. "Ooookay, I'll take the bait. Lead the way, Waldorf."

A moment later the three were standing at the front door to the royal chambers. Shining and Night Light stared, stunned, at what awaited them. "Waldorf, allow me to congratulate you on your gift for understatement," Shining said.

"Thank you, your Majesty," Waldorf said mildly.

At the moment the two soldiers who stood guard at their front door were also standing guard over an enormous bag of mail. Crowded around the bag like tugboats around an ocean liner were dozens of wrapped boxes, plush toys, floral arrangements and gift baskets of candy and fruit. Even as they watched, delivery ponies trooped in and dropped off more.

Shining spoke to one of the guards. "Has all this been checked over?"

The guard nodded. "Yes Sir," he said. "Castle security went through and checked everything. They had a pair of unicorns from Canterlot go over it all with a fine toothed comb... er, magically speaking, of course."

"Good, good," Shining nodded. He began sifting through the packages, trying to figure out what was up. "Hmm... that's different," he said. "This one's to Nyx."

"Do tell?" Night Light said.

Shining nodded. He flipped through a few more. "And so are these."

Curious, Night Light joined his son in sorting through the deliveries. "Most of these are, as well. Well, I'm assuming; this one says 'to the black alicorn filly."  He scratched under his bucket hat and looked at another. "And this one says "to the new filly princess..." "to Princess Cadence's Niece..." and this one is "to Cadence's little sister Nyx?"

"Some of these are to to Cadence, or Cadence and myself," Shining Armor said. "Some are even to Twilight Sparkle. But a good portion of them seem to be to Nyx." He looked up at his father, brow creased in confusion. "What is going on here?"

"Um... perhaps I can explain," said  a slightly muffled voice. The two looked over; it was a pale yellow delivery pegasus with a messy brown mane. He was wearing a PegExpress hat, saddlebags, and an awkward smile. He had a gift basket handle in his teeth, which had muffled his words.

He also had an enormous camera around his neck, and a cutie mark of a typewriter. Shining armor facehooved, dragging his hoof down his own face till his cheeks stretched out. "Castle Security and I are going to have words," he said angrily, "Guards...!"

The thinly disguised reporter dropped the basket and waved his forehooves frantically. "Wait, wait, I come in peace!"

"Best talk faster, m'boy," Night Light said, grinning around his cigarette holder. "Junior here has always been kind of impatient--"

"Look, please, just let me explain," the cornered reporter said, pleading. Shining Armor scowled, but gestured for the guards to step back. They did so, reluctantly. The reporter, still holding his hooves up, reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a rolled up newspaper. He held it out to Shining Armor. "Courtesy of the Trans Equestria Chronicle," he said. "Front page, above the fold."

Shining enveloped the paper in his magic and levitated it in front of him. Eyebrow cocked, he shook it out and held it up.

BOMBER ATTACK

Assassination Attempt Against Royal Family

Beneath the stinger headline was a full color picture of Twilight and Nyx, moments after the event. Twilight was clearly distraught and Nyx was huddled up against her, crying.  Guards could be seen in the foreground and background, slightly out of frame, hustling to cordon off the area and clean up the mess. It was a brilliant example of the camera-pony's art, a perfectly captured tableau, heartstring tugging in its pathos. "Makes you want to run back inside and give them both a hug and a cookie, don't it," Night Light mused.

"That article came out the day of the attack," the reporter pony said. "And you cannot imagine the response it's gotten from ponies. Shock, outrage...and a huge swelling of sympathy and compassion."

"Even here in the Crystal Empire?" Shining Armor said.

"Especially here in the Crystal Empire," the yellow pegasus said. "Look, lemme just--" He stopped, and switched out his PegEx cap for a fedora with a press pass in the hatbrim. "My name's Soft Soap," he said. "I'm a reporter for the Trans Equestria Chronicle. Ever since we ran that story, letters to the editor have been pouring in. Ponies expressing their sympathy, condolences, voicing their concern that everypony afterward is okay... most specifically, quote, 'that poor little filly and her mother.' "  He waved a wing at the pile of letters and gifts. "And, well, you can see how ponies are responding for yourself."

"And you can guess how frothing at the mouth my editors are for more."

"So they sent you out disguised as a delivery pony so you could sneak in and get a scoop," Shining Armor said acidly.

"Ah, no." Soft Soap looked a little shamefaced. "This is my second job, actually. Ahem."

"Not much pay in the 'pony interest' story department, eh?" Night Light said.

"That obvious?" Soft Soap said dolefully.

"Well with a name like Soft Soap I didn't figure you were a hard-hitting investigative type," Night Light said.

Soft Soap rolled his eyes. "I got to the PegEx office today and they had a ton of stuff going to the palace, and I figured this was my chance to get in and maybe, hopefully, talk you... all... into... an... interview... with Nyx? " He finished his sentence, cringing.

"An interview."

"Yes."

"With Nyx."

"Yes!"

Shining Armor regarded him sternly. "Why didn't you go through the proper channels to request an interview, then?"

"The proper--" Soft Soap's eyes bugged out at him, caution thrown to the wind. "Because they're worthless, that's why! Reporters from every newspaper in Equestria and the Crystal Empire both have been standing in line and on each other's shoulders, waiting for somepony in the palace to respond to our requests for an interview! With anypony! But your 'press staff' just give us the runaround--"  he visibly bit back his exasperation. "I'm sorry. But this story is smoking hot, right now.  I couldn't wait a month or two for your staff to break down and maybe schedule an interview.  I know you're busy with the rebuilding and all, but really, I swear, all I'm asking is an hour-- maybe two. You'll be there the whole time, I won't ask any questions you don't approve, I won't even hand in the story if you don't like the final draft. Just an interview. Please."

"Give us a moment," Night Light said. He pulled his son aside. "Now see, this is just what I was talking about," he said. "Have you really been shutting out the press entirely?"

"Weren't you the one who was bragging about Mom beaning a news hound with a saucer?" Shining Armor challenged.

"It's one thing to chase news vultures off your front yard, but it's another to refuse to speak even to the polite ones," Night Light said. "That just leaves them to their own devices, and if they can't get you to say anything to them so they can write a story, they'll go ahead, make something up and write the story anyway." He pulled his son closer. "You were wondering what had changed since the fall of Sombra. Well, this is it. Look, the boy's offering to do a soft sell story about a member the royal family, he'll wow his bosses and if I don't miss my guess he'll come back begging for more. If you work with him, he'll help you--- what? That's right--- control the narrative."

Shining Armor mulled that over. He trotted back over to Soft Soap. "You've got your interview."

Soft Soap's face lit up. "Really? Yes! Oh, um. Ahem. And when would be a convenient time to schedule for..."

"Right now." Shining Armor turned away and headed for the Royal chambers.

"Right now?" Soft Soap gulped.

Shining Armor stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Well?" he challenged.

"Carpe diem, newspony," Night Light said. Soft Soap hastily got to his hooves and grabbed the gift basket before starting to follow. "Kid?" Night Light said patiently. "You can leave the basket there. I'm sure the sender would appreciate it."

Soft Soap looked down. "Well, uh, actually, I bought it myself," he said.

"Why?"

"Well-- I felt bad for the poor filly," Soft Soap said, taking on a sad puppy expression. "I mean, what happened was awful! Even if I didn't get in I thought a little something to make her feel better was only right, y'know?"

Shining Armor's mouth quirked up at one corner. "I think we picked the right one," he said to Night Light.

"Call it a gut feeling, ey?" Night Light muttered back. "Come on, Soap, double time it!" he called. The eager cub reporter scurried to obey.

Chapter 21

Shining Armor and Night Light led Soft Soap into the royal quarters. The cub reporter gawked about a bit; he seemed surprised at the decor. "Something about the royal apartments got your attention?" Shining asked, amused.

Soft Soap shrugged. "It just all seems rather... low key, I guess is the phrase I want," he said. "I mean, it's all very nice and spacious, but you wouldn't think royalty was living here. You couldn't tell this area apart from a penthouse suite in uptown Canterlot."

Shining gave a half-shrug of his own. "The princess and I grew up in Canterlot," he said. "We wanted our personal space to be more like home, for comfort's sake. And it didn't make any sense to cram it full of expensive bric-a-brac. It'd just be more stuff for the staff to dust. A well-made modern table holds up our breakfast plates as well as an antique one would." He looked back at the reporter. "So what brings an Equestrian pegasus reporter out to the Crystal Empire in the first place?"

Soft Soap puffed out his chest a bit. "Branch office," he said. "Our paper is the fastest growing publication in Equestria.. and the home office wants to add the Crystal Empire to that list, and I was one of the first reporters picked for the Crystal Empire branch."

"Well, good for you I suppose. Bit of a promotion?"

"Ahem. Well, a, ah, lateral move anyway---" Soft Soap said, averting his eyes with a cough. Shining traded a glance with Night Light but neither of them commented.

They came to the door of the study. Shining cracked the door open and peeked in; Soft Soap could hear voices and music and saw a light flickering, but he had no clue what it was. "Ah, looks like it'll be over in about ten minutes or so," Shining said cryptically. He noticed Soft Soap's puzzled look and explained. "I rented a movie projector. Nyx and I went to the premiere of that 'There and Back Again' movie but we had to miss the last half of it. I decided to make it up to her. She and her friend Bright Eyes are getting their own private screening." He grinned. "No point in being Prince Consort if you can't splurge a little, right? Come on in, grab a seat."

They crept inside. There was a projector set up in the middle of the darkened room. Two foals, a colt and a filly, were seated in the floor, an enormous bowl of popcorn between them. They were staring up at the screen on the wall, utterly enraptured, hoof-fuls of popcorn hovering in front of their mouths. On the sofa behind them sat a purple unicorn mare... it had to be no other than Twilight Sparkle, the mare who was leading the expedition to unearth the lost tomb of the Chancellor. Holy smokes, he might actually get two stories out of this! Next to her sat an older lavender mare with a purple and white mane, and a small dragon who was munching his way through a bowl of rhinestones. It was, despite the circumstances, the very picture of a close family sharing some quality time together.

The black filly glanced over as they entered. "Grampa, Uncle Shining, come on, you're gonna miss the ending!" Chuckling, the two stallions took seats in overstuffed chairs nearby. Soft Soap took a seat on a nearby chair himself, watching in fascination as the tiny black filly that everypony had told him was Nightmare Moon gasped and thrilled to a cinematic fairy story along with her friend.  At one point (when the diamond dog warlord had the heroes cornered on the branches of a tree overhanging a cliff) she even squealed and clinched the colt in a terrified hug, popcorn flying everywhere. It was too cute to bear.

The credits finally started rolling, to subdued cries of disappointment from the foals. "Wait, that's it?" the dragon pup said from his perch on the couch. "c'mon, they're not even halfway there yet!"

"Well it is the first of three movies," Shining Armor pointed out, amused.

"Really? Aw man, now we gotta wait..."

"Worse," Nyx lamented. "It's a book, too. Now we either gotta wait and wait and wait for the next movie to see how it ends-- or read the book and spoil the movie."

"I've read the book," the unicorn colt offered. "It--"

Two ebon hooves covered his mouth. "No spoilers!" Nyx said frantically.

Shining watched with an indulgent smile as the two foals goofed around, giggling. He brought the lights up with a wave of his horn while Waldorf Salad proceeded to shut down the movie projector. "Ahem. Nyx?"

The filly turned around and looked up at him dutifully. "Yes, Uncle Shiny?"

" Everypony? There's somepony here I'd like you to meet," Shining said. He gestured to a pony sitting nearby. Nyx started in surprise as she realized there was somepony else in the room. It was a yellow pegasus with a messy brown mane and a funny looking sort of squashed hat... what did Rarity call them, "Pork Pies?".... tipped back on his head. He waved a hoof at her and smiled.  

"Um, hello," Nyx said uncertainly.

"This is Soft Soap," Uncle Shining said. "He's a reporter for the, ah--"

"The Trans Equestria Chronicle," Soft Soap provided.

"Right. And he wants to do an interview with Nyx." Shining Armor shifted in his seat.

This seemed to light a firecracker under the two mares. They both started in surprise and made expressions of disapproval. Soft Soap did his best to sit still and look inoffensive while the mares glared at him.

The younger of the two got to her feet and confronted the Consort Prince. "A reporter?" she scowled. "Shiney, what are you thinking?"

Shining Armor got to his feet and pulled Twilight to the side. The two of them held a muttered conversation. Soft Soap couldn't hear what they said, but the words "trust me" were pretty clear. They returned after a few seconds, Shining looking calm and Twilight looking less than happy.. but she raised no further objections.

Nyx was scrutinizing the reporter, squinting suspiciously. "Aren't you the one they fished out of the chimney last week?" she said.

"Ah, no." Soft Soap said, blinking. "Seriously? They were climbing down the chimney?"

"That's nothing, we found three hiding in the rubbish bins," Night Light said drolly.

"Anyway," Shining said, interrupting. "He wants to write a story about you." He cocked an eyebrow. "If that's all right with you?"

Nyx looked wary. "But I thought it would be bad if the newspapers started telling stories about us," she said uncomfortably.

"This is going to be different, sweetheart," Grandpa Night Light said, smiling. "We're going to make sure he gets it right." There was a strangled cough from Soft Soap, but he said nothing.

The filly regarded him skeptically, but finally nodded. "Okay," she said doubtfully. "...Where do you want me to start?"

Soft Soap gave a little sigh of relief. He pulled out a pencil, a pad of paper and a tape recorder, which he started and set down on the arm of his chair between them. "Well, my mother always said that the best place to start is the beginning," he said in a jovial tone. "I've never had to ask this of anypony before... tell me, how did you and your mother meet?"

A chuckle went round the room. "I think I should probably fill you in on that first," Twilight said. She crossed her hooves in front of her and got ready to relate the tale.

They all sat there for over an hour while Nyx told Soft Soap about, gosh, her whole life, it seemed like. (Well, with Mom and Spike filling some parts in.)  He was a really good audience, too; he even  gasped at the scary or exciting parts, and said awww at the sad parts, and smiled at the happy parts. His pencil never stopped moving, except when he paused to ask questions or go back over something.(1)  

Bright Eyes wasn't a bad audience either. His jaw hung lower and his eyes went rounder by the second as Nyx, Twilight and Uncle Shining told Nyx's story.

Soft Soap had a lot of surprising questions for everyone, even for Bright Eyes. For a while Nyx thought they'd be talking all day, but Soft Soap finally put away his pencil. "I think that covers every possible thing," he said, flipping through his notes. "Wow, what a story. This is prizewinning stuff, I tell ya." To the gathered ponies' surprise, he pulled a typewriter-- an actual typewriter-- out of his saddlebags, scrolled a sheet of paper into it, and started typing. After a few seconds he looked up from the keyboard and realized that everypony was staring at him. He halted and grinned sheepishly. "Um, perhaps I should wait until I get back to my place to type this all down," he said, setting the typewriter aside. "Ahem."

"Well, so long as we get to see the rough draft before it goes out," Shining reminded him.

"Oh of course," Soft Soap said. He pulled out his camera and grinned. "But before I go I'd like to get a few photos to go with the story. I'd especially like to get a few photos of Nyx reading her fan mail."

Nyx blinked. "I have fanmail?"

"All of this is for me?"

Nyx gaped with undisguised glee at the piles of presents, packages and letters. The servants had brought the mail in and sorted it into piles by recipient; Cadence, Shining Armor, Twilight, and even Spike had received some(2)-- to their surprise there had even been a handful of letters to Bright Eyes.(3) But Nyx's pile was indisputably the largest.

Everypony, even Soft Soap, chuckled at that. "Yes, yes they are," Shining Armor said.

Nyx look of glee suddenly melted away to one of consternation. She looked over the pile of envelopes, packages and baskets. "Oh wow," she said. "Writing the 'thank you' cards is gonna take forever...!"

Chapter 22

Child of the Moon:

The inside story of an Alicorn's Birth

reporter:Soft Soap

Less than a year ago, Equestria was rocked to its core by an unprecedented event: the return of the ancient menace of Nightmare Moon. A sinister cult amassed, seeking to resurrect the Mare in the Moon and bring eternal night to Equestria-- and this time she would succeed. Eventually the Night ended, the Princesses were returned to their throne, and the world was restored. But between those two momentous occasions, an extraordinary story had unfolded: one involving a unicorn mare, a botched spell, and a tiny alicorn filly...

Twilight magically flipped through her copy of the paper, smiling in delight. Soft Soap had kept to his word; the story he had published was thorough, meticulous, and very well written... and put a surprising amount of positive spin on Nyx's story, without resorting to any falsehood or distortion. Even Applejack would approve.

She took a bite out of her banana and flipped to the next page. Nearly the entire issue of the paper was devoted to Nyx's story. There were a ton of pictures as well; along with the photo of Nyx and herself from the botched attack, there were photos of Nyx posing for the camera, Nyx and her friend watching a movie, Nyx shouting into the microphone at the banquet (she just had to put that in their scrapbook, it was hysterical), Nyx answering her mail, Nyx gleefully cuddling one of the plushies that had been sent to her, Nyx plying her friend Bright Eyes with some of the candy from Soft Soap's gift basket (all but cramming it into his mouth with her hoof, it was adorable)... they had even managed to scrounge up pictures, Celestia only knew how, from further back-- Nyx playing tug-of-war at the Fair, Nyx's performance in the school play...  a few of her brief reign as Queen Nightmare Moon, but surprisingly few; Soft Soap had deliberately kept his emphasis off Nyx the Nightmare, and on Nyx the Filly.

She had to admire his spin on Nyx's birth; his emphasis and perspective was not so much that the Cultists had reincarnated Nightmare Moon, but rather that they had created a little filly by accident, then tried (and failed) to turn her into the evil Mare of Darkness. It was arguably, technically true... all things considered.... but at the same time put an emphasis on Nyx's innocence. Not everypony would buy the spin, especially back in Equestria, but it would at least sway a lot of uncertain and undecided ponies, and strengthen the conviction of those that had already absolved her.

The cute pictures certainly wouldn't hurt either. For a hard-hitting journalist, Soft Soap certainly was a sentimental sort.

Twilight had been walking about through the royal quarters, flipping through the newspaper and munching on a quick breakfast of fruit, both levitated in front of her, while she gathered up her things for yet another trip to the Royal library and another day of trying to track down the Lost Tomb through myth, legend and lore. She was mostly waiting for Roller Reel to arrive. Nyx was in the study with her grandparents, diligently and stubbornly writing out thank you cards for the gifts sent by well-wishing ponies. Nothing anypony said could persuade her that she didn't have to do them all herself. Cadence had tried to explain that even she and Shining had secretaries who handled most of their mail, but Nyx was determined to do it on her own...

Twilight chuckled to herself. The silly filly was going to be worn to a nub before the day was out. And there was probably another pile of letters, cards and packages already on their way. At least Mom and Dad were there helping her read through the mail... one would almost think Nyx had inherited a bit of Twilight's obsessive compulsive streak.

Twilight had just made a resolution to try and persuade Nyx when she got back to let one of the secretaries help her when there was a loud thump from outside. Startled, Twilight lowered her newspaper. She was standing next to the glass-- well, crystal-- doors that led to the royal balcony, from which Cadence frequently addressed her subjects. Curious, Twilight opened the doors and stepped out onto the balcony. There lying at her feet was what appeared to be a pegasus pony wrapped up tightly in a weighted net. The rainbow mane and tail sticking out made it obvious who it was. The bound pony wriggled and mumbled, glaring at Twilight like the world's angriest cyan-colored burrito. Floating nearby was a security balloon with one Crystal Empire guard in the basket, wielding a large net gun and looking very pleased with himself.

"Rainbow Dash," Twilight groaned, "What have you done this time?"

It took a few minutes to clear things up with the castle security, but after a lot of lengthy explanations, eventually Twilight had Rainbow Dash untied, all five of her friends cleared through the security detail and everypony all sitting together in the royal quarters, having a refreshing drink after their long trip. Not necessarily in that order.

"You didn't have to leave me tied up and lying on the floor the entire time," Rainbow Dash said, still sulking.

"Yes, yes I did," Twilight said calmly, sipping her iced tea. "The Crystal Empire just had its first assassination attempt, the palace security is strung tighter than an Appleoosan banjo and you decide to come rocketing through Crystal Empire airspace straight for the royal balcony.  Keeping you tied up till the royal guard calmed down was the smart thing to do. You're lucky the air patrol went for their net guns instead of their crossbows." Rainbow Dash scowled over her glass of cola  but said nothing.

"Anyway, what are you girls doing here?" Twilight asked. "No wait, let me guess, you saw the story about the bomber attack--"

"Indeed we did, dear," Rarity said. "And we went right out and got tickets on the next train to the Crystal Empire!"

Twilight shook her head and smiled. "I should have figured," she said with amused chagrin.

"Are you okay, Twilight?" Fluttershy said. "I mean, I know the article said that you and Nyx were okay, but-- are you okay?" The pale pegasus fretted.

Twilight reached out and patted Fluttershy's hoof with her own. "We're all just fine, Fluttershy, really," she said to her flighty friend. "Nobody was even injured. Not even the madpony with the bomb."

"How?" Applejack said bluntly.

"Yeah," Dash agreed. "I mean, I know the newspaper said the bomb was 'defective,' whatever that means, but--"

Twilight explained. The minute Dash heard the description of the results, she nearly fell out of her chair laughing. "That is awesome!!" she howled. "I can't believe he mistook our old prank book for a revolutionary's guide--"

"Yeah, about that..." Twilight started to say, but Applejack interrupted her.

"You two published a book?"

"Hey, don't sound so surprised," Rainbow said, miffed. "We've done so many awesome pranks over the years, we just had to share 'em. So we took all our notes and plans and made a book." She grumped a little. "We woulda got a real publishing deal too if Pinkie Pie hadn't covered that editor in cake batter."

"I loaded the confetti in the wrong cannon," Pinkie explained.

"We printed a couple hundred copies, but it really didn't sell well. We, uh, had an anonymous donor in Canterlot," Rainbow added hastily, rolling her eyes. Pinkie started whistling and trying to look innocent.

Twilight's eyebrows tabled. "Yeah. I figured. I think I need to write a little friendship letter to 'Sunny Days' in the near future," she quipped.

"Speaking of books and such," Applejack chipped in, "How's that thing with the library, and the ah, lost tomb of whatever?"

"The Lost Tomb of the Founders," Twilight said. "Or the Lost Tomb of Chancellor Level Head."

Applejack shook her head. "Can't believe we been gettin' that wrong all these years," she said. "And to think it was an insult, too. What would that poor Chancellor thunk if he'd known..."

"Aw," Pinkie said with a sniff. "No more Puddinghead on Hearthwarming Day..." Applejack chuckled and patted the pink pony on her shoulder.

"Well, the reorganization of the library is actually almost done," Twilight said. "And what we've done is going to revolutionize the library sciences!"

"Really?" Rarity said.

"...There's such a thing as library science?" Rainbow Dash muttered. Twilight ignored her.

"But what about the tomb?" Applejack asked.

Twilight hesitated. "We're close. Very close," she said. "We've found repeated references to it being in the Ghibli Hills." She gave a grimace and rolled her eyes. "Now we just have to figure out which hills-- to the West, East, or North."

"Oh, we aren't holding you up, are we?" Applejack said. "Surely you gotta get back to work with all that--"

"Actually, I was waiting for my cinematographer to arrive," Twilight said.

"Your cinnamon what?" Pinkie said, her head cocked to the side.

"Cinematographer. A camera pony. He's filming all this for a documentary."

"Ooo, up on the Silver Screen, n'est-ce pas?" Rarity said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Well, someplace I'm sure," Twilight said. "It's not exactly going to be the next Gone with the Windigoes."

Waldorf entered the room with a tray to retrieve their glasses. "A Mister Roller Reel to see you, Miss," he said smoothly to Twilight. Right behind him came the scruffy teenage pony, camera mounted on his shoulder and saddlebags stuffed with film cartridges slung over his back. "Hey, Miss Twilight, I'm sorry I'm la--- wuhohoah." Roller came to a screeching halt.

--An orange earth filly with a golden mane and an apple cutie mark, she was wearing a stetson, freckles on her cheeks, shapely yet muscular, had to be a farm girl, she had that look about her--  a cute pink earth filly with a curly mane and a huge smile, all perky and bubbly-- whoa, a dazzling white unicorn mare with a purple mane and serious high-class looks, definitely high maintenance, check out that diamond cutie mark-- a sleek blue pegasus with a lightning bolt cutie mark and a rainbow mane, had to be an athlete of some kind, you could tell she worked out--  oh gosh, a yellow pegasus filly with a waterfall of pink mane and the biggest blue eyes he'd ever seen--  

It has to be kept in mind: Roller Reel was a colt. He was a teenage colt, one who had spent the early portion of that awkward stage not at the beach girlwatching or at school dances flirting with the local cheerleader fillies, but hiding from the press gangs in the basement of his home and slaving in King Sombra's mines. Fillies, in brief, had been less of a part of his life and more like a distant dreamlike concept. It had been intimidating enough working under with as a subordinate to the rather pretty protege of a Princess.

And now he had, without warning, walked in the middle of a room filled with what were routinely regarded, by those that commented on that sort of thing, as six of the hottest young mares in Equestria.(1) He took one sweeping look at the roomful of beauties, heard their friendly 'helloes', and felt an emotion flush through his body he'd never felt before.(2)

He gave them his suavest smile(3) and smoothed his mane back. "Hey, ladies," he said, threw up an elbow to lean on the back of Twilight's chair, missed entirely and fell flat on his face at their hooves.

The girls exploded in laughter. "Are you all right, Roller?" Twilight asked, concerned. Giggling, but still concerned.

Roller just grumbled something, mortified. The fancy white unicorn leaned down and tapped him on the nose with a hoof. "Aww, he's adorable," she said, fluttering her lashes at him. "We'll just have to keep him, won't we Twilight?" Roller grinned and turned beet red.

This of course was the moment that Spike came walking in, carrying Twilight's extra saddlebags. "Okay, I got your extra extra quills and ink, all packed, Twi, we can head out as soon as--" he stopped dead at the sight of Rarity, his Rarity,  with that dorky stallion with the movie camera who'd been following them around all week lying at her feet. She was practically nose to nose with him and fluttering her lashes at him.

"As soon as Roller gets here," he finished, disgusted.

Pinkie Pie leaned over to Dash. "Uh oh, trouble in paradise," she muttered. Rainbow nodded.

Rarity suddenly looked up at Twilight. "Oh, I do apologize for imposing by bringing Sweetiebelle along, Twilight," she said. "But when we heard the news about the bomber she was absolutely frantic..."

"Ayeh, Applebloom just about went spare, too," Applejack said. "The girls woulda never forgive us if we hadn't brung 'em along."

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. "Eeeehhh, I couldn't just leave Scootaloo standing there on the platform," she admitted awkwardly. "I sprung for her ticket at the last minute."

Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes. "It's a big palace, I'm sure Cadence and Shining won't mind," she said. "At least not for a day. And Mom and Dad can watch them while we're at the library. So, are we ready to go?"

There was a gleeful little reunion going on in the library under the indulgent eye of Twilight Velvet and Night Light. Sweetie, Applebloom and Scootaloo had pounced on a delighted Nyx the moment they came through the door. Nyx squealed and hugged all three. "What are you doing here? I missed you guys!"

"We all heard what happened and wild horses couldn't keep us away," Applebloom said.

"Yeah," Sweetiebelle squeaked. "It musta been so scary..."

Nyx nodded fervently. "It was." She shivered. "I just looked up and he was running straight for us... yelling about 'death to the antelopes--"

"That's 'interlopers,' dear," Twilight Velvet corrected her.

Nyx looked up and blushed briefly. "Oh, um, everypony, this is my Grandma Velvet and Grandpa Night Light," she said, obviously pleased to be saying it.

"Hello girls," Velvet said, smiling. Night Light just grinned and gave them a jaunty salute.

"Oh, and this is Bright Eyes," Nyx went on. "He's a friend I met at the movie theater."  The colt waved bashfully.

Scootaloo looked around at the piles of mail and packages. "So what're you doing?" she asked.

Nyx sighed. "Answering mail," she said. "Sending thank-you letters and stuff."

"You get fanmail?" Applebloom said in surprise.

Nyx nodded. "Ever since the newspapers put that picture of Mom and me on the front page," she said.

"Gosh, how many letters did you get?" Sweetiebelle asked, looking around at the piles stacked everywhere.

"Oh, about a thousand," Nyx said.

"Aaaaand how many thank you letters have you written?" Applebloom asked.

"About twelve." Nyx said, dismally.

The girls giggled at her. "Um, couldn't you, I dunno, get a whole bunch of those little 'thank you' cards and mail those instead?" Scootaloo asked.

Nyx sat back up. "But those aren't... you know... personal," she said. "Nope, I'm gonna do this myself...."

Waldorf made another of his spontaneous appearances, making the fillies yip in surprise. "Apologies for interrupting," he said smoothly. "But today's mail has been sorted and brought up. These are yours, I believe, young Miss..." With that he stepped aside and three Crystal guard ponies came trooping in. They dropped two bulging mailbags in front of the disbelieving alicorn filly, along with half a dozen packages and one fruit basket big enough to go boating in. They marched back out single file.

Nyx groaned and faceplanted. The girls laughed fit to bust.

"Aw, don't worry Nyx, we're here now!" Applebloom said. She set down her saddlebags and started rifling through them. Glue, scissors, ruler and compass and triangle, markers and pencils quickly appeared. "Sweetiebelle, do you have your arts an' crafts stuff?"

"Oh sure!" The pastel-maned unicorn filly dove into her own saddlebags, pulling out bottles of colored glitter, sparkly pens, sheets of shiny foil stickers, ink stamps, and crayons piled up next to her. "What stuff did you bring, Scootaloo?"

Scootaloo looked in her own saddlebags. "Um, a couple of cucumber sandwiches," she said. "They're sorta squashed, though." She looked over at Bright Eyes. "You want one?" Bright Eyes politely declined.

"Oh, well, I think we got enough," Applebloom said, eyeing the craft materials spread out on the floor. She turned to Night Light and Twilight Velvet. "Um, Sir, Ma'am, may we have some index cards please? And some stamps and envelopes?"

"How many?" Grandma Velvet asked.

Applebloom regarded the stacks and piles of mail all around the study. "Lots."

Grandpa Night Light turned to Waldorf. "Waldorf, old bean, would you be so kind as to fetch these fillies a few thousand index cards ...?"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER THANK YOU CARD WRITERS, YAY!"

In a matter of minutes, the four crusaders (plus one rather bowled-over crystal pony colt-- the girls had that effect on ponies new to them) had a rather efficient assembly line going. Bright Eyes (having the best writing) would spell out "THANK YOU" in large letters on an index card. The card would then be passed to the CMC, who would pass the card from hoof to hoof and ink stamp, sticker, glue, glitter, color or otherwise decorate, with Nyx going last; signing it and adding any final touches before passing it over to Grandma Velvet, who would pop it into an appropriately stamped envelope.

While that was being done, a package or envelope would be opened, Grandpa Night Light would read the enclosed letter, and the disposition of its contents would be debated. The fruit basket, at least, made a decent lunch with Scootaloo's cucumber sandwiches. They powered through piles of cards this way in no time at all.

"Dear Princess Nyx--" Grandpa Night Light read aloud. " I hope you are doing well, and you are feeling better after that awful thing that happened--" He had to pause as the girls snickered and gave Nyx teasing pokes. Nyx just looked disgusted. "Notaprincess," she grumbled for the hundredth time.

"Why don't you like being called a Princess?" Bright Eyes asked, confused. "I thought fillies liked that kind of stuff." To his surprise Scootaloo glared at him while Sweetiebelle giggled and Applebloom rolled her eyes.

"You go first, Nyx," Applebloom said in a monotone.

Nyx made a disgusted face. "Weren't you listening when I told Mr. Soap about when I was Nightmare Moon? Being a Queen sucked. Everything you ate was an art project. Everything I wore was uncomfortable. And every day it was--" here she affected a squeaky falsetto-- " 'Oh, Highness, you must do this, oh highness, you mustn't do that, oh highness, highness, highness! '-- Everypony was telling me what to do-- and I was the Evil Tyrant Queen! " She blew a raspberry. "Being a ruler stinks."

Bright Eyes feebly rallied to the defense of his gender stereotypes. "But... still..."

Scootaloo snorted. "What, so we're s'posed to like--" here she waved her hooves around-- "tiaras and sparkly junk and frilly fru fru stuff just because we're fillies?" she challenged.

"I like that stuff," Sweetiebelle protested meekly.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Well sure, that's fine, 'cause you WANT to," she said. "But why is it everypony thinks we HAVE to, just because we're girls?" She snorted again. "Ever go to the filly's department in a toy store? Pink as far as the eye can see. Boys get cool boy stuff-- girls get stuff for BABIES." She turned back to the card in front of her and ink-stamped it with a heart, hard enough that it looked like she wanted to punch it in the eye. "I asked my Mom for a new Scooter for Hearthwarming Day-- and all she'd say was 'oh Scootykins, wouldn't you like a nice doll instead?' "

"What's wrong with dolls?" Sweetiebelle said, starting to get upset.

"Cause dolls aren't cool," Scootaloo said scornfully. "You wouldn't see a cool pony playing with a doll--" None of them noticed Bright Eyes turning pink at the cheeks and carefully scooting his saddlebags out of Scootaloo's line of sight.

"You have a Wonderbolts doll," Applebloom said in a sarcastic monotone.

"That's different!" Scootaloo said, convinced of her own unshakable logic. "Captain Kapow is a, a, an action figure."

"Made of plush," Applebloom deadpanned.

"Hey, he's cool..."

"Hey! Smarty Pants is cool too," Nyx said defiantly. In a moment of blinding obliviousness she pointed at Bright Eyes. "And Bright Eyes has a Bilbo Burro doll, and Bilbo's cool..."

The hapless colt found himself pinned by three pairs of filly eyes. Face flaming, he pulled his saddlebag out of hiding and withdrew Bilbo from his hiding place. He braced himself for teasing. The actual response caught him by complete surprise; Eyes shining, the orange tomboyish filly got one look at the plush burro and took him out of Bright Eyes' hooves. "Awww, cool, a Bilbo Burro doll!" she said, giving the plushie a cuddle. "I wanted to get one, they were selling them at the movie theatre in Ponyville when the movie came out but I didn't have enough bits, awww, he's so kyoo---"

She seemed to realize what she was doing and hastily pushed the doll back into its owner's hooves. "Uh yeah, anyway, whatever." She turned back to find herself facing three knowing smirks. "What?" She scowled belligerently. "You wanna make something of it?"

"Oh no no no," Sweetiebelle said smugly.

"You're right, Scootaloo. You're way too cool for dolls," Applebloom smirked.

"Yeah," Nyx sighed. "Iii guess I'll just give this guy to Sweetiebelle instead..." she reached behind her into a pile of unwrapped packages and pulled out a brown plush bear.

The delight on Sweetie's face was genuine. "Really? For me?" she squeaked. She grabbed the plushie and hugged it.

"Aaand I'll just give this one--- " Nyx said, pulling out another bear, this one buttercup yellow. "-- To Applebloom," hoofing the bear over to the farm filly. Nyx watched Scootaloo out of the corner of her eye. She could see the pegasus filly biting her lip and tracking the bear with wanting eyes.

Nyx giggled to herself. "And this one..." She pulled out yet another one, this one an absolutely huge panda bear, nearly as big as she was. (4)

"Another one?" Grandma Velvet noted in surprise.

"They must've had a sale," Grandpa Night Light shrugged.

Nyx pretended to think it over, tapping her hoof on her chin. "Gee, I guess I could give it to Scootaloo but since she's too cool for dolls and bears and stuff..." She actually heard Scootaloo whine a little under her breath. Nyx burst out laughing. "Oh here you go you silly filly," she said, stuffing the panda into the orange filly's eager forelimbs.

Scootaloo glowered at her friends over the bear's shoulder. "Nobody's tellin' nopony nuthin' about this," she said. Smiling, her friends made 'zip-lip' motions with their hooves.

"Oo, there's one here that's for you, Bright Eyes!" Nyx said. She pulled out a plush dragon and gave it to the colt. "He goes great with Bilbo..."

"You're giving your gifts away?" Grandpa Night Light asked.

"Umm, some-- I'm gonna keep a few, but I think I'll give the rest to ponies I know."

"It's nice you're going to share with all of your friends," Grandma Velvet said.

Nyx shrugged, feeling a little awkward. "Well I can't keep 'em all," Nyx said. "I wouldn't have enough space in my bedroom for me! And I sure couldn't eat all that candy. Besides," she added, "It's fun." Plus, she'd read enough books to know how this story went: the little filly gets all sorts of nice presents and then she turns into a horrible spoiled brat from getting so much stuff and has to have something terrible happen to her and learn an awful lesson at the end. Well no way was she going to fall into that trap! She'd already gone through turning into an evil Princess; flirting with one bad storybook plot in her lifetime was enough for her.

Nyx looked around at the stacks of gifts. "Maybe I better give a bunch to the Friendship Drive?(5) I could put Mister Whirligig(6) out of business if I gave these all away in Ponyville. I've got a few gifts picked out for the other Crusaders, though."

"That'd be good. Are you going to mail them back home? Or are you gonna just wait and bring them back with you?" Applebloom said.

"Probably mail them."

"Oh, don't worry about picking a gift for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon though," Sweetiebelle said suddenly. "I already sent them something."

This earned her odd looks from the others, to say the least. "You sent Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon presents??" Applebloom said in disbelief.

"Yeah." Sweetiebelle's smile was pure sugar-coated evil. "A copy of the Trans Equestria Chronicle."

Back in Ponyville, in one of the more gentrified neighborhoods, a scream of inarticulate filly rage echoed to the skies....

Scootaloo cut in. "Um, how many more thank you cards do we have to do? I don't want to sound whiny but I'm starting to get kinda messy." It was true enough; she had shiny stickers in her mane and enough glitter in her coat to almost pass for a crystal pony.

Nyx looked around. Even with all five of them-- well, seven of them counting Grandma and Grandpa-- they still had a sizable way to go. And the girls would all be going back home tomorrow... She was really really REALLY starting to regret her decision to answer all her mail personally.

Grandpa Night Light regarded the stacks of finished cards, and the piles of opened letters, with a critical eye. "Hmm. Well, we'll need to count all the cards first, then count the letters, measure the postage, etcetera, ad infinitum, ad nauseum... Tell you what, Nyx, why don't you take a little break, go wash up, get that ink and glitter off your hooves, and while you're doing that your grandmother and I will count up how many letters you have done and how many you have to go."

"But..." Nyx protested.

"Don't worry, sprout, we know a little letter-counting spell or two that'll make the counting go lickety split. Now scoot, go on..."  A bit relieved, the fillies and colt got to their hooves and trotted off to the washroom to clean up and try to comb the glitter out. Night Light waited till they were out of sight and grinned at his wife. "My dear...?"

"You old con artist," Twilight Velvet smiled. "Letter counting spell, huh... the old R.S.V.P. spell I presume? You'd better be glad I still remember that spell from when I was working as one of Celestia's secretaries," Twilight Velvet chided.

"You know me well, sugarplum," Night Light said, doffing his bucket hat. "Shall we?"

The two lowered their heads together, lighting their horns up. The packages, letters, cards, and still-unused materials took on a mingled glow of pale blue and green, and floated up into the air.

The dance commenced.

Princesses, even magical ones, cannot really answer all the mail they receive in a day, but to not respond at all would be terrible. To this end, they employ an entire staff of ponies whose sole job is to screen, sort, read, and fairly often write responses to it all, setting aside the few that they deemed important enough for the actual royal touch. Around the holidays the inflow could get absolutely murderous. To handle the bulk of responses (to hearthwarming cards and such,) the staff resorted to a special magical incantation, created by and entrusted to them by Celestia herself...the R.S.V.P. spell.

It was normally only useful for those exact circumstances,(7)  but it was so useful for things such as holiday mailings and invitations that Twilight Velvet had made a point to never forget it-- and had taught it to her husband, so they could use it together.

The glitter, stickers, stamps and pens spun through the air, copying the hoof-made thank you cards en masse. Envelopes and cards popped open, their contents flying over to form a neat stack for later reading; return addresses were magically lifted and transferred to fresh clean envelopes, and the duplicated thank you notes dropped inside. With a final flourish a stamp would be affixed and the ready-to-mail envelope set aside.

In less than a minute every letter, card, and package had been given a corresponding thank you card. Twilight Velvet looked over the results with satisfaction. "Still got it," she said.

"Well now I could have told you that," Night Light said, donning his hat and giving his wife a peck on the cheek.

Nyx came galloping back in at that moment. 'Grandpa, Grandma, I forgot to ask what we were having for dinn--" she stopped on the spot, confusion plain on her face. "What-- how?" She stared in surprise at the stacks of empty envelopes and completed notes, ready for mailing.

"Congratulations, sprout!" Grandpa Night Light beamed. "Looks like you and your friends made more cards than you thought. Looks like you're pretty much done!"

Nyx scrunched up her nose and squinted at him. It was obvious she smelled a rat. "Really?" she said, doubt vividly coloring her voice.

"Of course, dear," Grandma Velvet said. "Say, I think pizza sounds good. Why don't you go ask your friends what toppings they like?"

Nyx hesitated, torn. She knew something was up, but there was no way they could have done all that work in less than a minute. Maybe they did make more cards than they thought...? She decided she was willing to let it slide, all things considered. "Okay, Grandma," She trotted off to the washroom to quiz her friends on pizza toppings.

Night Light and Velvet held their expressions until Nyx was out of sight again. Then they snickered like two foals.

Somewhere in the snowy mountains between the Crystal Kingdom and the Dragon lands...

The mountains were bitter, cold, and high, and cloaked in silence. Nothing lived on their frozen slopes; the stillness under the glare of the sun was unyielding.  Thus they had stood for thousands of years.

Their impermeable silence was broken by the sound of flapping. An enormous foot crunched down to earth, crushing stones the size of wagon wheels to gravel. The rest of the massive form followed as Grundle came crashing down. "Can't... fly no more," he wheezed. "Wings... won't hold me up!"

One by one, the other dragons in Garble's gang crashed down, their massive feet leaving inches-deep footprints in the frozen earth. Garble thudded down into the earth in front of them. "No duh, geniuses," he said. "We're too big now!" It was true: over the journey the fire opals they had gorged on were taking effect.  They were already each a little over half the size of the dragon that had darkened the skies over Ponyville with a cloud of smoke, and still growing. The only drawback was that the opal-fueled greed growth was distorted and disproportionate; it had left most of them with wings too small to fly.

All save Scrag. "Speak for yourselves, suckers," he said. "Wouldja look at this? Woohoo!" With him and Flange, Greed Growth had taken a different course. Their mutated growth had made them long and rangy, and most of their growth had gone into their wings. They soared overhead like enormous vultures, swooping and diving at their now ground-bound fellows.

"Aw man," Blizz growled, "Now we're never gonna get to the Crystal Empire!"

Garble glared down at them. "Yes we are, stupid."

"Walking the whole way?" Rockjaw complained.

Garble turned his glare on Rockjaw. He was somehow both far bigger and far lankier than any of the others; he outmassed even Grundle, and the tallest of them only came halfway up his elongated neck. His arms were thick and swollen with muscle. His crest had grown long and sharply spiked, and his shoulders had tripled in width and had huge horny protuberances, making him look like a linebacker. The word for his appearance was intimidating.  "You idiots," he said, sweeping his arm to indicate all of them. "We're, like, ten times bigger now! We can cross a country mile in like ten steps!  We're already halfway there, and it won't take us half the time we already took."

The others paused a moment, sticking their tongues out and counting on their claw tips. "So that means, um, we took how many days to fly this far, we're halfway there, we'll go, um, how much farther each day... carry the two... I think he's right," Blizz said.

"I dunno, I don't get them fancy mathematicals," Grundle shrugged.

Garble facepalmed. "The longer we walk, the bigger we get. The bigger we get, the faster we go. The faster we go, the sooner we get there. Got it?"  Five dimwits nodded as the light feebly dawned. "And look at us!" He held his arms out. "We're already taller than the trees! We're already so big we could stomp a pony army into toejam! By the time we get there there'll be no stopping us!"

He opened up the canvas bag at his hip. When they had started, it had taken two of them to carry the sailcloth bag full of fire opals; now Garble carried it at his hip like a purse. He started handing out fistfuls of fire opals to his friends. "Eat up, suckers. Another two days and we're gonna be chowin' down on the hoard of the Dragon King!"

"With the Crystal Empire for dessert!" Rockjaw laughed.

A bloodthirsty cheer went up from the teenage dragons.

1)Heck, one of them used to be a supermodel.

2)That would be terror.

3)Translation: grinned like a goof.

4)Little known secret: Scootaloo absolutely adored panda bears.

5)The pony equivalent of the Red Cross or the Salvation Army.

6)Ponyville's one and only toymaker.

7)One pony was caught using a pilfered copy of the spell to do bulk junk mailings as part of a postal scam. This nearly resulted in the spell being outlawed, which would have forced the staff to handle the royal mail entirely by hoof. Celestia gave the offender no punishment; she simply locked them in a room with her secretarial pool for half an hour. To this day the miscreant screams in terror at the sight of a rolodex.

Chapter 23

To Professor Dubious' credit, unlike certain of his scholarly colleagues he did not scream like a filly.(1) Truth of the matter is that he had a rather stallionesque bellow of terror. Its manliness was unfortunately offset by the fact that he ran like a complete sissy.(2)  Mind, he wasn't exactly in a position to take any criticism on his technique at that moment as he was extremely busy trying to stay quite literally one step ahead of a flying, polychromatic ball of homicidal pony rage.

"Come back here, you coward!"

"AIEEEEEEE!"

He didn't know precisely what happened. He'd heard that Twilight Sparkle had arrived and had trotted up to the front entrance to greet her with some data he'd uncovered, to find her taking a small herd of her friends on a tour of the facilities. Miss Sparkle had called out, greeting him by name. The rainbow-maned pegasus with her had whipped her head about to gawk at him, an expression of absolute astonishment on her face. The moment she'd clapped eyes on him that expression of astonishment had morphed into one of red faced fury. The next thing he knew he was running for his life, the mare right behind him, screaming death threats with every breath.

The Professor of folklore dodged amongst the stacks, desperately trying to evade Rainbow Dash. Thus far he was lucky, as the cursing, fuming pegasus had been stymied at maneuvering in between the crowded bookshelves and was too angry to realize she could fly over them. His luck ran out when he finally took a wrong turn and found himself at a dead end. He turned and stood stock still, terror on his face, but determined to face his onrushing doom. He could almost see flames in the onrushing pegasus' eyes--

"Rainbow Dash, NO, Let him LIVE!!"

At the last second the pegasus was snagged by a lasso, jerking her to a halt. Two of the royal guard and at least two other mares tackled her bodily and dragged her to the floor before she could reach him and kill him. Even then the feisty female thrashed and fought, trying to drag herself within hoof's reach of the cringing scholar. She only ceased struggling when one of her friends, a white unicorn mare with a purple mane,  magically upended a water cooler over her. Spluttering and choking, she finally stopped fighting. The others climbed off her and let her to her hooves. She was far from completely calm, but she had at least regained control of herself. She shook the water out of her mane and glared poison daggers at Dubious, chest heaving as she breathed.

"Rainbow Dash, What in Tarnation is this all about?" the earth pony who'd lassoed her demanded in an Apple clan drawl.

"Professor Dubious, what is this all about?" Twilight demanded at the same time.

"I would like to know that myself!!" Dubious huffed, trying to straighten his jacket. He glared at the pegasus mare. "What in Equestria did I ever do to you, young woman?"

"What did you do? What did you do??" she bellowed. "You ruined my life, that's what you did!!" She lunged at him. He whinnied in fear, shrinking back against the bookcases. The guards managed to restrain her.

"What? How did Professor Dubious ruin your life?" Twilight said, incredulous.

"You know my cutie mark story," Dash growled at her, pushing the guards away. "I was the first pegasus to do the Sonic Rainboom. Ever! I shoulda been famous all over Equestria-- I shoulda been a shoo-in for the Wonderbolts right outta flight school! And I woulda been if it weren't for HIM."

Dubious' confused expression turned to one of shocked recognition. "You? You were that filly who--" he clammed up.

"Yeah, THAT filly," Dash snarled.

"Okay, what?" Twilight asked noone in particular.

Dash rounded on her. "So I won that race with those three jerks," she said. "And I pulled off a Sonic Rainboom. Right? I was in the papers the very next day. And the very next day, Professor Plothead here--" she jabbed a hoof at the Professor-- "starts doing the rounds, telling everyone that I FAKED IT!"

There was a gasp. Everypony turned to look; it was Fluttershy of all ponies, gaping at the Professor in shock. "That was him??" she asked Rainbow Dash. She glared at Dubious so fiercely the professor could almost swear his eyebrows were smoking. "You horrible pony!"

"You know him too, dear?" Rarity asked in surprise.

"How could anypony fake a Rainboom?" Applejack demanded, baffled.(3)

Fluttershy turned to the others. "When Rainbow Dash did the Sonic Rainboom, Professor Dubious  came out and did an investigation. Then he went to all the newspapers and the radio station and everypony, claiming that there was no way she could have done it... that something else had caused the Rainboom and she had just claimed credit for it."

"There was no proof!" Dubious shouted. "No photographs, no reliable eyewitnesses--"

"There were plenty of eyewitnesses!" Fluttershy said, stamping a dainty hoof for emphasis. "You just came around and asked all sorts of nasty questions till you got them to contradict themselves. I know, you did it to me too!"

"I-"

Fluttershy turned back to her friends. "The next day all the papers were running stories about how it was all a hoax," she said unhappily. "Poor Rainbow Dash's confidence was shattered. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't repeat the sonic rainboom."

"I was a laughingstock," Dash said. She had her back to the group, her head down. " Everypony thought I was a liar and a blowhard. Flight camp sucked. Flight school was even worse. The only ones who'd even hang with me were Gilda and Fluttershy. Even the instructors were always giving me horseapples about it. I had to drop out of flight school because I couldn't take it anymore." She looked over her shoulder, sneering at the frazzled professor. "The only work I could get was as a cloud-pusher... I had to transfer all the way from Cloudsdale to Ponyville just so I could start over. All because of you."

Dubious took on a haughty tone. "I only reported the facts," he said in a longsuffering tone. "Nopony actually SAW you do the sonic rainboom, they just attributed it to you because you were flying in the same general area."

"Hundreds of ponies saw me do it!..."

"Hundreds of ponies heard a big boom and saw a flash of rainbows in the sky," Dubious said with the air of someone explaining  a regrettable truth to a foal. "I saw it, too. But nopony could have possibly seen what caused it regardless. The epicenter was nearly nine miles from the nearest pony-- even if a pony had caused it, they would have been too small and too distant to see--"

Dash whipped around, teeth grinding. "OH, so I wasn't CLOSE ENOUGH, was I?" Before anyone could move, she'd grabbed the condescending scholar around his middle and flown for the front door. In alarm her five friends ran after her. They burst out through the front doors just in time to see Rainbow Dash take a ninety degree turn straight up into the sky. The professor's screams dopplered into inaudibility.

"Ooo, this isn't good," Pinkie Pie said.

Professor Dubious couldn't recall the last time he'd screamed so much. That time when he was six on the Dizzyworld roller coaster didn't even come close.(4) They finally stopped climbing into the sky at least a mile above the cloud line. "So nopony was close enough to see, huh?" the mad mare said in his ear. "Well lucky you, now you're gonna see one up close and personal!" With that, they flipped over and began plummeting to earth.

No. Rocketing. Accelerating faster and faster by the second. Dubious caught his second wind--- largely because it was being blasted up his nostrils--- and started screaming again. "Keep those eyes open egghead!" Dash shouted in his ear, barely audible over the rushing of the wind. The roaring grew louder; he couldn't even hear himself screaming anymore. His bones rattled in the turbulence. His eyes teared up;  his vision blurred; was he blacking out or was the air ahead starting to turn white?  He could see the jagged spires of the crystal city rushing up to meet them--

Then the world exploded.

It was loud, a sound so loud that it was beyond sound; more like a noiseless whump that he felt in his very bones. There was a flash of white all around them, laced with radiating needles of color. Then they were through the center of it and out the other side, the air so clear it was like crystal, still racing towards the ground straight as a lance, the turbulence gone.

He felt the pegasus' muscles strain, pulling them up in an innard-punishing 180 turn, racing back up towards the sky, towards the ever-expanding ring of rainbow colored light that now stretched across the sky. He could see their rainbow contrail arcing from the center of the ring...

Then and only then did he finally hear the BOOM.

They flew in a wide, gentle loop, rainbow light trailing behind them, bleeding off air speed till they finally glided back to their starting point at the front step of the library. Rainbow Dash floated in and gently set the Professor down on the ground, in the middle of the gaping crowd of onlookers--- which included Roller Reel with his ever-present camera. "There," she said, smugly tossing her windswept mane. "That good enough for ya?"

"If it ain't, I got it on film for him," Roller Reel said. "That was awesome!"

Professor Dubious was a sight to behold. He stood there, splay legged.  His mane and tail were frazzled, his tweed jacket was a rumpled mess, even his bow tie was violently askew. His eyes were round as saucers, his pupils pinpricks. The only sound that came out of his open mouth was a dry, thin "eeeeeeeeeeeeeee...."

Twilight Sparkle sighed and stepped up to the shattered scholar. "Word to the wise, Professor," she said gently in his ear. "Be careful when you demand proof. You just might get it."

It was a short while before the Professor regained his composure enough for the progress meeting. After a few cups of strong tea, several donuts, and a brief session with a portable steam iron he was back in the game. The scholars and their interns were all gathered around a large table set in the middle of the main area of the library. Books, scrolls and writing implements were in abundance, and several of the magical workstations were up on the table and operating. Illusory scrolls and images hovered in the air.  The head of the table was dominated by an enormous chalkboard and an equally enormous map of the Crystal Empire. Twilight stood at the head of the table, a pointer grasped in her magic.

"So let's go over what we know already," she said as Roller Reel's camera whirred. "We have determined thus far from repeated references in various records that the lost tomb is located somewhere in the Ghibli Hills." The tip of her pointer traced a half-circle around the edge of the map. "Unfortunately the Ghibli Hills is a range that surrounds the Crystal Empire to the North, East, and West. Not exactly a small territory to cover.

"The objective today is to see what we've all gathered so far, see if any of it narrows the search down a little. So," Twilight said, putting the pointer down with a thwack. "Anypony have anything to report?"

One of the interns raised a hoof. "Well, our group has found several references in old ballads to 'the Seven Hills," he said, consulting the papers in front of him. "Three original references in Diamondhoof's Odyssey, two more in the Ode to the Forefathers and the Ballad of the Crystal Stair by Crystal Singer, which specifically say "The Seven Ghibli Hills, under which our forefathers sleep."

Another pony further down the table spoke up. "That would correspond with something we found," he said. His horn glowed and an illusion flickered to life over the center of the table. It was a circle with seven smaller dots inside it in a circular pattern. It spun slowly so that everypony could see it.  "This is the royal seal of the Crystal Empire, or at least it was circa the Pre Sombran era," he said. "The seven dots were originally seven gemstones, supposedly representing the seven districts of the Crystal Empire and the seven noble houses that ruled them, or so the common wisdom went. However, it's not the original seal." The image changed; the dots changing to gemstones. Then it changed again... and the gemstones were no longer in a symmetrical pattern. "This is the seal, some two hundred years pre-Sombra. It was changed to the newer layout because some of the seven houses complained that it implied they were unequal. But the "random" pattern is far older. "

The illusion changed again. Now the seal was decorated with seven indentations, shaped like the letter V. "This is the oldest example of the seal-- used on a royal document some 1,500 years pre-Sombra. Prior to that the royal seal was merely the king or queen's hoofmark in ink. Note that the pattern is still the same. Every sample between 50 years pre-Sombra and 1500 years pre-Sombra has that layout. This seal, as shown, was used during the reign of Queen Vivid Vision, hence the letter V.

"I think I know where this is going..." Rainbow Dash singsonged.

"With the help from Professor Dusty Bones' group," here he nodded to a group of ponies on the other side of the table who returned the gesture, "I cross-referenced for any stories from Queen Vivivi's reign. According to legend, Queen Vivivi ascended to the throne after her husband's death and burial in the tomb. At his funeral she, quote, 'stood in the hill o'erlooking that mighty tomb, and sealed its hills in her memory."

"And I'm guessing that--" Twilight began.

"--that this was a mistranslation," A crystal pony mare said. "She didn't seal the hills in her memory, she--

Twilight finished it with her. "--Put the memory of the hills in her seal." Twilight clapped her hooves together. "It's a MAP!" Congratulations and cheerful exclamations rose up around the table.

"Yeah, now all we have to do is figure out which seven hills it is," Spike muttered. The elation around the table diminished somewhat.

Twilight's eyebrows leveled. "True," she sighed. "Has anyone in the Crystal Empire done an aerial survey?"

Rainbow Dash went airborne. "Hey, I'm your mare for the job," she said confidently. "Just gimme a camera and I--"

"Perhaps we should narrow down the area before trying to survey a thousand square miles of hilly country?" Applejack said wryly. "Yer fast, sugarcube, but we could be takin' photos from the clouds and countin' hills till the next millenium."

Dubious cleared his throat. Everypony turned to look at him. "I think I have something that might narrow down the search," he said. "At least by two thirds, anyway." He pulled out a tape recorder. "As I told you before, my specialty lies in oral history. As a little side effort, I have been going about among the general populace, holding little interviews, recording any folklore they cared to recite for me-- stories, poems, songs, traditional superstitions and so forth." He paused and cocked an eyebrow. "For a side note to any crystal ponies in the room, no, your grandmother was wrong, swallowing a fire opal will NOT make it bigger." Several stallions in the room suddenly looked uncomfortable, while more than a few mares smirked.

"Ahem. Anyway, I happened to come across a rather elderly mare on one of my perambulations who was so kind as to recite a song once sung to her by her grandmother, when she was just a filly. I think you might want to take note." He pressed the PLAY button with his magic.

A high, quavery voice rose up from the device, filling the air.

"I remember now my Summer's love,

Though now I feel late Winter's chills,

I watch the sun set behind the Crystal Spire,

as I rest upon the Seven Hills..."

"I haven't heard that song in years," one of the crystal ponies said, reminiscing. "My mother sang it as a lullaby.. she didn't know the words, though..."

"Yes!" Twilight said. "The singer would have to be looking West to see the sun set, which means they were sitting East of the Crystal Spire. The Seven Hills are in the Eastern Ghibli Range!" She spun around and drew a circle around the hills on the east side of the map. "Quick, get out the maps of that area and start looking, everypony!"

Several hours of searching later, they had nothing to show for it. Twilight had even resorted to sending Dash on an ultra-high flight with an instant camera; still, no results. Everyone was poring over maps and photos old and new; they would have been tearing their manes out in frustration if they'd had fingers. There were a few groups of hills that looked similar, but none matched the layout shown in the royal seal.

Of course the breakthrough came from Pinkie Pie. "This would be a lot easier if it wasn't backwards and upside down," she mumbled, staring with popped-out eyes at a handful of aerial photos.

Everypony froze. "...What did you say, darling?" Rarity asked tentatively.

"I said this would be a lot easier if it wasn't backwards and upside down," Pinkie said. "Why?"

"Where do you get that from?" Twilight said, baffled.

"Well, duh, silly, it's a royal seal, right? Like a rubber stamp for fancy ponies! Look--" she zipped to the library's checkout desk, grabbed a rubber stamp, and zipped over to Twilight. "See, this is the OVERDUE stamp, but look-- its backwards," she pointed with her hoof at the underside. "Which is a good thing because nopony would know what EUDREVO means--"

"Pinkie, I'm sure Professor Dusty Bones flipped the image... over... before he..." Twilight had to pause because the pony in question was calmly, quietly thumping his forehead against the table.

"Backwards..." he groaned, banging his head again. "Of course..."

Twilight facehooved. "Okay. But upside down?"

"Well yuh," Pinkie said. she pulled out a picture of a crystal pony in royal garb. "See? She's wearing the seal as a pendant around her neck!"

"Aaaand...?" Twilight motioned for her to continue.

"Of course," Rarity said suddenly, her face lighting up. "She wore it as a memento, so she would remember her husband whenever she looked at it. But the poem, well it implies like it was a spontaneous, romantic gesture--- She must have been wearing it around her neck... and when she held it up to engrave it--" she made a motion as if she was lifting a pendant off her own chest and holding it up in her hoof.

"-- She was holding it upside down," Applejack said, grinning. "Well if that don't beat all! Good eye, Rarity! You too Pinkie Pie!"

Twilight shook her head. "Of course," she said, pointing at the still rotating magical illusion. "Those aren't little Vs, they're little upside-down hills! Professor, can you flip that image around ?" Dusty Bones eagerly complied.

"Wait," somepony shouted. "I've seen those hills somewhere here-- where's that one map, the one with the yellow..." There was a great deal of frantic shuffling of scrolls and papers. "Here!!" a survey map was slapped down on the table.

Everypony, even Professor Dubious, leaned in breathlessly. Wordlessly Twilight levitated a pencil and drew a circle around a tiny, unassuming-looking group of hills. Dusty Bones shrank the illusory seal down and floated it over the map.

It was a perfect match.

"We found it," Twilight whispered. The whisper spread through the group. Twilight repeated herself. "We found it. We found the Lost Tomb of the Founders!!"

A deafening cheer went up. The next instant every pony in the room was bouncing like Pinkie Pie on a double espresso.(5)

Garble signaled for a halt. The sextet of dragons rumbled to a stop near one of the last mountains in the range. "What's up, Garble?" Rockjaw growled. His voice was now an earthshaking rumble.

Garble looked back, grinning. "It dawned on me, we're gonna need a little help picking up all them jewels and gold and stuff," he rumbled back. "And keeping it polished and sorted an' all that other crap, once we got it."

"So?" Grundle said. "We make da ponies do all that."

Garble sneered. "Pffsh, too much trouble," he said. "They're a bunch of whiny pansies anyway... they'd wear out from the work.(6) I got me a better idea."  He pointed to the ground all around the base of the mountain, which was dotted with what at first glance looked like gopher holes, till one realized that said gopher holes were far too large to belong to a mere gopher.(7) He knelt next to one of the holes, and motioned for the others to do the same. "Get ready to grab what comes out," he said. He put his mouth next to the hole, took a deep breath...

"AAAAAAHHHHRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!"

Smoke and terrifying noise poured down into the hole. Screams and yelps of terror could be heard emanating from all the surrounding holes, and suddenly terrified, screaming canine shapes erupted from several of them. "Quick, grab 'em!" Garble yelled. Scaly claws the size of bulldozer shovels lashed out, and every dragon had themselves three or four Diamond Dogs clutched in their fists.

Garble got lucky; He had three in one fist and one, a large black one with a diamond collar, in the other-- obviously the leader of the pack. "SHUT IT!" he roared. The panicked yelping and ki-yi'ing ceased.  He held the pack leader up to look him in the eye. "Here's the deal, mutt," he said. "We're dragons. You're Diamond Dogs. You work for US, now. We're gonna go smash a pony city and take their treasure. You're gonna scoop all the treasure out of the rubble for us, and I mean every. Last. Gem. You count it, and polish it, and carry it, and do whatever else we say."

"What in it for us, then?" The scraggly mongrel asked. Garble shook him like a maraca. "I-i-i j-u-u-ust as-k-i-ing," the diamond dog protested.

"Then I'll make it simple," Garble rumbled, smoke seeping from his nostrils. "You work for us and you get gems. Or you get eaten. Got it?"

The black diamond dog held up a finger. "Actually, that make it sound like if we work for you, we maybe get gems or maybe get eaten. Grammar important to convey correct idea when hnnnnnnngggg," he cut off as Garble began to squeeze. "Hokay, work get gems, no work get eaten, got it Boss," he wheezed. Garble relaxed his grip.

"Good ," Garble growled with a toothsome sneer. He stuffed his new slaves into his makeshift hip-bag and resumed stomping his way. His partners in crime followed suit, having made makeshift bags of their own, and fell in step behind him. "Next stop, the Crystal Empire..."

1)You know who you are, Spell Nexus.

2)The Ministry of Silly Walks had sent him several warning letters already.

3)Some few had tried. One effort had involved a giant vat of rainbow juice and a barrel of dynamite. The results weren't pretty-- well actually they were rather pretty, or at least colorful, but nopony appreciated them much.

4)He'd been too busy puking to scream that much. Dubious really hadn't had a very happy childhood.

5)With all the elated crystal ponies in the room it looked like an explosion at a rave.

6)Not that he, or any other dragon alive, really KNEW that. There is a reason Equestrian ponies lived in a safe, peaceful kingdom free from the fear of enslavement or oppression for thousands of years. There is also a reason that the dragon capital city, for lack of a better term, is built in a crater. These two reasons are coincidentally one and the same.

7)Then again, this was the world of Equestria.

Chapter 24

Twilight looked down over the dig site, comparing it to the meticulously drawn map hovering in front of her. She stood on one of the rolling Ghibli hills, looking down on the valley where dozens of crystal pony laborers were digging into the side of the first-- or rather, seventh-- hill, digging for the entrance to the Tomb of the Forefathers. Imagine, she might be standing in the very spot that Queen Vivid Vision had, when she had marked the royal seal! The thought gave her the shivers.

She heard footsteps behind her; she turned and saw her friends coming up the hill behind her. "Hooee, ain't folks in a tizzy today," Applejack said. She nodded in the direction of the dig down below. "So this is the place, huh? How long till we get a look-see at this tomb, d'you figure?"

"It won't be much longer," Twilight told her. "They've just about got the door cleared away. Once they've made sure it's braced and the entryway's safe, we'll go on in." She looked around. "Where's Rarity and Fluttershy?"

"Fluttershy and Rarity are back at the palace," Rainbow Dash said, giving a dismissive roll of her eyes.

"Why? They're going to miss the big moment."

Applejack chuckled. "Think about it, Sugarcube," she said. "Rarity. DIRT. See anything wrong with that fancy mathematical? She's keeping herself busy poking around the palace."

"Yeah," Dash laughed. "And Fluttershy wanted to see the lambs at the petting zoo again. Nyx and your parents are giving them the nickel tour right now."

There was a shout from down below. Twilight brightened. "It looks like they've got the entryway cleared," Twilight said. "Come on, everypony, let's go take a look!"

They descended the hill quickly, passing through the tidy little camp to join the other ponies gathered at the dig. They had unearthed an enormous stone archway, easily ten hooves high and nearly as many wide, and what appeared to be an enormous pair of stone doors decorated with dozens of detailed carvings. The interns were now earning their class credit carefully brushing and cleaning away the dirt and earth from the grooves in the enormous slab. Twilight and her friends ooohed, impressed.

"Kewl," Rainbow Dash said, dropping out of her hover to land next to Twilight. "Y'think there'll be any traps or mummies or ancient pony curses or stuff?"

"Archeology isn't anything like it is in the Daring Do books, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, rolling her eyes. "No traps, no mummies, no snakes in pits. Just a lot of very careful digging, and a lot of research."  

"A point I have been at pains to explain to my students," another pony said. It was Professor Dubious, trotting over to join them. "If ponies would do more of it, I would have a lot less work to do myself. Good afternoon, Miss Sparkle. I see the dig proceeds apace."

Rainbow Dash scowled at them both. "You people could suck the excitement out of anything," she grumbled. The excitement of the discovery of the Lost Tomb had taken the edges off the animosity between Dubious and the others. They were far from bosom companions, but at least the open hostility was put aside for the sake of the work ahead.

"I think it's still pretty exciting," Pinkie Pie said, not stopping her hopping for a moment.

"And you're not the only one," Twilight Sparkle chuckled. "Roller Reel is going bonkers with that camera of his. He's all over the dig site, getting footage and commentary. It's a great moment for crystal pony history and he's really excited."

Dubious frowned. "Yes, him and every other nationalistic crystal pony," he said. "I hope you have a plan for how to deal with the disappointment."

"Disappointment?" Twilight said, incredulous. "We rediscovered almost-forgotten crystal pony lore, unraveled a thousand-year-old crystal pony mystery, and found one of the most important relics of ancient crystal pony civilization! Every step of the way has been a monumental achievement-- we're literally standing on the doorstep of the Lost Tomb of the Founders! And you still think we're on a wild goose chase??"

At that moment Roller Reel came striding up, bringing that whirring camera of his to bear. "What's this about a wild-goose chase?" he asked. "Aw, c'mon, Professor, don't tell me you're being a sore loser!"

Professor Dubious arched his neck and glowered into the camera lens. "It's not about being a 'winner' or 'loser,' sore or otherwise," he said stiffly. "It's about going where the evidence leads. A... fact I admit I have myself forgotten from time to time," he admitted, glancing in embarrassment over at a scowling Rainbow Dash. "Science is a very... confrontational practice, and one tends to become over-eager to find a hill to die on, as it were--- ahem. But, as I was saying to my colleague Miss Sparkle--" he gestured to Twilight-- "one can let expectations run away with them.

" I recall not long ago one pony trumpeting the discovery of a lost hideout of Al Capony. An interesting discovery in and of itself, but he built up such fanfare about it that ponies were chattering about everything from stashes of ill-gotten gains to the possibility of finding papers and journals by the notorious criminal even before they cracked through the brick wall blocking the door. They got inside and, well-- there was nothing except a couple of empty beer bottles.

"I am just cautioning that everypony has come to expect some glorious treasure trove right out of a Daring Do novel, when in all likelihood it will be little more than a few buried bones and some odd ceremonial trinkets. An illuminating discovery for a scholar, perhaps, but vastly disappointing for any common pony hoping for the tomb of Trotenkhamen." His expression surprisingly softened. "I'm just saying, lad... don't get your hopes too high, or they'll most certainly be dashed."

"And what do you say, Professor Twilight?" The camera panned over to the unicorn.

"Um, first of all, I'm not a Professor, Roller," Twilight said, apologetically. "And yes, Professor Dubious has a fair point. Expectations are... awful high right now." She rallied her confidence. "But what little we've found already is priceless beyond measure. We found the Lost Tomb. No matter what comes next--- this expedition is a success."

"Either way," Rainbow Dash said. "--Can I have one of those adventurer hats like yours?" she pointed at Twilight's pith helmet.

"Dash..." Twilight said, irritated.

"Ooo, good idea!" Pinkie said. Suddenly every unadorned head in the group sported a hat.

Dubious removed his new pith helmet and gaped both at it and the pink party pony. "How--where-- "

Twilight slapped a hoof over his mouth. "It's better not to ask. Trust me." There was a commotion at the door. Several interns with cameras stepped in close, flashbulbs popping. "What's going on?" Twilight asked one of the nearby ponies.

"They got the door cleared off, and they found the mechanism to open it," the intern said. She was jittery with excitement.

"Eee!" Twilight squealed. "This is it! Quick, everypony, get the relay crystal set up!"

"The relay crystal?" Rainbow Dash asked, puzzled.

Twilight ran over to where a group of workers was lifting an enormous crystal obelisk out of its shipping crate and setting it up on end. She lent her magic to the effort, setting it in its stand. "Yes, it's like crystal radio, except it can relay images as well as voice," Twilight said. "The obelisk gives it the range to reach the Spire on the crystal palace, where they'll be projecting the image on a giant cloudscreen so the whole city can see what we see." She pulled an enormous octagon-cut crystal out of the open crate. The front facet was nearly as large as her head.

"Whoa, Twilight," Dash chuckled. "When you go for the Bling you don't mess around."

Twilight shot her a sarcastic look. "Ha, ha," she said. "This is the 'eye' stone. What it sees, gets projected on the screen back in the Crystal City." She set it up on a tripod and faced it towards the door.

"Aw, you shoulda left the setup to me," Roller said. He started waving his hoof around, a dreamy look in his eye. "You need at least two of those things, a third set back on the hill for wide-angle shots, and a free-moving one carried by a pony for in-close stuff and..." He noticed the other ponies were giving him odd looks. "Aaaand I think I'll go up on the hill and get some wide-angle footage when the door opens. Aheh." He trotted up the hill Twilight and her friends had vacated, wheezing slightly under the load of his gear.

"Is everypony ready?" Twilight called out. Answers to the affirmative came back. The ponies behind her began clearing away from the door. Twilight nodded nervously and bit her lip. "Okay, let's do this." Her horn glowed; the aura enveloped the gem facing her. She tapped it with a hoof. "Hello, Princess Cadence, are you there?"

A face appeared in the translucent surface of the gem; the face of the royal ruler of the Crystal Empire. "Yes, we're picking you up loud and clear, Twilight," she said. "Get ready, we're about to link the feed up to the cloud projector in five... four... three... two..."

Miles away, Princess Cadence, attended by her husband, two of the Elements of Harmony, and Spike, lowered her horn and activated the second gem. The light from the gem leapt out from the royal balcony where they stood, illuminating the enormous rectangular cloud hovering overhead. Twilight Sparkle's grinning face appeared, a hundred feet high, visible to the thousands of ponies gathered below.(1) "Um, hello? Hello!" the enormous speakers dangling from the palace archway boomed. "Thank you, one and all! My name is Twilight Sparkle, Protege' of Princess Celestia. And courtesy of Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor, we've arranged this little setup so that all of you can witness this monumental occasion in Crystal Empire and Equestrian history; the opening of the Tomb of the Founders!"

A loud cheer went up from the crowd of crystal ponies gathered below. Among them were Nyx, Bright Eyes and the CMC, chaperoned by Nyx's grandparents. The foals had been bundles of nearly-uncontrollable excitement during the entire setup. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had managed to wheedle an extra day or two in the Crystal Empire by pleading the 'educational value' of being right there for the opening of the Tomb... at the cost of each having a report due on it for school when they got back home. Ah, tradeoffs. The foals had pinballed back and forth between watching everything from the balcony and watching everything from the ground below.

The food carts catering to the crowds below had made the deciding vote much simpler.

Scootaloo was snarfing her way through a funnel cake. "Boy, Spike sure missed out," she said, licking powdered sugar off her lips. "Dunno why he wanted to stay up there on the balcony."

Sweetiebelle was carrying a mass of cotton candy that was literally larger than her entire body. She giggled and pointed at the balcony. "With Rarity right there? No way Spike would get more than ten feet away from my big sister if he could help it."

"Hey Spike," Bright Eyes said, apparently into thin air. "How's it look from up there?"

High up above, the tiny dragon pressed a claw to his earfin and waved at them, briefly dislodging the baby phoenix perched on his shoulder. "It looks good," came the tinny reply that only Bright Eyes could hear. "So absolutely... perfect..." there was a long sigh.

Bright Eyes had recently introduced Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders to a very popular toy in the Crystal Empire: the walkie-talkie. It wasn't much to look at, just a pair of flattish, diamond shaped gems. You stuck one to your head behind your ear, and the other pony did the same, and you could talk to each other from up to a mile away. The only drawback was that they were the little cheapy-deal ones that only two ponies could use. They were Bright Eyes', so he and Spike got to use them first, but the other Crusaders had already made plans to save up their bits and get sets of their own.

Bright Eyes pulled a face at Spike's response. Nyx saw it and translated it accordingly. "Hey, Bright Eyes, tell my big brother to stop drooling on Rarity and pay attention," she giggled.

The comment was relayed. "Heyyyyy..." Spike whined.

The cloudscreen glowed and the speakers boomed again. Everypony's eyes were riveted anew to the enormous image as Twilight narrated as ponies moved in to open the doors. "-- It is definitely Crystal Empire work. The "stone" of the doors is upon close examination actually a variety of crystal that has been rendered opaque... cloudy... by time and exposure to the elements, as well as substances in the soil after being buried..."

"Can you tell us what the engravings mean, Twilight?" Cadence's voice overlapped Twilight's.

"Um, yes, actually. It's been the subject of some discussion since it was uncovered. The lettering across the top, translated as closely as we can at the moment, is 'Here lie our Ancestors. Remember their wisdom: One alone was not enough.' What this means is vague at best. Perhaps we will learn more once we get into the inner chambers..." there was a rumble and a scraping of stone, loud enough that the ponies watching the screen could feel it in their teeth. Behind Twilight, the doors slowly gapped open. "Omigosh, this is it.." Twilight said. The view suddenly bobbled as Twilight levitated the eye gem and galloped closer.

Every pony in the crowd gasped. Nyx held her breath, standing on the tips of her hooves as her mother brought the eye gem to where they could see into the chamber beyond. It was a long, amethyst-purple tunnel that shimmered in the enroaching sunlight. Nyx could make out what looked like crypts or coffins lining the walls of the tunnel, running off into the darkness. There were lights inside; softly glowing clusters of crystals in the ceiling every few yards that glowed with a faint  blue-green light.

"Great jumpin' horn toads," Applebloom gasped next to her, waffle cone forgotten in her hoof.

A couple of ponies went on inside. "Professor Memento, one of the finest archaeologists in the business, is going on inside to assess what we can see," Twilight whispered to the audience. "He'll be looking for signs that-- oh, here he comes now..."

The yellow coated pony with the white mane and goatee stepped back out into the sunlight. He looked shaky as he removed his spectacles and dusted them off on his coat. "I... have to say that this is... most assuredly authentic," he said. "Not fifty feet in is a small crypt that is, most assuredly, of Queen Vivid Vision, presumably the last of the ancestral rulers of the Crystal Empire to be buried in--"

Nyx couldn't hear the rest as it was drowned out by cheers from the crowd all around her. Ponies everywhere were jumping around and cheering like maniacs. The other foals were freaking out pretty good too-- Bright Eyes especially. "It's real, it's real, it's really real!!" he shrieked, candy apple launching into the air to land in some unfortunate's mane. he bounced around with the others.

Nyx started to whoop and cheer too-- Mom had done it! She'd really done it!-- when she looked up at the screen and the sound died in her throat. Someone up on the jumbo cloudscreen was screaming... she couldn't make out what.

An enormous shadow had fallen over the scene. All the ponies on the screen were staring up with terror in their eyes.

Twilight was so giddy she thought she would faint. The tomb was real. And apparently it was enormous inside... she was just getting ready to orchestrate the exploration inside when she heard something that chilled her heart.

She heard Roller Reel screaming.

She spun about and saw the scrawny camerapony half-running, half falling down the hillside, shrieking something with every other step at the top of his lungs. It took her a second to make out what it was.

"Dragons! Dragons are coming!"

Something-- two huge somethings--- flew up over the hilltop in the next moment, and Twilight got her first look at Scrag and Flange. Their wingspan blotted out the sky as they began circling overhead.

Twilight had seen dragons before. She'd faced off against them, in fact. Nothing however had erased that primal, atavistic fear of the firebreathing predators. But the truly terrifying part is that for some reason, despite being certain she'd never seen these dragons before, something about them was familiar--

Then she felt the ground shake, as if under enormous footsteps. "Everypony run!" she screamed. "Take cover, into the tunnel!!" She reared and spun about, galloping into the tomb, the eye gem still in her magical grasp. Every pony present followed her lead.

The excavation team was thankfully small. Even more thankfully every hoof present had been clustered around the entrance to the tomb, eager to see inside. Applejack and Pinkie Pie began herding ponies towards the entrance, while Rainbow Dash began flying back and forth, grabbing the outliers and stragglers and hauling them inside bodily. The ponies got inside even as an enormous foot, clawed and scaly and red, came down out of the sky in the middle of the camp, smashing tents and crushing a cargo wagon to splinters.

Professor Dubious was the last inside. He stopped in the doorway, legs splayed, staring in horror at the six monstrosities bearing down on the tomb, greed and lust for destruction in their eyes. He looked around himself at the doorway to the tomb, looked behind him at the ponies retreating into the tunnel-- and fired a bolt of magic into the ceiling directly above him.

"Professor, no!" Twilight cried.

The Professor didn't move, pouring his rock-splitting spell into the ceiling for all he was worth. Ten-ton stones began raining down, smashing into the floor-- just a split second after a cyan and rainbow streak zipped up the tunnel, seized him by the collar, and yanked him to safety just hoof-lengths ahead of the tumbling stone.

Rock and earth rumbled violently for several seconds, tossing a cloud of dust down the tunnel, making ponies cough and choke. Slowly though the tunnel fell silent. Almost instantly every unicorn present lit their horns ,sweeping the dust out of the air, working to keep the air breathable.

Twilight coughed and sputtered, clearing her lungs. She looked up and realized that in her panic she'd forgotten she was magically holding onto the eye gem; it was in here with them, glowing faintly from both her own aura and it's native magic. Of all the things to grab at the last second... she thought to herself in annoyance. Then she thought again and changed her assessment. She began tapping on the crystal, feeding magic into it. "Hello, hello, Cadence, can you hear us? The Crystal Empire is under attack-- I repeat, the Crystal Empire is under attack by dragons!"

Outside, Garble and his monstrous stooges stood in the remains of the camp. Some of them amused themselves by idly crushing wagons and crates underfoot. Garble sniffed. He reached in his carry-bag and pulled one of the diamond dogs out, dropping him in the rubble. "You. Sniff this out. Anything good here?"

The terrified diamond dog scurried to obey, digging  through the crumbled earth and rock, sniffing for precious stones or metal. He reappeared from the tailings a moment later. "Pah! No, Boss-- nothing but old quartz," he said, spitting in disgust.

Blizz took note of the crystal obelisk still standing in the camp, and gave it a tentative lick. "Blagh-- more quartz!" he said, knocking it over.

"Bah, nuthin' here, then," Garble said in annoyance. Dragons could eat gems, but quartz, being made of indigestible silicon, was of no nutritional value... it was the equivalent of dietary fiber and had as much flavor as sawdust.(2) "Some stupid pony mine or somethin'." He grabbed up the diamond dog and stuffed him back in the bag.

"Ya wanna dig those ponies out?" Scrag said. "There ain't a lot of meat on 'em but it's something..."

Grundle looked over the hills and his eyes widened. "Dude, why waste your time on appetizers when the whole buffet is right here?" he pointed towards the city. All the dragons looked; there it was, the Crystal City, gleaming under the sun like the most enormous treasure trove in history. The endless sparkle had them drooling in a pavlovian response almost instantly.

"Come on, you dweebs," Garble said. "It's time to re-stock our hoards, big time." Roaring and whooping, the dragons flapped and lumbered their way towards the city.

When the last of them had passed over the nearest hill, there was a flickering in the air. Like a cloud of glitter taking shape, Roller Reel appeared out of thin air. He gasped, finally daring to breathe now that the monsters were out of earshot, and dragged his camera from under an overturned wagon where he'd hid it. He reloaded and re-mounted it on his shoulder rig on autopilot, looking around frantically. "What do I do, what do I do?" he mumbled to himself. He shivered, half in shock and half from the chill in the air. Till now the site of the dig had been covered by an extension of the weather bubble; the Princess had apparently pulled back the forcefield of the Crystal Heart to the city proper, in preparation for the attack.

He ran, half-tripping, over to the collapsed entryway, climbing up the tumbled rock and earth. It should be thinner at the top, right? "Hello?" he shouted. "Can anyone in there hear me? Are you okay??" There was nothing but grim silence for a long moment. then a curly wisp of purple magic worked its way up through the stones. As he watched, it formed letters in the air:

YES  ALL OK

Roller Reel sagged in relief. "Okay, what should I do?"

The letters changed.

WE R SAFE GO 2 CITY GET HELP

"O-Okay, I'll get help!" he shouted. "Hang in there!" He staggered down the rubbly slope and began running in the direction of the city. He didn't know if he could make it. The city was a couple of miles off; his diamond lung and the rapidly chilling air would have him a wheezing mess in less than one... but he had to try. There was no way he could just sit on his plot and do nothing.

Besides... he leveled his camera on the retreating backs of the gigantic dragons and grimly focused in. ...He had a job to do.

1) And scaring the whitewash out of a flock of low-flying birds.

2)Something Twilight had learned in a particularly unpleasant fashion after feeding a young Spike a bowlful of quartz crystals to bulk out his breakfast of emeralds, leading to an entire day of "the Silicon Squirts." It was NOT a pleasant memory for either of them.

Chapter 25

Confusion reigned in the tomb. The glow-crystals had flickered and gone out in the ceiling collapse, and panicked, frightened ponies were banging into each other and yelling at each other in the dark. Twilight lit her horn in a blaze of light. "EVERYBODY SIMMER DOWN!!" she yelled. Startled by the light and the authoritative shout, everypony fell silent. "Everypony who can, light up," Twilight said. "We've gotta see what our situation is. And stay calm."

Unicorns began lighting their horns; other ponies began procuring penlights and flashlights. Gradually the darkened tunnel was illuminated. They were all huddled together in a long passageway, perfectly rectangular, fifteen feet wide and half again as high, and extended off into the darkness. The walls were solid amethyst that glowed royal purple in the mingled light. Every ten paces or so a stone crypt was set in a recess in the wall on either side, surrounded by engravings in old Equiish detailing the lives of the deceased sealed inside the baroque coffins.

The way they came in, however, was blocked solid by multi-ton stones. Cries of dismay went up at the sight. "We're trapped!" somepony cried out.

Rainbow Dash rounded on Dubious. "You idiot! What'd you think you were doing?" she snarled, grabbing the professor by his coat collar and shaking him.

"Saving our lives," Dubious spat.

"By trapping us in here??"

"Yes! Those dragons were on the rampage, and in the throes of Greed Growth. What do you think those brutes would have done to this place-- to us-- when they found out it wasn't full of gold and precious gems?" Dash's face went blank and she released him.

"He's right," Twilight said. "Amethyst and quartz? They would have been enraged, and destroyed everything in here..."

"And then had us for a consolation snack," Applejack said with a shudder.

"Hopefully, the ugly louts will be too lazy or disinterested to try and dig us out," Dubious said, getting to his feet. "We wait here till someone comes and excavates us."

"What good will that do us, if we run out of air first?" Rainbow said, her wings fluttering at her sides in anxiety. Airborne creatures, Pegasus ponies were susceptible to claustrophobia, and Rainbow Dash was no exception. Twilight glanced around and saw that more than one pegasus in the group was starting to shake their wings in the same way--- a sign of extreme stress in pegasus ponies. If she didn't take control, things could get bad.

"We're okay, Dash," she said reassuringly.(1) "Lime Spritzer, when you opened the tomb you used the air 'fresher spell, didn't you?"

A lime-colored unicorn with a blonde mane nodded nervously. "And I had a couple of pegasi send a good strong breeze through too," he said. "We should have plenty of air." The crowd visibly relaxed.

"And if not, I have plenty of balloons to save some for later," Pinkie Pie said. She produced a handful of party balloons from her saddlebag and began inflating them as fast as she could puff. The other ponies just stared. The ones more experienced with Pinkie Pie put the sight on "ignore" and turned their attention back to Twilight.

Dash suddenly pricked up her ears...and her wings. "Speaking of fresh air," she said, waving her wingtips around gently, as if she was feeling for something, "I'm feeling a breeze."

"Really?" Applejack said.

"Yeah. Real faint-like, blowing from...further in," Rainbow Dash nodded, indicating the tunnel yawning before them.

"That's great! That means there's got to be another opening into the tomb someplace. At the very least the air will stay fresh....Okay, everypony," Twilight said. "I think we should go further on in. There might be another way out, besides, we really don't want to be standing here if the dragons decide to try and dig us out after all." Murmured agreement answered this.

"Good. Everypony get a partner, stick together. We don't want to get separated."  Rope was procured; ponies strung it between them, forming a chain. "Applejack, can you bring the eye gem? It's not working, but I might figure out a way to get it to work again-- give us a way to send a message out."

"Will do, Twi," the farmpony said, picking the gemstone up and sticking it in her saddlebag.

Slowly the group of scholars-turned-captives trooped off down the tunnel, a pile of half-inflated balloons drifting around the dusty floor in their wake.

Back in the Crystal City, panic was rising. The thousands of ponies gathered in the streets had witnessed the dragon attack in all its destructive horror, played out live on the enormous cloudscreen as it unfolded. There had been panic and shouting and roaring, ponies fleeing for their lives, and a last message from the expedition leader Twilight Sparkle: "Hello, hello, Cadence, can you hear us? The Crystal Empire is under attack-- I repeat, the Crystal Empire is under attack by dragons!" Then a screech of static, and the screen had gone ominously dark.

Down in the panicking crowd, Nyx and her friends pressed close to Night Light and Twilight Velvet's sides. Nyx's eyes were riveted to the empty cloudscreen, eyes wide with childish terror. "Mommy," she whispered.

The Guards assigned to them closed ranks immediately. "Sir, Ma'am, we need to get you and the children someplace safe," one said.

Night Light nodded, biting down on his cigarette holder grimly. "Lead the way."

Up on the balcony, the ponies there had gone pale and grim faced with fear. At this height, they could see the dragons approaching... they were enormous, bigger than even the one the Mane Six had seen on the mountaintop, or that Twilight and Spike had encountered in the Everfree Forest. Rarity whimpered and hugged Spike. Poor Fluttershy took one look at the dragons in the distance, made a mewling sound, and fainted dead away.

Princess Cadence only allowed herself a tiny gasp before rallying herself. She looked down and back, as if peering through the floors and walls of the palace, her horn flaring. Far below, the Crystal Heart responded. Its slow revolutions turned into a blurring spin, and a lance of light shot up from it, through the Spire of the palace, and exploded in a cascade of colors down the magical skydome that covered the Empire. The dome retracted, became a shimmering bubble of energy a dozen times brighter and a thousand times stronger, cutting the advancing monsters off from the city proper.

Cadence's horn flared. She looked at her husband. "I'm strengthening the dome," she said, her voice grim. "But against six dragons that size I have no idea how long it will hold."

Shining and his wife shared a look. No words were said. He lunged for the microphone. "Attention all branches of the Guard!" he said, his voice booming "All Guards report for duty! Execute Contingency D-1, I repeat, execute Contingency D-1! The city is under dragon attack! All squads report to your commanding officers immediately!

"City Guardsmen, escort all civilians away from the palace to secure locations as described in D-1. Ponies of the Crystal Empire, remain calm and follow the instructions of your City Guards, they will lead you to your designated safe zones. Again, remain calm and follow the instructions of the Guard!"

He stepped away from the microphone. When he turned around, three crystal ponies in full armor-- two stallions and and a mare, the commanders of the civil, national and royal branches of the Guard-- were galloping up to him. They skidded to a halt on the gleaming floor. "What are you three doing here?"  He demanded.

They looked at each other briefly, then turned to face him. "Reporting to you as ordered, Sir," one of the stallions said.

"Yes, well, according to the Royal Houses I'm not your commanding officer anymore," Shining Armor said.

The ponies looked at one another again. "Quite frankly, sir," the mare said," If the Royal Houses don't like the most qualified military leader in the Empire taking command, they can join us on the battlefield and issue a complaint there. Sir."

Shining turned to Cadence. She looked back to him over her shoulder, her horn glowing as she strove to reinforce the shield. "Consider it a royal decree," she said, smiling bravely. "Go, lead our soldiers."

He paused. The words seemed insufficient, but he said them anyway. "I love you," he said.

"Come back to me," she replied.

Shining Armor felt his heart swell. He turned back to his commanders. "Walk with me," he said, marching for the exit. They fell in step beside him. "What are your orders, sir?" One asked.

"Continue with the evacuation to the shelters," Shining said. "Put every spare earth pony we have on that. I want every pegasus and thestral we have airborne; they need to harry those two flying ones, deny them any air dominance whatsoever. No direct attacks-- that's just suicide. Have them start pushing thunderclouds, hailstorms, form concentric rings around the palace--- get updrafts and downdrafts going ... I want those two enemy fliers flying through so much turbulence that they think they're inside a clothes drier and taking so much lightning they think they stuck their tongue in a light socket!"

"Yessir, already on it."

"Have you got our unicorns in those sniper positions we plotted out?"

"Yessir, got anypony who can sling a spell up on the rooftops. we laid out some catwalks between so they can move position at a moment's notice."

"Artillery?"

"Not much sir. Some arbalists and trebuchets left over from Sombra--- but most are still in disrepair." The senior Guardsman grimaced.

"Why, what happened to them?"

"Um, Celestia and Luna smashed them when they defeated Sombra..."

Shining Armor facehoofed. "Right. Of course. Not that it matters, it'd take too long to move them into position... just have the crews duct tape and bailing-wire whatever's useful and in a viable location."

The quartet rattled down the stairs to the ground floor. They were met halfway by a cadet-- a big cadet-- carrying a suit of ornate gold armor on his back. "Private Rock Steady, reporting for duty, Sir," the big bluff pony said.

Shining Armor actually grinned. "Rock Steady! Good to see you, soldier! So you passed, huh?"

Rock Steady nodded, grinning. "Yessir. Took that test twice, got in on the second try."

Shining Armor cocked his head sideways. "A bit soon to get through boot camp, isn't it?" he asked.

Rock Steady considered the question. "I think it was a bit of a rush job, Sir." He looked over his shoulder in the direction of the advancing dragons, indicating the reason.

"Was it now?"

"Drill Sergeant said 'Buck protocol, there's Dragons, get to the front, Guardsmen," Rock Steady recited. "Oh, 'And get the Commander In Chief his armor.' " He shrugged the bundle of golden armor off his shoulders. Shining Armor snatched it up in his magic and hastily donned it.

Sweet Celestia, it felt good to be in armor again. Maker help him, he loved the Guard. As he stuck the helmet on, he noticed something resting behind his ear. He pointed at the offending spot on the outside with his hoof. "What's this here?" he asked.

"New wrinkle, Sir," the blue commander of the Civil Guard said. "It's a variation on a popular colt's toy. They call it a walkie-talkie. Tap it three times to turn on, three times to turn off... lets you talk with everypony with one in their helmet. It's still got a few glitches but it's a lifesaver out on the street." He gave Shining a quick rundown on call signs and the crude protocol they'd worked out thus far.

"Niiiice." Shining Armor tried it out. "Testing, testing, one two... This is Commander in Chief Shining Armor. Group leaders sound off!" The answers came back (what else?) crystal clear.

"Pegasus Alpha, standing by!"

"Pegasus Beta, standing by!"

"Unicorn Alpha, standing by!" Shining grimaced. Only one unicorn platoon, and two pegasus. And most of those imports from Canterlot. Air and magic power were going to be spread thin.

"Earth Alpha, standing by!"

"Earth Beta, standing by!"

"Earth Gamma, standing by!"

"Earth Delta, standing by..."

Shining nodded as his troops sounded off. "All positioned troops hold, all mobile units to the Eastern force wall, double time," he said. As an afterthought, he added, "Pegasus squads Alpha One One  through Alpha One three, get to the Lost Tomb dig site and give us an assessment, render aid where possible. Priority is rescue and retrieval of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Repeat, priority is rescue of the Elements of Harmony. Shining Out." He tapped twice, putting the walkie talkie on listen only.

Rock Steady grinned at him. "Guard has all the best toys, don't it?"

Shining smiled back, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Got that right, soldier," he said. "Now let's go see if the Dragons want to come out and play.

"Now somepony get me a chariot and get me to that Eastern barricade!"

"Stupid... Diamond Lung...."

Roller reached the crest of... how many hills was it now? Oh yeah, two... and collapsed, wheezing for air. Spots danced in front of his eyes, threatening to blot everything out in darkness. Oh yeah, even now Roller could sprint one heck of a distance, but he paid for it hard. And a marathon run over rolling hills? No chance.

He lay there, too weak to even rage at himself, too busy trying to suck oxygen into his battered lungs, glaring in hate and despair in the direction the monsters had stomped off, straight towards the Spire of his home.

There in the pits of his frustration and despair, he did the only thing he could think of. Maker, he said silently as he sobbed for air, I know I ain't talked to you in a long time, I ain't had anything to do with you in ages and I've spent all my time blaming you for how my life sucked. I'm sorry for that, even if it's too late to change it. I'm a long way from that little colt sitting in the front row, a happy Believer.

I know I'm useless now for anything that matters... please just this once, let me go the distance, because even if this doesn't matter to anypony else, cause I don't know why it would---help me do this. Because it matters to me...

There was a thunder of wings. Dazed, he looked up, blinking at the sunlight. Winged silhouettes were dropping down out of the sun towards him, pinions spread wide as they circled down.

Boy, he thought. I really hope those aren't buzzards...

The silhouettes resolved themselves into Pegasi. Pegasi in Guard armor. "Medic, we got a pony down!" The lead one shouted. A pegasi with saddlebags marked with red crosses ran to Roller's side and began checking him over.

Roller looked up at him. "Diamond lung..." he managed to wheeze. The medic must have understood, because he began rifling through his saddlebags. Roller felt a tube stuck into his mouth; on his next inhale a bitter mist went down his lungs. He coughed and gagged--- and his next breath came a little easier. He relaxed as he felt his lungs opening up.

"Bronchial relaxer," the pony told him. "Opens up the breathing tubes, makes life a little easier for you." He showed Roller an inhaler and tucked it into Roller's bag. "hold onto it, something tells me you're gonna need it bad."  Roller nodded as the medic rattled off some information on the inhaler, committing it to memory. Dang, Equestrians had all the best goodies...

In a few minutes Roller was back on his feet, still wheezing a bit but alert and active. "Can you give us the sit-rep on the dig?" the leader of the squad said tersely.

Roller nodded. "All the crew escaped. Retreated inside the tomb and collapsed the entryway behind 'em. Nopony hurt but they're trapped." The squad leader cursed. "You'll need a heavy crew to clear the entrance," Roller went on. "Big boulders, gotta weigh a ton each."

The squad leader nodded. "At least they're safe. Eagle Eye! North Wind!" Two pegasi snapped to attention. " Take a hammock, get this civilian back to one of the safe zones in the city, then report to Pegasus Alpha for redeployment." They saluted and got to work.

The "hammock" in question was actually more of a canvas basket, strung on ropes and dangling below the two of them. Not exactly a royal carriage, but it was smooth enough riding once they got airborne. They were back to the city within minutes and passed through the forcefield with scarcely a ripple, south of where the trudging dragons were looking to make first contact, and dropped down to a rooftop. "All right, young fella, get down the stairs and to the shelter," one of the guards said, flexing his wings as his partner collapsed the flying hammock. "We gotta get to the battlefield."

Roller hesitated, then stepped forward. "Take me with you," he pleaded.

The two guards looked at him. "What?" one of them-- Eagle Eye, Roller thought-- asked.

"Take me with you to the battlefield," Roller pleaded again. He reloaded his camera and snapped it back up in position. "I gotta record this. It's my job!"

"No can do, kid," Eagle Eye said. "You can read all about it in the newspapers tomorrow, just like everypony else--"

Deep inside Roller Reel the floodgates opened. "Why," he snarled, "So the Canterlot ponies can forget all about us again?"

North Wind and Eagle Eye bristled, but before they could retort Roller Reel laid into them.  "Don't give me horseapples about the Press getting the news out! Right now every paper reporter in the continent is out there taking bad snapshots from twenty blocks away and getting the facts wrong about what's going on--- those that aren't just hiding in the underground tunnels and  getting all the news secondhand themselves! You know and I know what they print doesn't mean jack, either-- tomorrow it'll be in all the papers, and by the next day every pony in Equestria will have forgotten about what's happened to us and those front pages will be lining the bottom of birdcages!

"Despite everything, Equestria forgot all about us--- the Princesses forgot all about us--- for a thousand years! In spite of everything we suffered we weren't even a footnote in your history books! Well BUCK THAT!

"I have this now," he said, slapping the movie camera. "I'm not going to let ponies turn the Crystal Ponies' battles into bird cage liner and filler for some dusty history books nobody reads. I'm gonna make them see and hear and feel what happens, the same as we are. They're gonna REMEMBER the day the dragons attacked the Crystal Empire.They'll forget what they read, but they'll never gonna forget what they SEE. I'll NEVER let them forget us again!

"Now what's it gonna be?"

The two soldiers looked at each other, then back at Roller. "Damn, colt," Eagle Eye finally said. "You're gonna give yourself a heart condition you get all wound up like that." He turned away and tapped his helmet three times. "Pegasus Alpha, this is P-Alpha One Alpha, call sign Eagle Eye and North Wind, we are back from recon at the Tomb of the Founders and are volunteering for further aerial recon at the battleground. Be advised we have a film pony here who is offering to take footage of the battle for--" he paused as his helmet buzzed briefly. "Yessir, film pony. Movie camera and enough film canisters to remake 'Gone with the Windigoes.' " His helmet buzzed again. "Yessir. Over and out." He tapped his helmet again. "You're in luck, colt," he said. "The Commander's feeling quirky today. Get back in the basket, you're going airborne."

"Yyyyess!!" Roller cheered, pumping a hoof.

"Just remember," North Wind said as he started reassembling the frame for the hammock. "Throw up over the SIDE of the basket, not IN it. We gotta clean this thing..."

Shining Armor's carriage landed at the Eastern boundary of the force field. Troops were everywhere, barking orders, hauling equipment, setting up emplacements. He dismounted with his subcommanders and galloped to nearest officer. "What's the situation?"

The pony saluted. "Six dragons sir, biggest I've ever seen or heard tell of," he said. "All but two on foot. Quarter mile out and closing fast, be here in about sixty seconds."

"On foot?" Shining said in surprise.

"To look at them, most of them just have vestigial wings, sir."

Shining nodded. "Get your men in position."

"What about you, Sir? Shouldn't you be back at the palace-- reinforcing the shield?" It was obviously a polite way of saying 'and away from danger,' but it wasn't made explicit.

"Holding that in reserve," Shining said. "For now I want to see these brutes up close. If the shield doesn't hold them off, my own aegis will be the fallback position. The nearer I am, the stronger I can make the force field where they're trying to enter."

He looked up; the dragons were visible now, their footsteps vibrating the earth beneath his hooves. The two fliers circled overhead lazily. "Whoever they are, they're overconfident. All of them attacking on the same face of the dome? Not spreading out, or sending their fliers overhead? We're not talking tactical geniuses here." The ponies around him snorted in agreement.

The dragons drew closer; the earth shaking more and more under their tread. The lead one was an enormous red, with a long attenuated neck and broad, hulking shoulders surmounted by enormous spiked pads , and three fan-like fins down its back. It was flanked on the left by a hulking brown lump that was plated like an armadillo clear down to its clubbed, spiked tail, and a blue gray monster on the right with thick, stumpy forelimbs and a massive armored jaw. A white dragon with blood red eyes and headfin and forelimbs that dragged the ground brought up the rear. The two airborne ones, an almost skeletal grey one with curling ram's horns and an equally skeletal purple with fins that drooped over its eyes, dropped out of the sky on either side of the group. They were all, curiously enough, wearing makeshift bags at their sides, knotted together out of what looked like rope and sailcloth. Shining could see something squirming inside the red's satchel. Hostages?

The six terrible beasts marched up to the glowing pink wall... and stopped. They spread out, side by side, grinning down at the ponies on the other side. The brown one looked down at the crystal pony soldiers in their gleaming armor. "Ooo, sparkly," he said. The red one cuffed him in the back of the head.

Shining Armor stepped forward till he was at the front, mere meters from the red one's feet. He lit his horn and projected his voice. "Who are you," he said, his voice echoing through the force field, "and why have you come to the Crystal Empire?"

The dragons chortled; a dull, grating sound. The red one slammed his fist into his other claw. "My name's Garble, and this is my crew," he said, his voice echoing. "And we want two things. We want that little weasel Spike. And we want the Treasure of the Dragon King. Give 'em to us, and maybe we won't squash ya."

Why do they want Spike? Shining Armor wondered. Not that they're getting him, but... He bunted. "What Treasure of the Dragon King?" he demanded to know. "We know of no such thing."

Garble looked at the rest of his 'crew.' They shrugged, then the rock-jawed one muttered something. "Yeah, right," Garble said. "You pansy ponies probably call it 'the Treasure of Sombra' or something like that," he said, making air quotes. "Whatever. Just cough up already."

"The Crystal Empire has no such treasure," Shining Armor said. "If Sombra ever had any treasure, he spent it all on soldiers, and slaves, and bread and circuses for his loyal minions. Where would we get a treasure? We're a struggling nation as it is-- the crystal ponies only recently escaped the clutches of King Sombra, and what little we have has been spent on rebuilding the kingdom from the ruin he left behind.

"There is no great dragon hoard to be found here."

Garble's eyes went round-- then narrowed into blood red slits of rage. "Fine," he roared. "Then we'll just TAKE WHATEVER WE WANT!" He reared back, doubled  up his fist, and slammed it into the forcefield. The very air shook with the force of his first blow, and glowing cracks spread out across the shimmering dome.

In a disastrous oversight, all parties involved had been unaware that Shining and Garble's little tete-a-tete had been amplified and broadcasted  by the dome itself to every corner of the city. Garble's roar of rage, and the earthshaking boom as he had cracked the dome, had been heard by every pony in the city.

That was all it took. Ponies panicked, and the evacuation of the royal square turned into a rout. Nyx and her grandparents and friends had been halfway to the nearest shelter when the wave of panic reached them. Despite the effort of the Guards, the mobbing ponies split the group in two, separating Nyx and Bright Eyes from her friends.

Ponies were everywhere, screaming and yelling and panicking, hooves flying, knocking the two foals back and forth like a hoofball. Nyx spotted an alleyway. She grabbed the strap of Bright Eyes' saddlebag and dragged him along, pulling them both out of danger. They lay behind a heap of trashcans, battered and bruised, catching their breath. "What do we do?" Bright Eyes cried.

"I don't know, everypony's going crazy--- wait!" Nyx said. "Your walkie talkie! Is it still working? Can you reach Spike? He can send us some help!"

Eagerly Bright Eyes tapped at the walkie talkie behind his ear. "Please work," he whimpered. "Spike! Can you hear me??"

Spike had been on the balcony when Garble had issued his ultimatum. He'd heard every word. Garble wanted him.

He'd never been so terrified in his life.

What should he do? He looked over at the others. Cadence was standing in the balcony, pouring magic into the heart, trying to reinforce the cracking dome. Rarity was off to the side, trying to revive a swooning Fluttershy.

Rarity... anger, fear and guilt pummeled him.

"Spike, are you there? Can you hear me?"

Spike jumped, then slapped at the gemstone behind his earfin. "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya! Are you and the others okay?"

"That's just it, Nyx and I got separated from the group! We're trapped by the mob, in a little alley near the corner of Fourth and Emerald--"

"What? hold on, I'll get ya some help!" Spike rounded on the nearest guard. "Quick, get somepony-- a Pegasus-- down to the corner of Fourth and Emerald! Nyx is there and she's trapped!"

"What?" Cadence exclaimed. "Do as he says! Quickly!" The guard bowed and galloped off.

Spike thanked her and turned away. "Hang tight, they're sending a pegasus guard to evacuate you," he said.

"Thanks, Spike," Bright Eyes quavered.

The words were bitter in Spike's ear. "Don't thank me," he said. "It's my fault the dragons are even here..." His gut churned. "But don't worry. I'm gonna fix it." He bolted for the door while nopony was watching him.

"Spike, wait, where are you going?" Bright Eyes said.

Nyx looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"I dunno, he said something about the dragons being HIS fault and he was gonna fix it..."

Nyx's pupils shrank to slits. A story her mother had told her--- about the Dragon Migration, and how a certain baby dragon had run afoul of a group of teenagers there-- flashed through her mind... "Oh no," she said. "He's gonna try and stop them by giving himself up!"

"What?" Bright Eyes asked, confused.

"Don't ask me why but there's a bunch of dragons who hate Spike's guts-- and I think these are the same dragons! Call him back!"

"I did-- he's not answering me. All I'm getting is static! He must be out of range or something..."

"Come on!" Nyx got to her feet and ran for the other end of the alley.

"But what about the guard coming to get us?"

"We can't wait for him! Spike is gonna turn himself over to Garble and when he does, Garble's gonna squish him! We gotta stop him before it's too late!"

"But where would Spike be-- oh no..." Bright Eyes' pupils turned to pinpricks.

"I know, come on!" Nyx galloped away. After letting out a little moan of fear, Bright Eyes gathered the last of his courage and ran after her...

Towards the dragons, and certain doom.

1)Twilight had learned long ago that telling ponies "Everypony remain calm" was a surefire way to guarantee they didn't.

Chapter 26

Garble's fists hammered at the forcefield again. The glowing cracks spread. Why is it that they always crack? Shining Armor found himself wondering madly. They're not even solid! He dismissed the thought as irrelevant, only to have it replaced by another: Why aren't the others attacking the shield as well?

The answer occurred to him in the next moment, as he regarded the expressions on the other dragons' faces. Because he's the leader. He's got to show them how tough he is, by taking the shield down alone.

Chunks of the shield began to disappear in showers of sparks. Looks like he just might do it, too. Shining tapped his walkie-talkie for general broadcast. "Earth pony and unicorns, split to the left and right, then focus your fire on the dragons to the left and right of the big red. Pegasi, lightning on the airborne ones. All groups hold your fire till my signal."

"What about the leader?" came the reply.

"I've got that one covered," Shining said. The tip of his horn began to glow.

With a thunderous boom, the shield broke. Jagged golden lines raced across the dome from the shatter point, growing wider and wider, merging, till the last shard of the dome vanished. Garble surged forward down the broad avenue, gloating, his toadies falling in behind. He laughed as the ponies underfoot scattered to the left and right.

Then all Tartarus broke loose.

As soon as they stepped into the kill zone, lances of fire and ice and other forces you'd have to sit down with a unicorn textbook to describe rose from the rooftops on either side of the wide boulevard and smashed into Rockjaw and Grundle, staggering them. Scrag and Flange swooped in, only to have the tiny scattered clouds they were winging through spring to unholy life, lashing both of them with dozens of bolts of lightning. They spasmed and crashed to the ground, taking out several buildings with them as they plowed into the pavement.

High above, Roller Reel whooped and switched to wide-angle lens to take in all the mayhem.

Garble yelped in surprise at the sudden onslaught and hesitated. That was all the opening Shining Armor needed. His horn blazed to life and, leaping over the defensive line, he charged.

Alone.

For years there wouldn't be a soldier who didn't speak of that moment in awe. Thanks to Roller Reel's footage there wouldn't be a one called a liar, either: the prince of the Crystal Empire, charging a dragon single hoofed. As he ran, magic leapt from his horn, forming ahead of him in the shape of a giant, shimmering ram's head.

As planned, Garble was too distracted by the chaos exploding all around to notice what was bearing down on him till it was too late. The force field battering ram struck him square in the gut, winding him and knocking him backwards on his tail. The red-scaled giant fell backwards into the white dragon behind him, and they both fell to earth with a thunderous crash.

There was a moment of silence, then a roar of triumph rose up from the defending forces. Catapaults, unseen behind buildings blocks away, began raining giant crystal spears and lumps of quartz on the prone dragons. The pegasi redoubled their efforts with their clouds, pouring down lightning and hailstones. And Shining Armor hammered his fallen target with blasts of pure force, pummeling Garble and Blizz anywhere he could get a shot as he galloped back and forth across the road.

This was the point they might have won. If the pegasi division had been at full strength, if there had been just one more division of unicorns, if the earth ponies, crystal and otherwise, had just a few more trebuchets up and operating, Garble and his gang of inexperienced slacker dragons would have been routed. But there simply wasn't enough incoming fire to keep them down; only enough to keep them enraged.

The tide shifted back when Garble managed to lift up his head and roll over onto his stomach. He lifted himself up on all fours, sighted down the street, and inhaled.

Shining Armor saw the signs barely in time. he switched from blasting to casting a massive shield between the inhaling dragon and his men, just as Garble unleashed a torrent of flame. Unicorn fire crews ran for their lives as the gout of flame splashed off the shield and washed over the buildings on either side. Crystal walls cracked and melted in the heat; buildings crumbled into glowing rubble.

"Burn 'em!!" Garble roared. His crew followed his example, spraying fire in every direction. Clouds vaporised, pegasi diving to save their comrades or simply fleeing with burning manes and feathers. Artillery that had crept too close-- and too close was anywhere within a city block-- ignited.

Grundle and Rockjaw, infuriated, turned to a more tactile approach. After a cursory blast of flame they spun about, lashing the buildings with their tails. Dozens of closely-packed buildings fell, and several more beyond them, toppling like dominoes.

Shining enlarged his wall, trying to shield as many of his fleeing soldiers as he could. "Retreat!" he shouted over the Walkie Talkie. "Fall back to secondary positions!" Every soldier immediately pulled up stakes and began moving back, falling back along the thoroughfares and the catwalks overhead. Shining galloped after them, carefully following the path through the side streets and alleys that he'd laid out as safe, holding his dwindling shield up as long as he could. "Unicorn Alpha, have your crews been busy?"

"Affirmative, Commander Shining," came the reply. "the S&S(1)crews got out all their toys to play today. Just watch your retreat path, over."

"Good work," Shining said. "Let's see if we can't make these buckers' stroll through town a little more entertaining."

High above, two pegasi hovered, a canvas basket dangling by ropes below them. All that could be seen of its passenger was a film camera, angled up over the rail and pointing down. Slowly Roller Reel's head reappeared. He wet his hoof, put out the smoldering tips of his mane and regarded the devastation below. The six dragons had gotten to their feet and were standing in the middle of a couple city block's worth of smashed buildings and smoking ruin. Many of the buildings had toppled domino-style, taking out entire streets of houses and businesses in a sunburst pattern, some almost clear to the palace. "Holy Maker," Roller breathed, sweeping the camera across the mess.

"You okay down there?" Eagle Eye shouted.

"Yeah, just a little crispy round the corners," Roller shouted back. He looked over his basket; the outside was blackened with soot. The pegasi had pulled up in the nick of time.

"Sorry about that-- didn't expect the flames to reach that high!"

"Yeah, well we might have to drop down that low again," Roller said. "Is that cool?"

"What??" North Wind said in disbelief. "You got so close you were nearly crispy cooked and you want to get down that low again??"

"It's the only way to get close enough to the action!" Roller said.

The two pegasi airlifting him shared a glance; it was clear they weren't sure whether to be impressed with the colt's sheer guts or stunned by his craziness.

"Hold up," Roller said. He switched over to his telescopic lens. "Bring us back in-- they're up to something--"

Garble dropped to one knee and opened his gunny sack. "All right, let 'em out," he said, spilling his diamond dogs on the pock-marked street. The other dragons followed suit, dumping the luckless dogs in a heap. "All right, you losers," Garble said to them, his face so close the dogs could smell the napalm on his breath. "Spread out and start scrounging for loot. Bring everything you find back here," he pointed at the ground imperiously. "And stay out from under our feet, got it?"

"But what we carry--" the black diamond dog started to say.

"I DON'T CARE HOW YOU HAUL IT BACK!" Garble roared, parting the dog's headfur with his breath. "Just do it!... and if you try to run off on us..." He doubled up one fist till his knuckles cracked. The sound was like boulders breaking in half.

"You got it, boss," the black dog gulped. The diamond dogs scattered, disappearing among the ruins.

Garble stood up and looked towards the castle. The ponies had thrown up another forcefield... a much smaller one, one that covered less than half the diameter of the one before. Only the palace itself and the few city blocks around it were covered.

"Come on, fellas," Garble sneered. "It's time to go to the castle and see the Queen."

The ponies trapped in the tomb hadn't gone more than a few steps before the glow crystals in the ceiling began to flicker back to life. Sighs of relief went up as they slowly brightened, banishing the sepulchral darkness. Everypony looked around themselves as the chamber illuminated. Scholars being scholars, some of them even began examining the engravings and the crypts lining the walls and taking notes.

Applejack sidled over to Twilight, who was still fiddling with the eye stone. "Ain't this somethin' to look at," she said to the unicorn. "Don't get me wrong but I cain't help feelin' a little bit of family pride here... all o' this, and every bit of it earth pony work, if'n the legends are correct."

"It should be easy to tell," one pony professor said. "Look for chisel marks. If it has them, it's not unicorn work-- unicorns generally don't use chisels."

"I don't know, professor," one mare said. "I've seen some earth pony stonework that you'd swear was formed with a Stone Melting spell..."

"Still, it's easy enough to determine," he countered. "The sub-surface layers with such will show no granular compaction and there will be microscopic.... hmm..." the white-goateed pony narrowed his eyes as he examined a bas-relief carving, his horn glowing.

"What is it, Professor Keen Bean?"

"Well, this... it's very odd. It's got neither the interior fractioning of chisel work, nor the granular compaction of stone melting spellwork. Or it does but the pattern is almost... plant like. As if the crystal had, well, GROWN here in this shape."

"Like rock farming?"

"Only rudimentarily," he insisted. "Even without magic any pony can duplicate crystal growth with a bit of super-saturated liquid and a bit of string. What rock farmers do is more or less the same-- starting with a seed crystal and using earth magic to make minerals in the soil crystallize with it. No, this is... far more complex than anything I've seen on any rock farm."

"Dun dun dunnnn," Pinkie said behind him. He yelped and spun about, glowering at the pink pony. His assistant just giggled.

"Not that I'm complaining," Dash said to nopony in particular. "But isn't this place awful big just for burying one or two ponies?"

"Not really, Dash," Twilight said. "The Crystal Empire existed for hundreds of years before it fell under King Sombra. There would be hundreds of ponies buried down here. Maybe even thousands."

"Yyeeurgh," Dash commented. "Just so long as that list doesn't include us."

"Indeed," Keen Bean murmured. "As we proceed inward we should probably come to a main burial chamber where the majority of the bodies were placed. It will be rather sizeable and... oh, my...."

The group came to a halt. They had reached the end of the tunnel... but not of the tomb. The tunnel opened up on an enormous circular chamber, hundreds of feet across, large as an amphitheater. The walls were lined with hundreds of crypts, set in recessed holes in the walls in a spiral that slowly circled and ascended to the domed ceiling . A brook ran from a carved crevice on one side of the chamber and looped around it in an intricate, three leaf clover pattern, between rows of raised walkways, before disappearing down a hidden drain in the center of the floor.

The pathways were grooved as well, filled with earth and covered with blooming plants and grass. At the lobe of each spiral grew a single tree, the water passing beneath its arched roots. And at the center of the maze stood...

"Wowie Zowie," Pinkie Pie whispered. "It's so.. pretty...."

Standing at the center, dominating the whole chamber, was an enormous monument. The center was a single pillar of quartz crystal that glowed with daylight. On each side, facing outward, stood six pony statues of white crystal: two unicorns, two pegasi, two earth ponies, each in a different pose. The whole was on a raised podium of polished marble.

"How... why haven't the plants overrun the place?" One pony marveled. "Or the water eroded everything away?"

"Magic," Twilight Sparkle said, her horn glowing anew. "Spells to keep the plants pruned, the stones protected from the water..."

"But the trees! They should have grown through the ceiling in a thousand years... the roots--"

"Shoot, that ain't nothin,' " Applejack said. "It's an old earth pony trick. You cut the roots a certain way, an' a tree won't never grow no bigger'n you want. Got me a cousin, Bonsai Banzai, over in Neighpon. Grows itty bitty trees, no bigger'n this." She held a hoof about a foot or so off the ground. "Cute li'l things. Makes for some teeeeeeny li'l apples though..."

"Earth pony magic, all of it," somepony said. Nopony, not even Dubious, spoke up to disagree.

Carefully the ponies navigated the pathways and shallow canals to the center of the chamber. Some chose to walk the wide earthen paths; others skipped over the runnels of water and made their way straight in. Soon they were all gathered around the base. "Well, this is it," Twilight said. "This is the Tomb of the Founders. And this," she pointed to the monument sitting in the middle of the underground garden, "must be Level Head's crypt."

"Okay," Applejack said. "So where's this hidden library or archive or whatever, then?"

Everypony paused at this disappointing revelation.

"It must be the crypt of all  of 'em." Rainbow Dash said, circling the monument in midair.  "See? Six statues." She was of course correct.

"It must be statues of both the three leaders AND the three founders," Twilight said.

"But which is which, I wonder," Dubious murmured. Indeed, the statues were, after all the ornate crystal carvings thus far, surprisingly simplistic... giving just the most basic likeness of a pony. Beyond the most basic indications of gender and race, there was no telling the six apart.

"We certainly have time to figure that out, at least," Memento noted. "Fresh air, plenty of clean water-- and I do believe those are fruit trees, actually...."

"Hey, look, my hoof fits!" Pinkie said suddenly, giggle-snorting. Everypony looked. It seemed the podium had the imprint of a golden horseshoe below each statue; Pinkie had, naturally, hopped up and plunked her hoof into the groove the moment she saw it. There was a clunking, sliding noise.

"Oh horseapples," Rainbow Dash said, clutching her pith helmet in her hooves. "It's a trap. I knew there'd be a trap, there's always a trap."

"Pinkie, don't move," Twilight said anxiously.

"What?" Pinkie pulled her hoof away. There was another sound-- instead of a clunking, sliding noise, this was a sliding, clunking noise. Everyone froze, grimacing.

Nothing happened. Then, after a long, breathless wait, more nothing happened. "What, a dud?" Dash said, confused.

Twilight walked around the base of the monument, pondering. "No...." she said. "I think.... I think it's a combination lock."

"What? Whaddya mean?" Dash said.

"Think about it. 'One Alone Was Not Enough.' That sounds like a reference to the Hearthwarming tale. No one pony was enough to ignite the Crystal Heart. It took the three Founders together to light it. It fits, it matches. Look---" she pointed around them. "three spirals. Three trees. Three statues standing and three statues kneeling. We have to figure out which three statues were the Founders, and press the horseshoes to unlock the crypt."

"I think you've got it," Professor Memento said in admiration.

"But what if we pick the wrong three? What if we set off a death trap?" Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight stamped her hoof. "THERE ARE NO DEATH TRAPS!" She shouted.

"Ironically we are in agreement," Professor Dubious said. "Really, Miss Dash, THINK. This was a mausoleum that was in constant use. Putting booby traps in a temple or mausoleum would just endanger the ponies using it. It would be like-- like laying booby traps around your kitchen!"

"I've had to do that from time to time," Dash pointed out, scowling.

"I-- buh-- wha?" Dubious blinked.

"You've never tried to keep a batch of fresh muffins away from Derpy."

Dubious blinked, then wisely let it slide. He turned back to Twilight. "That still begs the question--- which three are the Founders?"

"Smart Cookie, Private Pansy, Clover the Clever," Twilight muttered. "Wait. We know from the journals that Commander Hurricane was a stallion, and that Pansy was a mare-- so the female pegasus must be Pansy!" She pressed the corresponding hoofprint. There was a click and a rumble. "Good. One down, three to go..."

"Unfortunately the unicorns and earth ponies are the same gender," Dubious muttered. "There must be some other distinguishing mark. Their stance? Their pose?" He circled the statues in the opposite direction of Twilight.

"I remember reading somewhere that the statues in the great gryphon war memorial were posed in a specific way," Twilight said. "Standing on all fours meant they survived the battle; one hoof raised meant they were wounded---"

"--And both forehooves raised meant they died in battle. I know the legend, yes," Professor Dubious said. "It's not true, and yes, I searched the records to confirm; the placement of the hooves is completely random. But that does give us a starting point. How is Pansy's statue different from Hurricane's?"

"Ooh I know," Pinkie said, pointing. "She doesn't have a--"

"PINkie---"

"Well look, it's right--" an orange hoof corked Pinkie's mouth.

"We all know, sugarcube," Applejack said patiently. "It really ain't relevant right now."

Twilight looked the statue of Private Pansy over. "....She has a hoof pointing down at the hoofprint," she exclaimed. "Commander Hurricane doesn't." A quick examination revealed the same was true of one of the earth pony statues, and one of the unicorns as well. Eagerly Twilight pressed the appropriate marks. "Hah!"

There was a great deal of thumping, sliding and clunking from within the statue. Then, once again, a tremendous amount of nothing. "I don't get it," Twilight grumped. "Another false combination?"

"Ahem. Um." The ponies turned; one of the interns, a crystal pony mare with a green mane and soft violet coat and a bashful demeanor that reminded several present of a certain animal caretaker, stepped forward timidly. "I... um... the engraving?" she said. "Over the doorway outside? It said 'one alone was not enough.' Maybe it means one alone IS not enough. Maybe you need to press all three at the same time?"

The professors looked at each other. Twilight grinned at the mare. "Dubious, take Smart Cookie. I'll take Clover the Clever. And Miss?"

"Um, Amethyst, Ma'am," the mare said.

"Would you do the honors and take the hoofprint beside Private Pansy?"

"Oh. Oh! Of course," she said, tiptoeing nervously to stand in front of the statue.

"Okay," Twilight said. "On three. One... Two.... Three." All three ponies pressed the marks. Once again the sliding and clunking noises started. This time they didn't stop. After several breathless seconds, there was a loud rumbling from the far side of the chamber, and an enormous panel of crystal block slid aside. A lit chamber was visible just beyond it.

"Yes!" Twilight said. There was an eager, if cautious, rush toward the door.

They gathered at the new doorway. One of the more practically minded workponies jammed a pickaxe under the sliding door, jamming the mechanism open.

It was a smaller chamber, though still sizable, carved of plain stone rather than crystal, and appeared far older. Memento confirmed it. "Much older work," he said. "I suspect the larger chamber was made many years after this one... to mislead graverobbers and such. Judging by the dust, this chamber was completely forgotten shortly afterward."

"Clever," Keen Bean said. "Any intruder would assume that the antechamber was the true crypt. Any slightly more clever one would assume that Level Head was entombed underneath the statues and would waste their efforts trying to move it... or damage the door mechanism trying... without ever uncovering the real crypt. Only someone familiar with the whole legend could figure out the lock combination, and even then would only be able to unlock it with the cooperation of others."

Inside the chamber, yellow glow crystals hummed to life. The chamber was well illuminated by a bright, sky blue light in a recessed pocket directly overhead. If Twilight hadn't known better she'd have thought that the roof was open to the sky outside. There were a small number of crypts, their markings identifying them as the resting place of elders and close kin. In the center of the tomb were two large crypts, topped with elegant statues carved from ageless marble of the ponies within, reclined, as if in sleep.

Beyond them, against the far wall--

"YES!!" Twilight squealed. "This is it! They're here!" She galloped to the far wall and began looking over the stone shelves.  Books, at least a hundred of them, books and scrolls and even tablets, layered in protective spells and even some in protective crystal, perfectly preserved against the ravages of time. A quick cursory glance told her what she needed to know: they were the research papers of Level Head, Smart Cookie, and Clever Clover into Earth Pony magic. She picked one up in her magic and opened it, carefully. There was even-- she used her magic to turn through the pages carefully-- even a rudimentary primer on earth pony magic, suitable for a young foal. Still a rough draft, but-- "They're here! They're really really here!!"

In seconds she was surrounded by the more bookish-inclined researchers, all of them hurrying to retrieve and preserve the discovery of a lifetime. The clamor was astonishing. Brushes and cleaning implements and preserving spells, ponies frantically transcribing information into fresh parchment and taking notes...

"Holy loopty loops, what is this all about?"

Twilight carefully set the scroll she was examining back on the shelf and turned around. "What is what?" She didn't have to ask, really. Not once she got a second look at the larger of the two crypts.

The statue on top was of three ponies, rendered in exquisite detail. You could count every hair in their manes, every feather in the wings. An earth pony stallion, a unicorn mare, and a pegasus mare, all lying together, intertwined as if they had just fallen asleep. They were so lifelike Twilight half expected to see their chests rise and fall as they breathed.

Twilight walked around the crypt and read the inscription. It took her a moment to translate from old Equiish. "Smart Cookie, His wife Clover the Clever, and Pansy, the first of their herd. May they run free and happy in the Summerlands."

"Wife??" Applejack exclaimed in surprise.

"Herd??" Rainbow Dash added in.

Twilight's rump thumped on the floor. "Well doggone," she said, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Boy, the Hearthwarming Pageant THIS year is gonna be REAL interesting," Pinkie Pie noted.

1)Sappers and Saboteurs.

Chapter 27

We are alive.

Such an extraordinary thing to say, in the light of the attack by the Windigoes. Such an extraordinary thing to say at all now.

To resume this journal where I had left off, I had cast the Cold Sleep upon myself. The curse of doing so was that, although frozen I was still aware, could still witness all that took place around me. Oh the grief that tore my heart. I saw my heir, Smart Cookie, squabbling with those two mares even as the cold crept in on them.

Then to my growing surprise, the quarreling turned to tears. Then turned to something else entirely, as they sought to comfort each other in their grief...

Oh you scandalous grandson of mine. I cannot stop laughing even as I write these words. An earth pony, in love with a unicorn!

I stood there in my crypt of ice as they spilled out their hearts to one another. As they made their tearful vows to one another, becoming wedded with only Pansy as the only witness.... then as they promptly offered that poor lonesome dove a place as the first of their herd--

"Okay, 'First of their herd?" Applejack interrupted, cocking an eyebrow in suspicion. "Does that mean whut I think it means?"

"Um, it depends," Twilight said. "It was a long long time ago. Ponies back then DID have herds... multiple mares marrying one stallion. Sometimes it did mean... well... being a second wife. Other times, though, it meant that the mare was-- well, basically adopted, something like a foster sister or honorary aunt.  It was a very meaningful bond. I get the feeling that this was the case here."

"Oh, like blood brothers?" Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight nodded, then went back to reading.

I watched as the three of them huddled close, Clover and Cookie trying to shield Pansy from the cold with their bodies--

"Definitely the adoption thing," Dash said.

and said their last goodbyes. It was when they each traded one last kiss with him--

"Or maybe not?" Dash said.

"Dash! Will you stick a cork in it?" Applejack snapped.

"Okay, Jeez..."

-- that I saw it. The Crystal Heart flared to life! A wall of light sprang from it, pushing away the accursed cold of the windigoes, driving the creatures themselves away with rosy flame. Their love for one another had overcome their strife, had united them, and had provided the spark that lit the Heart and saved us all. They and the others still unfrozen had rejoiced and spent the night and the day singing and celebrating, as the shining dome of the Crystal Heart slowly warmed the land and brought it back to life.

"Ah, the greenhouse effect," Twilight said, nodding.

"What--" Dash started to ask.

"Egghead stuff, Dash," Twilight said. Dash took the hint and let it drop.

They quickly thawed out those that had been given the Cold Sleep, so they could join in the celebration. All save myself and my two counterparts... I can only say it was nothing but justice that they left us old fools to contemplate the error of our ways for a while.

Though I will take a little personal revenge here by writing down what 'celebrations' my grandson and new granddaughters in law REALLY got up to that first night. Serves them right-- my eyes were frozen open, they could have at least thrown a blanket over my head before Clover and Cookie started*******

Twilight stopped reading and let out a cackle of laughter. "What? What next?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Twilight giggled and held up the book. "The next section is smudged out, and right below it in somepony else's writing is 'LIES, ALL LIES.' "

The four girls laughed. Twilight could almost swear she heard the echo of an old stallion's chuckle.

Professor Dubious had been walking about the chamber in something of a daze. He had been wrong. Wrong about everything. Everything within eyesight shouted that fact at him. He was no fool, he knew that mistakes were made in science and he'd made-- and eventually acknowledged-- a few of his own. But never had he been so completely incorrect about every single fact down the line as he'd been here. It was leaving him in a state somewhere between shock and a spiritual epiphany. Through his daze he regarded the four snickering mares. "As the pink filly put it, next year's Hearthwarming tale is going to be VERY interesting...." He wandered off, contemplating the ceiling.

Twilight closed the journal. They had found the copy-- the complete copy--- of Level Head's journal on a pedestal at the foot of Level Head's crypt. "This... well, it explains so much," Twilight said with a shrug and a sigh.

"Not that this ain't interestin' as heck," Applejack said, "But at the moment I'm a mite more concerned about what's happening out in the Crystal City."

Twilight growled in frustration. "I know. This is infuriating! The Elements are useless with four of us trapped down here and two of us trapped up there... even if we HAD the Elements with us... I'm Celestia's protege' and not a lick of my magic is any use down here... and we're sitting on top of the biggest archive of magical knowledge-- proof positive that earth ponies can perform unicorn-quality magic..."

"Even if we could get it to them, would it do them any good?" Rainbow Dash wondered.

Twilight looked up at her hovering friend. "Dash, even the most rudimentary spell can turn a helpless unicorn into a force to be reckoned with. Give an earth pony one offensive or defensive spell, and it could tip the tide of battle." She pulled over the primer she had flipped through before and opened it to the first page. "See this spell here? It's a force-channeling spell. how to move energy through a pony's hooves, and through earth and rock. It's magic kindergarten simple." Which was the truth; after a mere cursory reading ("oh, is that all? But it's so simple!) some of the earth ponies in the group were already tinkering about with the rudiments of it... making pebbles hop, changing the shape of small gems they had in their pockets, and the like.  "It's like... a building block for everything that comes after. Teach an earth pony how to do this, at will, and everything changes."

"Yeah, but it's not like you could teach it to every pony in the Crystal Empire at once," Dash said.

"I wouldn't say that," Dubious said offhandedly. The four Bearers looked at him curiously. The scholarly skeptic was standing in the middle of the room, staring at the light in the recessed ceiling. "You do know that 'instant lesson' spell, don't you?" He went on.

"Well yes," Twilight said. "But it's really not recommended for extensive use. It gives the caster and recipient headaches after a while and if you use it too frequently it actually temporarily impedes spellcasting..."

"But to teach one spell," Dubious droned on. "Just one, single, useful spell-- or to get across some fundamental concept--- it's quite commonly used, is it not?"

"Well, yes. Um, how does that apply to this situation--?"

"You have one particular fundamental earth pony spell there," Dubious said calmly. "You have the Instant Lesson. If there were some method, some conduit that connected to every Crystal Pony in the Empire..."

Twilight gasped. "Like the Crystal Heart!" she said. "Every pony in the Empire is connected to it; they pour their positive energy into it to power it. And the connection runs both ways!" She gnawed her lip. "Oh this is so frustrating! If I could only get access to the Heart from here..."

"Who says you can't?" Professor Dubious said idly. His horn lit up; his magical aura reached up and grasped the crystal pane through which the light shone and yanked it loose. Slowly, the other ponies in the room gathered around him, jaws slack, staring up at the uncovered source of the light.

Twilight stood next to him and gaped like the rest. "Professor, how did you know...?"

"It's obvious in retrospect," he said. "One Alone Was Not Enough."

Hovering overhead, spinning slowly, was a Crystal Heart. "A second Heart?" Applejack exclaimed.

"Of course," Dubious said. "After all, aren't hearts at their strongest when they come in pairs?"

The battle was not going well for the Crystal Empire. The dragons took their sweet time wading through the buildings on their way to the palace, smashing buildings with sweeps of their tails and arms, blasting them black with gouts of flame. The firepower leveled at them was scattered and ineffective, barely annoying them.

The little presents left behind by the S&S squads were a bit more troublesome.

Grundle made the mistake of taking the lead down the main boulevard. He passed between the buildings, never even noticing the pony with the beret and walrus mustache perched on a nearby rooftop. As soon as the tubby dragon stepped past, the pony picked up his detonator.

"JAMIE WANTS BIG BOOM!" he said, slamming the plunger down.

The buildings on either side and the street below Grundle's feet erupted with a roar. The massive brown dragon was engulfed in a ball of flame. The flame didn't harm him, naturally, but it startled him badly. The shrapnel didn't do him any favors either. He staggered backwards, blinded and covered in soot. All that could be heard was the sound of roaring flame and a maniacal pony cackling in glee.

From a safe vantage point up the street, Boom Boom watched the mayhem. She was a white crystal pony with a bright pink braided mane, a bobbed tail, and a cutie mark of a fizzing cartoon bomb, and probably the most skilled (and most heavily propositioned) member of the Crystal Empire S&S demolition and sabotage crew. "Whoah, nice," she said. "What'd he use to get that fireball?"

"A water heater with a plugged valve and the cores of eight thousand golf balls," an orange stallion with a thinning red mane next to her said with a grin. "Myth Confirmed."

"Sounds like a fun date..." she remarked idly. "Okay, let's see if those wheat chaff fuel-air bombs give Big Red there a fun time..."

"Fall back! Fall Back!"

Shining gritted his teeth as once again his forces had to pull back. They were within scant blocks of the new, smaller dome, and the dragons kept coming. He was losing soldiers fast, the wounded were piling up, and for every pony that fell the next fell that much faster. They needed a miracle, and they needed one quick!

Nyx scrambled over the sparkling rubble, Bright Eyes straggling behind her. The two foals gasped and coughed in the smoky air. "Try him again!" she called back.

Bright Eyes tried the Walkie-Talkie again. He shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "Nothing but static...."

Nyx moaned. Her crazy stupid dragon of a big brother was going to try and stop the attacking dragons by giving himself up to them. Didn't he know it wouldn't make a difference? They'd smush him like a bug, laugh, and keep right on wrecking stuff. She had to find him and stop him!

She reached the top of the rubble pile and looked around. Bright Eyes climbed up beside her. "Do you see anything?" he asked.

Nyx tried to peer through the dust and smoke. She pointed. "There, somepony's coming this way!" she said. Her confidence soared; maybe it was a soldier or somepony who could help them.

Her confidence started sinking as whoever-they-were drew nearer. No, that silhouette was no pony. It was standing on two legs and was hunched over, like an ape. It was joined by several others, all around them now, snuffling and coughing and growling. Bright Eyes whimpered and drew in close to her side.

The first one stepped through the smoke. It was a diamond dog; a huge one, with black fur and fangs and greedy, piggy eyes. "Hello, little ponies," he chuckled. "We no find gems yet, but I think Boss like pony slaves just as good..."

Chapter 28

Cadence stood on the balcony of the Crystal Palace, pouring magical energy into the shrunken dome. She had ordered her guards to leave, for their own safety. They had refused. She had begged Fluttershy and Rarity to do the same, again for their own safety. They had refused. Even now they stood on either side of her, supporting her, literally holding her up as she pushed herself further than she ever had. Even with them there, in her deepest core she felt so terribly, terribly alone.

She'd never been so afraid.

She could see the battle raging from here; lances of magic and lightning and fire and explosions. She could see for herself how it drew closer. She feared for her ponies, for her kingdom, for her life, but most of all for her husband. She could see his shields from here blocking the monsters' path. She saw them crumble, again and again,as he and his soldiers were driven backwards.

If he should be hurt-- or killed--

A choked sob escaped her; too faint for the guards to hear. Rarity and Fluttershy didn't miss it though. "It's all right, dear," Rarity said. "Just... just lean on us. Conserve your strength." Fluttershy, frightened as she was, only pressed against her side, doing her best to comfort.

Such noble friends, Cadence thought. Little Twiley chose well... "Rarity... Fluttershy... I'm so glad you're here."

"I'm glad we can help," Rarity said, her voice quavering only faintly. "But...it's a funny thing to think at such a time but-- at the moment, don't take this wrong--"

"I do wish little Spikey was here." She gave Cadence a weak smile.

"Well, Spike, this was certainly one of your dumber ideas," Spike muttered to himself.

It was a fair assessment. At the moment Spike was clinging by his toe-claws to a narrow ledge a few hundred feet off the ground, on the outside of the Crystal Palace. He'd been forced to evade the guards trying to 'escort him to safety' by climbing out a window and ledge walking. Now he was clinging to one of the enormous legs upon which the Crystal Palace stood, looking down--- way, way, WAY down--- to the roof of the nearest building below. At the forefront of his mind was the question of how to traverse the distance between his current windy perch, to the rooftop below.

This was complicated by the fact that his hindbrain was busy trying to determine if he could clutch at the wall of a building with nothing but his butt muscles.

"Okay, you got this, Spike," he breathed. "it's a nice gradual.. um... sort of gradual slope down from here. There's that little ledge down below, about halfway. You slide down, launch off that little slopey-outey part, and it's just a fifteen foot jump(1) from there to that rooftop. Hey, that colt Parkour does this sort of stuff all the time, right? No problem."

Spike looked down again. "Yeah, this is gonna hurt. Here... we.. go..." He stepped off the ledge and slid down the wall.

Reality, thankfully, did not ensue. In spite of all rational odds he did not fall away from the steep angled slope and splat himself on the ground far below. Instead, with a screech of scaly spikes sliding against quartz walls, he skidded down the slope of the leg, caromed off the tiny ridge he'd spotted, and sailed in a screaming, arm-waving ballistic arc right to the roof he'd picked out. There was a loud "WHAMP" as he belly-flopped onto his landing site.

".....ow," he grunted faintly.

Shining knew the precise moment it was over. The wall of the dome was less than a block behind him when he saw the two fliers swing around and swoop down side-by-side for a strafing run. They gushed flame over the rooftops, down the street, sending even the most stalwart ponies fleeing. Shining's own shield sputtered out and he and Rock Steady had to dive down a side alley to get beneath another unicorn's bubble. The badly scorched unicorn barely held it up for them long enough before passing out from the strain.

This was it. The retreat had been pressed right up to the wall, and was now little more than a rout. Shining hunkered down in the makeshift foxhole, frantically trying to think of something. He could see Cadence, still standing on the balcony, horn blazing, wings flared, flanked on either side by the bearers who looked ready to faint from fear.

The flying dragons began circling over the dome. Garble and his other stooges lumbered up to the force field. Garble smirked and cracked his knuckles. "BRING IT DOWN," he said. Fists and tails slammed into the dome, once, twice, thrice--

Twilight yelped as the Second Heart suddenly blazed and spat out sparks. The ponies gathered around leaped backwards. "What happened?" Keen Bean said.

"I don't know," Twilight confessed. "The hearts are connected as Dubious surmised, I reinforced it and opened it up to try and communicate with Cadence, but-- there was a massive surge just as I did. Something big briefly overloaded the Crystal Heart's defenses..."

Up on the balcony, Cadence tried to reinforce the dome one last time--- then it shattered. Her head snapped back, eyes wide, and she slumped to the floor unconscious. "Princess Cadence!" Fluttershy shrieked.

"Quickly, get her out of here!" Rarity said. Fluttershy complied, dragging the unconscious alicorn of love away from the balcony and further into the palace. The guards rushed to aid her. Rarity wheeled around, heart pounding, and saw the chortling dragon reaching in through the balcony archway.

Then for some reason he stopped. Behind him, she saw an emerald green flame jetting up from a rooftop...

"Hey! Over here!" Spike shouted, waving his stubby arms. He spit another gout of flame into the air, trying to draw Garble's attention. The enormous red dragon turned, looking down on him in surprise.

Worst. Plan. Ever, Spike told himself. He kept waving anyway. "Yeah, down here!"

"YOU," Garble boomed. "So there you are..."

"Yeah, here I am! I give up! I surrender! Garble, look-- I'll do whatever you want! Just... just don't hurt anypony!" Spike shouted.

"ARE YOU KIDDING?"

"NO!" Spike dropped to his knees. "You want me to beg? I'm begging! You want me to kiss your feet? I'll climb down there and kiss 'em right now! I'll do anything you say, if you'll just leave my pony friends alone."

Garble stared at him for a long second. Spike held his breath. Then the overgrown bully grinned. "NO DEAL, RUNT," he said-- and lashed out with his tail.

His enormous tail sheared through the lower floors of the building Spike was standing on, all the way through. With a muted rumble it collapsed, crumbling in on itself in a cloud of glittering dust. The tiny dragon disappeared.

"Noo! Spike!"

Garble turned back to the castle and saw a familiar little white unicorn standing on the balcony. "WELL LOOK WHO'S HERE," he laughed. "ANOTHER OF THEM UPPITY LITTLE RUNT'S PONY FRIENDS." He reached for her, his enormous mitt stretching out.

"Take THAT you ruffian!" Rarity shouted. Her horn flared and her saddlebags opened, and a cloud of needles, pins, seamcutters, knitting needles, scissors, and pinking shears shot out, peppering his hand, burrowing under scales, digging their way into the quick of his claws.

Garble yowled, more surprised than hurt, shaking his hand to dislodge the stinging cloud of sharp shiny nettles. "OH, YOU'RE IN FOR IT NOW," he snarled.

Rarity dashed back into the palace, but Garble was quicker. He stuck his arm into the balcony arch up to his elbow, digging and grabbing. When he withdrew his arm he had a screaming, terrified Rarity clutched in his fist.

Spike wasn't buried. Not entirely. He'd been at the top of the building, so he wasn't entombed; but it was bad enough. He was battered and bruised, bleeding in several spots, and he felt like he'd been beaten with a steel rebar in the ribs.

But he WAS alive, at least.

He was pinned down by tons of rubble, but there were enough gaps that he could see out to the sky. He could see smoke rising from the city, could hear the soldiers yelling, the ponies fleeing in the street. He could also see Garble, towering overhead. He could see Rarity clutched in Garble's fist, so tiny and helpless.

He could hear her screaming.

Rarity.

Everypony called him a baby dragon. "Baby." That was an illusion, a mistake they made because of his retarded growth. He was nearly as old as Twilight was, shy by only five or six years... and he'd been in that egg a hell of a lot longer. There was a much older dragon down inside, one that he kept suppressed, a tiny flame banked and damped to keep him small... and safe.

That tiny flame inside him--- full of rage, full of want---  saw his ponies, his friends, his Rarity, in danger, and it BLAZED.

His eyes burned green. "BUCK THIS NOISE," he growled.

He let go.

The dragons took a minute from their rampage to gloat. They were gathered around the pile of shattered crystal and stone that had buried the runt, chortling. Flange and Scrag circled overhead, trying to get a better look. Garble smirked and spat a burning loogie on the heap, a sobbing Rarity clutched in his fist. "WELL THAT TAKES CARE OF HIM," he growled. He turned and walked away, the others following.

Flange swooped low over the wreckage, his sneering laugh echoing---

--Just as a pillar of green flame, easily twenty feet around at the base, erupted with volcanic fury from the center of the rubble heap. It engulfed the flying dragon in an eyeblink. The fireball swelled, roared, blackened, went out... and all that was left of the monster was a sparkling cloud of smoke that dissipated in the wind. A moment later a brief rain of fire opals pattered on the stones below.

The dragons stood, gaping in bug-eyed shock. "He got Flange! He got Flange!" Skrag shrieked.

"WHAT got Flange??" Blizz wanted to know.

A moment later they got their answer. The ground under their claws shook as something huge rose up beneath the crumbled building. Quartz stone rolled aside and poured off of massive shoulders as an enormous wingless dragon stood up.

Rarity's eyes went round. "Great Googa Mooga," she said faintly.

Spike had metamorphosed once, and only once before. She had seen him then... but this was beyond that. Only his colors, purple and green, remained the same. The hulking brute he'd been back then was smaller.  Now, he outbulked even Grundle--- And not just with raw fat either. The saurian form was now thick with muscle: biceps like boulders, chest like a granite cliff face, massive bull neck, calves and thighs like train cars. His tail, thick as a cedar tree and long as the Friendship Express, whipped and coiled behind him.

He shook the last of the crumbled building out of his jagged back spikes, glared at the enroaching dragons with blazing green eyes, and ROARED.

Skrag shrieked and started to flap away. Big mistake; that only attracted its attention. Spike's head snapped around and he vomited out another torrent of green flame. For a second time one of the dragons was engulfed and incinerated, the patter of fire opals falling to the ground the only thing to mark his passing.

"Holy Fewmets!" Rockjaw said. "Nothing left! Where the heck did he go??"

Celestia sighed and stirred her tea, contemplating the slice of cake in front of her. The candle sticking out of it didn't improve her mood. "I know you mean well, Lulu, but... well, it's just at the moment I feel like all my glory days are behind me," she was saying.

Luna regarded her sister. "Thou art an immortal magical ruler of a millennia-old kingdom," she said in a deadpan voice. "These are thy 'glory days.' "

"Not quite what I mean, Lulu," Celestia said. "I mean... I suppose it's empty nest syndrome. My faithful student is about finished with her studies... little Spike is all grown up... my niece is off tending her own kingdom..."

"Hast thou heard from them of late?"

"No," Celestia sighed. "I sent Cadey a little card, but it bounced back. The crystal heart dome must be up for the monthly emergency alert test..." she set her spoon down. "What I meant by glory days--- Remember when it was us, gallivanting off to battle evil kings and dragons and such? Now all I do is sit on a throne, eat cake and look pretty for the cameras. Of course I plot and scheme and chessmaster-- it's all I can do!" she sighed and looked out over the royal gardens.  "There are days I wish a monster would just drop out of the sky on the royal gardens, just for old time's sake--"

At which point a sparkling cloud formed overhead, and a monster dropped out of the sky on the royal gardens.

There was a bright green flash everywhere. Flange and Skrag screamed like fillies and plummeted to the earth, crashing down in...a hedge? The two dragons sat up, groaning, and looked around. They quickly assessed the situation.

They had crash-landed in a hedge maze, flattening a good portion of it.

They were a LOT smaller than they had been just a minute ago.

There were two alicorn princesses sitting not too far away at a tea table, regarding them with very surprised expressions.

Celestia got to her feet. Her horn glowed as she summoned her favorite weapon: a giant spiked mace, with a handle as long as she was tall and a spiked ball at the head one would usually expect to see rolling along down a tunnel behind intrepid archaeologist explorers. She'd recognized the purple sparkly cloud immediately. "Oh, Twilight," Celestia said, her eyes shining, "You DID remember my birthday after all!"

"OH HOLY FREAKIN' HOOHA!" Roller shrieked. "DID YOU SEE THAT? BRING US AROUND, BRING US AROUND!"

With a roar of rage, Spike charged straight at Garble. Garble's friends scattered. They were dumb, but they weren't fools. They'd just seen an enormous purple dragon turn two of their friends to ash in two breaths, and they didn't want to test their luck.

Garble on the other hand had only one setting at the moment, and that was attack. The purple was muscular, but Garble was at least two heads taller. He rushed forward to meet the other dragon, roaring, fully planning to tackle the other dragon and bear him to the ground, clawing and biting.

He never got the chance. As soon as he closed the distance Spike brought his fist around in an uppercut that caught Garble right on his chin. It literally lifted him off the ground and sent him crashing backwards among the buildings. He lost his grip on his prisoner; Rarity went sailing high through the air in a terrifying arc.

She screamed as she plummeted--- and was caught out of the air by an enormous purple claw, as gently as a juggler catching an egg.(2) The massive hand cradled her gently, bringing her in close to Spike's titanic chest. She caught her breath and looked up at the titan that had been her tiny Spikey Wikey. Was he in there? Had the greed growth blanked out his mind again? "Spike--?" she quavered.

He cradled her gently. "RARITY," he said, his rumbling voice almost a croon. Carefully he stepped over to the palace and set her down on the balcony. He crouched down till he could look at her eye to eye. His craggy, fanged face broke into a faint smile. "GO. BE SAFE."

Rarity gave a shaky laugh. "My word, Darling," she said. "You certainly know how to impress a lady--" Spike let out a rumbling chuckle. "Spike, please, be careful, they--- LOOK OUT!!" she screamed.

Spike turned in surprise, but not fast enough. Rockjaw had sneaked up behind him when he was distracted. Spike caught a gout of dragon flame right between the shoulders. He roared in pain but didn't move, shielding the palace, shielding Rarity, from the fiery torrent. The flames faded; he whirled about, back smoking, and lunged for Rockjaw, hitting the lantern-jawed dragon in a tackle.

Rarity fled further into the palace, refusing to let herself look back and see her dear Spike thrashing and fighting with a monster...

The first pillar of green flame rocketing into the sky caught the Diamond dogs off guard. They yelped and turned as one to see the pillar of fire ascending over the rooftops. Nyx jumped at the opportunity. "Run!" she squealed at Bright Eyes. She lit her horn, eyes squeezing shut, and cast her first spell.

Grease.

The slabs of building stone everyone was clambering over were made of quartz and other cheap crystal; they weren't exactly high traction to begin with. When Nyx's spell coated them with a thin, slippery layer of energy, every diamond dog around them went arse over teakettle and smashed into the ground. "Run now!" She yelled, looking around-- where was he? Had he already bolted?

She wasted precious seconds looking for her friend; by the time she thought to run for it, most of the dogs were back on their feet and coming for her. She started firing spells in every direction, trying to keep them off. She set one's hair on fire; hit another one's funny bone, sending him yelping; zapped several others in the back of the knee, dropping them to the dirt again. Dogs found themselves sticky-glued to loose garbage, tied up in the laces of their own clothing, choking as their collars suddenly buckled themselves three notches tighter, taking blobs of levitated mud to the face, getting freezer burned and static shock burned and just plain burned on their paws. Rocks pummeled them, and plain good old fashioned magic bolts zapped them.

Finally they'd had enough; they turned and ran, yelping all the way. Nyx stood there, panting. "I did it," she said. "I did it?" She perked up. "I did it, I ran them off! Yay!"

Out of nowhere a net came down over her. "Got you, little pony!"

"Aw dog-gone it!!" Nyx yelled. The diamond dog who'd thrown the net tangled her up in it and picked it up like a gunny sack. He flicked her on the end of her horn, disrupting her magic and dizzying her. The dogs began creeping back. "Now you ours, pony--"

"Leave her alone!"

The dogs looked around. "Where you at, sparkle pony?" The one holding the net said.

A rock whipped out of nowhere and cracked one dog between the eyes. The dog howled and dropped, clutching his face. "Take a guess!" Bright Eyes' disembodied voice said.

More rocks came whipping out of nowhere, sharp glassy things that drew blood, cracking against paws and shins and sensitive noses. The diamond dogs yelped and danced, whirling about, snarling as they looked for their tormentor. Who was nowhere.

The dogs backed up, standing in a circle facing outward, a netted Nyx at the center. "Show yourself, puny pony," their leader snarled. "Or we fix your friend..."

There was a brief pause. "You touch a hair on her mane and I'll cut you to pieces." This was said so calmly that even Nyx was chilled.

"Like to see you try, little runty sparkle pony," the black dog mocked.

"I'd like to see you stop me," Bright Eye's voice said, right next to him. The black dog yipped and leapt away, swinging his claws in wide aimless sweeps.

Bright Eye's laughter rang out, from somewhere else entirely.

"Old fat doggy piddling on a tree!

Old fat doggy can't see me!

Muddypup! Muddypup!

Won't you stop,

Stop your sniffing and look for me!

Old dumb doggy, all lazy body,

Old dumb doggy can't spy me!

Muddypup! Muddypup!

Down you drop!"

--Another stone whizzed through the air, cracking another diamond dog skull--

You'll never catch me running round your tree!"

The diamond dogs were, understandably, getting freaked. "Show yourself coward!" the big black shrieked.

Bright Eye's voice came from another quarter entirely. Nyx saw a glowing blade-- a large knife, a dagger as long as her foreleg-- come floating through the air. It bobbled about, taunting.

"Bad doggy bad doggy,

Naughty nasty thing,

Bad doggy bad doggy,

Feel my STING!"

And then the blade was among them.

It zipped about like a maddened hornet, slicing and stabbing wherever it found an opening. And everything was an opening.  Parrying is all good and well, but how do you parry a blade that has no hoof or hand holding it? Diamond dogs yowled and shrieked, and more than a little blood flew. It was like getting in a fistfight with a cloud of razor blades.

The dogs finally broke and ran, for good this time. The dagger made quick work of the net holding Nyx, then clattered to the ground. Nyx squirmed free. "Bright Eyes?"

The air flickered in front of her in a sort of pony shape, and Bright Eyes reappeared. He panted, rubbing his head. "Oww. I never levitated anything that long before..."

"You can turn invisible??" Nyx boggled.

Bright Eyes looked at her. "I was gonna ask why you didn't, but never mind," he said.

"That is so NEAT! Nyx squeaked. "Can all crystal ponies do that? That is awesome! How does it work?"

"Yeah," Bright Eyes said, still rubbing his head. "It's the same thing that makes our coats sparkly and makes us look crystally. Our coats sorta bend light around us funny. We go invisible when we bend it just a little further."

"That is so cool!" Nyx squealed again.

"What's the big deal? It's not much use," Bright Eyes said, scowling. "You can't DO anything while you're invisible. You can't carry anything, you can't cast magic or your horn gives you away-- boy did I find THAT out the hard way-- and you can't even move real fast or you make a ripply outline. And it doesn't really work well on fooling Crystal Ponies, either; everypony knows what to look for." Bright Eyes rolled his eyes. "If I had a bit for every time I tried to hide from the colts at school by going invisible, and still got caught..."

Nyx snorted. "Looked like it was working pretty good to me..."

"The only reason those dumb dogs didn't catch me is 'cause they didn't think to use their noses, and they were too busy watching my sword to notice my horn glowing."

"Where'd you get this thing anyway?" Nyx said, picking up the blade carefully in her magic.

Bright Eyes shrugged. "found it in the wreckage." He found his saddlebags, donned them, and slid the blade into one of the bags. "It was a pretty stupid trick."

"Well I still say it was pretty cool," Nyx said stubbornly. "I bet a little bit of practice, you could be a super-sneaky ninja superspy!" She paused. "And thank you for saving me. That was brave of you."

Bright Eyes blushed and grinned. "It's from 'There and Back Again,' when Bilbo Burro battled the spiders," he said. "You really should read the book--"

"LALALALA, no spoilers!" Nyx sang out. The two giggled.

There was the sound of flapping overhead. Nyx and Bright Eyes looked up; two pegasi guardsmen were dropping down out of the sky. They had a canvas basket strung on ropes below them. Inside was a familiar colt with a movie camera. "Geez, what are you two doing out here?" Roller shouted as he touched down.

"Trying to save my stupid brother!"  Nyx shouted back.

"Your brother can handle himself, trust me," Roller said. "Come on you two, get in the basket, we can't leave you here! Hey fellas, can you handle a couple more passengers?"

"Those two? No problem," one of the guards said. "Get in, kids!" The two foals climbed aboard; in moments they were winging through the air, as the sounds of a giant monster battle raged like distant thunder.

1)Spike was really, REALLY bad at estimating distances.

2)One of Spike's hobbies on his slow days.

Chapter 29

The underside of the Crystal City ran far deeper than most ponies knew. Below street level was a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers, for everything from water to maintenance to storage. More than a few had been dug by those trying to elude Sombra's press gangs and brute squads. In the present they had been put into service, rebuilt and equipped andearmarked as emergency shelters for the populace, for protection from everything from runaway storms to yes, dragon attack. Nopony who had proposed or worked on the project had expected them to come to use so soon.

Applebloom, Sweetiebelle and Scootaloo were huddled with Nyx's grandparents in one of the sub-sub-basements under the city, along with a dozen or so crystal pony families that had been evacuated there. The guards who had escorted them in were now standing guard stoically at the entrance, though what those two ponies would do if the dragons decided to come smashing in through the ceiling, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had no idea.

All of them were frightened by the noise, the strangeness, the monsters raging outside, making the earth above rumble like a thunderstorm, but they were most distraught over the ones they were separated from. "Are you sure Applejack's okay?" Applebloom said faintly.

"And Rarity?" Sweetiebelle added.

Twilight Velvet could hear all the other names unspoken in that plea. Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, Cadence, Nyx... she swallowed her fears and gave the fillies a confident smile. "Absolutely. Your sisters have faced bigger, scarier monsters than this and come out just fine."

"And they got Rainbow Dash with them," Scootaloo added, trying to sound confident. "She's tough."

"Right you are," Twilight Velvet chuckled. "Tough as nails, that bunch. They'll be fine." She pulled the girls in and gave them a hug.

The half-smiles the girls gave her at this reassurance faded. "I...I hope Nyx and Bright Eyes are okay," Sweetiebelle said. She bit her lip and buried her face in Velvet's chest.

"Pah. No need to worry for them," Night Light said, practically oozing confidence. "Crystal Ponies are as tough as they come. They had to be to get as far as they did. And our Nyx? Hah. She's a Sparkle, girls, just like her mother. Smart as a whip. They'll be fine."

Only Velvet could see his million-dollar grin didn't quite reach his eyes. "They'll be just fine," he repeated.

She rested her head on his shoulder and said nothing.

"Let me get this straight," Bright Eyes shouted over the roar of the battle below. "You were gonna try and rescue him?"

"Him" in this case referred to the titanic purple dragon below who was currently beating the motherloving snot out of another blue-grey dragon with a craggy body and massive lower jaw. Spike was looking pretty battered himself, but had the other dragon in a headlock and was pummeling him in the gut as hard as he could.

For lack of any other safe place to land, the pegasus guard ponies had landed on the observation deck near the top of the palace spire. It was a popular spot for tourists and native ponies alike, and it gave a perfect view of the whole city. It currently gave a pretty good ringside seat for the giant monster battle raging in the middle of the city, too.

On the fourth brutal gut punch, the inevitable happened. RockJaw doubled over and barfed. A torrent of something best left utterly undescribed splashed in the street, sizzling on the pavement. "Ewwwww," Nyx and Bright Eyes said. To Spike's visible surprise, not to mention everypony else's, his opponent dropped to his knees and began to shrink, dwindling in size like an unknotted party balloon. In moments RockJaw was his original size...albeit he looked a lot smaller being crumpled up on the street, clutching his gut.  Spike stepped back as the soldiers moved in, throwing nets over the subdued dragon.

"Holy cow, he just might win this," Nyx said.

"Who might win this? What are you all doing up here?" A voice said behind them. They all spun around. Princess Cadence was ascending the staircase up to the the observation deck, along with Rarity and Fluttershy, who had Peewee nesting in her mane. Cadence was looking a bit shaky, but she still managed to radiate confidence and authority.

"Auntie Cadence!" Nyx rushed over to her aunt, nuzzling her. "It's Spike-- he's gotten BIG and HUGE and now he's fighting ALL of the dragons-- all by himself!" She managed to sound excited, worried and boastful all at once.

"So I've been told," Cadence said, hastening to the rail. "I came up here to get a better view of the oh ye gods is that Spike?" She yelped upon seeing the formerly tiny baby dragon now towering over her city. Everything Twilight had told her about Greed Growth was running in a panic through her head.

"Yes, it is, your Highness," Rarity said. "But it's still him. I don't know what's different this time but-- he's still got his right mind. He saved me from that giant red brute there." she pointed to Garble, who was being harried by the Guard forces several blocks away. "He even spoke and---Oh no!"

Rarity cried out as the fat, armadillo plated dragon and the white one had come charging out of the smoke and attacked Spike at the same time. The three bodies crashed together loud enough to be heard up on the Spire. The three dragons began grappling and trading blows, the earth shaking and clouds of dust and debris flying up around them.

"Dear Maker, the sheer power," Cadence breathed.

"The savagery," Fluttershy whimpered.

"The muscles," Rarity said,  nibbling on a hooftip. The others all turned and gave her odd looks. "...WHAT?" She said defensively, her face flushing.

"Nothing," the other two mares said hastily. The guards and Roller Reel rolled their eyes.

Nyx shot a look from the fashionista to her foster brother and back again. "Ew," she said simply.

"Oh this is not good," Roller muttered, not lifting his eye from his camera.

"What is it?" Cadence said, rejoining him at the rail. She saw for herself; the fat one had Spike in a full nelson, and the white one was laying into him for all he was worth, pummeling him with fists and slashing with claws.

"Why doesn't he fire blast 'em like he did the others?" Roller wondered out loud.

"He can't," Nyx said. "If he uses a lot of fire, he has to take time to build it back up again--"

The white dragon didn't have that trouble. He backed off several long steps, turned, and blasted Spike from chest to belly with dragonflame. Spike roared in pain but couldn't break out of the grip. The white dragon blasted him again. And then again...

At the last second Spike dropped. he lifted his feet off the ground, letting his weight pull Grundle off balance and rolling the brown dragon over his shoulder. Blizz's next blast of flame sprayed down Grundle's back, instead. Spike continued the roll, flipping Grundle forward and throwing him down on top of Blizz, flattening the white dragon to the pavement. But Grundle tucked into a ball and rolled to his feet, and charged the purple titan. As strong as Spike had become, Grundle was still bigger and heavier. He bore Spike backwards, slamming him into the side of the Spire, making the whole palace shake and knocking every pony inside off their hooves. Grundle pinned Spike to the wall with an armored forearm over his throat and began smashing him in the face with his free fist.

"HOW DARE YOU!!"

Nyx shook off the stars and birdies in time to see Fluttershy, holy jumping bogdragons Fluttershy, standing at the rail, shouting in defiance. The lumbering brown dragon's head was level with the deck, giving her an eye-to-eye with the monster. She was leaning forward over the rail, glaring into the dragon's shocked eyes. This was it, this was "the Stare" that the other Cutie Mark Crusaders had told her about. "YOU HORRIBLE, AWFUL BULLY! YOUR MOTHER WOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOU! YOU LET HIM GO OR SO HELP ME--"

Would it work?...

It was working! it--

No.

Fluttershy had overestimated herself. She had stared down a dragon before. But Grundle wasn't some old drake on the brink of utter exhaustion from being woken again and again from his hundred-year sleep. And half the effect of the Stare was due to the fact that whoever fell under it was reminded, immediately, of their own mother's condemning glare. Grundle was an adolescent drake packed full of fire opals and at least a millennia from his first century sleep.... and he HATED his mother.

The tableau held for a single second. Then the brown dragon sneered, reared back and blasted flame across the platform. Rarity and Cadence erected shields in the barest nick of time. Even then the ponies on the platform were singed and knocked backward by the blast of foul breath.

"That's it, I'm telling your parents," Fluttershy mumbled, then passed out.

Spike brought up his knee and shoved the brown dragon off. A frantic glance back to make sure that his ponies were okay, and then he fell on Grundle, biting and clawing.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Rarity pleaded with Cadence.

"I don't know," Cadence said, despairing. "My magic will barely annoy a dragon that size-- and I don't know enough of the Crystal Heart's power to know how to use it as a weapon..."

Twilight Sparkle and the other ponies worked frantically, testing, scanning, arguing and debating, trying to decide how to use the heart. It hovered a foot off the floor where the pegasus workers had dragged it down and put it, glowing and humming softly as it spun. "One minute sparks and fireworks, now nothing," Keen Bean said in disgust.

"Well-- does that matter?" Dash asked.

"Yeah, just use the heart to send out that magic whammydoodle to all the crystal ponies, like you were planning," Applejack said. "Considerin' they're fighting a flock of DRAGONS, I don't think they'll complain much about getting some magic know-how poked into their heads."

"It's not that simple," Twilight said, distressed. "One spell is hardly enough. We'll have to send several, and with each one we 'teach,' the problems-- the discomfort, the shock, the resistance-- will increase. We need to know what's happening out there. We need to let them know what's happening. It will be bad enough with the headaches and disorientation it will cause, but if we just 'poke some magic into their heads' at the wrong time-- or send them the wrong thing--" she shook her head.

There was an squee of triumph off to one side, where Amethyst had been tinkering with the broken Eye gem. Curious, Twilight came over to see what she was doing. "It worked!" the excited crystal pony exclaimed. She began babbling to Twilight. "I knew we needed to see what was going on in the city, and the first thing I thought of was the Eye. I knew if I reversed the flow setting it would stop broadcasting pictures and start receiving, so long as it had a resonant quartz surface to pick up images from... but we didn't have a resonant surface since the dragons smashed the obelisk outside, and then I thought wait, isn't everything in the CITY covered in layers of crystal, especially lots and lots of quartz? But then I thought "how will I pick up the exact resonance for a particular piece of crystal and then I went ker-duh, what if I just sort of ball-park it with a sliding scale, like a dial on a radio, and Agate, that nice work pony over there--" she pointed at an amber colored crystal stallion. He smiled and waved idly; she blushed a bit and waved meekly back "-- had a crystal radio with him, it was broken but the dials worked good and so..." she meekly stepped back from her work.

The large, flat gem was leaning against the side of Level Head's crypt, its receptive face up. Wire leads were stuck to the edges with what looked like bubblegum, and trailed down to a half-gutted pocket radio. Across the face of the gem was a silent image, a view down one of the streets of the Crystal City. As Twilight watched, several soldiers ran out of an alleyway, crossed the street, and ran down another. In the distance, a cloud of smoke rose from a toppled building. "You did it!" Twilight cheered, giving the shy crystal pony a hug that nearly turned the poor thing into a stammering wreck. "We can see what's happening now!" She bit her lip anxiously. "But if we can change the view..."

Too speechless for anything else, Amethyst began fiddling with the dials. The image rolled and flickered wildly, then stopped. It was an entirely different view--- a different street, a different block, if from a rooftop nearby. She turned the dials a bit more, and now they were looking at the city from what seemed to be the front gates, as if they were hanging among the jewels that hovered there under the royal archway. Turning again, and now they were looking down from an aerial view, as if from the top of the spire of the palace..

"Holy cow," Twilight said. "It's...it's picking up images from every piece of quartz in the Crystal Empire, isn't it. You've invented a.. a magic mirror that can see anywhere in the Empire." All after just learning the bare rudiments of earth pony magic, too. For the first time, Twilight Sparkle felt a little intimidated.

Amethyst flushed and looked embarrassed. "I know," she said. "I-it's like... I mean I suppose it's like how it'd be if a unicorn grew up someplace and never learned to do magic. Never knew they even HAD magic. Or they knew they were 'magical' but nopony ever showed them how to do even the teeniest little magic thing.... and then one day somepony came along who did. It feels like.." she waved her hoof about. "Like now, after that first step, everything sort of clicks. You know?"

She smiled, self-effacing. "I'm pretty sure after the first day or so, after all first big leaps and bounds, we'll all stop being quite so impressive," she said.

Twilight regarded her. "No, no I don't think you ever will," she said. She turned her attention back to the crystal. The other ponies had gathered round and were murmuring in distress over what they saw. The view was good, it had to be from the crystal at the very top of the Spire. It showed damage and destruction scattered all across the city; the guardsmen like mayflies and ants scrambling back and forth, and four gigantic dragons trashing the city--

No, wait--  "Spike??" Twilight shrieked. This brought the other Bearers running. They squeezed in next to Twilight and stared at the scene unfolding before them.

"Oh no--"

"He's gone bigamundo again--" Pinkie said, hooves pressed to her cheeks.

"Hokey Smokes, he's beefed up hardcore too.. geez, he looks more ripped than Snowflake!"

"What happened? His Greed Growth kicked in again and now he's tearing up the city!" Twilight said, distraught.

"No, wait!" Applejack said suddenly. "Look... he's not. He's fighting the other dragons. He's DEFENDING the city!" Exclamations of astonishment filled the room.

"A dragon defender?"

"That's what she said--"

"He is! Yeah, woohoo! Go little guy GO!" Rainbow Dash cheered, pulling a loop de loop. "Ooooh, look at him bust that fat one up! Yeahhh!"

"I can't believe it!"

"Yes, look, the Guard are backing him up!" They could see arrows, catapault stones and lances of magic peppering the dragon Spike was fighting with.

"We've got a fighting chance!" Somepony said.

"No, we don't," Twilight said unhappily. "This just delays the inevitable. Even with Spike that huge, it's still three against one. If we don't do something, they'll kill him-- and then destroy the city. We can't delay anymore. We have to send the first spell!"

Everybody present, the unicorns especially, looked at one another, then back at Twilight. "Very well," Professor Dubious said. "You're the Bearer of the Element of Magic. What do we do?"

"Unicorns gather round--- no, scratch that, unicorns and earth ponies gather round," Twilight said. In spite of everything she felt a little thrill at saying this. "I'll lead the casting, just follow along..." once the circle formed, she lowered her glowing horn to the Heart....

Shining armor grimaced as the few pegasi left airworthy strafed the red giant once again. Circumstances had forced his hoof; his troops were proving largely ineffectual against the dragons. He had left Spike to do the heavy hitting, and the best Shining could do to help was have his forces focus on harrying Garble, keeping the arrogant red brute from rejoining the fight.

There was a thunderous... no, there was no word for it, it was too loud to be a sound. More of a pulse that throbbed through the air and your hooves and through your very bones... as the maniacs in the S&S fired off another straw-dust bomb right under Garble's feet. The fireball was blinding bright and the shockwave knocked several pegasi, who dawdled a hair too long in pulling back, right out of the air from three blocks away. The dragon reeled backward, stunned, blinded and deafened... but still, apparently, largely uninjured. He spat flame in a sweeping arc, melting several building faces so they cracked and ran like wax.

Shining cursed. Didn't they have anything that would make these overpowered monsters stop? "Come on, Private," he said to RockSteady. "We've got to regroup and--"

There was a brilliant flash. Shining whipped his head around, trying to see where it came from. It was the Crystal Heart; from here he could see the flickering in the heart of the light as it spun up to speed. What was Cadence doing? He turned to bark another order at RockSteady only to nearly bite his own tongue when he saw that RockSteady's eyes were glowing white. A quick glance around revealed that every crystal pony in sight had the same glowing eyes.

"What the..."

Up on the Spire, Cadence, the crystal pony guards, Roller Reel and Bright Eyes all froze, heads thrown back, eyes blazing white. Nyx and the others yelped in fear... but after three brief, terrifying seconds the glow faded. Cadence and the other ponies of the Crystal Empire staggered and dropped to the floor. "Dude," Roller said, clutching his head. Then he blinked. "Holy cow," he muttered, his eyes darting back and forth. "Is it really..." he looked over at Bright Eyes. "Hey, did you...?"

"You too?" Bright Eyes said.

Cadence fell backwards on her plot with a thump. "What on Earth...?" She winced, rubbing her buzzing head as he strange new spell from nowhere spelled itself out inside her head.

"Twilight Sparkle, what did you do this time?" she asked.

The glow faded from RockSteady's eyes, along with every other crystal pony. Some of them staggered, several fell. RockSteady, true to his name, kept his feet. He blinked and shook his head.  "What the buck happened, soldier?" Shining armor demanded.

RockSteady's eyes darted back and forth as if he were reading a message only he could see. A slow grin spread across his face. Shining armor blinked, then gulped as he noticed that RockSteady's legs, from the hooves up to the knee, were glowing. They looked like his hooves were in a kiln; his legs glowed like burning coals.  "The tides just turned, sir," RockSteady said.

Without another word, the enormous crystal pony turned and charged straight towards the red dragon. Shining yelled but RockSteady was already too far off to be heard over the noise of battle. As he watched, the stallion ran toward a chunk of debris, spun about on his forehooves, and bucked.

The chunk of rubble in question was the corner of a fallen building. It was solid citrine, and as big as a battle wagon. Shining had seen some impressive demonstrations of earth pony strength in his time. This was beyond what mere strength could do. That gigantic wedge of quartz-family stone, countless tons in weight, streaked through the air like a bullet and exploded against the dragon's chest.

A whoop went up from the soldiers all around. Shining blinked and scanned with his horn. He could barely believe what it was telling him. Rivers of magic, earth magic, were coiling in towards the earth pony, knotting and unleashing through his body and his hooves. He could sense it around the other crystal ponies nearby too.

"What the buck just happened?"

It's hard to say what caused the delay. Perhaps the spell had to decide whether Shining qualified as a "true" Crystal Empire pony or not. Apparently, the blood he'd shed for its citizens and the love bond he'd shared with its Empress decided things in his favor. Because just as he asked, that's when the spell hit him as well.

He staggered, a tightly wadded ball of knowledge unfolding in his skull. Shining unconsciously echoed his wife. "Twiley, what the heck are you up to now?"

Down in the shelter, for a frightening few seconds every crystal pony stood stock still, their eyes glowing. Then it was gone. Ponies staggered, blinking, exclaiming to each other.

"The loopty loop was that?" Scootaloo said, backing up against Night Light's side.

Before Night Light could say anything, there was a thunderous boom from up above. The floors and walls shook. Slowly, a crack began creeping up the wall and across the ceiling. Ponies cried out in terror. Velvet and Night Light pulled the foals in close, preparing to cast a protective dome over them all--

"No!" A crystal pony, a construction worker who'd been evacuated down here still in his overalls and safety helmet, reared up and slapped his hooves to the wall on either side of the crack, as if he were going to hold it together by sheer strength...

...and the crack began to shrink. Crystals flowed and grew in fast-forward, crossing the crack, closing it, sealing it in clean smooth diamond hard perfection, good as new, till all that was left was a faint seam between the work pony's glowing forehooves.

Night Light blinked. He gazed at the pony's handiwork over the tops of his sunglasses, his cigarette holder drooping in surprise.

"Damn," was all he could think to say.

"Did that do it?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight shook her head. "Not really. That's just a fundamental magic building block-- a primer first-spell. It will help a little... maybe one in every couple thousand ponies will have a direct connection to some aspect of their Special Talent. It's like... Rarity's needle-threading spell or gem-finding spell. Only immediately useful to someone who sews or hunts for gems. For them, it'll just click."

"So why'd we do it then?" Applejack said.  

"So we could do the next step. Phase two: finding an earth pony spell that they ALL can use, that can tip the balance." She chewed her lip and watched as Spike continued to battle. "Hang on, Spike..."

Chapter 30

Blackie(1) was not a dumb Diamond Dog. He had combined two small diamond dog tribes and ruled them for almost three years, during which none of them starved to death or turned on one another--- which among diamond dogs made him the equivalent of George Washington, Albert Einstein, and Mahatma Gandhi combined. Once they had been conscripted by Garble, he had consequently applied his abnormally superior intellect to the situation at hand.

Their new bosses, he had quickly concluded, while being quite powerful and therefore quite good bosses to have around by diamond dog standards, were also kind of singleminded, and had a tendency to get so eager chasing the prize that they ran right past what they were sniffing for.

For one thing, it seemed kind of obvious that the sparkly ponies wouldn't just leave the really valuable stuff laying about in the street to be dug up out of the rubble. In fact the diamond dogs had been digging about in the wreckage(2) and had found nothing but cheap quartz and similar stones.  No, the good stuff would all be in one place-- namely that rather large, shiny, and pointy type building in the center of the city called a 'palace.'  Their new bosses were impatient and would expect the dogs to return with their arms loaded... and would most likely eat anydog who didn't. If Blackie wanted his dogs to stay in their bosses' good graces and off their bosses' menu, he'd better take the initiative.

"Dogs!" he barked. "We no find gems here. Time we go where gems ARE." He pointed at the palace. "RAID THE CASTLE!" The dogs fairly quickly got the idea and set up a howl. They grabbed up their makeshift clubs, truncheons and spears and set out in a lope after their leader.

Blackie really hoped somepony had left a door open.

He looked up.

Preferably a door to an elevator...

Grundle crashed to the ground. He gave a drawn out groan, and slumped. Spike dropped to one knee, his chest heaving. He was scorched and seared in a dozen places, and clawed and bit in a half dozen more. Blood trickled down his scales. Anyone who saw him knew that things were grim. The battle had raged for far too long; building after building had been leveled, and Spike's energy was flagging. He just needed to catch his breath though; just needed to catch his breath--

The white dragon hit him out of nowhere.

Blizz was getting desperate. Of all of Garble's crew, he was probably the most sane. If he'd had his way they never would have come. This was supposed to be easy. Now two of his friends were ash, another had puked his guts out and been captured by ponies, and now the Big Guy on their team was eating dirt. They were stuck in the middle of a city full of things that were heavily armed and angry at them, and they couldn't get away because this giant purple bastard was pounding the fewmets right out of them. It just wasn't fair!

He tore and clawed at Spike, spewing flame everywhere. "DIE, WHY WON'T YOU DIE?" he bellowed in frustration.

Spike had had enough. One massive purple fist caught Blizz by his scrawny throat and began squeezing.

Dragons have one last trick they can use, when everything else fails and they're at their last resort. It's a coward's move, a dirty trick, one that dragons everywhere hold in contempt-- but every last one of them would do, were they desperate enough.

Blizz used it now. He hawked up bile from his stomach and spat it in Spike's face.

Dragon's insides aren't just a raging inferno. They're a cauldron of boiling, violent chemical reactions; chemicals toxic and caustic and flammable and worse gurgle through their guts. Blizz's gut-spit was full of boiling, corrosive chemicals that could eat through lead in high enough concentrations, and they went right in Spike's unprotected eyes. His scream of pain shattered windows.

Spike flung the other dragon away from himself with such force that Blizz landed a city block away. The purple dragon roared and thrashed, wiping at his burning eyes; he fumbled across a pond in one of the parks surrounding the castle and buried his claws in it, scooping up handfuls of mud-laden water and smearing it across his face.

"Spike!" "Spikey!" Nyx and Rarity cried out. They reached out uselessly to their dragon friend, who kneeled in the muddy ruin of the pond and moaned in pain.  Rarity wept, tears running down her cheeks.

"He's blinded," Cadence whispered in horror. "He can't possibly fight them."

Roller suddenly cursed. "The filthy--- they're getting up again," he said. He was right; Blizz and Grundle were getting back up, coughing and groaning, but their eyes were fixed mercilessly on their blinded enemy. They started loping towards him; their lope turned into a run. They bore down on Spike like a twin runaway trains.

Without thinking Bright Eyes slapped his hoof to the walkie-talkie crystal still behind his ear. "Spike, look out, behind you!!"

Spike's head went up in surprise-- and he dove to one side. The two dragons charging him tripped over each other and went face down in the pond, plowing furrows in the muddy slough.

Spike got to his feet, head jerking around as if he were trying to tell where the voice that saved him had come from. Bright Eyes realized what had happened a moment later. "He's still wearing the walkie talkie," he breathed. "He can hear me!" He put his hoof to his own ear crystal. "Spike! Spike it's me, Bright Eyes! It's the radio crystal, you still have it on! If you listen to me you can--- SPIKE USE YOUR TAIL NOW!"

Without hesitation Spike spun and swung his tail behind him, catching a charging Blizz in the chest and knocking him sprawling.

"Now left foot, KICK!" Spike kicked out, and Grundle took a clawed foot someplace tender. He dropped, groaning.

"Right hook, left hook!" Grundle was the recipient of two rapid blows to either side of his head. He reeled backwards in his kneeling position, falling backwards onto the base of his tail.

"I do not beeee-leeeeeve thiiiis!" Roller screamed, whipping his camera back and forth from Bright Eyes to Spike.

"Hang on, Spike, I'll be your eyes!" Bright Eyes shouted. "I'll get you out of this!"

"How are you doing this??" Nyx yelled in bafflement.

"Didn't you ever play Kaiju Kombat at the arcade?" Bright Eyes yelled back. "Spike, CLOTHESLINE!" Spike raised his arms and lunged forward, catching both charging 'kaiju' across the throat. They literally flipped over backwards and crashed to the earth. "Yeaaahhh!!" Bright Eyes cheered.

Shining was caught in a state bordering both bewilderment and amazement. He couldn't make up his mind what was astonishing him more at the moment.

On the one hoof, his troops were actually managing to keep the big red pinned. All his crystal pony guards had gone through that.. seizure, or whatever it was, and a half dozen of them now wielding earth pony magic in ways that hadn't been seen in thousands of years. Boulders the size of cottages were slamming into the dragon, knocking him reeling. Another couple of ponies were making chunks of the crystal pavement grow up around the dragon's feet, tripping him. Others were slinging shards of crystal through the air that glowed and exploded on impact. Between that and the lightning from the pegasi and the magic blasts from the unicorns, they were keeping him staggered.

What was even scarier was that Shining Armor knew exactly how they were doing every bit of it, down to the smallest analytical detail. Earth pony magic was every bit as potent as Twilight had imagined.

On the other hoof was Spike's ongoing battle. It was visible from almost anywhere in the city at the moment. He had seen how the white dragon had blinded Spike-- he cringed in pain at the memory-- and had despaired for his foster nephew. But Spike had continued to fight and was still holding his own. What's more, he'd been relayed word from Cadence's bodyguards that a crystal unicorn colt was somehow acting as a spotter for the dragon, verbally guiding him through the blindfighting.

Shining shook his head. If he'd been reading this as a comic book as a colt, he'd have been flipping out over how crazy over-the-top it was. His horn flared and a knee-high force wall formed behind Garble. The dragon tripped backwards over it and crashed to the ground.

"Commander Shining!" a voice crackled over the walkie-talkie. "We have word from the S&S boys. They took a look at the residue those fragged dragons left behind, and they think they have something that will power them down! Over!"

"I copy, gimme details!" Shining barked, hoof to his ear. "What do they need?"

"They've got it set up, all they need is to get the target over to Fourth and Chalcedony, over!"

"Got it!" Shining said. "Okay, ponies, relay this to Cadence's Guards and tell them to pass it on: The Big Guy needs to get his playmates over to Fourth and Chalcedony, I repeat, get those dragons to Fourth and Chalcedony!"

Boom Boom walked around the device, regarding it. It was hard to be objective. Ever since that little white-eyed fit, she'd been hella distracted.  Explosives were her thing, and that odd little bit of magic knowhow she'd suddenly gained was like a key in a hundred different locks. She had words percolating in her head for all sorts of nifty new formulas to try with her chemistry set back home on the testing range--- words like "nitrate" and "azides" and--- a crystalline molecule spun through her mind; oooh, she'd call that one "Fulminated Mercury..." that looked like FUN...

She shook her head and tried to pay attention. The thing was apparently one of the S&S's skunkworks projects they'd been tinkering with. It had taken the S&S "Buster" crew about a quarter hour to assemble it. Unhappily, it didn't look like anything made to go boom. "It's a tuning fork," she said.

The red-maned and goateed pony grinned. "Yup."

"A giant tuning fork."

"Exactly."

"With a motor attached."

"Nice big locomotive engine," he agreed. Several ponies were already busy shoveling coal, getting the boiler up to pressure.

"And this will stop the dragons how?"

"A couple of troopers went out and examined the leftovers of those dragons that got toasted, and found these," he held up a reddish stone in his hoof. It looked like a partly melted lozenge.

"Fire opals?"

"Yep. The mountain of barf that came out of the one that shrank? Peppered with more of the same. The old myth about their effect on stallions may be false, but apparently they do have a "growing" effect-- on dragons. Our guess is that our nasty new visitors all have a bellyful of this stuff. Dragon barfs em back out, he shrinks."

"So how does this relate to giant tuning forks?" Boom Boom said, cocking an eyebrow.

"There's more than one way to get somepony to purge," the redheaded stallion said, smirking. "Today, class, we are going to be conducting an experiment to test the myth known as 'the brown note...' "

Spike lifted Blizz overhead and threw him to the ground. Buildings quaked. He reared back and bathed the white dragon in emerald fire. The flames raged, and when they parted all that was left was another scattering of half-digested fire opals.

Steelhoof stood with his fellow soldiers, maintaining the perimeter around the site of the fracas. He shook his head; The royal gardens would never be the same. Nor would the barracks, the summer dining hall, the secondary storehouse, the lesser West tower, the northwestern stretch of the curtain wall... he shuddered at the sounds of battle. Screams, roars, tremendous crashes and most disturbingly the sound of the Solar Diarch squealing and giggling like a schoolfilly-- that one was going to give him nightmares, he just knew it-- echoed over the castle grounds.

There was a loud WHUD, and the luckless adolescent dragons that had invaded the castle briefly appeared over the rooftops, flipping end over end like ragdolls before falling back out of sight. Steelhoof hoped Celestia finished this up soon. Maybe then she would send off a missive or two to find out where these two miscreants had come from. The two drakes were fairly spry, still, it shouldn't take much longer--

There was a flash of green light, a draconic scream of surprise and the sound of a body slamming to earth. He heard Celestia squeal giddily and clap her hooves.

"Oh look, Luna, another one! Quick, get your warhammer and join in!"

Or maybe it would be a while, Steelhoof sighed.

"Kid!" One of the Guards shook Bright Eyes' shoulder. "Word from the commander-- you gotta get your big purple friend to drag that dragon over to Fourth and Chalcedony!"

"Fourth and Chalcedony?" Bright Eyes said. "I-- We'll try--" he looked back down to where Spike was wrestling with the enormous brown dragon and tapped the crystal behind his ear.

"Spike! We gotta get him over to Fourth and Chalcedony! I'll guide you-- fall back!"

Spike complied. It wasn't hard to let Grundle push him back. The brown outmassed him, and his heavy plates had protected him from the worst of Spike's fires and claws. Slowly Spike staggered back, shielding his face with his arms, taking blows on his shoulders and forearms as he played a desperate game of rope-a-dope.

Grundle surged forward, grossly overconfident as Spike seemingly faltered. "GONNA CRUSH YOU, RUNT," he grunted, smashing at the smaller dragon relentlessly with his fists, flailing with his clubbed tail, spitting bursts of flame. Spike staggered, fell back, fell back again.

"Okay, you're at third and Chalcedony... a little farther, another step back-- THERE, YOU'RE THERE!" Bright Eyes shouted. "They say to back up fast!"

Fourth and Chalcedony ended in a large cul-de-sac. Spike shoved Grundle away and leapt back, leaving the dragon standing in the middle of the roundabout.

On a nearby rooftop, the ponies manning the brown-note tuning fork opened the throttle on the steam engine. The engine chugged, and a low, ominous note began thrumming through the air. In seconds the vibrations were so powerful they were visible as ripples in the air, focused on the corpulent dragon's gut. Grundle crouched, clutching his belly. "W-W-W-WHAT-T-T'S GO-O-O-ING O-O-O-N ?" he bellowed.

Deep in Grundle's digestive tract, the fire opals did not react well to the vibrations.  Fire opals are usually stable. They contain an incredible amount of magic, largely in the form of elemental fire absorbed from the heart of the volcano where they are first formed.(3) Digested in a dragon's gut they release it gradually.

Cracked in pieces, however... they're not so mellow.

Under the sonic barrage, all the fire opals in Grundle's bowels shattered. The results were both horrifying and spectacular. The shattered crumbs burst into flame, rocketed around inside him, and erupted violently from any orifice they could find. Grundle howled and spun about as torrents of blazing multicolored sparks vomited forth from either end. Sparks gushed from his mouth, his nose, his ears, his backside, and ricocheted around the cul-de-sac, sending any observers diving for cover.

The Buster crew stood on the rooftop and admired their handiwork. An occasional "Ooooo" or "Aaaaah" would announce the emergence of a particularly pretty explosion.  "We gotta figure out how to do this again," Boom Boom said.

After about a minute of rather pyrotechnic peristaltic gyrations, the sparks and explosions finally stopped. Grundle, groaning and smoking profusely from both ends, toppled over. The S&S crew fled across the catwalks, whooping like lunatics, as the deflating titan fell over, smashing the Brown Note Gun and the building it stood on.

"SO-- Busted or Confirmed?" Boom Boom shouted as she ran.

"Ehhh--" Jamie said, waving his hoof in a so-so motion.

All across the city, ponies--- soldiers, civilians, those running to fight or hiding in corners and in alleyways from the destruction-- cheered. Nyx and Bright Eyes were shrieking and jumping up and down in a victory dance.

Shining's voice crackled across the Walkie Talkie band. "He's down, he's down for good! We've got their leader corralled in and it's...

"--Oh no."

Garble raged, spewing fire at everything around him. He was beyond reason, dragon greed and rage were driving him now. It wasn't fair! It wasn't FAIR! He was the most powerful dragon that ever LIVED now and these stupid sparkly pastel ponies-- IT WASN'T FAIR!

His eyes fell on the gunnysack. He'd dragged it all this way; now it lay on the ground where he'd dropped it when the strap burned through.  His eyes burned. He'd show these ponies who the real masters of this world were... He lunged, throwing himself to where the bag lay.

Shining was shouting the news of Grundle's fall into his Walkie Talkie when he saw Garble make his dive. He watched as the dragon pulled a bag of... something... out of the scorched scrap-cloth sack. Ignoring the weapon fire pummeling him, Garble hefted it in both hands and tipped it up to his open mouth; a glittering cascade of reddish gems poured down the teenage dragon's throat.

Shining felt the blood drain away from his face. "Oh no...."

Garble gulped the fire opals down desperately. More opals at once than any of them had eaten thus far, more than all of them combined had dared to swallow in one go. He strained, churning up his fire-stomach, deliberately trying to melt the overdose of stones even faster.

Fire gushed through his veins. He groaned and roared, his bones stretching, his muscles ripping and popping. He began to grow, faster than ever before.

He swelled in size, limbs lengthening and thickening, his atrophied wings suddenly growing again, enormous veined sails on his back. His horns grew long and spiraled, his snout lengthened, sprouting jagged fangs. He grew broader still across the chest and back. Spike's head would barely come to his shoulder now. His neck lengthened, doubled, tripled. His insides twisted as his fire-stomach enlarged. The tortoise-shell-like growths on his shoulders suddenly cracked and split and two new heads emerged, horned and fanged and their eyes full of evil. The three heads looked at each other, came to an accord. All three heads raised to the sky and roared, a piercing shriek that echoed across the city.

"Retreat, retreat, all forces retreat!" Shining yelled. He hardly needed to bother; the forces of the Crystal Empire were scattering as fast as they could gallop.

The three heads lowered and a triple gout of flame scoured the city. Garble swept his tail in a circle, shearing buildings all around him off at their foundations. The three heads scanned around; all resistance was gone or fleeing. In the distance, though, stood one more.

"THE RUNT," the center head hissed. The other two heads swung around and saw the battered purple dragon. Wings unfurled, legs flexed and bunched, and Garble flung himself into the air and soared straight for Spike.

Bright Eyes watched in horror as the impossible nightmare hurtled towards his friend. "Spike, brace yourself NOW!" he screamed. Blind, Spike obeyed and dug his claws in.

Falling out of the sky, Garble plowed into Spike. Spike was braced; he took the impact on his shoulders like a hoofball linebacker, his feet spread and dug in, his claws digging furrows in the street.

But not enough. Both of them slammed into the Spire, an enormous cloud of dragon smoke, dust and earth rose up. Once again the spectators were knocked off their hooves. Bright Eyes, who had been leaning over the rail in his eagerness to keep his eyes on the battle, lost his balance. With a cry, he went over the side and plummeted into the rising cloud of dust.

"Bright Eyes!" Nyx screamed. All reason flew out of her head. She ran to the stairwell that led to the bottom of the Spire and began galloping pell-mell down the stairs. There was no sense to it, even she knew it in the back of her head; what did she expect to do, beat poor Bright Eyes to the bottom? But that didn't stop her from hurtling headfirst down the stairs, literally bouncing off the wall at every landing where the steps turned.

She was three floors down when she met the diamond dogs coming up.

The Spire was a popular site with tourists and romantics. Consequently a staircase leading from the Crystal Heart park straight up to the observation deck had been installed, rather than having half the population of the Crystal Empire trooping up through the Crystal Palace every day. Blackie had incorrectly concluded that this was the fast route to the inside of the palace, and so had lead his diamond dog thugs up the stairwell. He had not, of course, gotten inside the actual palace. He was now hot, winded, his feet and knees were killing him, and now the little black filly from before was blocking the way. "What you do here, runty pony?" he snapped. "Whack you good THIS time..." he hefted his club. He cocked his ear. Was that--? He could hear one female voice giving orders, others hurrying to comply. Yes! He chuckled, baring his cracked yellow fangs. "Then we take pretty pony princess back to Boss. Yes...!"

Nyx lost it. Monsters smashing the city, her brother getting hammered to a pulp, her new friend had just fallen off the tower probably to his doom, and now these stupid, smelly, greedy, stupid, thieving, ugly, STUPID Diamond Dogs were coming after her sweet auntie Cadence. Anger? Fear? She was so keyed up she didn't know what she was feeling. She planted all four tiny hooves on the flight and lowered her horn, glaring, lungs heaving. Her eyes began to glow white, her mane and tail began rippling as if in some cosmic wind.

Several of the Diamond Dogs in the stairwell began to seriously regret the choices they'd made in life.

She scrunched her eyes shut, opened her mouth, and in a perfect Royal Canterlot Voice, screamed at the top of her lungs.

Anyone who has ever heard a little filly shriek will testify to its ear splitting nature. With the Royal Canterlot Voice behind it, and contained in the narrow stairwell, Nyx's high, chiming voice was shrill enough to split the diamond dog's sensitive ears. Every dog in the mob howled in pain. Blackie clapped his massive paws over his ears in agony, convinced that his skull was splitting in half. He staggered one step back too far and lost his balance, tumbling backward into the dog behind him, and that dog falling into the one behind him, all the way down the stairwell like a stack of dominoes made of wet hair.

WHUMPthudYIPEbangTHUDCLUNKYowlYIPCRASHWHAPTHUDbangBANGthumpthumpityBANG

The crashing and yowling went on long after the last diamond dog had tumbled bruisingly out of sight. Nyx considered her options, then decided discretion was the better part of valor and beat a hasty retreat back up the stairs. As she galloped up the stairwell a fleeting thought passed through her mind

Darn, I shoulda said 'You Shall Not Pass'

But it was swiftly past and forgotten.

Bright Eyes felt himself tumbling through the air. He screamed-- it was automatic, he couldn't help it. He would be ashamed later, right now he couldn't care how fillyish it sounded-- and waited for his small body to hit the ground. He was a Follower, he knew the Forever Fields were waiting for him after he hit. He hoped they were as nice as they sounded...

He hit something big... and angled... and... scaly? Shouldn't the pavement have been a lot harder? and began to slide down it. It took a blink to realize that he hadn't hit the ground but rather someone's shoulder, and was now sliding down the length of their arm--

A giant purple hand scooped up under him, catching him gently.

Spike had just fire blasted his rival with a spray of flame, right in all three faces. The two new heads weren't used to the fury of Spike's flames yet; the pain sent the mutated dragon staggering back, heads writhing like teased snakes.  Spike heard the scream and felt something tiny and loud land on his shoulder. By sheer providence he managed to catch the falling unicorn colt in his claws. He looked down at his palm; his weeping eyes still burned, and everything was still too blurry to see. He could feel two hooves wrapped around his thumb. "Spike!" the voice crackled next to his earfin. "Spike it's me! Can you see yet??"

"NO." Spike could hear the growls and feel the footfalls of his enemy. There was no time for anything else. He lifted the foal up and put him on his head, saddled between his first and second headspikes. "...BE MY EYES," he said.

Bright Eyes realized what he was saying. He nodded, heart pounding, and wrapped his forelegs tightly around the headspike in front of him. "You got it," he said. "Let's get 'em."

Spike turned, planted his feet and took a fighting stance as his adversary rushed toward him.

...behind him, the Crystal Heart flared.

1)As we shall dub the highly verbose and luckless Diamond Dog Leader

2)In between bouts of running for their lives from things falling down, things blowing up, and things-- generally ponies-- waving about swords and spears.

3)Equestrian fire opals, mind.

Chapter 31

"This is it! This is what we need!" The scroll was hastily laid out on the floor of the tomb.

"Will it work?"

"One spell-- if instead of individually they cast it on a single target...the power need will scale up monstrously. But if they all cast it, all as one--" Twilight ran the numbers in her head. "But is it enough? Can we get them all united behind this--"

"Yes. It will work," Dubious said.  The others looked at him; his eyes blazed behind his spectacles. " Does this surprise you? My whole life I've doubted everything, great and small. And so many things failed me. In science that is the price of truth and I pay it willingly. But how many little things-- friendships, family, hopes and dreams-- failed for lack of my believing in them?

"But here I am, and I see how many times things DO come true because somepony just would not stop believing.  Sonic Rainbooms. Cities rising from ash. Lost treasures found. The elements of harmony, working together despite being separated and scattered.." he looked at the Eye.  "One small baby dragon, defending an entire nation, because he believes in true love..." he looked back at the others. "...Just once, just this once, I want to believe something and make it happen. This time I refuse to not believe."

Twilight nodded. "Everypony. All together. This is the big one." She lit her horn and lowered it to the spinning Heart, and concentrated.

"Cadence..."

At the top of the spire, Princess Cadence froze, her eyes glowing white.

Cadence...

"Twiley?" she said.

In a heartbeat, in the blink of an eyelid, Twilight conveyed the spell-- and what needed to be done.

"Of course," Cadence whispered. "I understand." Her own horn glowed; far below, the first Crystal Heart began to shine a blinding white.

Everywhere, across the city, above it, below it, crystal ponies once again froze as a spell was unfolded in their minds. This time it was harder; it was bigger, more complex, and it transmitted across neurons already aching from their first infusion... but transmit it did. Even as it unfolded, every Crystal Pony in the empire heard the voice of their Princess.

Together, my little ponies. We must all cast as one... to save our protectors.

Without hesitation, every single pony shook his head clear, planted his glowing hooves and cast a single spell together, focused on a single target. Light flowed beneath their feet, racing for the Spire, for the Crystal Heart. The spell hadn't been named yet, but it would soon gain one in popular parlance:

The Crystal Armor of the Champion.

Even as Spike braced himself, the crystal heart blazed white. Light spilled out, enveloped him, suffused him. He heard a staticy gasp as the light infused Bright Eyes as well. Together they glowed, brighter and brighter.

Garble backed away, trying to shield his eyes with his wings.

When the light faded, Spike stood transformed. He was covered from head to tailtip in gleaming plates of crystal. Thick gauntlets tipped with gleaming claws and studded across the knuckles, enormous spiked pauldrons, bracers, thick greaves, a breastplate that could stop cannonballs without chipping... even his tail was protected with interlocking rings. His head was covered with a sturdy crystal helmet, with a visor that covered his still-unfocused eyes. He flexed his claws and arms. The armor glowed faintly inside. It wasn't just protecting him, it was strengthening him; he could feel it. The strength of the earth, the strength of the Empire, the strength of the Crystal Heart, flowing through the crystals and into his body...

On top of the helmet, behind the first armored angular spike, was a streamlined, armored turret. Inside was Bright Eyes. He was undergoing a startled self-examination of his own. The colt found he was now dressed head to hoof in crystalline armor as well--- cut similar to that of the Guard, but more angular, closer fitting, with hinged crystal plates at the shoulders and legs. His Walkie Talkie was now a pair of headphones with crystalline antennae sticking out back, mirroring the ones on Spike's own helmet.

He looked out the front window of his turret and saw Garble standing in the rubble of the city, all three heads gawping at Spike stupidly.

"Spike?" Bright Eyes said.

"YEAH?"

"Let's kick his plot."

"SOUNDS GOOD." Spike thumped one armored gauntlet into the palm of the other.

Nyx stood at the top of the steps, watching as the raging diamond dogs stormed up the steps. A guard stood at either side, weapons at the ready. A drooling Blackie grinned at her as he reached the top steps. "Hah, now what you say for self, puny pony?" he gloated, eyes blazing.

"Grease." Nyx's horn flared.

WHUMPthudYIPEbangTHUDCLUNKYowlYIPCRASHWHAPTHUDbangBANGthumpthumpityBANG

She looked at one of the guards. "This could go on all day..."

There was a brilliant flash from outside. Nyx heard gasps, then everyone exploded into clamor.

"Spike!" "Spikey!" "Oh dear--!" Don't you dare pass out again, Fluttershy--!" "Ohmagersh--!"

Nyx ran to the rail. Cadence was staring dumbstruck; Fluttershy and Rarity had their hooves to their mouths; Roller Reel was making a sound like a group of fillies who'd walked into a boy band's penthouse suite. When Nyx saw what he was seeing, she wanted to squee herself. Somehow, Spike was now covered in a gleaming suit of armor. Even from here Nyx could feel the magic in it, like pins and needles in her horn. And up on the helmet there was a sleek little turret... Nyx squinted; was that--

"Omigoshomigoshomigoshomigosh," Nyx squealed.

There was a crackle in the air. Every crystal pony and pony with a horn suddenly flinched as Bright Eyes' voice echoed in their inner ear. "Don't worry everypony. We'll take care of this guy."

"Bright Eyes!!" Nyx cried out gleefully. Just when she thought her mood couldn't bounce back any higher--!

"Yeah, I'm okay, Spike caught me," Bright Eyes said. "Hang on, here comes plothead--"

Garble gave a triple snarl, and thundered toward Spike---

--and screeched to a halt, staring. "WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?" he said, staring at Spike's breastplate.

Baffled, Spike answered. "WHAT IS WHAT?"

Garble started laughing. "A HEART? YOU HAVE A BIG PINK CRYSTAL HEART ON YOUR CHESTPLATE??"

Spike felt his breastplate with one claw. It was true; most of the breastplate was taken up with a large, raised stylized heart. Probably for the Crystal Heart, he realized. "WHAT OF IT?"

Garble's center head threw a glance at the other two. "CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS BIG PANSY?" The other two heads started laughing and jeering.

"WUSSY!"

"YEAH, PANSY!"

Even all by himself this jerk has to have sycophants, Spike thought to himself.

Bright Eyes spoke up. "Wow. No matter how big they get, bullies are dorks," he said.

Garble sneered at Spike, threefold. "NO MATTER HOW BIG YOU GROW, YOU'RE ALWAYS GONNA BE A WUSS," he said. "JUST LIKE YOUR PANSY PONY PALS. HAH! PRINCESS OF LOVE? WHAT KIND OF POWER IS LOVE ANYWAY?"

"SHOWS WHAT YOU KNOW," Spike growled. He charged.

Garble didn't move. His three heads snaked out and a triple geyser of dragonfire met Spike halfway. At Bright Eyes' outcry Spike raised his arm to shield his face-- and his head. A transparent, faceted shield appeared on his forearm; the flames splashed off it. The next moment it flickered and disappeared. He didn't even pause in his stride.

Garble lashed out with his tail; Spike leapt over it, clearing it by mere meters as it scythed underneath him. He landed on all fours on Garble's back. Garble screamed in rage; his heads snaked around behind him, trying to bite.

"Dragonhead to the left!" Bright Eyes called out. Spike caught that head by the throat. "One to the right!" The second head was throttled as well. "Plant your feet and roll back!" Spike planted both clawed feet in the center of Garble's back and threw his weight backward, pulling on his necks for good measure. He rolled back, lifting Garble off the ground and flipping him backwards overhead. Garble belly-flopped into the buildings behind him, crushing them and raising another cloud of dust.

Both combatants got to their feet at the same time. Spike shot a gout of flame at Garble; Garble did the unexpected and leapt into the air, flapping his wings once to soar over Spike's head. Spike cut his flight short by grabbing Garble's tail as he passed overhead and swinging him into the ground. Snarling, Garble planted all fours into the ground, claws gripping, and lashed his tail out of Spike's grip. He brought it back around in a smashing blow that sent Spike sailing.

Spike tucked and rolled, coming to his feet at the end of his tumble. Three jets of flame hit him in the chest, making him stumble. His claws landed on a collapsed building. He lifted the top half of the broken edifice in his claws and flung it in the direction of the flames. It crashed into Garble's chest, sending him reeling.

Garble spat blood. He looked about, sneering. "YOU THINK YOU'LL WIN? I'LL CRUSH YOU. I'LL BURN YOUR REMAINS TO ASH!" Garble seized a chunk of crystal building and hurled it at Spike, chasing it with a gout of flame. Spike blocked the falling stone with his forearms, the crystal shield flickering, forced on the defensive. "AND THEN I'LL CRUSH AND BURN THIS CITY AND EVERY LIVING THING IN IT! I'LL DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT'S YOURS AND BURN IT ALL!" Another flung chunk of debris, another lance of flame. "AND YOU DESERVE IT! THEY DESERVE IT!"

His voice echoed through the city; through the buildings fallen and those still standing, through the tunnels below it, from the highest point of the Spire to the farthest field, heard by every pony, echoing even down in the Tomb of the Founders, as the Crystal Hearts resonated.

"YOU'RE WEAK! JUST LIKE THESE PATHETIC PONIES! I KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU, ALL ABOUT THEM! YOU THINK DRAGONS ARE NASTY? LOOK AT THEM! THE ONES WITH WINGS HATING THE ONES WITHOUT, THE ONES WITH HORNS LORDING IT OVER THE REST, THE ONES WITH NEITHER SEETHING AND HATING THE OTHERS FOR THINGS THAT HAPPENED BEFORE THEY WERE EVEN ALIVE! FIVE SECONDS AND THEY'RE SQUABBLING AT EACH OTHER OVER NOTHING. AND THEY LOOK DOWN ON US? AT LEAST DRAGONS ARE CLEAN ABOUT IT!  AT LEAST A HOARD IS SOMETHING TO FIGHT ABOUT!" Every sentence was accompanied with another flung chunk of rubble, another gout of flame. Spike's shield was starting to fade out. "POWER OF FRIENDSHIP? POWER OF LOVE? HAH. ALL THAT LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP AND THEY CAN BARELY HOLD TOGETHER. THE SLIGHTEST FEAR AND THEY TURN ON EACH OTHER. THEY BUILT THEIR WHOLE WORLD ON SOMETHING THAT WEAK. AND WHEN THEY FALL---" Garble grabbed a nearby obelisk, snapped it off at the base. "THE DRAGONS WILL SCOOP UP EVERYTHING THEY LEFT BEHIND." He swung the tower at Spike's head like a baseball bat.

Spike caught it open-handed.

He stood there, holding the pillar in both hands, the crystal cracking in his grip. With a twist of his wrists he shattered it. Spike whirled and drove his fist into Garble's chest. Garble flew threw backwards, landing with a crash.

"You're wrong."

It wasn't Spike speaking this time. It was Bright Eyes. His staticky voice was echoing from every resonant crystal in range.

"Who the heck do you think we are??" Bright Eyes said. "Why do you think we're here? We didn't come out and fight you for gold, or for pride, or for territory, we came out here to fight you for love. For our families, our friends, our neighbors-- even for the ones we don't get along with or quarrel with. Every Guardsman, every citizen, even our Prince-- for love. Even Spike here. For nothing but love.

"And we STOPPED you. WE did. WE beat your stupid friends, WE stopped your stupid diamond dogs, and now we're gonna beat you.

"You want our greatest treasure? You wanna know what kind of power love is?  WELL COME ON AND FIND OUT."

Every pony in the Crystal Empire heard.

Up in her tower, the Princess of Love lit her horn, eyes glowing. "Now, my ponies," she said. "Now, all together, as we have before-- all our anger, all our sorrow, all our hope and love--- give it to our champion! Believe in the one that believes in all of you!" Her eyes glowed white.

Across the empire, every Crystal pony sparkled with light. Their hooves lit from within. Then something extraordinary happened. Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, began to sparkle as well. Wings, horns, hooves, the conduits of magic, lit from within with molten fire. Up in the observation deck, Rarity and Fluttershy sparkled, horns and wings glowing with fire. Nyx's eyes glowed like moonstones, her horn, wings and hooves like diamonds, her coat like polished onyx. Down in the tomb, unicorn horns, earth pony hooves, pegasi wings lit up like day. In the shelters below the city, every pony lit from within and three little fillies shone from hoof and horn and wing.

All of it, every erg of it, poured into the Hearts. And from there, it poured into Bright Eyes and Spike.

Garble screamed in rage. He pulled up every ounce of flame in the fire opals in his belly. All three heads lashed out and poured forth a blinding white torrent of fire.

"Now, Spike!!"

Spike inhaled deep. More than fire filled his belly.

All our rage...

It built and built, even as the white-hot dragonflame raced toward him.

All our sorrow...

Then just as he was about to explode---

All our love...

--he unleashed it.

He thrust forward. His mouth opened, and a pillar of green flame, so powerful it looked like a solid pillar of emerald, so bright the sky seemed to dim, met the incoming balefire halfway. The yellow-white stream of flames halted, began to roll back. Garble raged and struggled, but it was over. The pillar of green fire snuffed out his triple flame and washed over him. He was engulfed in roaring emerald flame...

And then he was gone. fire opals rained down, a sparkling cloud of glitter.

Spike reared back; his roar of victory shook the heavens. It was only rivaled by the roar of victory from the ponies of the Crystal Empire.

Chapter 32

It was over.

Spike's shoulders slumped a little. Slowly, wearily, he went down to one knee and reached up to his helmet. Carefully he cracked the turret open and let Bright Eyes jump into his hand, then gently lowered him to the ground. Bright eyes looked back up at him. "Are you okay, Spike?"

Spike nodded. "JUST... TIRED," he said. His armor began to sparkle oddly, to gleam till Bright Eyes couldn't look.

He never even noticed the tiny sparkle on his own flank.

From the sidelines, at the edge of the devastation , ponies had gathered. They all saw it. Even as the few pegasi still airborne gathered from every corner, their monstrous champion knelt in the ruins and began to shine, brighter and brighter, till he finally disappeared in a cloud of sparkling light.

When the winged guards arrived, all they found was a young crystal unicorn colt with a brand new cutie mark, and a badly roughed-up baby dragon lying next to him asleep.

Nyx stood at the top of the staircase. Two guards flanked her, leaning idly on the guardrail, their weapons lying at their side. "He's taking longer this time," one noted idly. "What does this make, seven?"

"Eight," the other one said. "Whatcha gonna try this time, kid?"

"The Miniature Lightning," Nyx said. "I need more practice with that one."

Blackie once again climbed up the last few steps. "This time, little pony," he wheezed, "I SHOW NO MERCY--"

Nyx lowered her horn and fired off the Miniature Lightning spell. A lightning bolt no larger than a twig leapt from her horn and struck the diamond dog leader. Blackie's fur frizzed, and with a loud "YAIK" he fell backwards down the stairs.

WHUMPthudYIPEbangTHUDCLUNKYowlYIPCRASHWHAPTHUDbangBANGthumpthumpityBANG

Fresh canine groans of pain echoed from below.

Nyx leaned out over the stairwell. "Hey Diamond Dog Guy?"

"What, evil little pony?" came the faint reply.

"You had enough, or are ya thirsty for more?"

There was a long pause. "I think we just lie down here for a while..."

Blackie's second in command, a pug-nosed brindle, spoke up. "You want we try again?"

"Shut up. I thinking."

"....thinking what?"

"I thinking dragon bosses can kiss my hairy--"

"Hey now!" Nyx scowled down the stairwell, lower lip jutting out. "There are foals present, you know."

"....Sorry...."

Garble crashed to the ground. Groaning and aching, he sat up. He almost immediately realized that he was his original size again. Cursing in dragon, he tried to rub his head.

One of his other heads was in the way. "Agh, get your finger out of my ear!"

He yelped. "Whaaa? Why are you still there? The fire opals wore off, didn't they?"

"The heck should we know?" his other head snapped. "Retard!"

"Hey, shut it, you!"

"Make us," mocked the head on his other shoulder. "Wuss."

"Got beat by a bunch of pansy ponies-- ya pansy--"

"Shut it you two or I'll..." Garble threatened.

"Oh look, another one!"

Garble looked up and screamed like a filly. Two alicorns (and you'd have to be bucking stupid not to know who they were. Even DIAMOND DOGS knew about Celestia and Luna) were standing over him. One was wielding a mace the size of an oak tree. The other had an equally large warhammer floating beside her.

"Strewth," the dark one exclaimed. "But how shalt we score this one?"

"Same as all the others, Luna," Celestia said, hefting her mace. "One point to the winner."

"But he hath three heads!"

"Well-- true enough." Celestia hmmed. "Very well, new game. Tell me, sister-- have you had a chance since your return to play 'whack a mole?' "

All three heads screamed.

Shining Armor's soldiers, battered, bruised, and bloody, but standing taller than they ever had, emerged. They marched out into the wreckage strewn battlefield that the two dragons had trampled out for themselves. Aerial recon reports were trickling in from the pegasi; an estimated third of the buildings in the Crystal Empire had been flattened. An old Zebrican saying he'd once heard ran through his mind; "When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." He muttered. He shook his head.

Rock Steady was limping alongside him with a badly sprained ankle. He gave the prince commander a look. "True enough I suppose, Sir," the mountainous crystal pony said. "But if'n the elephants hadn't a fought, there wouldn't be no grass left." He paused. "Sir."

Shining Armor looked at him and chuckled. "Fair enough, lieutenant."

Rock Steady started to protest. "I'm just a Private, si---" he blinked as he realized what Shining Armor was saying. "Oh no. No thank you, Sir." Shining raised an eyebrow. "Sir, I ain't ready to lead or boss nopony," Rock Steady said. "One battle don't make no leader."

"Rock, you led three charges against a, to put it lightly, superior force, and brought back every pony who followed you alive," Shining said. "Even if you had to carry them on your back to do it."

Rock Steady looked uncomfortable. "D'you really think I'm up to bein' an officer, Sir?"

"As much as anypony," Shining said. "And Lieutenant? That nagging little bit of uncertainty? Treasure it. A wise pony is always just a tiny little bit uncertain of themselves." Rock Steady thought that over, and nodded. "Anyway, don't feel too singled out. You're not the only one getting a field promotion today.... First Lieutenant Diamond Bright is a Captain now. He earned his second bar today overseeing the S&S crews."

"The Builders and Busters??" Rock Steady said in surprise.

Shining shrugged. "He survived my niece. I figured he could handle anything those explosion-happy lunatics threw at him..." he cocked his head as a report filtered in. "Casualty Report?" he said. His eyes went wide. "Zero? Are you kidding me?" Another pause. Shining laughed. "Pass that word on, soldier, over and out."

"Did ah hear right, Sir?" Rock Steady said.

"You did. We got a ton of injuries, but so far zero fatalities--- soldier or civilian. The evac was air tight, it looks like." Shining's face wreathed in a grin and he clapped Rock Steady on the withers with a hoof. "Now that's cause for a celebration. Once cleanup's underway we gotta find ourselves a tavern."

"I know a good 'un," Rock Steady offered with a chuckle, limping painfully. "Assumin' them overgrown rock lizards didn't sit on it..."

"Okay, we gotta be careful about levitating these stones out," Twilight Sparkle was saying. "We do it wrong, we could trigger another cave in."

"Um, maybe, um, if we Crystal Ponies and Earth Ponies...." Amethyst said hesitantly. "Hee. Us Crystal Ponies. I like saying that-- Aheh. Maybe if we, um, reinforced the walls...?"

"That would be a start, yes-- does anypony here have experience with construction or earth moving or--" Twilight halted as a rumble came from the stones blocking the exit. Golden and indigo auras wrapped around the enormous rocks, and they were pulled out of the entryway like a cork from a bottle.

Everypony squinted at the sudden influx of daylight. Outlined in the glow of the setting sun were Celestia and Luna. They both looked alarmingly disheveled; their coats were rumpled and smudged with dirt, and Celestia's mane had spots that looked a great deal like burn marks. For some reason they had an enormous warhammer and spiked mace propped over their shoulders and almost festive grins on their faces.

"My my," Celestia said to her faithful student, "You have been busy today, haven't you Twilight?"

The moment the all-clear had been sounded, Princess Cadence had flown from her high lookout straight to the streets, her winged guard trailing behind her. She'd spotted Shining armor and swooped down on him, almost knocking him off his hooves, smothering him in grateful tears and kisses. He returned them with equal fervor, and neither one gave a tinker's damn who was watching.

Their approval rating went up fifteen percent in less than a minute.

"Woohoo, oh yeah!!" They looked up, startled. Roller Reel was overhead, dangling from the forelimbs of a Pegasus guard and filming everything. "Dude, what an awesome finish! Smooth Moves, Prince Shining, woo!"

Cadence started to say something scathing about respect for the crown but Shining cut her off by planting his lips over her own. Catcalls and whistles went up from the crowd; Shining gave them all an 'oh get lost' wave with his hoof and kept kissing his wife.

They had barely come back up for air when there was a shout raised. In the distance, Celestia and Luna could be seen flying in, an enormous cloud in tow. The ponies from the expedition to the tomb, all of them, were on board; the pegasi giving the cloud a push from behind. "We found it!" Twilight said the moment her hooves touched ground, holding the journal of Chancellor Level Head and the Earth Pony magic primer overhead as proof.

"Quick, move around so the sunset is behind her," Roller said. The guard complied; Roller put the scene in frame and filmed away.

"Oh yeah, that's a keeper."

"We're sorry we took so long to respond," Celestia said. "It was only that last dragon who arrived who had the sense to NOT try spewing fire at my sister and I the moment he saw us. We managed to get him to talk--"

"--between bouts of blubbering like a little foal--" Luna interjected dryly.

"--And we promptly made haste here. The next train from Canterlot will be bearing workponies, equipment, and supplies to help rebuilding...." A cheer went up; she smiled beatifically. She looked out past the crowd. Her expression changed to one of surprise. She was looking at the remains of a small storefront; the owners had returned and were examining the damage. The family of crystal ponies had begun running their hooves over the shattered building; as she watched the building slowly reassembled itself, crystalline blocks knitting themselves together, walls rising up, shattered windows mending... "...Though I'm not.. sure... if you'll still need it by the time it arrives," she finished, eyebrows arching. Even as she spoke they began adding a second floor.

"Oh my word, how marvelous!" Rarity exclaimed, eyeing the work in progress. It had a very novel architecture-- both more crystalline, yet subtly more flowing and organic than the original, with a deeper color and luster. "If this is any example then the Empire is going to be even more dazzling than before! Oh, dears," she called out to the ponies working on the storefront, "May I suggest adding a touch of Lapis Lazuli to the sides? Yes, just like that..."

The library, by a miracle, had been left standing. Twilight was down in the saferoom with Precious Lore, setting up the transfer of the tomes and scrolls from the tomb to the library for safekeeping-- and immediate transcription, printing and publishing. "I think we've all had enough of this 'lost forgotten lore' business THIS time around," Cadence had said matter-of-factly.

Precious Lore looked over the scrolls and books and tablets that Twilight and the archaeologists had brought back already. "We're going to have to expand this chamber," she said, looking around. Her eyes watered a bit. "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. Even if there wasn't a single syllable of magical knowledge in all this, it still.... thank you."

Twilight Sparkle smiled. "It was my pleasure, Mrs. Lore," she said. "I'm afraid I can't linger, I have things to oversee back at the palace. If you'll excuse me--" she turned to go.

Precious Lore cleared her throat. Twilight looked back. "Um, yes?"

Lore cocked an eyebrow. "You are leaving that book behind aren't you?"

"Um, what book?"

"That book sticking out of your saddlebag?" Lore said. Twilight looked at her saddlebag; sticking out of the top was the Earth Pony Magic Primer.

"Oh, this," Twilight laughed awkwardly. "Well, um... there isn't any possibility I could borrow...?" she asked weakly.

Precious Lore just gave her a look.

"But... book!" Twilight pleaded. Precious Lore's expression didn't change. Twilight's eyes got big and dewy and her lower lip pooched out. She whined faintly.

Precious Lore burst into laughter. "Oh come on, you silly thing, we'll run you off a copy! Let's go see if this fancy new magical library system has a way to transcribe books..."

In fifteen minutes, they'd run off three new copies of the primer for Twilight. (one for personal use, one for the Golden Oaks library, and one just in case.)

In an hour and a half, they'd run off a hundred more, and were picking out addresses to mail them...

Thanks to certain ponies pulling strings, Spike had a large, spacious room all to himself at the hospital. They'd bandaged him up,  put salves on his burns and on his poor hurting eyes, given him some painkillers, fed him about a ton of gems and put him right to bed. He'd slept for a bit, but he wasn't really tired. It was starting to get a little dull actually.

"Hey kid, you got visitors," the guard at the door said.

Spike brightened up immediately. "Send em in!" There was a commotion in the doorway and the room filled with familiar voices. There was a concerted gasp as his friends laid eyes on him. "Oh, hey. It's not as bad as it looks, really--"

He was cut off as ponies gathered at either side of his hospital bed, clamoring in sympathy. He felt someone hug him. "Oh, Spike, your poor eyes..." Twilight said in his ear, heartbroken. He felt someone jump on the bed and run up it to hug him as well. "I'm so glad you're okay big brother," Nyx said. "-- you'll be okay, the doctors'll fix your eyes up--"

"Hey hey hey, it's not that bad," Spike said, picking at the bandages over his eyes. "My eyes are okay. Well... not okay, but they're not ruined or anything. The docs just want me to keep from straining my eyes while they heal up, that's all."

A pair of forelimbs wrapped around his neck from the other side of the bed and a soft cheek pressed against his. "Oh, my poor brave little Spikey Wikey!" Rarity nuzzled him and began pressing little kisses all over his cheek.

"Oh, blech, gag me," Nyx said. "Big brother mushy face cooties." She leapt off the bed.

"Whoa," Spike said. "Heheh. I sure hope this is Rarity."

Rarity pulled her head back. "And what do you mean by that?"

Spike grinned. "Well if it was Big Macintosh, things would be kind of awkward later, dontcha think?" The tension broke as everyone in the room laughed.

There was a cheeping noise. "Oh!" Fluttershy said. "I've been keeping PeeWee safe with me for you, Spike. He hid in my mane through the whole thing..." the pegasus giggled.

"Aw, thanks, Fluttershy," Spike said. "Hey, PeeWee!" There was a fluttering sound and something small, feathery and warm settled on his head. "Haha. I missed you too little guy." Spike reached up to pet the baby phoenix. The bird cheeped and rubbed his beak on Spike's claws... then began tugging at the bandages over his eyes.

"Hey, stop-- wait, what--" Spike tried to nudge PeeWee away but the bird was insistent.

"Spike, wait!" Twilight said suddenly. "Let him be."

Puzzled, Spike obeyed. The little bird finished tugging the bandages loose, then laid his feathered cheek on Spike's brow. Something wet trickled down Spike's forehead and under the bandages, into his left eye. PeeWee turned his head, and another drop trickled into his right...

Spike blinked, then blinked again. His eyes went wide and he pulled the bandages completely away. "Hokey Smokes! Everything's clear again!"

Twilight laughed joyfully and clapped her hooves. "Phoenix tears," she said. "Legendary for curing poisons, and healing wounds."

The little bird hopped down to Spike's lap, cheeping loudly and obviously proud of himself. Spike gave him a cuddle. "Aw, thanks, little guy. You're the best."

Twilight winced and prodded tenderly at the swollen burns around his eyes. They were lessened, but they were still there. "I guess the healing is kind of limited," she said. "After all he's just a baby phoenix."

"Eh." Spike shrugged. "Can't have everything." He turned and yipped as he found himself nose to nose with Bright Eyes. "Dude, I gotta hang a bell on you."

"I'm glad you're feeling better," Bright Eyes said.

Spike shrugged and winced as his aching muscles objected. "Well, not BETTER better--- but better," Spike said. "Good to see you're okay, partner. Hey, what's that?" He pointed to Bright Eyes' flank.

"My cutie mark!" Bright Eyes turned so Spike could see it better. It was a stylized eye. "A scout's eye," Bright Eyes said. "The Imperial pegasus scouts wear one as a badge.  Cool, huh?"

"Yeah, it suits ya." Spike held out a thumbs up.

It was then he noticed the sound of a whirring camera. He turned and saw Roller standing in the doorway, filming. "Big reunion in the hospital room, nice closure..."

"Roller--!" Twilight griped.

"Sakes, youngun, don't you EVER put that camera down?" Applejack said.

"No," Roller said bluntly.

"Your majesties--" the guard at the door said to somepony. A moment later Shining Armor, Cadence, Luna and Celestia came striding in.  

"Goodness, it's a good thing this is a private room. It would get quite crowded otherwise. Hello my little ponies," Celestia said. "I hope we're not interrupting... but there are a few things we wanted to discuss with Spike." She looked down at Bright Eyes. "And his little friend, of course," she said kindly.

"Oooh, lemme switch reels," Roller said, fumbling with his camera to pop in another cartridge. "Whoa, only three left..."

The royals all shared a look. "I think that issue can wait a moment, Tia," Luna said.

"Right. First things first," Celestia said. She lit up her horn. "If I could check you over, Spike?"

"Oh, uh, sure," Spike said. Celestia waved her horn over him, "hmm" ing at odd intervals. She sighed and stepped back. "Much as I expected."

"Am I okay?" Spike asked nervously.

"Oh, you are quite fine, Spike," she said. "A bit battered around the corners but fine." Her eyes crinkled. "However, I should note that you won't be able to... ah... have a growth spurt like that again for quite a while."

"What? Why not?" Spike wasn't upset, but he was curious.

"Well, in simplest terms, Spike... your larger form took quite a beating," she said. "That wouldn't matter so much if you were a few years older, but at this stage growing so big and then taking such a brutal pounding... it's going to take time for your 'inner dragon' to recover. At least a year. Maybe longer."

Spike sighed. "Well, it wasn't like I was planning on turning into a giant Spikeasaurus again any time soon." he put his chin in his hand. "Still kind of a bummer."

"There are... some other issues," Shining Armor said. "Soldier, close the door." The Guard complied, pulling the door shut from the outside.

Princess Cadence sighed. "What we're about to tell you next is a matter of national security, for both the Crystal Empire and for Canterlot," she said. "So what gets said here must not leave this room."

Luna looked at Roller Reel and cocked an eyebrow. "That means 'turn off the camera,' " she said, the corner of her mouth quirking up in a half grin.

Roller said "Eep" and complied.

"When Twilight-- well, when we all-- cast that spell on Spike and Bright Eyes, the--"

"The Armor of the Crystal Champion," Twilight said.

"Yes.... it seems there was a-- side effect."

"You see," Shining Armor said, "that spell was designed to arm and armor the bravest and most loyal warriors of the Crystal Empire. Those it was cast on would be able to summon crystal armor and weapons from the Heart at any time, to defend the Empire. The armor would empower the ponies wearing it with energy from the Heart, making them stronger, tougher, faster."

"Yeah... I felt that," Spike said. Bright Eyes nodded as well.

"Well, there's a catch or two," Shining Armor said. "For one thing, there's a limited range--- the soldier can only summon the armor when they're within a certain number of miles of the Heart."

"Lemme guess--- about the range of the borders of the Crystal Empire," Spike said drolly. "Give or take a few leagues."

"Bingo. Also.." Shining Armor hesitated. ".. the heart can be used to summon you."

"Come again?" Spike said.

"It wasn't just a crystal armor spell, Spike," Cadence said. " It was a magical bonding. The spell was meant to only be used by the ruler, in a ceremony where the Champions were sworn in for life as protectors of the Realm. But to scale it up for you, it had to be cast on you by the whole city at once. You and Bright Eyes--- or rather, 'Giant Spike' and his unicorn pony partner--- were basically "sworn in" by the entire population of the Crystal City as lifelong defenders of the Empire. The spell was incredibly complex and is already fading from ponies' memories, thankfully. But the pact is sealed. The Hearts now have the power summon you to them, instantly. From anywhere."

Spike's eyes went round. "You mean... no matter where we are, if the Crystal Empire needs us, you can just---" he wiggled his claws. "And we'll--" he made a poofing noise, pantomiming a magic explosion on one side of the bed, then tracing a line through the air to the other side where he pantomimed another--- "And bangola, we're here?"

"Essentially," Shining Armor said. "Once you're here, they can reverse it, sending you right back to where you were when you were summoned. But the Hearts are tied to the ponies of the Empire. If the Crystal Empire is ever in danger, their fear and need could trigger the heart to summon you, automatically. And the spell would demand that you stay here till the danger has passed--- or is defeated."

"Preferably by a giant dragon in crystal armor and his heroic pony partner," Cadence muttered.

There was a long, long pause. "So what you're saying," Spike said slowly, "Is that he and I," he jerked a thumb at Bright Eyes and himself,  "have been magically drafted as lifelong monster battling defenders of the Crystal Empire."

The silence was stunning. Rainbow Dash was the one to speak first. "That... is so... awesome," she said, her eyes round.

"You better believe it!" Spike said gleefully. He looked at Bright Eyes, who looked just as gleeful. Spike held out his fist. "Dude, gimme a brohoof!"

"Aw yeah!"  Bright Eyes' hoof shot out, meeting Spike's knuckles.

"Go Team Crystal Champion!"  They said in unison.

"They seem to be taking the news well," Celestia said with wry amusement. Luna giggled behind her hoof.

"Aw maaan," Roller whined. "I can't believe you made me shut off the camera!" he held out his hooves. "That moment was PERFECT!"

"Yeah, about that..." Shining said. "We're going to have to confiscate all your film."

"What?!?" Roller snatched up his camera and his saddlebags, clutching them to himself. He glared at Shining Armor, his eyes round as saucers. "Never!!"

"Come on, son, it's got to be done," Shining Armor frowned, beckoning with his hoof for Roller to hand over the goods.

Roller bared his teeth and snarled at him. "Keep back or I'll BITE you! RAR!" Shining actually pulled his hoof back in surprise.

"Hey!"

"Roller! Shining!" Cadence said. The stallion and the colt stopped. Half the ponies in the room had to smother giggles;  Bright Eyes and Spike didn't bother with the smothering. Cadence continued calmly. "Okay, Roller. We don't need to confiscate your film. But you do understand, when you put together your movie--"

"Documentary."

"When you put together your documentary, we're going to have to edit it." Roller scowled but he listened. "Just to remove any reference to who Spike and Bright Eyes are. For their own safety. You do understand, don't you?" Cadence smiled winningly. "I promise you we won't cut any more than that. And what we do cut we'll store someplace safe-- at least for a few years, till it's safe. Okay?"

Roller groaned unhappily, but relented. "Okay. But I want some kind of guarantee, here," he said.

"Gotcha covered," Pinkie Pie said. Everyone yelped as she popped up right in the middle of the room. "Repeat after me, Cadence--"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my Eye. I Pinkie Promise to keep Roller Reel's film stuff safe," Cadence said, mimicking the motions. Roller Reel stared at them like they were both nuts.

Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder. "Trust me, Roller, that oath is more binding than a cast iron contract," she reassured him, chuckling.

"For safety's sake," Cadence said, "we have suggested that Bright Eyes move back to Ponyville so as to be close to Spike. We... don't really know how the bonding will react if they're separated." She looked apologetic. "We've spoken with his parents, explained the situation to them. They'll receive a royal stipend for their trouble..

"And I'm guessing you want Bright Eyes to be tutored in magic, for when the Empire needs him," Twilight said.

"He's not going to find many unicorn tutors here," Cadence agreed. She looked at Twilight pointedly.

Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes, I think I can manage to squeeze in a tutoring here and there," she said. "Yes, I'm volunteering."

"In addition one of the Crystal Hearts will be moved to Canterlot, to make sure that Spike and Bright Eyes have the greatest range where they can summon the crystal armor... just in case. After all, Equestria may have need of the Crystal Champion someday as well.  It will also give us instantaneous communication between the two kingdoms, which is an added bonus."

Roller looked awkward. "Um." he said. "Did his folks say anything about me?"

Cadence looked puzzled. "I don't understand?"

Roller shrugged. "I'm Bright Eyes' cousin," he said. "I sorta moved in with 'em after my parents threw me out. Um. After I 'flunked out applying for the Guard,' as my Dad put it." He glanced at Shining Armor, who winced in recollection.

"Ouch," Shining Armor muttered to his wife.

"If they're moving to Ponyville, I'm not sure whether they want me to go with 'em or what," Roller said. "Not-- you know, angling for anything here," he protested. "I just wanna know the lay of the land so I know what I need to do next."

"I'm sure Mom and Dad will let you come too, Roller," Bright Eyes said sympathetically.

Twilight's mouth quirked up in a smile. "Well, it occurs to me that Spike's... condition... is going to involve a lot of testing and experiments," she said. There was a groan from Spike, but she ignored him. "And it occurs to me that I could use somepony to document his progress on film.." she paused, tapping her chin and smiling. "Come to think of it, I could use somepony like that to document my other experiments too-- and the Golden Oaks Library will need a pony to handle the new media department."

"We have a media department?" Spike asked.

"We'll get a media department," Twilight said. "Or we will once the new system from the Crystal Empire library starts getting adopted--"

"Hey, if you're bringing him back to Ponyville, can I borrow him once in a while to film my stunt flying? Visual reviews are important for improving performance," Rainbow Dash said seriously.

"Ooo, and you could make a bundle filming birthday parties!" Pinkie said, bouncing.

"A regular government contract and a market for a little private work on the side," Shining muttered to his sister, amused. "a nice little motivator to keep the secret. Very nice."

"And a legitimate offer to boot," she replied.

Celestia chuckled. "Welcome to the staff," she said to Roller. "I'll expand your stipend to cover hiring an assistant, Twilight."

Roller had a dazed look on his face. "I'm gonna need a bigger camera bag," he said, grinning weakly.(1)

"Now that we have those complicated little details addressed," Celestia said, "perhaps we should leave so that Spike can get some rest." She opened the door so that ponies could start filing out. After a moment she lowered her head and looked under the hospital bed. "Ah, that means you too, Nyx, dear."

"Eep!" Nyx stood up so quickly that she banged her head on the underside of the bed frame. Hastily she shuffled out from under the bed. "Yes ma'am," she said meekly, "Sorry, your Highness." She crabbed sideways around the room, carefully keeping her backside away from them as if she expected it to get swatted at any moment, and backed out the door, never taking her eyes off either of them.

Twilight Sparkle watched her daughter go, and looked at Celestia apologetically. Celestia looked pained. "I'm sorry, Princesses," Twilight said. "She's still a bit... skittish.... about you two."

Celestia nodded, looking a bit sad... and not a little bit guilty. "Understandable," Celestia said.

"I'm sure she'll come around," Twilight said.

"A problem for another time," Luna said gently.

"Twilight?" Rarity said suddenly. "Do you mind if I speak with Spike for a moment? In private?" She looked abashed. "It won't be a minute."

"Of course, Rarity," Twilight said. "I'll be right outside." She followed Celestia and Luna out the door, and closed it.

Spike looked nervous and took to petting PeeWee to keep his claws busy. "Was there something you wanted to talk about?" he asked meekly.

Rarity sat down at his bedside and smiled at him. "Spike," she said. "I never got the chance to thank you for what you did. And... to say I'm sorry."

Spike kept petting the baby phoenix. "Sorry? About what?"

"For taking your feelings for granted," she said. "For treating your heart like it was some silly toy. I never took your love seriously."

Spike shrugged, trying to play it cool. "Hey," he laughed weakly, "I know how it is. I'm just a kid, right? I bet lots of dumb colts have had silly crushes on you--"

Rarity looked him in the eye. " 'Lots of dumb colts' didn't save me from a rampaging dragon," she said. "'Lots of dumb colts' didn't battle a horde of monsters with their bare fists to protect me." She smiled. "That doesn't sound like a 'silly crush' to me."

Spike pulled away. He looked away and bit his lip. "That's how I did it," he blurted out.

"Did it?"

"That's how I grew again," he said. "Dragons grow big like that, if they're not full-grown, when their hoard is threatened. --Well, there's usually some other stuff involved, too. You saw those gems they spit out---" he shook his head. "Never mind, not important. The thing is, I don't have a big pile of gold and gems, or anything like that. You know how Celestia says 'my little ponies?' I know it sounds dumb but-- I feel that way too. All the ponies in Ponyville, in Canterlot, in the Crystal Empire--- all my friends, all my family-- those are my hoard. But the really big thing, the thing that made my Greed Growth kick in, was what Garble did at the castle. Garble did the dumbest thing in the universe to do around a dragon. He threatened the most valuable thing in my hoard. My greatest treasure." Peewee crooned in his lap and rubbed his beak against Spike's chin.

"Your pony friends?" Rarity said.

"You," Spike said, looking up at her with wide, open eyes. "My Greatest Treasure is you." He looked down, face scrunched up."I mean I know it's impossible. I know I'm too young, and the wrong race, and-- even if you find somepony else, you'll always be the greatest Treasure in my heart--"

A hoof went over his lips. Rarity lifted his chin and turned his head toward her. Without a word she kissed him. Once. Gently, chastely, right on his scaly green lips.

All Spike's higher brain functions completely shut down. "Breathe, darling," Rarity said, amused.

"Gasp."

Rarity chuckled. "Spike," she said. "Are you willing to wait a few years?"

"Wait?" Spike said, dazed.

"A few years. Just a few," Rarity said. "Till you're of age. That's only a few years from now..."

"I'd wait forever," Spike said dreamily.

"No promises, no commitments," Rarity cautioned, holding up a hoof. "A lot of things can happen in a few years. But at least I can give you that."

"Really?" He looked doubtful. "But... what if I'm still this pudgy little..." he looked down at himself.

"I got a little preview, Spikey. That big beefy brute you turned into? They say that's what you'll look like in a few more years-- If you're a good boy and eat all your alfalfa." Rarity chuckled and nuzzled his cheek. "What can I say? Good things are worth waiting for." She got to her feet and walked out the door. "Till later, Spikey Wikey." With a flirt of her tail she was gone.

Spike sat there, staring silently at the door. A smile spread across his face that could have lit up Manehattan. "YyyyyyyES!" he said, throwing his fists in the air, sending PeeWee fluttering. "Dragon boy has got a shot!" He flopped back on his pillows, arms behind his head, grinning at the ceiling like a fool.

1) During that year's Nightmare Night, all sorts of absolutely insane events would take place in the Palace of the Moon in Ponyville. Roller Reel and Bright Eyes would be visiting relatives back in the Crystal Empire that week-- upon their return the camerapony would spend days cursing his luck. As such, he was completely unavailable for the events of Nightmare Night and Nyx. C'est la vie.

Chapter 33

It was the last day before the return to Ponyville. Nyx, Bright Eyes, and The Cutie Mark Crusaders were at the royal park, having a grand day out down by the pond-- For once, not chasing their cutie marks, just running about in the sunshine having fun. The park and the immediate environs had been restored with astonishing speed; a visitor would never be able to tell that the crystal clear pond and the gently rolling parklands had been torn into a muddy slurry by warring monsters mere days ago. There was no sign of the former destruction-- save for two enormous clawed footprints, one long and skinny, one broad with blunt, spade like toes, that were planted close by the slides and swing sets. The park renovators had decided to preserve them as a memorial, and turned the enormous meter-deep footprints into sandboxes for the foals to play in.

The foals were running back and forth around the pond, racing paper sailboats across the placid surface in the gentle breeze as Night Light and Velvet watched from a nearby park bench. They'd all abandoned their saddlebags for the day, only wearing their sunhats and shades. Bright Eyes had neither, but was wearing his knife-belt; one of the guards had made it for him to hold the dagger he'd found in the wreckage. He never went anywhere without it hanging by his hip.

While all the foals were having fun, neither of them had missed that their granddaughter seemed a touch withdrawn. After the third impromptu race, while the other two founders of the CMC started quibbling with Scootaloo that using her wings to fan her boat across the pond was cheating, the indigo filly flounced over to the park bench and flopped down next to it in a heap. She pushed up the brim of her enormous hat (where in Equestria had she gotten the silly thing?) and poked at her sunglasses. "I'm bushed," she announced, sprawling on the cool grass for emphasis. "They can do the next race without me."

Night Light grinned around his cigarette holder at her and fanned himself with his bucket hat. "Something bothering you, Nyxy Sticks?" he said. "You've had the thinkin'est look on your face ever since we got here."

Nyx screwed up her face. "I... I dunno," she said. "It's kinda hard to explain."

"Just one word at a time, then," Velvet said. "It's how I do it when I get stuck on what to write."

Nyx nodded and thought it over, sticking her tongue out to touch her nose with the tip. "Did you ever feel like... like somepony made you a background pony in your own story?"

Velvet blinked. "I can't say I know what you mean, yet," she said. "Go on dear."

"Like..." Nyx wrestled with the words. "Like you're reading a story, right? And you start out, and the first chapter or two you think 'oh, this story is all about THIS character! the peasant colt in the cottage!' and you go along and... then somewhere in the middle suddenly it's not anymore, it's all about the lonely princess in the tower or the wandering knight and the peasant colt is just a pony in the background for the rest of the story." She waved a hoof. "I kinda feel like that. Like I'm the peasant pony and the writer's just forgot all about me and gone off and did something with somepony else."

Velvet went "oh" and nodded. "I think I know what you mean," she said. "Sometimes when I'm writing a story in one of my series, the story will change and suddenly the important characters and the unimportant ones all switch places. And if it goes on often long enough, sometimes I'll get letters from readers asking 'but what happened to Lady Elegance, I thought this story was about her, but we haven't heard about her since book three!" She chuckled, reminiscing. "But what's making you feel like that, Nyx?"

"A bit jealous of your brother?" Night Light suggested.

Nyx thought it over, lip pooching out. "NNnnno," she decided. "It's more like-- when we first got here, Mom and me, I mean, everything just kept happening. And stuff started building up, and building up, and it felt like, I dunno, like something big and important was going to happen to me-- but instead it all happened to Spike."

"So you are jealous a bit, then," Night Light said. "You think you got passed up?"

"Big and Important doesn't always mean Good," Nyx said a trifle scornfully. "Getting smacked in the mush by a dragon? Noooo thank you." Night Light laughed so hard he choked. "It's more like," Nyx went on after he recovered, "More like... I feel like I came all this way and something was supposed to happen... I was supposed to make something happen... and I never did." she prodded at a dandelion with a hoof.

"Ah, I think I see, now," Night Light said, nodding. " I imagine Twilight feels the same way, a bit."

"You do?"

"Yes, I think so. After all, usually it's her and her friends out there beating the evil monsters and things. This time she spent the climactic battle down in a hole, watching it all happen to somepony else. And Shining Armor-- how many times has he had to sit on the bench while the big hitters were out there taking a swing?" He gave Nyx a pat on her back. "It happens to the best of us, sprout."

"Life can be a lot like a story, sometimes," Velvet said. "But it doesn't always follow the plot we think it does. Don't worry, dear... your time will come." She sighed. "As it often does; over and over again."

Nyx nodded. She could live with that.

"So what was that with you and the Princesses?" Night Light said idly. "You backed out of that hospital room like you expected them to take a bite out of your rump."

"You saw that?" Nyx said.

Night Light nodded. "Couldn't miss it."

Nyx hunkered down under her hat till she all but disappeared. All that was visible of her were her tailtip and the tips of her front hooves. "Because they scare me," she said. "All I can think about when I run into them is all the bad things I ever did, and how sooner or later--- how sooner or later I'm gonna screw up." She disappeared further under the hat. "And they'll finally whomp me like they want to."

"They don't want to punish you, Nyx!" Velvet protested.

"Why wouldn't they? Everytime they look at me they remember what I did.  I'm Nightmare Moon. I'm every bad thing that ever happened to them! Especially Celestia. Whenever she looks at me, she gets this look on her face like she wants to yell or cry." Nyx huddled under her hat, remembering what Spell Nexus had told her. She found out what I was, and she wanted to unmake me. To melt me away...

"Nyx, you did do a lot of bad things," Velvet said gently. "But Twilight told me what happened. It sounded to me like Celestia did some bad things too. Do you ever think that maybe she looks like that when she sees you because she feels bad for all the things she did wrong?"

It was a revolutionary thought. Nyx emerged from under her hat like a turtle, blinking in surprise at the very idea. She scuffed a hoof thoughtfully. "Okay, maybe," she said. "But I don't wanna find out. I'd rather she'd just forget all about me."

Night Light and Velvet smiled and rolled their eyes at each other. "That'd take a mighty long time, Nyx," Night Light said.

"I'm an alicorn, I can wait," Nyx muttered. She heard them sigh and saw them give each other one of those insufferable, oh-isn't-she-silly, know-it-all looks that grownups always did. Ugh.

There was a yelp and a splash. Applebloom and Sweetiebelle were standing, staring at a space between them with startled looks on their faces. Scootaloo was sitting on her rump in the water. The other two started laughing at her. She could hear Bright Eyes laughing as well, and noticed his knife-belt hanging in midair.

Grandma Velvet eeped in surprise and Grandpa Night Light made a spluttering sound, spitting his cigarette holder out in surprise. "What in Equestria--?"

A moment later Bright Eyes flickered back into existence. He was shaking with giggles.  He and the others helped pull Scootaloo out of the pond. "Oh, Bright Eyes must've showed them his disappearing trick," she said idly.

"He can turn invisible?" Night Light said, incredulous.

It was the perfect set up. Nyx couldn't resist. She just couldn't.

"You mean you can't?" She said, her face the picture of innocence.

The dragons were locked in the New Crystal Empire Penitentiary. There had, in fact, been a Crystal Empire dungeon, thanks to King Sombra, but it had been far too small for the new prisoners, so the citizens of the Empire had quite gladly contributed to the construction of one. As they were criminals in the Empire, Celestia and Luna had brought back the ones that had landed in their laps and turned them over to Cadence and Shining Armor for disposition.  They were caged, chained, manacled, wing-bound, locked in stocks for both their heads and their feet, and had clothespins painfully pinching their nostrils. (1)

A physician from Canterlot,(2) an expert in the rather narrow field of dragon medicine(3), had just examined them all and was giving them all his diagnoses in his bland, semi-casual voice.

"Let's review. You six, outside of the injuries from the righteous plot-kicking you all received--" they growled; he only smirked and kept talking "-- are suffering the aftereffects of a massive overdose of fire opals, resulting in dangerously hyperaccelerated acromegaly, including...." he walked past Skrag and Flange. "...skeletal attenuation..." the two anemically thin-looking dragons cringed. He looked at Rockjaw. "...mineralized and calcified epidermal protrusions..." Rockjaw moaned and scratched himself feebly. He gave Grundle a glance. "...Chronic digestive eruptions and detonations..." Grundle gurgled, smoke still steadily leaking from either end of him. "...Scale shedding..." this was directed at Blizz, who had seemingly gotten off scot free, only to start having all his scales drop out a short day after his capture. He looked like twenty tons of dandruff. "...and of course, everypony's favorite, bifurcating polycranial extrusion." Garble glared impotently with all three heads at the unflappable(4) doctor from his stocks.

"You suck!" his left head said to the doctor.

"Yeah, bite me!" added his right.

The middle head ignored the two. He'd grown to hate them more than anything else around him. "Why didn't these two go away when I shrank?" he snarled.

"Oh, don't worry, you won't be stuck with those two charming individuals forever-- as much as you deserve it," the physician said. "Hydras are designed to have multiple heads. Dragons are not. Your own physiology will rectify the condition."

"Really?" Garble brightened. "You mean they'll go away? Like warts or something?" his two passengers looked a little uncomfortable at the possibility of their wart-like demise.

"Oh no no no, you misunderstand me, Mr. Garble," the doctor said. "They're not going to just 'go away.' As a matter of fact, due to a peculiarity of dragon's self-healing properties, you are going to eventually be three of you. So to speak."

He had all three heads' attention. "Huh?" they all said.

"Oh, basically, you're going to, ah..." the doctor seemed to savor his next words. "split into three.

"Allow me to describe the process. First, the skin between your necks will split." Garble flinched. "Followed by the slow peeling apart of the muscle beneath. Your skeletal structure will distort, often cracking and breaking to form new bone.  You will begin growing duplicates of all your internal organs as the splitting and branching of your spine slowly works it's way down, one vertebrae at a time. Each split of you will grow small, initially vestigial appendages through the red, scaleless, weeping skin that grows over where you've torn away from one another. The tearing will continue all the way down---" he looked pointedly at Garble's groin. All three heads looked ill--- " until you finally, aheheheh, rip your own ass into three pieces.

"At this point your tails will eventually separate in the same fashion-- but as I understand it sufferers of this condition have typically reached the end of their patience by this point. So they will hack their own tails off and let new ones grow in." He looked at them and smirked.  "Understandable I suppose, as this is a slow, laborious, and incredibly painful process that can take upwards of a year to reach completion.

"But look on the bright side. Your father isn't liable to kill you for breaking the truce between the Dragon and Pony lands... he'll probably figure your suffering for the next year or so is punishment enough." The doctor paused. "Well. Unless he decides three intolerable sons is more than he wants, kills two of you and starts all over with the third." At the mention of Garble's father, all three heads managed to mingle misery and terror in a single expression.

The doctor turned and trotted for the door. "Congratulations, Mr. Garble," he said over his shoulder. "It's going to be triplets."

As he was stepping out the door, a small purple dragon stepped in. "Well, hello, Spike!" the doctor said cheerfully. "How's my favorite patient?"

"You mean your only patient," Spike chuckled. "And feelin' pretty good."

"Well, I'll say this much; this bunch has made me glad that having more than one patient is an oddity for me," the doctor noted. "Let me see, you do seem to be doing well." He peeked behind Spike's sunglasses. "And the chemical burns around your eyes are healing nicely. Why the sunglasses? Are you experiencing any eye sensitivity?"

"Nah, thanks to PeeWee here," Spike said, petting the bird on his shoulder. "It just hides the burns so Twilight doesn't fret so much." He took the sunglasses back and slid them back on. "Besides, the look says everything about me: too hip for the room."

The dragon physician chuckled. "Well, take care, Spike," he said.

"Later, doc," Spike said as the doctor walked on out.  The door closed behind the doctor with a boom. Spike gave the guards standing on either side of the door a casual salute and walked on into the room. He was limping a bit, and was leaning on a crutch. He walked down the pathway in front of the cages, looking over the dragon prisoners without saying a word. They glowered and tried to look tough. Even if they hadn't looked like miserable wreckage, it would have been a sad effort; even an innocent like Spike could see the faint fear behind their eyes.

Spike came to the last cage and stood in front of Garble. Garble's nostrils smoked with the desperate burning need to fire-blast the baby dragon. "So, came here to gloat?" Garble sneered.

"No." Spike said seriously. "No, I.... *snort* Okay, yeah, a little." Amused, the dragonling leaned on his crutch and idly inspected the claws on his free hand. "Celestia's idea, actually. Something about closure, but gloating is fun too."

Garble stared at Spike with loathing. "Well?"

"Well what?" Spike shrugged.

"Say whatever you came to say, dweeb," Garble snapped.

"What do you want me to say?" Spike said idly. "Anything I say is just gonna be 'Me out here, you in there. Me win.' Coulda seen that one coming."

Garble faked a lunge at the baby dragon, trying to intimidate him. Spike didn't even flinch. The baby bird on his shoulder didn't even flinch. "You got lucky this time, runt--"

"Yeah, I did," Spike agreed cheerfully. "I really, really did. I mean, six to one? That's bad news anywhere. I mean, if it hadn't been for the Princesses, and Shining Armor and his army, and oh yeah, the fact that you guys are all losers and idiots--"

This time Garble did lunge at Spike. His manacles and chains brought him up short. He thrashed, the chains jangling "Next time you won't be so lucky, you little puke," he spit through clenched teeth.

"There won't be a next time, Garble," Spike said. His voice was so cold that it actually gave the angry adolescent dragon pause.

"You think that little teleporting flame trick will work on us again?"

"I didn't think it was working the first time," Spike said. Garble felt a chill go down his trifurcating spine.

"You--"

"It was a mistake," Spike said. "I didn't even know my mail-sending flame was on. If I had... I woulda turned it off. I figured I was doing what it looked like I was doing. Torching you to ash." He paused. "And they tell me I would have, if I hadn't used the mailing spell cast on me by accident. My flame was more than hot enough to do it."

A roomful of dragons, and a chill settled on the air; It dawned on all the loutish beasts in the room that despite the little dragon's soft, innocent exterior, there was a core of stone-cold dragon predator at his heart. They would never know that it was made of solid gold. All the better.

"This is where you screwed up, Garble," Spike said, stepping closer to Garble's cage. "Prince Shining Armor? He's my uncle. Princess Cadence? My aunt. Twilight Sparkle? My mother. All those other ponies running around? Those are my friends and neighbors.  I don't have a big shiny hoard of gold and diamonds. I have THEM. You messed with the ponies here, you messed with my FAMILY.

"My ponies. MINE! Got it?"

He got even closer, almost nose to nose with his rival. "You're right about one thing, Garble. I was raised by namby pamby ponies. But I'm not a pony. I won't beat you up, then put band-aids on all your boo-boos and send you home. I'm a dragon. And I'll treat you like any dragon would if you touched their hoard.  If you ever try to hurt my ponies ever again..."

He lowered his sunglasses, letting Garble stare into his burning green eyes."I'll rip you apart."

Then he slid them back up his nose, turned around,  and limped away.

Garble made a last-ditch effort to save his ego. "Yeah, right. You think the Crystal Empire will keep feeding you fire opals forever?"

Spike stopped and looked back. "Fire opals?" he said, genuinely surprised.

"I've never eaten a fire opal in my life."

Garble's gang was stone silent. Spike shrugged and limped on out of the room.

After about a second, Blizz spoke for the lot of them.. making a sound like a stepped-on mouse.

"Eeeeeeeeeeee...."

Lessons Learned

by Ignatious M. Dubious, Professor of Cultural History and Folklore, Canterlot University

PhD in folklore, mythology, oral folklore and ancient history

Dubious stood at the rail of the observation deck, looking down over the rebuilding city. To say the ponies looked like ants would be a misnomer; at this height, they were barely visible as flyspecks.

"Are you ready, Professor?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

Dubious looked down. "No," he said bluntly.

There is a great scarcity of skepticism in our world. It is a contention that I have made before, quite frequently; it could almost be said to be the mantra of my existence. I have dedicated my life to that philosophy, exercising the pursuit of truth, casting a jaundiced eye upon the world's trappings and its exuberant assertions. For all that I have been proven in the wrong, my work has been to the good, for I have been right far more often than I have been wrong, and even in my error I forced discussion to turn to the issues of proof, rather than simplistic belief.  For this I will never apologize.

"Come on, Professor, this was your choice, you know. Launching from here was your idea. Exorcising old ghosts, you said. Remember?"

"I immediately regret this decision!"

This time the others joined Twilight in laughing.

What I must repent here is the fact that in my pursuit, in my single-minded devotion to skeptical thinking, I have forgotten the other side of the pursuit of truth, the other end of the balance.

"Professor, I assure you it's absolutely safe. Both the cloudwalking spell and the temporary wing spell are the real deal. I have improved and stress-tested them both myself."

"This is factually true, however it is not persuading the rest of me in the least."

"Come on, egghead," Rainbow Dash shouted. Dubious looked over. The rainbow pegasus and her shy yellow friend were hovering just a few yards away. "Just picture in your head what you're going to do."

"There's only one thing I can picture in my head right now," Dubious said, his eyes riveted on the ground far below.

"What's that?"

"Silver Tongue and his friends, waiting on the pavement with a giant spatula."

Twilight Sparkle laughed.

In my recent excursion to the Crystal Empire, I discovered something that I had not learned while safely ensconced behind my desk at Canterlot-- that a scholar may be right nine times, and wrong once, and that one error will not only overshadow but completely outweigh and undo all the good of the times he was correct. Bear in mind a sailor may come to port safely a hundred times and run aground on the reefs but once-- it is that one time that dooms all on board. I encountered those outside my own sheltered field of work and learned that my own errors, which I had dismissed as minor, had gained my work and my precious philosophy of skeptical thinking nothing but scorn, and worse, had brought injury and ruination on others. An innocent athlete had been ruined by me when I falsely debunked her achievements. A hero of this nation had been dangerously hampered in her efforts to save us all, because my false conclusions had led her down a rabbit trail at a crucial moment. And even then, my skepticism, which was supposed to be a tool for the unearthing of the truth, had become an impediment to the search for one of the lost treasures of the ancient world.

Where had I gone wrong?

"Look, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are right there to catch you---"

"Considering that one is by her own testimony the weakest flyer in Equestria and the other has sufficient motivation to be a suspect in my own murder, this is not encouraging."

"Professor--"

It took many experiences, and many painful lumps, while working with that extraordinary crew for me to learn, in the end, what I had gotten wrong. Skepticism is only half a tool.

The other half is faith.

Not the 'faith' of blindly wishing and believing and hoping on a morning star. Faith in others.

"Look, there are even some nice fluffy clouds to land on if anything goes wrong."

"Do you realize how absolutely insane that sounds?"

For too long, from my childhood, even, I had operated under the assumption that I was ALWAYS being lied to.  Even when it made more sense to trust what I had been told. I was not a skeptic, I was a cynic... and a rather childish one, at that.

Do lies exist? Yes, but if you go through life refusing to believe anything is true, demanding that everything be proven to you with a twenty bullet point list and a double-blind test, then you are just as biased and unreliable as the gormless rube who believes everything he is told.

At some point, at some final bottom level you have to have some starting axiom before you can build an edifice of reason on top of it. And more often than not that starting axiom is "I can trust you. I can believe you have told me the truth." You have to believe that someone who came before you got their facts straight. That your ancestors knew what they were talking about. That there are, in fact, some absolute certainties in the world. That there are some few ponies who you can trust.

"And didn't you tell me the first time you used this spell on somepony they ended up plummeting out of the sky?"

"PROFESSOR!"

Dubious stopped rambling.

Twilight smiled at him. "Trust me."

You have to believe something before you can learn anything.

Dubious climbed up onto the rail, spread his gossamer wings...

You have to stop questioning, stop demanding proofs--

Closed his eyes--

and take a leap of faith.

and leaped.

For an agonizing second the professor of folklore hurtled for the ground... then his long, silvery wasp-like wings caught the wind, and he flew back up and over the top of the Spire in an enormous loop de loop.

"Wooohooooooo!!"

"I would call this assembly of the Parliament of the Crystal Empire to order."

The nobility of the Crystal Empire were gathered in the royal throne room. Many of them were rather rumpled-looking and quite a few were still dressed in scruffy work clothing, much to Princess Cadence's satisfaction. It gave her immense pleasure and pride to know that the few nobles in the Empire weren't too full of themselves to get their hooves dirty with the rebuilding. They were not so removed from things that they did not see that this was their home, too.

"From the day of the Crystal Empire's return," she continued, "The armed forces of the Crystal Empire have operated without a single legitimate head. Recent events have illustrated the peril of this. It is time this oversight was resolved." She had had enough; she was tired of flailing about while her headless Guards stumbled over one another or sat idle for lack of direction. If Shining Armor hadn't stepped in, if he hadn't commanded the respect of the ponies in all three divisions so thoroughly--- she shook her head, focusing on the present. She was going to appoint Shining Armor as supreme commander of the military by royal decree, and damn the consequences. She braced herself; no matter how the diced it, what she was about to propose would cause division and strife. She could only hope it would be possible to resolve...

"Indeed," one dignified-looking stallion with white in his mane and dirt on his sleeves(5) said, stepping forward. "Which is why I wish to propose an amendment to the Articles of the Empire." It was Lord Jade, the chairpony of the House of Lords.

Cadence froze with her mouth open. She quickly covered for it. "--You have the floor, Lord Jade," she said. "And this amendment would be?"

"For a single Commander In Chief, of the Civil, Military, and Royal Guard," he said, producing a scroll. "I've spent the last day or so ruminating on it." With a bow he handed it over to the Princess' magic aura; the scroll flew through the air and opened before her. She quickly scanned it as Lord Jade continued to speak. "It's very straightforward," he said. "there will be a new position of Commander in Chief, final authority over all three branches of the Guard-- ah, second only to you, of course, your Majesty," he gave a bow of the head to the Princess.

"And to the House of Lords," she noted idly as she scanned the document.

"...In some respects, yes," Lord Jade deferred. "Seeing as the candidate for the position must be approved by them by vote." There was a twinkle in his eyes. "Of course, the Discord is in the details. To qualify the candidate must be from within the ranks of the Guard, must already be a ranking officer, be above a certain age or must have some battlefield experience in command-- like, say, leading the forces of the Guard against an invading flock of dragons--"

"I... see..." Cadence said, amused. "I do believe I know somepony with those surprisingly specific qualifications..."

"I motion that we sign it into law immediately!" somepony from the back shouted. A murmur of voices, some approving, some objecting, went up.

"I second it!" the murmur grew.

"All in favor?" Lord Jade said. A forest of hooves went up. "All opposed?" A couple of hooves were raised. "Well that's that," Lord Jade said. "You'll pardon us skipping the signing ceremony. Next order of business; I hereby nominate Prince Consort Shining Armor for the currently unoccupied position of Commander in Chief of the Guard---"

The murmur turned to an uproar; surprisingly many were cheering; some few were objecting. Cadence had to fire off a flash-bang spell to get a semblance of order. A vote approving his candidacy was made in a heartbeat...

"I object!" a Lady of the court stepped forward.

"On what grounds, Lady Quartz?" Jade demanded calmly.

"He is the Prince! He's married to the Princess! He's a unicorn noble tied to the unicorn nobles of Equestria!"

"We'll try not to hold his shady past against him," Lord Jade said drolly, cocking an eyebrow. Everypony laughed.

Lady Quartz sighed. "It muddles the separation of powers," she said, trying to be patient. "You're all swept up in the moment, but will you not regret this later? Appointing authority to him simply because he's a unicorn prince?"

"We denied him authority simply because he was a unicorn prince," Lord Jade said calmly. "We're giving it to him because he's earned it. He proved himself worthy of it. He has experience, he has power..."

"The common ponies will object to a Prince Consort wielding power!"

"The common ponies will grow used to it--"

"I object as well."

A gasp went up from the court. Shining Armor had been standing beside the throne, slightly behind it. He moved out in front of it now. "I object as well," he repeated. "But this is how the Empire got into this mess. The powerful pandering to their own, favoring one another.

"Kings making Kings.

"This is why my wife's rule has been so rocky, why the ponies of the Empire were so broken in spirit; because the ponies here had bitter experience of it. That was the pre-Modern era unicorn's mistake; they assumed that they had the "natural" right to rule. That was our mistake as well. It wasn't racism that made the ponies here resentful of unicorns, it was helplessness. They're afraid not of rule by unicorns, but rule without a choice. Every moment of difficulty and heartache since the defeat of Sombra has been because the Crystal Ponies feel that we were imposed upon them. Any pony, any living creature would resent that. I cannot lead ponies that resent me.

"I will not take this much power without the consent of the common ponies of the Crystal Empire."

The House of Lords was muted by surprise. But more than a few saw how the Princess's eyes shone when she heard her husband speak. "And how do you propose we gain that consent, your Highness?" Lord Jade said, a touch sarcastically.

"I think the answer should be obvious," Cadence said with a smile, rising to her feet. She nodded at the two Crystal Hearts that were hovering above the throne.

Lord Jade blinked, then grinned. "Ah. Of course..."

"Lords and Ladies," Cadence said. "Will you accept the verdict thus obtained?"

A general assent was made. Cadence turned to face the throne and looked up at the hearts. Her eyes closed and her horn glowed as she opened a connection to the twin hearts, and from there to all the ponies of the Crystal Empire. There was no spell, no command, no call for a unanimous uplifting of power. This time, it was just a message. An image of Shining Armor, and a question.

What of this one?

A torrent of images flowed back from every corner of the Empire. Memories: of Shining Armor giving advice to his men, consulting with recruits, chastising, leading, commanding, dragging a wounded warrior from the battlefield, comforting a frightened foal lost in the rubble, charging headlong into battle with his horn blazing--and a tidal wave of thoughts and feelings; some mixed, some negative, but overwhelmingly ones of admiration, respect, approval... . Every pony present in the throne room, including a stunned and humbled Shining Armor, was deluged with one thought from the citizens of the Crystal Empire about their Prince, and whether he should be Commander:

Affirmation.

The sensation passed, and every pony present let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. "Well, I think that settles that," Lord Jade said cheerfully. "Allow me to be the first to congratulate you, Prince Shining Armor, on your new position as Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the Crystal Empire." He chuckled. "It can be truly said  that you have the heart of the common folk behind you." A speechless Shining nodded in acceptance as his smiling wife pressed her side against his. "We'll add in all the fiddly little ceremonial details later, of course...."

The Lords broke out in ragged applause. Even Lady Quartz, who stumbled a bit as she shook off the lightheadedness that came from being bombarded by the Hearts. "Quite good," she said a touch woozily as she regained her balance. "But perhaps next time we could use a ballot box instead?"

That evening, all of them-- Cadence and Shining, the six Element bearers, Night Light and Velvet, Nyx, Spike, Bright Eyes and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, all got together for a final dinner. It was less a formal banquet and more a family picnic, with ponies passing around the food and swapping stories of the events of the past few days.

Afterwords as things wound down and ponies drifted about with after-dinner drinks on hoof, Rarity drifted over to Cadence's side, a champagne flute hovering next to her. "Your highness--"

"Please Rarity. Cadence."

Rarity smiled. "Very well, Cadence-- could I have a moment of your time? in private?"

"Of course." She led the unicorn fashionista to a nearby balcony, open to the night air. It was a beautiful view; even in a state of half-finished repairs the Crystal City sparkled under the moonlight like an upturned basket of jewels. "I think we're away from any casual ears," Cadence said. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Rarity sighed as she looked over the cityscape. "Relationship advice," she said. "With you being the Alicorn of Love, after all, it seemed the wisest course to speak to you." She paused. "You know about Spike's... feelings for me?"

Cadence nodded and smiled. "It's hard to miss," she said.

Rarity gave an effort at a smile. "That it is." She sighed and smiled. "And now... after recent events... My feelings aren't so certain." Cadence said nothing. Rarity continued. "Oh I have always been fond of him. And I thought his 'little crush' on me was charming and adorable. But after what happened-- it's obvious it's far more than some crush."

"And your feelings for him?" Cadence pressed gently.

Rarity sighed. "What can I say? He battled a dragon bare-handed for me! That sort of thing certainly turns a girl's head." Cadence chuckled in agreement. "He's kind and brave and funny and smart-- he would make any mare, or well, any female dragon, a good husband. If dragons have husbands, that is. I could easily see our feelings for each other growing into something more." Her face fell. "But how could it ever amount to anything?"

"Because of the species difference?"

Rarity blew a raspberry at that. "Hardly. But.."

"Oh, the um.... size issue?" Cadence said cautiously.

"What-- oh no no no!" Rarity said, blushing. "Besides, there are size changing spells and transformations and um...well." her blush deepened.

"Oh well then." Cadence coughed politely. "What then?"

Rarity sighed. "It's... the age difference. And the aging difference. He's just barely into his teens. By the time he's an adult, even by pony years, I'll be a middle aged mare. By the time he's an adult by dragon standards, I'll be an old nag.... or gone entirely. How could that lead to anything but heartbreak? I gave him an out; I asked him to wait just a few years... have I just given him cruel false hope?"

Cadence swirled her drink around in her glass, thinking silently. "I think," she finally said with a faint smile, "that you're worrying to much." When Rarity gave her a surprised look, Cadence continued. "Rarity, I'm an alicorn. I could live as long as Celestia or Luna. But my husband is a mortal unicorn. My foals, if any, will most likely be mortal as well. There is a fair chance that I will see all of them pass away. What do you suppose I was thinking when I got married to him?"

Rarity put her hoof to her mouth. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't think--"

"No, you misunderstand," Cadence interrupted her apology. "Think about it, Rarity. By all rights, he could just as easily outlive me. But either way, every minute we have together I will treasure with all of my heart. None of us have anything more than today. And throwing today away, out of fear of tomorrow-- there couldn't be anything more foolish."

Rarity pondered the wisdom of those words. "Yes. Still..." she said. "As wise as that is, the heart must make practical answers as well."

Cadence sighed and smiled. "All too true. But as for that-- there are 'practical' reasons to hope for the best, too. Do you realize that pony lifespans have nearly doubled in just the last century? And every day, research goes into magic and medicine to extend them further. It's one of Auntie Celestia's and Auntie Luna's most steadily worked-on projects. We live in a world with age-changing spells and magical plants and immortal firebirds...every day a new wonder, a new discovery. In time even aging will be a fairly mundane problem to fix. Besides, you might get lucky. Long-lived creatures and Nigh-immortals seem to just be popping out of the woodwork these days. Who knows? You might actually live for hundreds of years yourself."

"My, you are the optimist," Rarity said with a cheeky grin.

Cadence laughed. "I may choose to live in the today with Shining Armor," she said, "But I fully intend to keep him around me for as many years as I can. So yes, I hold out hope."  She lit her horn and summoned a bottle. "I see your glass is low," she said. "Let me refresh it."

"Ooo, thank you," Rarity said, holding up her flute. Cadence filled it carefully, the sparkling beverage dancing in the tapered glass. Rarity took a sip. "Mmm. What is this, exactly? It's not champagne. I thought it was mineral water at first, but it has this light flavor I just can't put my hoof on." She took another long sip.

"Oh, a gift from Aunt Tia and Luna," Cadence said. "It's actually a sort of... health beverage. The main ingredient is water from a tiny mountain spring. And a handful of other exotic ingredients." Her smile was oddly enigmatic.

"Beneficial to the body, then?"

"Very." Cadence smiled. "It's very difficult to make and the ingredients are very rare and very hard to obtain. Tia and Lulu want to make it available to everypony, but right now they're lucky to produce a single cask a year."

"Goodness." Rarity looked about the room. "Well, everypony here seems to like it." She noted that even the foals had a cup. "I hope we haven't dented your reserves."

"Oh, not at all. Shining and I have a glass every now and then."

"A shame it can't be produced in quantity yet," Rarity said, taking another sip. "It's so refreshing. I wouldn't mind having this to drink every day myself."

"That is the nice thing," Cadence said. "Tia says even a single glass will have... noticeable benefits. Ones that can last for years."

"You don't say," Rarity said. She looked at the bottle. "What is it called?"

"They don't have a name for it yet, really," Cadence said. "I think they're holding back on that till they find a way to make it as plentiful as water." She chuckled.

"Well they do have a nicely designed label," Rarity said. "A crane, how fascinating. Did you know that in Neighpon, cranes are a symbol of longevity?"

Cadence only smiled enigmatically.

It would be over a century before Rarity would remember that smile, and wonder....

The train chugged its way into the Ponyville station and hissed to a stop. Nyx hopped out of the train ahead of the others and took a deep breath of Ponyville air. "Home!" she said, happily. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed it. She did a hasty check. Hat, rhinestone sunglasses, saddlebags, souvenirs, hoopy frood towel--- everything was in order. She took off her hat and glasses and stuffed them away in her saddlebag, shaking her mane free.

Applebloom, Sweetiebelle and Scootaloo piled out behind her. Scootaloo had her giant panda strapped to her back; she'd refused to let the porters touch it.

Somepony cheered. Nyx realized that a crowd of foals, most of them Cutie Mark Crusaders, were standing on the platform, waving. "Hi Nykth, Hi Thweetie, Hi Thcoots, Hi Applebloom," Twist said, hopping up to give all of them a hug. "We mithed you guyth!" The other colts and fillies crowded in.

"We got your presents!"

"What was the Crystal Empire like?"

"Did they really try to blow you up?"

"Did you see the dragons battling? I bet it was COOL."

"Hey everypony!" Nyx said. "There's somepony I'd like you to meet." She stepped to one side; Bright Eyes disembarked and waved shyly at everypony. "This is Bright Eyes," Nyx said. "him and his family are moving to Ponyville, and it'd be really nice if you all made him feel welcome, okay?"

The colts and fillies all greeted him warmly. Bright Eyes found himself blushing and grinning under all the  unexpected attention. Applebloom gave him a slap on the back. "Y'all are gonna like it here," she said confidently.

There was a commotion down the platform. Nyx looked over; there seemed to be a crowd gathering. "Excuse me," she said, and trotted down the platform, curious.

She felt a little dumb when she saw the reason why. Uncle Shining and Aunt Cadence had overseen the shipping of the Crystal Heart to Canterlot, and afterward had decided to come visit Ponyville for a short while. The crowd had gathered in front of what Nyx now knew to be the royal car of the Crystal Empire. Guards were standing in front of the door, keeping ponies back. As she watched, Roller Reel-- carefully groomed and wearing a clean shirt; Rarity had apparently attacked him sometime on the train trip-- backed out of the passenger car, his new camera whirring away.

Immediately after came Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. They stood in the doorway of the train car as camera bulbs flashed and answered questions from a few reporters. The crowd broke into cheers and applause-- and shrill filly screams. Nyx whirled about; right behind her stood a group of mares ranging from foals her own age to ones older than her mother. They were squealing excitedly and waving signs that said things like "Welcome to Equestria Prince Shining Armor," "We Love You Prince Shining,"---"Prince Shining I Want To Have Your Foals"?? Ew. 'Don't any of them know he's married?" she wondered aloud. Maybe they thought herding would make a comeback.

Standing right in front of the screaming, airheaded group were.... Oh this was too good.... Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They were made up like they'd been caught in an explosion at a cosmetics factory, and holding up posterboards covered in hearts, lipstick kisses, and glitter professing their undying love for the fabulous Prince Shining Armor.

Nyx let out a shriek of laughter before cramming her hoof in her mouth. The two whipped their heads around "Oh Eww, you're back," Diamond Tiara said, her voice dripping with all the disgust she could muster. "What are YOU laughing at, Nightmare Ninny?"

Sometimes it was really weird how ponies like Diamond would torment something one minute they went around saying was dangerous the next, Nyx reflected. "What are you guys doing?" She finally managed to say. "Don't you know Prince Shining is married?"

"Oh shut up, Ninny Nyx," Silver Spoon said. "You don't know anything." Her face got incredibly soppy. "He's the dreamiest, hottest, hunkiest stud of a Prince in Canterlot--"

"In the Crystal Empire---" Diamond Tiara agreed. "In Equestria!"

"In the Empire OR in Equestria," Silver Spoon said.

"Go away, weirdo," Diamond Tiara sneered. "We don't want Prince Shining to see us standing around a loser like you!"

Nyx started to giggle. "You dimbulbs," she said. "Don't you know--"

"Foreverrrrrrrrr---!" Pinkie Pie's scream from the other end of the platform wafted on the air.

Oh darn it all, Nyx had Pinkie Promised not to tell! Strangling on her restrained laughter, she desperately tried a different tack. "D-didn't you read the magazine Sweetiebelle sent you?" she managed to choke out.

Diamond Tiara stuck up her nose and sneered. Really, sometimes it seemed to be her only facial expression. "Not a chance," she said. "I saw your ugly face on the front page and threw it right in the fireplace-- what is wrong with you?" she demanded. Nyx was stamping her hooves with the effort of holding the words back.

"Nothing," Nyx managed to choke out.

It was this scene that greeted Shining Armor and Cadence when they finally got past the reporters and cameraponies. Shining Armor facehoofed when he saw the signs and posters. His heartless wife was no help, giggling mercilessly in his ear and poking him in the ribs. Despite it all he pulled her close and went to face off with his nemesis. As they drew closer he saw their niece standing in front of the groupies, facing two of them her own age--- just standing there rigidly with the most extraordinary mix of anguish and glee on her face. She was biting her lip and holding her breath till her eyes bugged and her cheeks puffed out, tears leaking out and rolling down her cheeks.

Shining Armor walked up to face the group. The excitement on the two fan-filly's faces was palpable. It vanished like whipped cream dunked in dishwater when he gave Nyx a playful headrub and said "Hey, Nyxy Sticks. Friends of yours?"

"Not really," Nyx managed to say.

Shining Armor looked at them. Boy, did their parents know how much makeup they caked on? "Hi girls. I believe you met my niece here?"

The look of horror on Diamond Tiara's and Silver Spoon's faces was indescribable. "NIECE?"

For the second time, a scream of inarticulate rage echoed to the Ponyville sky.

It really was good to be home.

1) Their erstwhile flunkies, the Diamond Dogs, after a sufficient amount of pleading, whining, whinging, groveling and just plain embarrassing behavior, had been marched to the border and banished, never to return on penalty of Rarity. Yes, they knew about her. They ALL knew about her.

2)Celestia did have certain scruples.

3)And not coincidentally Spike's old pediatrician. Twilight had come to regret that he'd not been lured to Ponyville as well; resorting to pony doctors and veterinarians for Spike's care had proved.... counterproductive.

4)It's hard to intimidate a doctor who's been a dragon pediatrician.

5)Sparkly dirt-- but dirt all the same.

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