“Grrr, why did he have to go with her?”

Rainbow Dash growled as she flew through the streets of the Empire, she passed the few ponies on the street, but ignored all of them, flying completely by instinct, as she talked to herself, her mission neglected by her own annoyed mood.

“Eeep!” the voice had been enough to snap Dash out of her thoughts, but she found herself unable to stop in time.

“What the? Oh, whoa!” the crash came, and Rainbow found herself over something soft, she opened her eyes and looked upon the trembling figure on the ground, a very familiar yellow coat in sight.

“Dash?” recognizing the voice, Rainbow quickly got off, finding herself looking at her timid Pegasus friend; Fluttershy.

“R-Rainbow? What are you doing here, I thought you were going to search the other side of the city,” she questioned her, while Dash racked her brains for an excuse.

“I-I well… I didn’t find anypony, so… I decided to come help you! Yes, that’s it!” she lied, trying to avoid an awkward conversation with her, she landed by her side and gave the command. “Let’s go then!”

“O-okay…” with that settled, the pair began their search, it wasn’t long before they managed to find a couple of the famous Crystal Ponies, unfortunately for them, they weren’t much help, this only served to frustrate Dash further.

“These ponies are infuriating!” she plummeted on a nearby bench, looking exhausted despite the short time that had passed, Fluttershy cautiously sat down beside her, silence filling the air outside Rainbow’s occasional muttering to herself.

“Um, Dash, I’m not stupid, you know?” Dash turned to her usually shy friend, surprised at her choice of words, a stern look welcoming her instantly. “We’ve known each other since we were little fillies, don’t try to hide it, something is bothering you,” the look quickly turned into a frown as she realized her attitude. “Oh, I’m sorry Dashie, I shouldn’t have reacted like that, I mean, it’s not like you need to tell me or anything…”

“No, no! It’s not that I don’t want to tell you! It’s just that I‘d like to keep hidden, for now!” she looked at her friend with a smile on her face, memories of times past replaying in her head. “But, umm… Thank you, it’s good to see that I can still count on you, even if we aren’t as close as we used to be,” she felt regretful as she let the words out.

“Well… Maybe you could come over for a cup of tea in my tree, you are always welcome and we could just talk. How about Thursday?” she smiled warmly at her friend, getting a smirk out of the rainbow maned Pegasus.

“What about Rarity? Isn’t that Spa day?” she asked, knowing of the pair’s weekly spa meetings.

“Um, well… I honestly would want to take a break from those, and not to be rude, she can be a bit overbearing when there… Please don’t tell her I said that!” she practically begged, whimpering at the end.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake you-know-where,” she finished doing the motions as she said it.

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash.”

“Nah, thank YOU Fluttershy, you really helped me,” she got off the seat and glided next to Fluttershy. “And if anypony asks, this conversation never happened.”

Fluttershy giggled and nodded. “What conversation, Dash?” reassured, Rainbow smiled.

“Come on! We got some ponies to talk to!” she flew ahead, instantly locking eyes with the first pony in sight.

“Right behind you, Dashie!” Fluttershy said cheerfully, catching up with her fast friend.

“I-I’m not sure about this, Pinkie…”

“I know you can do it!”

“B-but come on… I‘ve never done this before!”

“Don’t worry, Johnny, I’ll be with you every step of the way!”

“Alright…”

“Careful… Woah! Too fast, silly!” Pinkie giggled surprised.

“Oh! My bad!”

“Fiiine, I guess I’ll do all the work, huh?”

“Um, I‘m not sure if that‘s a good idea…”

“Oh, don’t feel bad! It happens to the best of us! So… Are you ready?”

“No…”

“Go!” he felt a small push, and he went over the edge.

“AAAAAAH!”

John had no time to react, as he was soon dropping off the tall building both him and Pinkie had been on, despite knowing he’d be safe (or fooling himself into thinking that), his fear of heights quickly overtook him, and he finally came to a stop inches from the ground, a call too close for his liking.

“WHY DID I AGREE TO DO THIS AGAIN!?” called John in obvious anger.

“Because Twilight said to be careful! Duh! She said to keep our guard up, and what better way to do that than with some good spy work!” she answered, making it sound like the most logical conclusion.

“Oh, right! Because there wasn’t any other way, and this is the most careful! Right!?” he replied, the sarcasm dripping from his words, he looked around and found nopony in sight.

“Fantastic…”

“Hey, you agreed!” she countered.

“Ugh… I guess you have a point.”

“I’m glad you understand! Whee!” she jumped off the roof much in the same fashion John had, landing in the spot right next to him. “I knew that outfit would fit you!”

“Ugh…” John groaned, he had donned what he had thought was a gimp suit before, but he’d quickly realized it was in fact, just a leather suit of sorts, reminding him of Sam Fisher himself, a fact that Pinkie had let him know, something that he acknowledged with a single ‘okay’.

“Logic? Pffft, what even is that?” he had thought, completely giving up on the concept whenever the pink pony spoke.

“So… How do we get down again…?” John asked as he looked upon his bound legs.

“Well, just reach to the rope and untie it!” Pinkie told him, giggling loudly to his apparent silliness.

“If you were somepony else, I would have thought you were making fun of me,” he trembled as he said ‘somepony’, he had realized that he would need to get accustomed to the ponies’ lingo, but doing so had been easier thought than done.

“Oooh, the blood is going to my head now! Like a sugar rush!” she replied, giggling so hard that she snorted occasionally, bringing a few chuckles from John despite the situation.

“Well, I can’t reach, why don’t you put those hooves to some good use?” John asked her, to which he got a blank stare from the no longer giggling mare.

“I can’t untie it.”

“Excuse you?” the question had come up more accusatory that he had wanted.

“Well, I can’t, you see, I have hooves!” she showed him her rather flat hooves, no fingers nor markings that could help untie a knot apparent, to show her point.

“Oh, of course! Silly me! Of course that has to be an issue!”

“Yep! We are going to have to wait for help!” John opened his mouth in silence shock, spewing soundless words at her cheery behavior, the empty streets of the city were not helping his mood. “So, want to play a game while we wait for help?”

“…”

His voice reverberated through the whole city as he let out a cry of frustration.

“Well, Ah‘m not sure, but Ah‘ may have possibly gone too far.“

Applejack surveyed the area as she found herself back in the fields outside the city, having no luck with the ponies in town, all of them not able to remember anything useful. They had in fact reacted oddly whenever Sombra had been brought up, and she had come to the conclusion that the ponies were under some kind of ‘mass amnesia’ curse.

“Well, just look at this place, can’t believe this has been trapped for 1,000 years. Sure doesn't look like it,” she took a deep breath, getting some of the clear air into her lungs, as she did, she spotted something moving in the distance, her better judgment stopping her from checking it out further, but her curiosity was getting the best of her. “Oh, what the hay! Ah’ll check it out real fast,” she thought, pushing her better judgment aside, she set into a paced trot, slowly picking up speed, and soon, she found herself galloping at full speed towards the moving creature. “Yeehaw! Dang, this feels good,” she reached the spot in record time, finding not a single pony is sight, but instead, finding a couple of tiny sheep.

“Well, I’ll be, hey there you cute little critters! You didn’t happen to see a couple of crystallized ponies around here, did ya?” all she managed to get in return were blank stares from the small animals. “Ah’ didn’t think so…”

AARGH!

“What in Celestia’s name was that!?” the ground began trembling, and she had to stay still to keep her balance, the sheep predictably, began scrambling over the place, running around in aimless panic.

“Okay y’all! Calm down!” she stomped the ground and the sheep stopped moving, forming in a line in front of the farm pony. “That’s better, now, I better get back or-”

The ground shook harder this time, and all but one sheep left the area.

“What’s going on here!?” suddenly, without a warning, a crystallized spike came out from the ground just a couple of meters away, followed by another, and another, she quickly noticed the path it was taking and her irises shrank in realization; the sheep stood in its path, too terrified to even move.

“No, watch out!” it was too late, the sheep was unable to react, as it was decimated in front of Applejack, as one of the spikes hit it head on, Applejack snapped out of it as a drop of blood landed on her snout, and she came to terms to what had happened.

“Aaaah!” her cry of fear followed her all the way back to the city, the normally brave pony galloped for her life, not looking back at all in fear of tripping, the sight of the sheep and the small drop still on her snout replaying in her mind as she finally came to a stop in the main plaza where she had started. “Ahh!” she quickly rubbed her hoof over her snout, desperately trying to clear the blood from it, disgusted by the feeling from it, she took a deep breath and tried to collect her thoughts.

“T-that poor sheep… No critter deserved that…” she took off her hat and put it close to her beating heart that still pounded heavily, a thought just as suddenly making her way into her head.

Her friends could very well suffer that same fate.

Wasting no time, she donned her hat once more, and set herself into another desperate run, hoping that she would find the others before something that she would regret would happen.

“Did you hear that, Spike?” Twilight asked the young dragon by her side, he groaned as he readied his answer.

“No, Twilight, I didn't. Can you please stop asking me this question every 30 seconds?” Twilight smiled sheepishly at the dragon and sighed.

“Sorry Spike, I’m just worried about John, what if he gets lost again…?”

“Twilight, just listen to yourself! You are foaling a creature that appears to be MUCH older than me!” Spike said amusedly, Twilight rolled her eyes, but understood his point.

“Well, yes, but he can’t do much, you saw how easy his leg broke! He is even more sensitive than you!”

“Disregarding that comment, you mean the creature whose leg healed in two days? That doesn’t sound too bad, you know?”

“Well, I suppose you are right, but that doesn‘t mean I can‘t be worried!” she suddenly smirked and looked back at the young creature. “Spike the dragon, are you jealous?”

“What? Of course not!” he groaned as Twilight quickly nuzzled his head, getting a light blush of embarrassment in his cheeks.

“Woah there, not in public! I got an image to keep!” Twilight rolled her eyes in mocking amusement, feeling slightly relieved.

“Horse apples! Hurry up, legs!” the pair heard the curse in the distance, they looked ahead, just to see Applejack running towards them, stopping when she took notice of both, gasping for much needed air.

“Applejack? What’s the matter? Did you find something?” Twilight asked excitedly. Applejack, still trying her best to recover, raised her head and gave Twilight a solemn look, one which she already knew. “What happened?” she asked, now sporting a serious look herself.

“Well, let’s just say that this King Sombra is more dangerous than we thought, come on, Ah‘ll tell you as we run, we need to find the others quickly,” sensing the strain in her voice, she followed, putting Spike on her back to save time.

“65 buckets of oats on the wall! 65 buckets of oats! You take one down! Pass it around! 64 buckets of oats on the wall! 64 buckets of o-”

As Pinkie continued her increasingly louder singing, John’s eye twitched in annoyance.

“Please kill me…”

“Oh, come on John! It’s your turn, use that voice! 63 buckets of oats on the wall!” she continued her singing without allowing a word in.

“Won’t someone be my angel!” John called to the heavens, what he received as an answer was unexpected to him.

“I believe you are in need of my assistance here,” the legs of a pony appeared in his facedown sight, he beamed, recognizing the female voice.

“D-Dream Chaser!”

“That is my name, how may I help you?” John groaned, listening not to the now surprisingly quiet Pinkie, but instead to the snickering pony in front of him.

“Um… YES? Please!” he felt himself being lifted into the air by the already familiar feeling of magic enveloping him, the ropes were untied, and the magical tingling feeling suddenly stopped.

“What the fu-” he fell to the ground with a thud, thankfully for him, being flipped before landing on his head. “Ouch!” ignoring him, Chaser continued to free Pinkie, and gently, lowering her to the ground.

“Thank you miss! Hey Johnny! What are you doing down there?” muttering to himself, he got on his feet and sighed.

“Thanks…”

“You are quite welcome.”

“Pleasantries aside, this has been a colossal waste of time, we haven’t found a single Crystal pony, not to mention we have to go back by now… Dammit…” he kicked a nearby rock, which to his dismay, managed to hit a window on its path. “Dammit!” Dream Chaser smirked, seemingly amused by his reaction, she poked John on the shoulder, getting his attention..

“Not necessarily,” she reached into her satchel, taking out a book that she magically gave to John, who only stared at it in confusion. It was thick, letters on the top and bottom of the cover in a different language, the image of a few crystals engraved into the middle.

“What is this?”

“My personal copy of a history book on the Crystal Empire, I believe it might be useful for what you might need,” she said, opening it and turning the pages easily with her magic.

“Oh, cool, er… I’ll read it later!” he quickly said, stuffing it under his armpit. “I’ll give it back later!” Chaser gave him a quick look of disgust, but reversed to her usual mask just as quickly.

“Um… Keep it, from the way I see it you might need it. In any case, I wish you luck on your endeavors,” she turned to leave, but was stopped by John’s hand suddenly touching her flank.

“Wait! We could use your help!” what happened next, happened too quickly for John to even realize it.

Dream Chaser had raised her leg in protest, realizing this quickly, Pinkie moved John out of the way as her leg hit the spot where John’s stomach had been just milliseconds before.

“Grr… No! I-I have things to do!” with a noticeable flush on her face, she ran off, leaving the pair on their own.

“What the heck!? What was that all about?” he turned to Pinkie with a quizzical look, but she only had a scowl to give. “What!?”

“That was not very gentlestallionly!” she said with what was a hint of disappointment. “We should go, the hour is almost up,” she trotted off, leaving a very confused John behind.

“WOME-Erm… Females! No matter where they are, I‘ll never get them!” he complained, then ran, attempting to catch up to Pinkie who was already far ahead of him.

“I see… We may be in deeper than we have ever been before,” commented Rarity, holding her hoof over her chin, absorbing the information that Applejack had fed the rest, she held another hoof over Fluttershy, ruffling her mane, consoling her occasionally while she cried silently after hearing the news.

“T-that poor s-sheep,” she kept saying every few minutes.

“Well, we shouldn’t show any weaknesses! Let’s go all out and find him before he gets to us!” suggested Rainbow Dash, snorting loudly in anger, the news having affected her just as much.

“No, we can’t be rash, we need to think this through, and to all of you, you heard Applejack, he is really powerful. Now, before we continue, there is something else,” her friends looked at Twilight eagerly awaiting for her response. “You CANNOT tell John! He was terrified enough with what happened before, I don’t think we need to worry him anymore than we have to,” the ponies and dragon all nodded in agreement, Fluttershy got on her hooves wiping her tears, a few of them mumbling over her over protective attitude towards John, but didn’t comment any further. "Come on, let's look for them," ordered Twilight.

“HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT!?” came the shout from John from behind the group.

"Found them,” said Rainbow, recognizing the voice.

“Remember, not a word!” warned Twilight once more.

“Little ponies raise their hooves when they want to know something,” countered Pinkie with a satisfied smile on her face.

“I just can’t win, can I?”

The group rejoined, and after some quick greetings, they began exchanging stories, retelling what they had found in their search, Twilight sighed as she got nothing from her friends.

“Well, Fluttershy and I did hear about a library…” said Rainbow, Twilight instantly glowed in excitement, but it was instantly replaced with a frustrated look.

“A library!” Twilight facehooved. “Why didn’t I actually think of that!?” she wondered loudly, unable to understand her oversight. “You should have said so earlier!”

“I thought I already had…” said a shrinking Rainbow Dash.

“Maybe we don‘t have to go, I got this, think it might help?” said John, showing the ponies the book he had on him, the disappointed look in Twilight’s face was replaced by a look of curiosity as she was handed the book, which she quickly glanced over, the pages turning one by one at incredible speeds thanks to her magic, John watched in amazement as her eyes glowed, a spark that usually meant something had clicked in her brain.

“That’s it! I know what we have to do!”

“A Crystal Fair?”

Shining Armor and Cadence looked at Twilight with interest as she explained what she had found, her friends all standing behind, awaiting for their responses.

“Yes. It was established by their first Queen, in short, it was to use the ponies’ love to give the Empire protection!” she said with a satisfied smile.

“I’m still confused over your ruler’s tittles,” added John looking outside, he noticed the shield flicker once more as Cadence nearly fell on her flank.

“We might want to speed this up, Twily,” hurried Shining.

“Um, yeah, so what do you say big brother?”

“I say go for it, it’s our only lead.”

“Don’t you worry, I won’t disappoint you, come on girls, come on Spike,” after getting Spike on her back, she began trotting along the others towards a separate room.

“Wait, what about me?” John asked confused.

“Um… You will stay here for now, with Shining and Cadence.”

“What!?” both John and Shining replied, looking conflicted. “Why?” they repeated once more. “Stop copying me!” they both did so once more, getting some laughs out of the mares.

“Please, you gotta… Help Shining keep Cadence up, would you? Please?” Twilight begged.

“She only wants you out of her way,” John shook his head, clearing the negative thought out of his head, the thoughts had plagued his mind since earlier that day, and worry as his usual view of his sister was tarnished by his own spontaneous thoughts was present on him.

“Fine, whatever. Good luck,” he gave her a short-lived hug, then waved the others goodbye as they exited the room, leaving the two ponies and human on their own.

As soon as the door closed, silence filled the room, the awkwardness each of them felt keeping them at bay, the glare that the Princess of Love was showing not helping their efforts any.

“Don‘t you all talk at once now,” said Cadence, shaking her head in disappointment.

“Um… Hi, Miss Ca- Er… Cadence,” he corrected himself after receiving a glare directly aimed at him.

“Good human.”

“So, I’m basically reduced to foalsitting. Fantastic,” grunted Shining, getting on his hooves and trotting inside the palace.

“Is there anything wrong with foal sitting?” Cadence asked, looking annoyed.

“Um… No… At least when they are young it isn’t,” he replied, glaring at John.

“Hey! I thought we were good enough! You saved my life! And I saved yours!” John reminded him, Shining only smiled smugly.

“I was going to make you repay the favor, YOU saving me, I honestly didn’t expect it,” he admitted, as they exchanged words, they unknowingly began circling each other.

“Hey, what’s your problem!?” John asked, unable to hold himself back, he glared back at the stallion, keeping his distance.

“Shining! Watch what you say!” Cadence called, already feeling the tension in the room growing, but Shining ignored her.

“YOU are the problem, you come to our world, basically house yourself with MY sister in her home, like a bum,” he literally fumed from his nose, whatever anger he had been holding back now showing.

“Hey! She offered! And I was going to get a job! But things happened…” he sighed, reminding himself of the chaotic days he’d had.

“Why did she offer thought? She was never good with strangers! You housed her for a week, sure, but she already thinks of you as a brother! What exactly did you do to cause that effect on her? That’s a bond that doesn’t come easily, much less a week!” John took the words in, not knowing how to respond to the conflicted stallion.

He had asked himself that numerous times, after all.

“Enough!” Cadence’s voice boomed in the palace, nearby windows cracking at the mere sound of it.

“B-but… I don’t know…” John said in a low voice, falling to his knees in defeat, Cadence sighed frustrated, and turned towards both of them.

“John, Shining, there is a reason why that happened,” their heads jerked instantly, their full attention now on the Princess.

“How can there be a reason?/How would you know that?” both asked.

“It’s complicated. You see, Twilight told me when she returned; she said, that when she arrived in your world, she remembered everything… However, she had lost sight of who she was.”

The question marks could have been visible in their heads at that moment.

“Okay, honey, what?”

“Well, imagine having memories, but not your own; that’s how she felt according to her. She had the memories, but she felt as if those didn’t belong. She said she was scared, but since it was such a short time, there was no need to worry, and the same thing happened to you too, John, but to a harsher extent if I‘m correct,” his mind recalled the day he arrived in Equestria, bringing back his memory issues.

“So… Me losing my memory… And me barely feeling any actual attachments to family…” Cadence seemed reluctant to reply, but forced herself to.

“…Yes, that’s exactly it.”

“So, my loneliness, combined with her own feelings of not belonging anywhere caused her to become attached to me, huh?"

"According to her, yes."

"So, that’s why I haven’t felt depressed when I remember my sis… Funny, this reveal has gotten me the most depressed since I got here,” he let out a hollow laugh, then sighed, and got on his feet. “Thanks anyway.”

“For what?”

“For telling me this, it… actually answers a lot that I would have been bothered with, but I’m going to have to have a serious conversation with Twilight over this when we are home… Whether you like it or not, pony boy,” he turned to glare at Shining, who now held a hint of sadness on his stare.

“Do what you want.”

The rest of the day seemed to pass quickly, they each took turns holding conversations with Cadence, John had given her his own stories of things events on Earth, while she told him stories about foal sitting Twilight in her younger days, this had allowed him to get his mood back up, as well as learning more of his pony sister, but time quickly passed, a quick look outside caused him to expect darkness, only to find the sky as clear and bright as it had been hours before.

“How come it isn’t nightfall yet?” John had asked at one point.

“The light created here is made by my own magic, it’s inconvenient when trying to sleep, but, as you see, I can’t really complain much,” she said, smiling sadly, John inopportunely yawning at that point.

“My bad!” he apologized regretfully.

“No, that’s alright, you can go to sleep, Shining will take over now," Cadence said groggily. "Besides, Twilight and the others should be back soon, the preparations should be finished by now.

“Okay, if you say so… Sorry…”

"Stop apologizing and get your flank to sleep," she ordered, and smiling gratefully, he retired himself to a side of the throne room, letting his head rest on the wall where he fell asleep instantly.

“Finally,” Shining settled himself next to Cadence, she pushing him away. “Really? Look I k-”

“Can’t you understand what he gave up? That must have been a tough decision for him,” Shining rolled his eyes in annoyance, something he had done quite a bit through the day.

“Are we done here?” Cadence could only sigh, but she nodded.

“All I want you to know is that he isn’t trying to replace you, he's just... Been through a lot,” she turned to the side, looking at the human on the far wall, snoring quietly, Shining closed his eyes, his unspoken response in his mind.

“I know, Cadence, I know.”

Author's Notes:

If you managed to read through this, congratulations, I love you... With love.

Anyway, this should have been posted Sunday, but I had... Issues...
Like rewriting the whole thing... 4 TIMES.

The good thing however, is that I finally have a more concrete idea of what I'll do next (whether you hate it or not(you probably will though)).
And no, I have not forgotten all of those subplots I created (what was I thinking?)
Can you guys also remind me to stop writing scenes with ALL of them involved? Those are chaotic.

The next chapter will be the last part involving the Crystal Empire plot and now involving... Something else (no spoilers for you).

My complaints aside, as always, I appreciate you reading this far, and I'd like it, if you would be kind enough to tell me what you thought, both positive and negative comments are always welcome!

Notes 17 – 4/20/18

Clearly, this is the part where I start to see my story slowly fall apart. It thankfully never truly did, but it definitely got much harder. This also added a bit of a subplot that was going to be a bit... ambitious, to say the least. Seriously, I'll just say that it's something of reality-altering proportions and leave it at that.