Yes, this is Norspark, I just changed my name! Enjoy the chapter!

“John?”

“5 more minutes…” he replied instinctively.

“Hurry up, or you are going to be late for school, the bus will be here in ten, and if you don’t get up, you are leaving without breakfast!” at this point, John got up to meet his caller, he looked over his shoulder, only to find a horrifying sight.

“What’s the matter, dear?” John’s face was stuck in the same horrified expression after noticing the person talking to him, its face, having no facial features at all, no mouth, no eyes, no nose. Nothing to identify it. He fell off the bed and ran to a corner, the door to the room opening as he did.

“What’s the matter, mom?” another person asked, holding the same faceless ‘look’ on its head.

“W-who are you!?” he asked them, the figures looked (or so he imagined) with confusion. “Stay away!” he yelled out loud, cowering in the corner.

“John!”

“No! Leave me alone! Twilight! Help me!”

“John! Please! I’m here! Wake up!”

John found himself staring at six magenta colored ponies that all seemed to look like Twilight.

“Oh… You guys… Hey!” all Twilights returned the greeting with a glare.

“What do you mean ‘hey’”? one said in a tone that combined both irritation and worry, one that she managed pretty convincingly. “You were turning and shouting in your sleep! I thought something had happened!”

“W-whatI?“ John held his forehead tiredly and gave the room another look, he found himself only staring at Twilight, with no sight of the others but Shining and Cadence who seemed to be nuzzling each other in the background.

“Geez, eyesight, you are making me see sixtuple now?”

“What happened? You seemed to be having a nightmare,” Twilight asked, cutting his thoughts short, eyeing John warily while he recovered his bearings.

“Yeah… I’m not even sure what I was dreaming. It was odd, I dreamed of…” he racked his brains trying to remember, but was unable to come up with anything. “Dammit, I can’t seem to remember…”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter at the moment, but are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so…” he replied, while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Say, where are the girls?” he looked around but found none, as his senses began to function, his ears picked up the sound of muffled voices outside. “What the?” he got on his feet and walked towards the open door leading to an outdoor balcony, as he took his first step outside, he was met by a sudden trumpet noise, hitting his ear full force.

“BAD FLUGGLEHORN!” a voice shouted in anger, and while now completely dazed, vision partially blurry, and hearing mostly gone, John looked towards the source of the initial noise to find a sheepish looking Pinkie Pie.

“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to do that, I was practicing out here with my Flugglehorn! It’s just so fun, and the word flugglehorn sounds funny as it’s a word made of two words, fluggle, and horn! Although I don’t know what fluggle means because I’m not a smartypants like Twilight an-” her mouth was stopped by Twilight’s hoof who had just made it outside.

“That’s enough of that Pinkie. John, are you okay?” she asked turning to the sorry looking human on the floor.

“What?” John yelled, unable to hear Twilight’s voice in the slightest.

“Oh Faust…” Twilight facehooved, then gave Pinkie a glare which she returned in kind, it wasn’t too long until both mares started laughing.

“How do you do that?” Twilight asked her, still giggling.

“It’s a gift!” Pinkie responded without any humility. She moved towards John who only stared at the pair in confusion, and after offering a helping hoof, pointed him towards the edge of the balcony.

“Woah…” he looked upon the view that he had in front of him; the entirety of the empire laid before him, homes appearing smaller, the beautiful green prairie in the far ends, as well as the shield that flickered slightly once in a while, he peeked over the edge to busy himself from the sight and found himself surprised when he noticed a great number of ponies on one spot by the main plaza, all hanging around tents that seemed to be in charge of the others who quickly switched from spot to spot in order to keep up with the vast amount of ponies.

“Well, that answers my question… Wait… Why are those ponies shiny?” he asked after noticing the radiance the coats of a few of the ponies were emitting.

“Well, that’s what the ponies here actually look like regularly, pretty fascinating, isn’t it? I wonder if there is some sort of magic invo-” John groaned, partially wishing the ringing in his ears would have stayed.

“Twi,” Pinkie said simply, looking at her with a raised brow. “You don’t have to be a smarty-pants 24-7 you now?” Twilight coughed at an attempt to shift the conversation, and looked Pinkie in the eye with an irritated stare.

“Shouldn’t you be helping down there, Pinkie?” she managed in practiced calm, Pinkie gasped and then saluted her, making her way inside the castle, seconds later, the smoke trail that was Pinkie Pie could be seen by the plaza, already attending to the other ponies… With flugglehorn in hoof.

“Maybe I should go down there too, they seem to have a lot to do, maybe I could help lessen the workload,” John observed, just in time to catch Rarity tripping as she moved from one of the tents to the other, getting up instantly and rapidly turning her head side to side to check if anypony had seen it, then after quickly checking her mane, she trotted away in a dignified manner, John couldn’t help but snicker, but felt bad instantly, wanting to help them out.

“I’m not sure… You shouldn’t be going alone out there, and I’m staying here to read more of the book you gave me to check for the way to activate the Crystal Heart.”

“Crystal-what-now?” John asked confused, Twilight directed him to the balcony once more, where he looked over, noticing Rainbow Dash carrying something under a blanket and then being carefully set into a hole in the middle.

“I made it myself,” Twilight said proudly.

“Duly noted. Still, I think I could be hel-”

“No, I’m not letting you go alone, and that‘s that,” John groaned annoyed at Twilight’s sudden over protecting nature as of late, it had been apparent before, but now it was too obvious for his liking.

“What if I go with him?” came a voice from inside the castle, Shining Armor trotting outside with his wife right beside him.

“I don’t know…” said Twilight right away, not wanting the pair to get into a fight if they went together, having been told by Cadence trough letter of Shining‘s thoughts on the human.

“It’s okay Twilight, they’ll be fine,” Cadence assured her, yawning at the last word and rubbing the accumulated need to sleep from her eyes.

“What about Cadence, then?” asked Twilight dubiously, outwardly concerned for her old foal sitter.

“You can foalsit her while we are out,” Shining joked. Cadence shooting a frown, him in turn returning a kiss in her cheek which only caused her to groan.

“You are unbelievable.”

“I love you too,” he replied smugly, and before any of the present had a chance to respond, he turned to John. “Now come on, let’s go,” John eyed Shining suspiciously, but not having an alternative, he nodded and followed him out.

“Be careful, you hear!?” Twilight called right behind him.

“Yes, mom!” John responded with a hint of annoyance that wasn’t missed by Shining.

“Hey now, she is just looking out for you.”

“I know she is, sorry. It’s just she is kind of getting to me, I can take care of myself well enough, you know?” as soon as they were out of sight, Shining pushed John to a nearby wall, rapidly stopping him in his tracks. “W-what are you doing?” he asked, his voice letting out a bit of his fear.

“Sombra is actively trying to find a way to kill everypony, he tried to do so with Applejack earlier today, but she managed to survive a trail of deadly crystal spikes that made short work of a sheep. THAT’S what has my sister so worried,” John could only ponder over the new information.

“So, is that why…”

“Yes, now stop complaining and let‘s go, we have a fair to help out in.”

“Lulu, you know you can tell me anything.”

“N-no! It’s nothing! I knew I shouldn’t have brought it up!”

“Listen, it’s okay, you are still young, and there are lots of things you don’t und-”

“WE ARE OVER 1,000 YEARS OLD!” Luna replied in anger, making Celestia hold her words for a bit before replying.

“… Perhaps you are… Technically. However, you being possessed by Nightmare Moon for one-thousand years really puts that into question, mentally, you are still a young adult, and I’m just trying to help,” Luna sighed in defeat, her sister always bringing up the issue whenever she got into her moods… But one couldn’t argue with results, however.

“You know you don’t have to bring it up every time? But yes, you are right, Celly,” Luna responded, causing Celestia to groan.

“I’ve always hated that nickname. Now come on, tell your older sister, what are the current events in the empire?”

“YOU ARE 2 MINUTES OLDER THAN W-Oh, I give up,” refusing to let his sister’s teasing get the best of her, she relied the information about the other ponies in the empire.

“I see..." Celestia muttered, mulling over the events. "It was a good idea to have visited the Empire’s library, I take it that book will be useful to Twilight. However, I seem to have underestimated Sombra, he appears to have more influence in the empire than I expected.”

“His range is limited to the outskirts of the city, but we cannot let him continue, perhaps it is time I cut in?”

“No! Luna, you cannot intervene with Twilight’s test, I’ve told you numerous times of the importance of this task,” the annoyed tone that Celestia gave was proof enough of its importance.

“Very well… But I will keep a close eye on them, now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go give the fair another round,” she responded, readying herself to leave.

“I concur, and I can sense Twilight right now, so I will go check on her myself," Celestia concurred. "I need to figure out what exactly is blocking my ability to check on her.”

“You already know what is, though,” Luna said, wondering what her sister was thinking.

“I know, but I need to find out why; it just doesn’t make any sense that he would just block it."

“Very well, I’ll check on them later as well, just in case.”

“As you wish, and, we will discuss whatever has you so flustered when you return,” Celestia finished teasingly before cutting off.

“IT WAS N-Ugh…” Luna sighed and shivered, the memory of ‘his’ appendages bringing her goosebumps.

“I am in the need of a memory erasing spell of sorts,” she sighed before heading back into the fair, hoping for some cotton candy to help ease her uneasiness as she kept an eye on things.

The sounds of the young colts and fillies could be heard through the fair, their laughter filling the air over the relatively calm conversations going on around the plaza, none of the crystal ponies noticing the occasional shield flickering thanks to the entertainment that the elements were giving them, as the ponies continued their fun, John and Shining walked by silently.

“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Shining began as they arrived by the tents in the fair.

“What is?” John asked surprised of Shining’s sudden conversation starter.

“We are using all of these Crystal Ponies to protect the kingdom, their own ignorance helping them survive against King Sombra—it‘s funny, don‘t you think?,” John looked at Shining with a raised brow.

“I don’t know if that’s the correct wording, it’s more like we are helping them help themselves, it IS about their kingdom after all, I think they have an idea about Sombra, they aren‘t stupid,” John noted as Shining grinned at his words, shaking his head.

“What’s so funny?” John asked irritated.

“You are, or rather the way you view things. That’s actually what I was thinking.”

“Then why did you bring that bit of ‘using’ them?”

“I wanted to hear your thoughts, and honestly, I’m glad you didn’t fall for it," Shining chuckled. "You know, you are alright in my book, John.”

John gave him a smile of his own “Well, I’ll be, you are finally referring to me by name directly,” John laughed feeling relieved, getting a rough push from the stallion, nearly causing him to fall.

“Rude!”

They maintained conversation during the whole trip until finally reaching the elements. They helped, or rather, tried to help, starting with Rarity and her hat making, only to fail miserably and being kicked out by the pony, getting similar results from the rest of the element bearers.

“Well… That didn’t go so well…” Shining complained, sitting on a bench, huffing exhausted.

“Hey, you beat Rainbow Dash at jousting, that, was a fucking point in my book,” John noted, with Shining giving him a hearty laugh, remembering the face in the rainbow maned Pegasus after losing the match.

“Yeah…” the pair kept in silence, enjoying the calm they had devoted themselves to for the moment. Shining seemed to struggle while doing so, and he let out a loud sigh as he turned to John. “I wanna get this out of the way," he said, looking at the confused John. "Look, I’m sorry for what I said in the castle. I was being a pest, and honestly, I was just jealous of you,” he confessed suddenly, turning to John who smiled amused.

“Dude, are you serious?” John began, bursting into laughter.

“W-what?” Shining demanded, looking flustered without knowing the reason.

“I think it was pretty obvious you were jealous bro, oh God, it hurts!” he kept laughing, only to be pushed off the bench by Shining.

“Geez, that’s the last time I go all sappy on anypony,” John got on his feet and dusted himself, giving the guard pony a smug look.

“Make sure of it, being sappy doesn’t fit you,” Shining glared at him, but laughed nonetheless.

“I guess you are right… Funny how we are laughing while my wife is back at the castle suffering, darn it…" Shining lamented. "I’ll make sure not to mention how much fun I had, otherwise, she wouldn’t let me have fun with her, if you know what I me-”

“Oh God, please, stop.”

“That’s payback for the mocking, and trust me, I have lots of sexy stori-.”

“Stop! Geez, fair enough…”

The pair went back to silence, unable to keep the conversation going. John recounting to himself how he’d gotten there to begin with, the fun they’ve had, and how an overly powerful unicorn was about to destroy them.

“Wish they could just blast him out of existe- Wait..”

“Hey Shining, how come the girls didn’t bring the elements? You know, those things that Twilight once told me they used to defeat pretty much everypony?” he asked, while Shining gave him a quizzical look.

“What are you talking about? They did bring them, they always do,” John retraced his steps and thought about Twilight having a suitcase or something that could contain the objects, but soon realized that all of the luggage had been lost.

“Oh no! We have to go back outside! We need to get the elements!” John said quickly, trying his best to remain calm.

“Um, John, are you okay? They’ve had them, it‘s kind of hard to miss them….”

“What do you m-

“BUUUUUUUCK!” came a faint voice from behind them, a few ponies heard the scream, but none paid it any mind, while John and Shining looked at each other

“That came from the tower, didn’t it?“ John began.

“Twily… Come on, let’s go,” John nodded and the pair began their trek back to the castle.

After quickly running back to the tower (with Rainbow and Applejack tagging along), the group finally reached the throne room, where they found a furious looking Twilight Sparkle.

“I’m SO stupid! How did I not see it coming?”

“If I told you for the 10th time that it happens to even the best of us, would you actually listen this time?” responded an exhausted looking Cadence.

“Nope,” replied the arriving party at the same time, causing both mares to turn toward them.

“I made a terrible mistake!” Twilight began, quickly running towards the group.

“How about you explain, sis?”

“There is a page missing! And after asking around, I learned that there is only one true Crystal Heart!” she explained, pulling out the book and showing all, highlighting the rip mark with her magic.

“Uh huh…” Rainbow said incredulously. “Oh, that may be the reason why some of the ponies kept saying they were surprised that we’d gotten the Crystal Heart back. Maybe I should have been more attentive… Heh heh…” the others only glared at Rainbow. “Hey! I was entertaining the other ponies! I was working too hard to pay too much attention!”

“Did this ’extra hard work’ have anything to do with the beating Shining gave you, Dash?” asked Applejack with a sour look on her face.

“Um… No?” Dash replied sheepishly.

“Whatever the case, we have a bigger problem at hoof, and I think one of you needs to keep the ponies away from the crystal, otherwise, we might have a big panic coming,” cut in Shining, assessing the situation.

“Good point. Don’t y’all worry, Ah’ll keep an eye out for any of them curious ponies,” Applejack saluted Shining and ran out the door.

“Why does everypony feel the need to salute? A hoof bump once in a while could be nice!” John gave him an unamused look at his jest, one that Shining only shooed away with his hoof.

“What? Just trying to keep the situation from getting too tense here.”

“Can we get back on topic here? I need to find the real heart!” Twilight began, her mane already a disheveled mess.

“What do you mean ‘I’?” both John and Rainbow asked, giving Twilight a harsh look.

“I mean, that this is more than likely the test the Princess tasked me with. Rainbow!” she began, turning to the rainbow maned Pegasus.

“Y-yeah?” she replied a little taken aback.

“I need you to help the others keep the Crystal Ponies happy, we don’t want them to be discouraged, otherwise, finding the real Heart will be pointless!” Rainbow nodded.

“Fine… You can count on me!” she said, then flew out the door, heading towards the fair.

“I’ll help!” Shining offered, his wife quickly falling beside him, as she did, the small trail of magic coming from her horn gave away, and the shield outside shook, then disappearing from sight, a giant cloud of smoke becoming visible in the distance.

“Oh no… Cadence!” called Shining, the Princess of love quickly perked up and recast her magic, the shield quickly coming back, and a yelp of pain sounding off in the distance.

“That didn’t sound too good…” John gulped in fear.

“I… think it might be better for you to stay, Shining” suggested Twilight, looking nervously at both ponies.

“Yeah… Okay. Then take John with you,” he suggested, John giving him a thumbs up as thanks.

“No! He is staying he-” Twilight found John’s hand in her muzzle before finishing her sentence.

“No can do, I’m going, and you won‘t stop me, besides, I’m not getting in your way, so please?” Twilight seemed to think it over, her mind quickly scanning every possibility, she instantly groaned and gave John a worried stare.

“Fine, but please, be careful, and just so we are clear, whatever happens, do not try to help me, okay?”

“Well, I-”

“Okay!?” she insisted right away.

“Um… Okay,” John agreed reluctantly.

"Good," she nodded convinced and put herself in front of him.

“Er, what are you doing?”

“Just get on me! It’ll be faster!” John gave her an incredulous look, unable to grasp what she had in mind, he looked at himself, being over little over 200 pounds in comparison to her less than 100 as he guessed whenever he had carried her.

“Um…”

“GET ON!” she demanded, he hesitantly did as he was told, Twilight grunting as he laid his weight on her, Shining and Cadence only stared, looking just as hesitant as he was.

“G-good!” magic flowed out of her horn and she enveloped herself in it, suddenly smiling confidently, she began her trot out, John holding onto her neck the softest he could to avoid cutting her breathing.

“How are you doing this!?” he asked as Twilight increased speed.

“It’s sort of a neat little trick I learned when I needed to move heavy objects without the need of telekinesis, this is basically how I wrapped my 2nd winter last year!” John became more confused at her words. “Oh, right! I’ll tell you later! But don‘t tell Applejack I said it!”

“Err, okay,“ The pair reached the bottom of the stairs and rushed out.

“Twily, John! Be careful!” the pair heard as they left the castle, Twilight galloped past the ponies in the fair, passing a complaining Pinkie Pie on the way, John noticed Twilight‘s rapid breathing as she ran, muttering slightly to herself, she stopped and groaned for a bit, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

“Um… Twi? You okay?”

~I have the need to be quick and find myself a needed clue, - “Excuse me?”
I can‘t let anything mess up my very important test, - “Um…”
I must go onwards, there is no stopping me
To finish the task the Princess tasked me wi-~

“Twilight? What the hell are you doing? Are you singing!?” John asked confused, Twilight did not respond and kept rushing ahead but stopped her spontaneous song, passing a few ponies who jumped out of her path surprised, until finally she came to a full stop mere seconds later.

“W-what? Why did we stop?” John asked, while Twilight facehooved for the 15th time that day.

“Of course! Why didn‘t I think of that!”

“Twilight!” both turned to find Spike approaching them.

“Spike!” called John. “Help! Twilight was just singing out of nowhere and I thi-”

~I’m here to go with you on your task, whatever that may be~

“Or maybe you can sing too, don‘t mind me I‘ll wait here!” John groaned sarcastically, burying his face in Twilight’s mane.

~There is no way you are going/please I won’t get in the way!
Fine just keep yourself from helping me, on the task that Celestia has tasked me with!~

“Can we go now? Before you all start singing again?” Twilight nodded and began heading back towards the castle.

“So what’s the actual situation? All Rarity told me was that Twilight had gotten in trouble,” the dragon inquired, then listened to John’s explanation, making sure to remember. “I see, don’t worry Twilight, you go-”

“What’s going on, John?” a familiar voice called the human, causing Twilight to stop, she turned around, only to find the pony now familiar to John; Dream Chaser, pieces of cotton candy sticking from her muzzle.

“Who are you? We don’t have time for this!” Twilight responded looking annoyed.

“Let’s just say we found the solution to our problem, and we have to go, now!” John vaguely explained, the mare sighed and a stream of magic left her horn, John was forcibly grabbed, and put on Chaser‘s back, relieving Twilight of some of the weight.

“What are you do-”

“I’m going, do not worry, I will not intervene,” she replied looking at Twilight directly, her eyes responding with understanding while licking the sweet off her face.

“Very well… ‘Dream Chaser’, just please, do not intervene,” John noticed the suspicion on her voice and got off Chaser to approach Twilight.

“It’s okay, she helped me out, we can trust her to… Not help out? I guess,” he said confident, Twilight grimaced and turned to him.

“I know, and I hope you are right and my theory isn‘t,” choosing not to waste his time questioning yet another cryptic message, he got back on Chaser, and the pair set of to the castle once more.

~We are heading to the castle, where we might find a clue~ / “Of course!” John complained once more.
~I know that I can do it whether with strangers or friends,
It’s a Princess given task,
I’m ready to,
She is ready to~ John jumped slightly as Dream Chaser began her singing as well as they entered the palace.
~To finish this
To finish this~ “That’s it! I can’t take this anymore!”
~To finish the task the Princess tasked me wi-~

“TWILIGHT!” she stopped, realizing they had made their way into the throne room, Cadence and Shining nowhere to be found..

“What?” she replied looking confused, John held his face with both hands, he took a deep breath and gave the room a look before getting off Chaser and addressing them all.

“I‘m going to ignore the elephant in the room, and I will address it at a later date, for now we need to know what the plan is. Please?” he asked, trying to get the odd event out of his head for the time being.

“But, there is no elepha- It doesn’t matter, in any case, we are looking in the one place that Sombra would keep the heart… His throne!” explained Twilight triumphaly, the others only staring confused.

“Wait, this is the place where he lived thought… Right?” asked Spike, John scratching his head trying to keep up.

“Well, it is, but it just didn’t look like this at all… Okay guys, stay back, I’m trying something, I just hope it works!” Twilight closed her eyes, sweat already coming out, then, her closed eyes dripping with dark smoke and her horn glowing black.

“Um… Twilight?” John said worried at this point, Twilight began charging a dark beam from her horn, John fell back as a tinge of pain hit his forehead. “Ouch! What the…?” he opened his eyes and noticed what appeared to be a set of stairs leading underground had appeared on the floor.

“John? Are you okay?” Twilight asked, helping him on his feet.

“Yeah… How did you do that thought? That was odd,” he asked, looking at the last of the dark mist disappear from her eyes.

“It’s a trick that I picked up from Celestia,” she replied, looking proud of herself.

“Ms. Twilight, we shouldn’t waste time,” called Dream Chaser, already starting her way downstairs.

“Woah there! I’m going in, ’Chaser’, you can stay here with Spike.”

“Hey!” he complained.

“Sorry Spike, John came first, and I don‘t want more help than I can get, besides, you‘d be more useful than he was,” John huffed at this while waiting for her by the stairs. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Ready, John?” asked Twilight, John nodding rapidly in response, then, the pair making their way down the dark corridor

“Not fair…” Spike said disappointed, then he looked at the strange pony besides him and smiled nervously. “So… Come here often?”

“Why is it so dark in here?” we had gone down quite a few ways, and there had been nearly no light for a while, I had nearly tripped once and fallen, only to be caught by Twilight’s magic and pushing myself to the edge of the wall to avoid that shit again.

“Do you really want me to answer that question?” she said in a flat tone, me realizing what she meant.

“Oh shut up, I was just confused… See!? I need some damn light!” I reached into my pocket and took out a lighter, I looked at it a bit confused, it looked familiar, but I wasn’t too sure where it had come from.

“Oh, your sister’s lighter!”

“My what?” Ugh! Another shot of pain went through my forehead, keeping me from concentrating, so I put the lighter away and kept walking..

“Why did you put it back?” she asked confused.

“Um… You have magic, why don’t you use it?” I said a bit more irritated than I‘d like, but instead of getting a worried stare, I got her to facehoof… Yet again. I swear I could see the mark her hoof had left on her face by now.

“Just a bad day, everypony has them,” she countered, her horn showing a small light, we continued silently for what felt like hours, or perhaps a few minutes, my sense of timing had been thrown off ever since we came to the empire. After some dubiously counted time passed, we finally made it to the bottom.

“I… Hate… Stairs!” I certainly wasn‘t fond of them at least, I hated going up and down the damn things, even living on a two floor home back on Earth was a pain… Or at least I think it was, my mind had been very fuzzy since waking up.

“Oh, you are such a whiner,” laughed Twilight, I stuck my tongue out and looked at my surroundings; it was dark, obviously, but my eyes had grown adjusted to it well enough, and I was able to notice the door with a crystal on top right in front of us to use. “This is too easy,” Twilight said worried, and she was right, there had to be a catch.

She once again charged her magic, another stream of the dark mist coming from her horn and making a direct path towards the crystal on top of the door, opening in contact.

“Ouch! What the heck is going on?” another shot of pain hit my forehead, this time, stronger than the last, the pains had been minor, but now they had gotten painful to the point of sending me into a minor stupor every time.

“Well, I guess sometimes we can have some luck!“ Twilight quipped looking satisfied. “Ready to go?” Twilight called on me, and so, as any sibling would, I worked through the pain, she would help me get rid of it later anyway. I put my hand on her withers, and together, we went through the now open door.

…

“What?”

I opened my eyes and found myself in a valley, it was beautiful to say the least, but something stood out from the majesty of the place, and that was the charred looking spot just a few feet away, needless to say, I wasn’t in the tower anymore.

“What’s going on here… Where am I?”

“Did they send you? I wouldn’t be surprised, he knows of this place after all,” I turned to meet the owner of the voice, only to find a white blob in the shape of a pony, I began panicking, and the figure did not yield, making me realize it wasn‘t able to see me..

“I knew it, and ag…
Oh no…
Could it be… “ it babbled over and over, almost as if it was having a conversation with somepony that wasn’t there.

"Have they found it? Then I have nothing more to say to you, you must go, not even I wish death upon you, go! Before you cease to be, this world is doomed,” the blob disappeared as it had come, evaporating in thin air, I had to admit, ’end of the world’ was something that could easily pique my interest, but I had not much time to ponder upon it, I looked behind me and I saw it… An explosion. A big one from the sound of it, I gazed into the sky seeing pieces of debris flying, before being instantly wiped out from existence as the wave hit.

“What’s happening here? Why is this happening!?” I said out loud, unable to comprehend what I was witnessing, was this a dream, was this just a fantasy made in my mind? I had no way of knowing, and obviously, no escape, my thoughts raced until I felt the wave finally hit me, and I felt myself float away.

I was floating.

Everything was floating…

~~~~~

“This, is not the Crystal Heart, this, is a fraud!” one of the Crystal Ponies exclaimed angrily, tossing his hat upon the floor, his mane becoming a crystallized spiky mess showing his mood.

“Ugh, er, I!” Rarity struggled to talk as she looked upon her creation on the floor. “How dare you!? Do you know the hard work I put into that specific hat!?” she was practically fuming, the pony noticed the look in her eyes and backed away, his mane returning to the same sorry looking state as before.

“Listen y’all, we were trying to keep you happy while we recover the real Crystal Heart, can’t you not see that? Please, you have to trust us!” she pleaded, her frown sweating profusely.

“Yeah! Twilight is working hard to find it! And she will, isn’t that right girls?” Rainbow assured the surrounding ponies, receiving the sound of her friends, agreeing.

All but one.

“Hmm…” the pink pony hummed loudly, checking her tail, looking at it with an analyzing stare.

“What are you doing Pinkie?” Dash looked at Pinkie’s tail and found nothing particularly special about it. “We can’t have you being just you at a time like this, this is serious!” Pinkie turned her head slowly, housing a rarely seen look on her face. Worry, and a hint of confusion.

“What’s wrong, Pinkie?” asked Fluttershy who noticed it first.

“My Pinkie sense was acting up… It was my tail,” the mares all instantly went into high alert, Applejack instantly shouting instructions.

“Okay everypony! Watch out! Something might be fa-” Pinkie covered her muzzle with her hoof, removing it after she had calmed down.

“Well, that was a role reversal…”

“Applejack, my tail was twisting itself, it has never done that.”

“Well, what the hay does that even mean?” asked Applejack confused, Rainbow flying in the background along with Fluttershy and Rarity, trying to help calm the Crystal ponies down.

“I… I don’t know, I said I’ve never felt something like this before…” she looked at the floor, her gaze wanting to penetrate the solid concrete floor. “I… Think Johnny-boy needs our help!”

“Pardon?”

“You girls can handle it!” after recovering from her serious tone, she ran off, leaving a trail of smoke behind her, leaving Applejack holding a Pinkie Pie shaped balloon animal.

“Um…” she let it go and it floated away into the sky. “Well… Ah’ hope you know what you are doing, Pinkie Pie.”

“Twilight! Snap out of it!” Spike slapped Twilight with his tail, getting her back to her senses, she shook her head confused, fresh tears falling from her shimmering eyes.

“W-what? What’s happening?”

“You were in some sort of trance, Spike here fell in one too as we came down, it apparently makes you see bad things…” the newly arrived Dream Chaser explained, looking at Spike seemed on the verge of tears himself, he ran towards Twilight and hugged her.

“Y-you wouldn’t give me a-a-away, would you?” he said between sniffles, crying into her mane, Twilight giving him a motherly look.

“I wouldn’t give you away, even for the Princess’ oldest and most valuable book,” she replied nuzzling him. “And what about John? He went inside with me,” Chaser pointed towards the wall, where the human laid himself on, waiting.

“John! Are yo-”

“Fine, I’m fine. Let’s just keep going,” he walked towards the door and waited for the others who only stared at him blankly, Twilight turned towards the other two silently questioning them.

“He woke up like that on his own, we have no idea what he saw,” Twilight turned back and noticed him waiting by the door once more, tapping his fingers impatiently.

“Okay… I’m not gonna fail this test, and nothing will stop me. Nothing,” she gave a look of determination, and this time, a purple stream of her usual magic left her horn, opening the door and allowing them in.

“Good job Twi! Well, I guess it’s time for us to go back, huh?” Spike said discouraged.

“No,” Spike jumped in place surprised. “In fact, I think you both should come with us, that way you can protect John in case I mess up somehow, and Chaser can protect you!" she finished nuzzling the young dragon.

“But you never mess up!” Spike replied proudly, and Twilight returned a thankful smile, looking ahead.

“Let us hope that stays true,” she walked into the door, and her ears flattened at the sight she came across.

“What is it Tw- Oh geez…” the group witnessed the monolift in front of them, stairs going so high that the top was not visible at all.

“You can’t be serious…” complained Spike.

“Need a ride, little dragon?” offered Chaser, an offer that Spike quickly accepted, as they began their ascent.

“So, Twilight?” Spike called his sister of sorts.

“Yes, Spike?”

“What did you see in your trance thingie?”

“… Let’s just say it wasn’t very nice and leave it at that… I don’t want to talk about it,” feeling the discomfort Twilight had, he ended the conversation and the group continued their ascent in silence..

~~~~~

“Please sweetie, you have to hold on…” ever since the others had left, Shining had desperately tried to keep his wife awake, using every method necessary.

Every single one.

“Shining, I don’t think it’s fair for you to leave me like this!” she said sounding desperate.

“Sorry dear, I have to, maybe I can keep the blood from going to your head, but otherwise, you are staying like th- Whoops…” he had let go of his wife, causing her to fall into the edge, as she had been hanging from the balcony for the past couple of minutes.

“Sorry dear! My hoof slipped!” he swiftly apologized, his wife returning with tired blows from her wings and into the balcony once more.

“You…! I can’t do this, I’m sorry Shining, I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to hold on…” she fell on her limbs, breathing heavily and slowly, her magic disappearing from her horn until a singular spark remained, before completely going away, Shining looked up, watching in horror as the shield silently broke, and then came the… Silence?

“What the?” he looked over the horizon, but found nothing, no cloud, no menacing danger going in, it was safe. “What is the meaning of t-”

“Zzz…” the loudness of the snoring caught Shining by surprise, he looked down at his wife and found a smile on her face, he would have been smiling himself if it wasn’t for what was happening, or rather, what wasn’t happening anymore.

“Twili… This silence… Please, please, I beg to the Princesses that you are safe…”

~~~~~

“Aaaah!”

“It’s okay, Spike! It’s just some gravity magic!” she said as they slid faster and faster, Twilight had come to the conclusion they would take too long to reach the top, and after some quick thinking, she had chosen to reverse their gravity pull, allowing them to ride in the strangely smooth bottom part of the stairs.

“I must admit, Twilight, this is a rather unorthodox way to travel!” Dream Chaser screamed at the top of her lungs, but the excitement could be easily heard in her voice.

Twilight looked towards John who was riding with Spike in his hands, his face showing his fear, hugging Spike as one would a pillow, she turned her head forward as she noticed the roof coming in fast.

“Get ready! We are almost there!” it wasn’t long until they finally made it outside, all of them falling, or rather, going up into the sky, Twilight was swift, and undid the spell, causing the group to fall into a small pile.

“You are crushing me!” yelled Spike who was under John at the moment.

“Oh, my bad, Spike, here you go,” he managed to get him on his stubby feet and moved away, looking around the place they were now in. A quick look to the edge informed them of their location; the very top of the Crystal Tower.

“The heart!” Twilight said instantly, causing the group to turn quickly, it floated effortlessly, as if hanging from an invisible thread, it shone brightly, just like the coats of the ponies that it could be protecting. Twilight ran towards it, and she got closer, until she had it in her hooves. “We did it, guys!”

“Oh, that you did indeed,” dark spikes came out from the ground, blocking Twilight’s path all around.

“No…” Dream Chaser’s horn lit up, revealing a trail of magic building up.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, you wouldn’t want to harm this poor human, would you?” Twilight’s ears perked up, recognizing the voice, and she desperately looked for a crack in the wall, she quickly found one, and what she saw, caused her to instantly tear up.

“Oh, hello ‘Twili’, glad to have you here, now about you be a good little sis and give me that heart now?” John said in a rough voice, smiling deviously.

“No… no, no, no, no. No!” she noticed the dark lines around John’s eyes, the way he spoke, and the way he’d demanded things. The person talking was not John. “It's Sombra!”

“Hmph, that’s King Sombra to you, element,” he said looking inexplicably angry with her.

“But, how? How did you even get into him!?” she asked while desperately trying to get over the multiple spikes, her mind worked quickly, and she teleported out, but somehow, the power of the dark crystal only teleported her back in.

“I apologize Twilight Sparkle, but I cannot let this demon get away,” an immense cloud of magic covered up the unicorn known as Cloud Chaser, and seconds later, it dissipated to reveal an angry Princess Luna.

“What the!?” said Spike looking confused.

“Luna! You promised!” yelled Twilight who didn’t seem surprised at all.

“I am sorry, but the greater good is at stake here,” she charged her horn, preparing a magical attack, but the surprising thing was that Sombra remained unmoving.

“Why do you not move?” she asked, taken aback at his obvious foolishness.

“Well, the thing is that… I don’t want your magic to hurt me,” he responded simply, while Luna stared dumbfounded at his words, she shook her head and took aim.

“Do not try to confuse us!” she spared a look to Twilight who was only shaking her head rapidly, mouthing silent ‘no’s over and over.. “Someday, you will forgive me, friend,” and she fired, the shot hitting John/Sombra head on, the tower shook as it hit, but otherwise remained undamaged by the blast.

“Luna! Why!? Buck you to Tartarus! We could have found another way!” Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs, falling apart in the spot, pulling herself into a ball, crying at her own misery.

“Oh Twily, why must you be so melodramatic?”

“No way!” Spike said looking at something that was not supposed to be there anymore. Twilight instantly got up and searched for the source of the voice, finding her brother whose clothes had been torn from the blast, but otherwise, okay.

“W-what is the meaning of this!?” Luna said loudly, her voice echoing in the Canterlot voice.

“It doesn’t matter, what matters is that you are powerless,” he made a stance and crystals shrouded Luna, keeping her immobile, her horn covered in dark crystals to keep her from using it again.

“Princess!” Spike said, running towards her and trying to get the spikes, to no avail, only to be thrown aside by another spike, the poor dragon hitting the wall hard, knocking his breath out and causing him to instantly pass out.

"Spike!?" yelled Twilight, rage in her eyes.

“Now, the real show can commence.”

Snap! The sound of his fingers echoing somehow.

In the outskirts of the kingdom, a giant trail of smoke began to slowly move in, dark crystals appearing as it touched the ground, the Crystal ponies noticed this and began running, their terror filled screams the only sound for miles.

“Well… This doesn’t look good…” said Rainbow while watching the horizon.

“Well, no shit!" AJ yelled an uncharacteristic curse. "Whatever tipped you off? The giant smoke? Or the terrified Crystal ponies, sometimes Ah’ just can’t believe you.”

“Hey! I’m just confused here! I don’t know what we are supposed to do!” Applejack looked regretful and turned back to Rainbow.

"Ah'm sorry! Ah' guess I'm confused as well..."

“I-I-I’m scared, Applejack…” said Fluttershy, while being held by Rarity who held a sad look in her face, the intense wind that had just started managing to ruin her mane completely, seeing her like that only made Applejack worry more.

“Ah’m scared too Sugarcube,” she hugged the pair, Rainbow joining in soon after. “Ah’m scared too…”

Back at the top of the tower, Twilight desperately tried to free herself doing all kinds of magic, but all ending with her back inside.

“Ready to give up?”

“No! And give John his body back!”

“I don’t think so, he is far more useful that you would think, element,” he got on his feet and began walking around in circles. “How about I give you a clue to help you escape? Tell me, what did you use to remove to activate the crystals in the throne room?” he awaited for a bit while Twilight worked her brain, her eyes quickly shining, then, a dark mist coming out of them.

Sombra smiled.

“Twilight, stop! It must be a trap of some sort!” the young dragon said, having woken at that moment, but it had been too late, and Twilight was instantly on the floor, the mist slowly spreading across her face.

“Oh, did I forget to mention that not controlling your negative thoughts can cause the energy to corrupt you? It must have slipped my mind!” Sombra laughed, using John’s voice, the sound much more terrifying for all present.

Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs, intense pain running through her body

…

The mist grew closer, already taking homes.

…

The elements tried their best to get everypony to the center, but there was no escape, they were surrounded.

…

Cadence woke, but her magic would not work, she had not enough magic necessary for a shield.

…

Pinkie ran as fast as she could, trying to reach the top, but she was not even close.

…

Have you ever wondered what is like to be in a vegetable-like state? Able to see, but unable to do anything at all to interact? Well, what was happening to me now was twice as bad. Not only I didn’t have the ability to interact, but I had a megalomaniac controlling my body and doing things that I didn’t think were possible for me.

The lesser of them being not being shamed at being naked, but honestly, I couldn’t do much, and that just brought me to tears. I wasn’t able to help Twilight, and the worse part... To protect her.

“And now, I am trapped here forever… I’m a fucking useless thing…” I laid my head between my legs, hugging them with my hands, I found comfort in being able to do this here while not being able to do it with my actual body.

Gotta find the silver lining in this hell, after all.

“You give up far too quickly…” a voice said, I chalked it up to it being Sombra again, he had been talking to me for a while, but he’d left after getting bored, and I honestly wasn’t in the mood.

“Go away. I’m wallowing in my own despair, can’t you see that?” I was being pathetic, but there was nothing much I could do in my situation.

“Stop your moping right now, you need to get up, otherwise, Twilight Sparkle, your foster sister, the being that you cared for, will die,” now he was just being annoying, I got on my feet and looked around, not that I could see much, being trapped in a pitch black mental prison with only a way to see-but-not-hear outside.

"Shut up already!"

“You have the power to help her… Do you want her to die?” okay, now he was getting to my nerves.

“Look, she doesn’t need me! I would just get in the way! She can get out of it herself…” I lied, I wasn't too sure of the identity of this voice, as it sounded slightly different, more ambiguous.

“If you really think so… Look outside,” I did as I was told, and to say I was horrified by what I saw would be an understatement; Twilight’s coat glowed a dark purple, the dark energy around her eyes enveloping her body, I could see her trembling lips with great clarity, her eyes still tearing up.

“Okay! You showed me this Sombra, you want to break me, is that it!?” I cried out loud, I couldn’t keep it in, there she was, being corrupted by it, and I couldn’t do a damn thing.

“All you gotta do is believe and you can save your sister… Just think of this: Do you want Sombra out of your body?” the voice asked, horrible cliche aside, it managed my attention.

“… Who are you?” I asked intrigued, this could not have been Sombra telling me this after all.

“It’s your body… Just ask… And just maybe… It will respond…” the voice went away, I didn't have a single way to trust it, a way to confirm that it was right.

But I also had nothing to lose.

So, ask my body I did.

“Argh! What in Tartarus!” Twilight observed weakly as Sombra held his head, obviously trying his best to hold himself together.

“Twilight!” called Spike, he approached her easily, the spikes long since removed. “Oh Celestia… We have to get you out of here!” he said, trying his best to hold himself together, but to no avail, the spikes around her fell, allowing her a chance to escape... But unable to do it in her current state, she looked around, noticing Spike weakly dragging himself.

“Spike… Take the heart… And deliver it… It’s all up to you…” she managed, losing consciousness after finishing her sentence.

“Twilight! Wait!” he'd managed to hear her, and he had quickly cut the distance between both, he stared at his sister, her coat singed in places, her face a miserable mess, he held the need to hug her and grabbed the heart, slowly limping towards the edge. No other choice.

“No!” John/Sombra screamed loudly, smoke enveloped his body for a second, before completely disappearing from sight, leaving only John behind, who wasted no time in falling to the floor, panting heavily.

“John!?” Spike called, he ran to him, watching for any signs of Sombra’s control, but finding none. “You are back!” the human smiled weakly and pointed downwards.

“Take it… They need you…” he smiled as the dragon limped away, and before he could do anything else, he lost consciousness, and knew no more.

Author's Notes:

Well, the length from this chapter can tell you why I took so damn long to finish it.

Also, I will admit a few things.
-Too many characters is difficult to keep up, this arc helped me understand that, should have focused on fewer.
-Arcs are DIFFICULT TO DO right, I struggled greatly here despite having a general idea on what I was doing
-Switching between First and Third person is a bit jarring... My bad.

Besides that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I will admit, it's not the best, and as you can see, there were a few things left unexplained, and well... This is where the underlying plot begins, now let's hope this won't become a train wreck, but still, feel free to leave a comment telling me what you did/didn't like/despised/ways to destroy me.

Thanks!

Notes 19 – 5/9/18

Jesus was this melodramatic. Now, even as I read it today, I can SEE the rushed state of this chapter. This was actually a HUGE turning point towards my goal in the story, but as mentioned before, it couldn't work.

This was a chapter I was (for some reason) proud of. Maybe it was the way I wrote it, maybe just the fact that I ended it in a cliffhanger like that. I don't know. Honestly, looking at it now it isn't my favorite by any means.