The Castle of Dreams

Chapter 4

In the Crystal Empire Theatre, Bravissimo prepared a simple backdrop with the help of a few Crystal ponies that had not given up hope; together they would make a grand show to cheer everypony up!

Big McIntosh was cooking up some sweets after gathering some crystal berries, which he would serve outside the theatre, for everypony to eat.

Forester got to work with a couple foals who wanted to learn gardening. So he had them shovel away the snow while he fitted himself to a plow.

On the other side of the city, Thunderlane was using his… detective skills to search for clues. Wearing a ridiculous hat and holding a big magnifying glass, he approached a crystal pony, looking at her through the glass, asking her, “Is my eye big?”

“Uh… yeah?” she answered, a little uncomfortable by his behavior, not to mention he was invading her personal space.

“Good! Good, that’s… that’s progress,” Thunderlane replied and continued searching for clues, leaving the crystal mare bewildered.

Above, Starfyre was looking through crystal binoculars for any signs of anything unusual.

At one of the residences nearby the Crystal Heart Courtyard, Midnight, accompanied by Captain Ivory, was talking with a local.

“Are you sure you didn’t see anypony that night?”

“I’m sorry… I wish I could help you,” replied the crystal mare, but she wasn’t looking well, as she’d lost some of the shimmer of her coat.

“I was fast asleep that night, so I didn’t see anything. Ugh! What if… what if he comes back?!”

“I promise, we’re doing everything we can to get that Heart back,” Midnight assured her. “But the first step to doing that is finding a clue about the thief!”

“Y’know… I do remember something,” the mare brought up.

“What is it? Did you see something?” Ivory asked.

“No, something woke me up that night,” the mare replied. “I heard a loud noise, like somepony had crashed into something in the alley between my home and my next door neighbor’s place. I thought perhaps it was just a cat or something.”

“Thanks!” Midnight said before he galloped straight for the alley.

Ivory followed and found Midnight giving the alley a careful inspection.

“What’re you looking for, sir?”

“Whatever stands out,” Midnight replied as he kept his eyes on the ground. He noticed a trash can with a lid set askew, and noticed around it were a few pieces of trash.

“I think we might have found our first clue, Ivory. Stand back and let me concentrate.”

Ivory watched as this time Midnight furrowed his brows and clenched his teeth, and the light was gone, it was dark. They watched as a cloaked pony ran into the alley. The pony looked out the alley, checking if anyone was following him or her. The pony stepped backwards into the alley, and bumped into the trashcan, spilling trash, bumping into another one, making a loud noise. The pony winced and froze, expecting for somepony to show up.

When nopony did, he or she quickly gathered up the trash and put it back into the can, dropping a few pieces, and carelessly putting the lid back on but not properly. The pony sighed in relief, and, to Midnight and Ivory’s relief, the fool lowered his hood. They saw it was a stallion, with a light-blue violet coat and a light and modern arctic blue mane.

“Anypony you know?” Midnight asked, releasing the illusion and everything was back to the present.

“`Fraid so, and I’m afraid it’s not good,” Ivory lamented. “The thief… I can’t believe he did it. That was Rubinstein, one of my best guards, and my friend! Or at least, I thought he was. How could he do this…?”

“Sombra manipulated him, Ivory,” Midnight assured him, placing a hoof on the Crystal Stallion’s shoulder. “I’m sure of it, that’s what he does! Now, do you know where we can find Rubinstein?”

“Finding him’s no problem,” Ivory replied sadly. “It’s trying to reach him that won’t do any good.”

“You mean…?” Midnight asked, hoping he wasn’t about to hear what he dreaded when Ivory said it.

“Rubinstein got caught in the darkness when it was over the empire,” Ivory confirmed, “he fell asleep, now he can’t wake up.”

“Because he’s trapped in a waking nightmare,” Midnight sighed with a hoof on his forehead.

After gathering the others, Ivory led them to the Crystal Empire hospital, where they were saddened to see so many ponies strapped to hospital beds to prevent them from thrashing about in their nightmares. Relatives of the patients sat in the hallways or by the sides of their tormented loved ones, there was nary a single smile anywhere.

“Nurse,” called Ivory to one of the mares at work. “Can you lead us to patient Rubinstein?”

“Of course, Captain,” obliged the nurse.

The nurse led them to a room that had nopony in it but Rubinstein. Unlike most of the others, Rubinstein wasn’t thrashing about in his bed. Instead, he was curled over in a fetal position, whimpering, his eyes closed, sweating, and mumbling.

“I’m afraid Rubinstein’s the same as he was when we found him.”

“Wait, nurse,” Midnight said, “where exactly was Rubinstein found?”

“He was found just outside the...” the nurse cleared her throat nervously, “the cemetery.”

“Th-th-the cemetery?!” whimpered Forester before he keeled over in a faint, Starfyre shaking his head in sympathy, Thunderlane stifling a giggle.

“Thank you, nurse,” Midnight said, “we’ll look into it.”

The nurse nodded and left.

“So what next?” asked Big Mac.

“All of you keep doing your jobs,” Midnight instructed, “Bravissimo, Big Mac, wake up Forester and continue to do what you can to keep the Crystal Ponies’ spirits lifted. Starfyre, you and Thunder keep searching for clues or anything suspicious, just in case something comes up.”

After they left, Ivory asked, “What’re you gonna do?”

“We are gonna go investigate the cemetery,” Midnight corrected. “The nurse said they found Rubinstein there, but if he’d had the Crystal Heart with him, you all would already have it right now.”

“So then… Rubinstein hid the Heart somewhere in the cemetery?” Ivory gathered.

“Exactly, I bet Sombra told him to put the Crystal Heart somewhere in the cemetery,” Midnight speculated, “and once all the crystal ponies had lost hope, he would take over by infecting all of them with waking nightmares!”

“But that still wouldn’t give him a new body,” Ivory brought up, “and even if everypony in the empire was under his spell, what could he do then?”

“We’ll soon find out,” Midnight said with a determined smirk, “lead the way to the cemetery.”

The Crystal Empire’s cemetery was located at the very northern edge, and like everything else, it was mostly made of crystals, even the headstones! Except the crystal resembled the dark crystal King Sombra had created with his dark magic, sharp and crooked like thorns. These crystals were cloudy, opaque, dull and lifeless like the many ponies buried beneath them. There were a few statues, alone with a decrepit tree here and there. Midnight and Ivory stood at the wrought-iron gate, the both of them a little nervous.

“Ivory, you should head back and continue overseeing security.”

“With all due respect, sir, no way I’m letting you go in there alone,” Ivory refused. “Besides, this place is big. No telling where Rubinstein put the Heart. You’ll need an extra pair of hooves to help you search.”

Midnight smirked, and motioned for him to follow.

They looked here and there throughout the cemetery, but as time dragged on, they started getting discouraged.

“We’ve looked around every headstone, and nothing!” snapped Midnight, sitting on a stone bench. “Where did Rubinstein hide that blasted artifact?!”

“There is one place we haven’t checked, Sir Midnight,” Ivory brought up before gulping nervously, “the mausoleum.”

They looked towards the crystal crypt, carved from crystals of dark and gloomy colors. Upon a closer look, Midnight saw that whatever writing had been carved into the panel above the door had long worn away.

“So… who’s the stiff laid to rest in here?”

“Stiffs, as in plural,” Ivory corrected shakily before regaining his composure. “I’ve only been down there once and that was back when I was a scamp of a colt.”

“You?” Midnight chuckled with a raised brow.

“Hey! I used to get into all kinds of trouble, till my dad straightened me out,” Ivory chuckled with a sheepish smirk. “Come on, I’ll help you open it.”

“Not to worry,” Midnight dismissed, and his horn flared but to their surprise, it sputtered out. “Hmm, guess I’m low on magic from those last few spells. Ah well, nothing wrong with getting your hooves dirty every once in a while!”

It took some doing, but before long the two had opened the door and were walking down a long decrepit hall, a lantern hanging by its handle from Ivory’s mouth to light the way, and revealing stone coffins on shelves along the walls, much to both stallions’ discomfort. Cobwebs and dust were abundant, as Midnight sneezed a few times.

“You’d think I’d be used to a little dust, considering all the books and antiques I take care of,” he sniffed.  “Still, I wonder who this mausoleum was built for.”

“I don’t know,” Ivory answered solemnly, “Back when Sombra took over, keeping track of history was the last thing on anypony’s mind. After he cursed the Empire and made us disappear for a thousand years, we’ve all but forgotten our history. If it weren’t for Princess Cadance, along with Twilight Sparkle and her friends, Sombra would’ve resumed control over us all… I’d hoped we’d seen the last of him.”

“Whatever he has planned, he won’t win,” Midnight promised, his turquoise eyes glimmering with resolve.

But soon they came towards an archway, above it carved “Within this chamber lies Evening Star, may her memory always give comfort and inspire hope”.

“Evening Star…?” Midnight read, “Why does that name sound familiar?”

“It does to me, too,” Ivory added, “…I think… she was a healer. Yeah, it’s coming back a little. Evening Star was a unicorn pony who once visited the Crystal Empire during a time of great sorrow. She helped us using herbal remedies for a sickness we’d never come across. But that’s all I remember.”

“It’s just come back to me as well,” Midnight replied, “my mother mentioned her a few times when I was a colt, back when she used to read me… bedtime stories.”

Ivory just gave him an understanding smirk.

Midnight cleared his throat and said, “Well then! Shall we… proceed?”

They entered the chamber, and in the center was a coffin.

“Think that’s her?” Midnight asked warily.

“Prob’ly,” Ivory answered, not wanting to be there, “but why would Sombra have Rubenstein hide the Heart here? Or is it even here at all?”

“Hold on,” Midnight said, as he closed his eyes. This time, his horn glowed but it was steady.  He opened his eyes, saying, “It’s here, alright, and it’s in that coffin!”

“Hate to disturb Evening Star,” Ivory hesitated.

“She’s long passed away,” Midnight reminded him although his tone was in agreement, “and besides, disrespectful as it may be, the Empire matters more.”

Midnight and Ivory approached the coffin, the both of them taking a side. They looked at each other, Midnight nodding, Ivory mirroring in hesitant agreement. Then they each put their hooves under the lid, and heaved!

They flinched, their eyes scrunched shut, as they shied away from the open casket. Nothing happened. Slowly opening one eye, Midnight looked to the casket, standing far enough away that he couldn’t see into it. He noticed Ivory had opened his eyes as well, but was just as apprehensive. Midnight slowly approached the coffin but gasped at what he saw!

There was no body; there was no Crystal Heart; within the coffin was an opaque shard of crystal that glowed dim like a dying ember.

“What is this…?” whispered Midnight, his eyes furrowed. “Where’s the Crystal Heart?!”

“For that matter, where’s Evening Star’s body?” seconded Ivory, having worked up enough nerve to approach and see for himself.

“Do you have any idea what that is?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure,” Midnight answered. “But I keep sensing the Crystal Heart from it! Maybe…”

Midnight approached the shard but all of a sudden, Ivory was overcome with fear.

“Sir Midnight! Don’t touch it!”

It was too late – Midnight’s hoof had barely touched the shard when it cracked, and spilling from the crack was a smoky shadow and the last thing Midnight heard was a triumphant laugh as deep as the bowels of the earth, as the shadow enwrapped around him.

Midnight fell unconscious, Ivory catching him, yelling his name, begging him to wake up.

…What… What happened?

Midnight looked around and found himself in the same place he’d been before, in front of the mysterious castle beneath a starry night sky. This time, Midnight focused on the statue of Shining Armor. Concentrating, he felt an unusual magic flow through him as a spell launched from his horn and hit the statue, first teleporting it in front of Midnight, and then cracks slowly spread across it and Midnight was blown back by a force and when the dust cleared, he saw…

Shining Armor!

Shining Armor lied on the misty ground, looking exhausted and dazed. Midnight helped the Captain to his hooves, as Shining Armor gathered his wits.

Midnight?

Well it looks like I’m here to rescue you, old friend.

Oh…When did you get a bigger horn? the big white and blue unicorn cracked

Don’t insult me, scoffed the blue and black unicorn in retort, lashing out his tail and whipping Shining Armor in the face. Now tell me, do you know what this place is?

Shaking himself to full awareness, Shining Armor looked around.

I honestly have no idea. When Sombra captured me, I couldn’t see or hear anything. Everything was dark… until you set me free, I guess.

Midnight looked up at the castle, is expression inscrutable, his eyes furrowed.

Midnight?

He’s after me… Midnight whispered.

Whattya mean? Shining Armor asked, knowing who his friend was talking about. What does Sombra want with you?

I don’t know, but I’m starting to see it. Sombra, for whatever reason, is after me, Midnight insisted fearfully.

Then we should get out of here while we still can, Shining Armor stated.

No, we have to find out what Sombra is planning! Midnight brayed, continuing before Shining Armor could argue, And what did he do to the Crystal Heart? He led me and Ivory on a wild goose chase – All over the Empire! – and somehow lured me with something I sensed and mistook for the artifact. Unless we get it back, or even get a new lead, Pollo won’t be able to maintain the Light!

Shining Armor looked torn, between his sense of duty telling him Midnight was right and his feelings of loyalty and concern for his friend. Finally he sighed but took on a commanding tone.

At the first sign of danger, we bolt! Is that clear?

Crystal, sir! Midnight saluted, smiling as Shining Armor returned the salute. Then they both nodded as they spoke their old vow.

To Equestria, I pledge my life, along to everypony! To safeguard all from fear and strife, alongside my best brony!

They hoofbumped, smiling at each other, just as they did when first they made that vow as colts. Then together they galloped into the shadowy castle, unaware that they were being watched.