Sins of The Past

After a few days of rapid paced flying, the spires of the Crystal Empire were coming into view. Twilight figured, Cadence would be able to get a hold on Celestia and summon her to the castle. Her wings ached. After they got out of Hajahact airspace, Strike started making her fly by herself, giving her a few pointers here and there. The trip was mostly a lonely one -- Heavy Strike insisted that they split up; he took the most concealed paths while allowing her to fly as she saw fit. Twilight wasn't sure what his problem was with open spaces but she didn't ask either.

They landed just as dusk was falling. Strike looked around nervously, walking as close to the wall as a pegasus of his size could. Twilight watched him; his jumpy demeanor was not helping her mood. She walked ahead of him, knocking lightly on the guard booth's door.

"Excuse me? Could you tell Princess Cadance that Twilight Sparkle is looking for her?" Twilight said, smiling.

The door flew open to reveal a grinning Shining Armour.

"Twily! What brings y-" His eyes narrowed and his smile turned to a grimace.

"You were banished from Equestria and all allied territories. What part of that didn't get through your thick skull?!" Shining snapped, brushing past Twilight to confront the pegasus behind her. Strike took a fighting stance, almost daring Shining Armour to attack him.

"If not for me, Armour --" he said Shining's name like it pained him to do so, "-- the next time you would have seen your sister is when the entire goddamn Hajacian army was beating Equestria to a pulp."

Twilight shoved the two stallions apart to stand between them.

"What he says is the truth, Shining. They would have killed me if he hadn't taken off with me," she said, displeased with her brother's poor treatment of Strike. "For the sake of war, of demonstration. Where is your wife? I need the full support of the Crystal Empire if we're going to fight back."

Shining Armour rubbed his forehead, finding the whole situation hard to comprehend.

"Why can't you just use the Elements? Wouldn't that save more lives?"

Twilight began to explain, but Strike cut her off.

"Sorry, Twilight, but I think I'm better suited to explain," Strike said, patting the princess on the head.

"To defend Hajahact from any attacks by outsiders, six Barriers were brought together. The one you knew as Enigma was the Barrier of Isolation. The new King is the Barrier of Hatred," he continued, drawing a diagram in the dirt. "And, as you know better than anyone, I'm the Barrier of Will. Long story short, using the Elements is completely and utterly useless with the Barriers in place."

Twilight looked confused, her brow furrowing.

"Will? That wasn't one of the Barriers Enigma told me about ..?"

Strike chucked, ruffling Twilight's hair.

"She had her own terms for things. Her term for me was Arrogance, not Will, but mine describes the nature of the Barrier better."

Shining looked at Strike and then back at Twilight.

"I'm going to go get Cadence. Twilight, you should get settled. Strike, you come with me."

Twilight shook her head and said,

"I don't trust the two of you alone. I'm coming with."

Cadence paced nervously around the room, glancing at Strike every so often.

"I tried to warn her -- that they'd notice .. did she listen? No, never. I'm only her niece after all," Cadence muttered, putting her head in her hooves.

"They would notice what?" Twilight asked, becoming more and more irritated with Cadence.

Cadence stopped and looked at Twilight.

"That the ashes returned were not Enigma's. She's ... I can't say," Cadence said, shaking her head. "Still, I'll send word to Celestia. She needs to know about this new 'development'. Be assured, though, no matter what Celestia says, you have the backing of the Crystal Empire and her army."

"They weren't‽" Strike stumbled back, his eyes wide. "That ... explains a whole hell of a lot."

"I'm so confused," Twilight moaned, burying her head in her hooves.

"Sorry," Strike said, smiling sheepishly. "I'll explain. From what I saw of it, Ire pretty much slammed his hooves into the wall. He had to have me help him free himself. I asked him what he was upset about and got the usual vague answer, though he did mention something about Enigma's body."

He turned to face Cadence, staring her down with a deep grimace on his face.

"If you don't return the body, I can't say for sure what they'll do. You've got a Barrier hostage, whether you realize it or not. They're insane on normal days. Keeping something that rightfully belongs to them, well, that's smacking a hornets nest with a stick."

"It's in the interest of security that we keep her, Heavy Strike," Cadence said, sighing. "It was her last wish, as well."

Elsewhere,

Celestia trotted down the hall, the light emanating from her horn the only reprieve in an otherwise dark hallway. She had received a letter from Cadence. It was time to test her assumptions. A door appeared in the darkness. She opened it and walked in, flipping the lights on.

Laying on the table was the well-preserved corpse of Enigmatic Insanity.