Forgotten Power: The Crystal Empire and Changeling Queendom Compromise

The Crystal Empire began to stir, with ponies beginning their daily routines. On the edge of a mare dragged her tiresome legs to a nearby bench. Sitting down she panted lightly, it had been a long walk to get to here but she had finally done it. Her walk was plagued with some black creatures that took chase when they spotted her. Thankfully they didn't chase her all through her travels but it did leave her breathless and sweaty. Her next objective was to gather some information, and perhaps something to drink.

"Excuse me miss, are you feeling alright?" The mare snapped her attention away from her thoughts to a rather large pony in front of her. What she saw was neither a horned one or a winged one, but it was wearing armor adorned with emblems of the city on it. The pony himself was slightly translucent, almost crystal like. Blinking and looking around it seemed many ponies were crystal like in their feature. So the Crystal Empire wasn't only called so because of the architecture huh?

"Miss?" She blinked and her attention was once again on the stallion in front of her.

"Yes I am feeling fine. I just had a long walk from my, uh, home to this city and my travels were somewhat troubled by a couple of black creatures." Her cheeks still flushed red from exhaustion, the mare let out a relatively truthful statement about her state of being hoping the guard would leave her alone.

"These black creatures, could you describe them?"

"Sure, they had black bodies and what looked like holes in some of their legs. I believe they also had green wings." The Olive mare racked her thoughts and gave what information she could remember to the guard. She hoped with this the stallion would leave her alone.

The guard silently walked away from her as she sighed a breath of relief, but as she watched the guard she saw him walk into a nearby cafe and come out with what appeared to be a bottle of water and a small sandwich. He walked towards her and held out the water and sandwich to her.

"You seem awfully worn out, care for some refreshments?" The mare blinked, hesitantly taking the food from his hoof to hers, wondering how just exactly both the guard and herself gripped the items with hoofs.

"Don't worry about paying me back." The guard gave a soft smile as the mare brought the sandwich to her mouth and took a bite. As she enjoyed the delicious vegetable morsel she looked around and noticed the Empires architecture. All the buildings were made put of some crystal, but rather than being built from the ground up it seemed these places were carved out. There were no indications of where mortar had meet some adhesive or cement, but rather all the buildings had a smooth exterior.

As the mare looked around she noticed that the guard was still in front of her, allowing her to take in the sights of the empire. Yet when she had focused back to the guard he cleared his throat.

"Now miss while I'm sure you have had an eventful day we do require that ponies who are not residents of the Crystal Empire present a travelers passport or come with us to conduct a quick test to ensure that they are who they say they are." The guard looked at the mare expecting her to produce papers about her business here in the Crystal Empire, however the mare looked at him blankly.

"Well miss if you will follow me we will get this test done qui-"

"Valiant, there you are." The guard, Valiant, turned to the owner of the voice. A white unicorn wearing exquisite armor walked towards him, the stallion being followed by other guards.

"Prince Shining Armor, is there something wrong?" Valiant turned towards Shining, his attention no longer on the mare currently drinking her water.

"No nothing outside recent events, I am just walking about getting intel on anything that's happened within the last couple of hours, I was hoping you might have some news from your squad. And please while I am on patrol refer to me as Captain."

"Sorry Captain, and yes I have received some information from them, but," Valiant looked over his shoulder to the mare, "I must first take this young lady to be tested."

Shining Armor looked at the mare, munching away at her food. "Miss do you mind if I use some magic on you?"

"Only if it doesn't cause bodily or mental harm." The mare spoke between bites. Just then she saw the stallions horn light up and felt a strange feeling overcome her. However the feeling disappeared quickly as the white stallion turned to Valiant.

"She's no changeling and I sense no unusual magic within her, so she passes. Miss may you enjoy your time in the Crystal Empire, and as Captain of the Royal Guards may I extend my apologies for the suspicious attitude towards you. The changeling activity here has gotten us a bit riled up." Shining gave a smile to the mare before ushering Valiant to his side as they walked off in another direction. The mare was finally alone.

Sighing she finished up her breakfast and got up from the bench. Throwing the leftover trash into the nearest bin she walked down the road. As she walked she saw her reflection on the buildings and was finally able to see what she looked light. Her body was a single shade of olive green, her tail and mane being a navy blue. She had yellow eyes and on her rump she could see that a picture of what looked like a stick, or maybe a  staff. It had one end thinner than the other and what seemed to be a dark stripe around the center, presumably where one would grip it.

Continuing down the road she kept her eyes about looking for anything that looked like a library or archive. After getting to an intersection she decided to ask a passerby for directions, who later pointed her in the direction of the local library. Making her way she soon came upon a rather tall building, with the words "LIBRARY" written in large crystalline letters, pictures of an opened book on both sides of the word. Walking in she saw a small receptionist desk on the left side, and what seemed to be rows and rows of books on multiple levels of floor. This may take awhile.

"May I help you?" The mare turned to see an aging mare, not elderly but most surely up there in years.

"Yes I am looking for information on a particular topic, perhaps maps of the surrounding area." The green mare gave as little information as she could, hoping that the mature woman would not be suspicious of her studies.

"Well if it is information you seek then you have come to the right place. All records of the Crystal Empire, of Equestria itself, reside in this building." The old mare thought it necessary to turn towards the rows of books and raise her front hoofs, standing on her hind legs and gesture to the large collection of books." Of course if you are seeking anything personal on a particular individual you may have better luck going to a private detective agency." She turned back to the olive mare and smiled. "By the way the name is Booksmarts, and I would be happy to get you started on your search."

"Thank you, but I am looking or information on an event. Perhaps something to do with a giant stone creature." Booksmarts looked at her, furrowing her brow as she searched her thoughts for everything and anything she knew about giant stone creature.

"You're going to have to be more specific. There are plenty of fictional stories about walking monstrosities made of ore, research on the properties of certain magical creatures here in Equestria that take after your description, even old scrolls and tombs on how to breath life into a cluster of rocks or precious ore and make a walking servant." She snapped her eyes open to the mare in front of her, "However access to suck scrolls require special permission, a signed parchment from one of the elder magicians here in Equestria specifically granting access to those. Do you have anything of the sort?"

The olive mare mentally cursed, she had feared that what she was looking for might be behind closed doors and security. "Sadly I do not, I am just a hobbyist of the sorts. I had done some previous research on the matter on it seemed this particular topic is one that is specific to the Crystal Empire."

Booksmarts nodded, "Ah that so? Well there are some local tales and history about rock and crystal beings, could you perhaps provide a bit more about the topic you are looking for?" The aging mare assumed that this individual was seeking knowledge on a certain even that happened in history.

"Well does the name Gavlan or anything associated with a mage making a golem for war ring any bells?"

"Ah yes, Gavlan the seeker, or destroyer, or wrathful...really that stallion had many monikers attached to him. Or was he a she? Was it even a pony?" Booksmarts beamed knowing she had finally figured out what the young mare had meant. Yet she soon found herself lost as she tried to recount on who or what exactly is Gavlan.

"So you know of the stories and history then?" There was a tint of excitement in the olive mares voice, had she finally found what she was looking for.

"Stories most certainly. I can't recall much else other than that it is one of the oldest tales and myths about a pony gone mad with power, using magic to erect some sort of crystal creature to destroy the Crystal Empire...or rather I guess an empire since if I remember correctly the tale took place before the formation of Equestria." Booksmarts lightly tapped under her mouth recalling as much as she could. "Well regardless we do have much on the subject. If you care to follow me." Booksmarts began walking towards an elevator, waiting for her guest to get on as well. With a quick turn of a lever the pulleys and cords began working, lifting the box to some level.

"I am sorry, but I never did ask for your name." Booksmarts looked over to the olive mare, who looked back wide eyed. A name, one thing she hadn't thought about. She didn't want to give her real name in case it raised some dubious thoughts. Quickly thinking she blurted out something that seemed plausible.

"Olive Staff, my name is Olive Staff." Olive inwardly insulted herself, was that the best thing she could come up with? Would it nit seem odd her name just happened to coincide with her color and the image in her rump?

"Pleasure to meet you miss Staff. If there is anything else I can help you with please don't hesitate to ask." Booksmarts held out a hoof for a quick shake before pulling on the lever again, stopping the elevator some ways up. Olive blinked, surprised that there was not a hint of uncertainty that the name she spoke was odd. Shrugging it off she continued to follow the mare as she led her to a a row of books. "Well I do believe this is what you are looking for, all known versions of the tales, as well as some scholarly discussion on the tale itself begin here. It is a fascinating one, though these days I think I've found other stories that improve on this tale quite a bit." Booksmarts turned back to the elevator and waved to the pony before descending down to the ground level. Olive Staff looked at the rows of books, wondering just how much there was on this subject matter. Not wasting anytime she quickly pulled out some interesting titles and began reading, hoping that in one of these novels there laid the information she hoped to discover.

Shining Armor listened to Valiant  as he relayed reports of what his squad had found out about the changelings. They had successfully followed some of the bugs back to an area north of the Crystal Empire. However they suddenly lost track of them, disappearing from sight without a trace. They couldn't even sense them anymore, nor could they remember when they exactly lost sight of the group. Shining sighed, it was the same report he heard over and over again from some of his lieutenants who had stalked groups of changelings. The only difference with this report was the location. Some followed them to the eastern borders, or the western, really every place around the border they had reported about seemed to be a possible pace that the changelings could call home. Did they have multiple kingdoms that they communicated with, was there even a central location? Perhaps they were nomadic and kept moving it.

After the report was done Shining thanked Valiant as he decided to go back to the palace, leaving Valiant as well as the other guards that were following so that they could resume their duties. Shining followed up his talks by briefly observing the new recruits training on the castle grounds, listening to the complaints of the elite as they discussed damages to their properties and things, reading more reports from his guards on the situation and coordinating them, listening again to the elite discuss possible courses of actions which more or less amounted to attacking random areas of the forest, and writing letters to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about possibly bringing in some of Canterlot's troops to help them. Inhaling deeply he looked at a clock that hung above the door opposite to his desk. It was nearing noon, and first and foremost that meant lunch. He felt his stomach rumble a bit and began thinking about what delicious food he would indulge himself with.

There was a knock at his door. "Come in the door's open." The knob clicked and with the door ajar a head poked in, it was one of the many maids the roamed the castle.

"Good afternoon Prince Shining Armor, just wanted to inform you that your wife's carriage was spotted just entering the city limits, she should be here soon." Shining smiled and thanked the maid, it had been a whole week since he had lost seen his wife. A little idle chat over lunch was more than he could ask for, and with a little devilish grin he thought that maybe they could sneak in a little afternoon delight as well. Getting up he trotted out the door to where his wife would landing.

Princess Cadence lifted herself from he carriage as she made contact with the palace floor. Thanking the guards who chauffeured her they took flight to return the carriage to storage. Cadence turned towards a door that lead inside the castle and opened it to see her husband standing in front of her. He wasted no time in welcoming her back by placing his lips onto hers, eliciting a slight squeal of surprise and delight. They lingered longer than they should have as they broke apart.

"Welcome back Caddy."

"It's good to be back, so how have you been these past few days?" Cadance and Shining walked together through the castle, Shining guiding her towards the dining area.

"Oh you know, could be better. But enough about me, how is Twily doing?" Shining avoided the question, rather not wanting to be reminded of these last few days.

"She's doing great, though she is still a bit upset that her library was destroyed along with all her books." Cadance couldn't but help but giggle at how she remembered Twilight frantically collecting as many books as she could when she was with her walking around town. That mare seemed to have been possessed.

Shining grinned, memories of his sister mainly consisted of her carrying a book by her side, or her head being buried in one. To think that she no longer was surrounded by any such literature, he couldn't picture it. As they walked he lead his wife to the kitchen door and held it open for her.

"So are you famished at all?" Shining didn't hesitate to walk towards the fridge where he peered at all the wondrous ingredients.

"Not really, but I would like some tea." Cadence filled a pot with water to boil. She noticed Shining taking out some bread alone with every imaginable thing that could be put between two slices of bread. "What are you making there?"

Shining looked at Cadence, then to his rather abundant assortment of makings. "...A sandwich with everything." Without further ado he took some slices of bread and began stacking whatever he could find on them, slathering on a healthy dose of different condiments and vinaigrettes. Cadence rolled her eyes at the scene as she took her boiling water and poured it into a cup with a tea bag.

As they sat down to enjoy their lunch Cadance continued discussing what her week with Twilight had been like, Shining nodded between mouthfuls of his food. However their talk eventually turned to the changeling attacks and how they were to be dealt with. As  it neared 1 they finished up their lunch and both were about to go about their separate business, but first Shining grabbed his wife and pulled her into a kiss.

Cadance was slightly surprised at the sudden embrace, but as the kiss continued she could feel what exactly Shining was up to.

"Oh Shiny did you miss me that much?" Cadance pulled herself from her husbands deep kiss, lifting a front leg and hiding her face behind it, looking bashful.

"It's been a whole week, I may have gotten a bit pent up." A lewd smile spread across Shining, his horn flashing.

Cadance gasp as she felt a sensation brush past her nether region, "Shining Armor!"

The sudden outburst pulled Shining out of his devious plan, thinking that maybe his wife wasn't having any of it. As he was about to offer an apology however, Cadance turned away from him and flicked her tail up. She began swishing her tail in front of Shining's face, casually caressing his face.

"Well maybe I did miss you. Shall we catch up on our playtime?" Cadance walked away in the direction of their bedroom, making sure to sway her flank as seductively as she could, showing Shining mere glimpses of his wife's bare behind. As he sat for a little bit, lost in Cadence's hypnotizing derriere, he eventually regained thought and quickly trotted after his wife.

Later that day there would be complaints as to why both rulers didn't show up to their scheduled meetings in the evening.

Time ticked away, what had been the beginning of the day slowly went by to late evening. Olive Staff was still searching through books, only able to find pieces of relevant info she needed. The power and creature she was looking for was somewhere within this empire, but still she could not find an exact location. She had only learned through multiple tales how the creature was stripped of its power and contained in some sort of apparatus. These were then hidden away in the empire, so no one could locate them.

Olive closed another book, she had lost count of how many she had gone through. Looking at the shelf there were still plenty of material, but they contained nothing but various other versions of the tale. She walked up and down the aisles, searching for anything that seemed out of place.

She stopped at a particular section of books. There sat a book, a spiral bind keeping its pages together. With no proper bind it didn't seem to be a mass produced piece, and looking around it was the only copy to be found. Olive grabbed the book and saw that it was titled "The tale of Gavlan and his golem: An academic paper on the truth behind the fiction."

Interesting thought the mare, as she made er way back to her desk where she had placed all her books. She didn't have high hopes though, as the book was rather thin. But who know's, maybe there was something.

She opened the front to see a table of contents, and immediately a section titled "The whereabouts of the Power" caught her eye. Turning to the cited pages she was astonished to see maps and detailed notes on possible areas the power could remain. Well if it was real, according to the book. But she knew it was no fairytale, she had not jumped from her world to this one to chase a myth. There were well over 20 points of interests, miles apart. It could take weeks to locate the actually source, but luckily she had come prepared.

Inhaling deeply she began to see if she could sense her magic in her current form, and indeed she could. Now came the hard part, focusing on her magic she tried to see if she could manifest her spell. Her horn flared a dark blue as there was a flash of light from the table in front of her. From the light a small notebook had appeared, her study on Gavlin and his animated rock creatures. Opening her notes she checked the map she had drawn from her studies in her world to the one in Equestria. Her notes showed an area with more nature; hardly any cities or towns dotted the map. The book from this other world had a more modern map, and while the geography was different it certainly had similar aspects.

Looking over all the material Olive began to shake from her excitement. As she crossed off points and built a navigational chart for her to locate the power she sought she soon found that the most likely place was not in the Crystal Empire itself. It seemed to be in a place far over some hills and through a forest where a town called "The Loving Lepus Local."

An interesting name thought Olive, but it was off little concern. From the contents of this book to her written notes, this is where the powerful magic she sought was. Smiling she headed back to the elevator and back down to the entrance, where she would have to ask that pony Booksmarts if there was any transportation to this Lepus Local town.