What happened in the Crystal Empire?

by PeriodicBrony

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Cadance, Spike, Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 7372

What would Twilight do if she couldn't find a present for her number one assistant?

Spike seemed to be bored with Twilight gifts. She needed to find a new one this year, but how far would she go to get him one?

The Artist's DA : PhysicWalnut (Source is on the picture!)

Part of a story trade with Clacksphob and OC is Best Pony, sharing a writing prompt.

Published 2014-04-27 12:10:03 UTC
Last updated 2014-04-27 12:10:03 UTC

What happened in the Crystal Empire?

It was already past midnight in Ponyville and most ponies and most ponies were asleep, but for Twilight Sparkle, the newly crowned Princess, this was usually her reading time.

She finished the last chapter of ‘Aerodynamic for Dummies’ before closing the book and trotted away from her desk, making her way to the kitchen to grab some water. Before she reached the kitchen, she noticed a small note on her calendar.

She leaned closer to it and read aloud, “Spike’s birthday… in a week?!” Her eyes grew to twice their size as panic began to invade her mind.

“Calm down, Twilight, it just a birthday.” She said, closing her eyes as she focused on slowing her breathing.

“What should I give him this time?” She frowned as the memory of the last year came back to her.

“Wow, Twilight! You got me a present? Thank you!” Spike hurriedly unwrapped, or in this case, tore it apart, and looked inside greedily.

Once he opened his present, not a single word came out from his purple mouth. He just stood there dumbfounded, holding his present.

Twilight, with a proud look on her face, levitated the present from his hands. “This encyclopedia is the latest from Canterlot library. I asked the professor from the university to send me a copy of-” She stopped mid-way when she noticed a sad look on his face. “Is everything okay, Spike? Did you… not like my present?”

Spike eyes went wide before he quickly forced a smile and replied, “It’s… Great! I love this encyclopedia. Thank you so much, Twilight!”

Twilight could always tell when her number one assistant was lying, and this time it was the worst type of lying. Lying to avoid hurting someone’s feeling or in this case ‘her’ feeling. She stomped her right hoof to the wood floor, her eyebrows both knotted and her eyes were staring at him intensely.

Spike began to back away slowly before he collided with a bookshelf and made a lot of books to fall onto him.

There was a silence for a few seconds before Spike burst out from the pile of books gasping for air. After his breathing became normal, he turned to see Twilight still staring at him.

“Spike!” Twilight shouted at him making him jumped a bit. “Don’t lie to me! I know that you’re lying. Just tell me that you didn’t like the present and I won’t be mad.”

Spike got nothing. He had been caught. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I don’t want to hurt your feeling, but you always give me books as a present and I’m tired of it!” He covered his face with his hand awaiting his judgment, but there was nothing. Instead, all he saw was Twilight standing there, jaw-slacked.

Twilight remembered waking in a hospital after that event. She shook her head, dismissed the memory of that day. This time, she was going to find him a present that will make him happy.

She began preparing her quill and paper. She wrote a list of present that he would like.
“A blanket? Nah. What about… new bed? I just bought that a week ago.” She sighed in frustration before walking to look at spike belonging.

She looked around for a bit and gave up because she saw nothing except for Rarity pictures.

“That’s it!” Her eyes grew wide in excitement.

“Spike really loves gems and Rarity knows the gem finding spell!” She squealed like a filly before add ‘gems’ into her present list.

She looked at the clocked and saw that it was already 2 am, “maybe I should call it a day and I’ll visit Rarity tomorrow.” She used her magic to snuff out the candle and went to bed.

“Spike, I’m going to go out for a bit. Take good care of the Libra- Spike?” She noticed a sad look on his face.

“Are you okay?” She began walking toward him, but stopped as Spike lifted up his claw, making a stop sign.

“Twilight, you never got me a good present.” His voice was low and scary enough to make her fur stood up.

“I don’t want to be with you anymore. I better spend my time with Rarity more than be with you.”

“What are you talking about, Spike?” Her voice was shaking.

“You are nothing to me anymore, goodbye, Twilight.” He began to walk away, leaving Twilight alone in her library.

“No, you can’t go! I-I-I find you something nice. I’ll do anything for you a-a-and I’ll-” The words died in her throat when her number one assistant disappeared from her sight.

“Come back…” Tears were streaming down on her face. She had lost Spike…

Suddenly, the room began to shake and everything started to fall apart.

“Twilight wake up!” Spike was standing at the bed’s side while holding shaking Twilight.

“Huh? Wah?” Twilight spring herself up from bed.

“Twilight, are you okay? You were crying and mumbled something. Are you having a nightmare?” He looked at her in concerned.

Twilight wiped tears off her face and faked a smile, “It’s nothing, spike. Just a bad dream. There’s nothing to worry.”

Spike looked unconvinced, but shrugged it off “If you say so. Anyway, I made your favorite hayburger. Come down if you’re hungry.” Before walking downstairs into the kitchen.

“I really need to stop thinking about that.” She sighed and got up from bed.

After taking care of everything, she told spike to watch over the library while she was gone and headed straight to Rarity’s place.

She had arrived at Carousel Boutique, she walked closer to the door, but before she could knock, she heard a loud crash and Rarity’s scream inside.

She quickly pushed the door open with her magic and jump inside. She met with Rarity, who was downright in panic stage and three little fillies standing and shuffling their hooves around with guilt look on their faces.

She also saw pieces of cloth that was decorated with gems, lots of gems.

“MY LIFE IS RUINED!” Rarity said with a crack voice before fainting, but Twilight was quick enough to catch Rarity with her magic and placed her down on the couch.

“What happened here?” Twilight was confused, but guessing from Rarity’s reaction, this whole situation involved the CMCs must not be a good thing.

Three of them were looking at each other. “You tell her” “No, you tell her” “Why don’t you tell her yourself, Scootaloo” “Why should I do that? This was your idea in the first place.” Twilight was standing there looking at three of them arguing and pushing each other around.

“STOP!” Twilight yelled, “Please, you girls could tell me together. What was happening before I was here?” She

There was a short silence before Sweetie Belle started, “Well, we wanted to upgrade our capes,” Scootaloo continued for her, “while we were having a sleepover at Rarity’s place,” And Applebloom finished it, “we think it would be a good idea to make a new one with Rarity’s gemstones since she said she had no work to do at the moment.”

“I may not have a new line to be working on, but those gemstones are the last group I could find around these parts of town.” Rarity was talking on her couch with tears.

“What do you mean by last group, Rarity?” Twilight looked at her confusingly.

“We’re running out of gems in Ponyville, Twilight.” Twilight eyes went wide and her jaw dropped.

“This is the last group of gems I could find because those ruffian diamond dogs think it would be a good idea to dig up all the gems and sold them to ponies in Manehattan.” She spoke with a distress look and still streaming down on her face.

“You mean to tell me that there are no gems anymore?” Twilight voice was cracking and her eye was twitching.

“Yes, now we could only buy them from the store and you know how much it cost compare to bits. Oh, what am I going to do?” She fainted yet again.

‘No gems?’ Twilight stood there like a statue, unable to respond.

“I don’t get it. Why does she have to be such a drama queen? It’s not the end of the world or something.” Scootaloo said with unamused look.

“Hey! Don’t talk about my sister like that.” Sweetie belle was looking at her angrily.

“Sorry, but you know I think she could find someplace else to look for those gemstones.”

“How about a Crystal Empire?” Applebloom suggested with a beam.

“That’s it!” Twilight was shouting in excitement before grabbing Applebloom and span around with her.

“I have to get to the Crystal Empire. Please, take good care of Rarity for me.” Twilight spoke gleefully and hop out the door.

“What… just happened?” Sweetie belle was confused in Twilight’s change of mood.

“I don’t know.” Applebloom raised her eyebrow and shrugged.

“Just put that aside, I have a better idea that we might get our cutie marks!” Scootaloo was smirking.

“What is it?” Both of them spoke in unison.

“I saw this book in one of Rarity’s drawers.” She picked up a book with her wing.

“I didn’t know you are able to read, Scootaloo. I’m quite surprise.” Applebloom said with a playful grin.

“I can read alright.” She said and stared right back at her with a vindictive look.

“Anyway, this book is about something calls Dragon taming.” Scootaloo said with a huge grin.

“Huh? Dragon? Why would she have something like that?” Sweetie Belle asked with a puzzle frown.

“I don’t know, but this looks like a way to gain our cutie marks, right?” She was waiting for her friend to answer.

“Alright, but next time I’ll be the one who decide what we would do.” Applebloom said smiling.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders: Dragon Tamers yay!” They shouted in unison and ran off the boutique to find Spike.

Twilight Sparkle had arrived at her Golden Oak Library. She opened the door and quickly trotted inside with a big smile on her face.

“Hmm… I wonder what kind of gem Spike like the most. Well, Spike does like everything involving jewels.”

She levitated the book about gemstone out from one of her bookshelves and began to read the title, “An egghead’s guide to mining. Hmm… I should at least study it before I go.”

“Twilight, since you are here. I’ll go out with The CMCs a bit. Is that okay with you?” Spike noticed that she was so absorbed in her book “Well, I’ll be going then.” He walked out, unnoticed by Twilight.

She spent only an hour before she closed the book. “I should get ready. The train would leave in about half an hour.”

Spike had come back from his little adventure with the CMCs and he looked pretty beaten up, while Twilight began packing all the stuff she needed for the trip to the Crystal Empire.

Spike walked up to her, “Where are you going, Twilight?” Spike asked pointing at the luggage.

“Oh, Spike, I was about to tell you. You see, I plan to visit Cadence and Shining armor today.” She smiled at him.

“Crystal Empire? Can I go with you, Twilight?” Spike beamed with excitement and maybe a little bit drooling.

“I don’t know, Spike. I don-” She paused for a second. ‘If Spike is coming with me, maybe I could ask him about things he likes.’ She nodded in response, “Okay, Spike. Go pack your things and we need to take Owowiscious to Fluttershy before we leave.”

“Got it!” He raised his arm in a salute gesture and ran off to the bedroom.

After saying goodbye to Fluttershy and Owowiscious, they headed to the train station while Spike sitting on her back.

“Hey, Twilight. Do you think they will let me taste a bit of their crystal? Since, I’m the one, who saved the empire from an evil king Sombra.” Spike looked at her with a playful grin before Twilight rolled her eyes in response.

“Easy there, big boy. I know that you saved the empire and all, but it’s me who let you save it.” She said with a smug.

“Oh, come on! If I didn’t go with you, we wouldn’t be able to save them.” Spike was pouting.

Twilight giggled at Spike reaction, “Sure, my hero. Now, let’s get to the Crystal Empire!”

The trip to the Crystal Empire was rather an enjoyment for both of them. Spike was talking about the jewels he could eat/find at the place and Twilight was listening to him and giggled all the way.

They had arrived in the Crystal Empire and all the ponies were looking at Twilight.

“The princess is here.”

“Wow, the last time I’ve seen her, she still has no wings”

“Look at her hair, it so gorgeous!”

“I’ve never seen a princess this close before. I think I’m going to faint.”

Everypony had been talking about her all the way until they reach the castle and Spike seemed to be a bit jealous.

They reached the castle’s gate by noon and Twilight was talking to the guard and quickly got an entry after they noticed the Princess.

While they were walking along the passage to the main hall, Twilight noticed that Spike was keeping quiet since they got off the train station and he looked a bit grumpy.

“What’s wrong, Spike? You’ve gone a bit quiet since we had arrived.” Twilight looked back at him in concerned.

He jumped a little before replying, “It’s nothing, Twilight.” He gazed his eyes in another direction.

Twilight sighed and shook her head in disbelief, “Is this going to happen again? You know you’re terrible at lying and you know I hate that. So, tell me, Spike.”

Spike felt a chill down his spine. He didn’t want to upset Twilight, “Well, you see. I was a bit frustrated that nopony recognized me. I’m the one who saved the Crystal Empire. I think I deserve more attention.” His cheek turned a bit red from embarrassment.

Twilight covered her mouth with her hoof, trying hardest not to laugh, but the attempt had been in vain, “Bwahaha, Spike, I never knew you are an attention seeker.” She started rolling on the floor and Spike needed to jump off her back.

“Yeah yeah, laugh all you want.” He turned his face from her, cheek was still red.

Her laugh died down before she began wiping off her tears, “Haha, I’m sorry, Spike. I couldn’t help it.” She levitated him back on her back.

“I think they can remember you, but they just didn’t show it. Deep down I think they appreciate for what you did, but it’s been a long time after all.” She smiled at him.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Thanks, Twilight.” He smiled back.

They had reached the main hall and greet by the sight of crystal ponies on guard (and no, I hate Flash Sentry. I already killed him because he stole my waifu.) With a red carpet along the hallway to the throne where Cadence sat on while Shining Armor stood by her side with a full royal guard uniform.

“Twily!” Shining Armor ran up to her and hugged her tightly and quickly released her after noticed a small claw tapping on him as a sign of giving up.

“Cadence!” She quickly ran to her and did their favorite routine.

“Sunshine, Sunshine, Ladybugs awake, Clap your hooves and do a little shake” before they giggled like a school filly.

“You should’ve told me first that you would come for a visit.” Cadence said, giving her a tender smile.

“Well, I want it to be a surprise and I think it worked.” She smiled sheepishly.

“It’s been a long time since your last visit. How’s everything, LSBFF?” He petted her head.

“Everything’s great! Spike’s bi- err… I mean Spike is here with me on vacation. We want to take a break from reading and stuff and I want to visit you and Cadence too.” She was avoiding eye contact with them.

“Well, I’ll tell one of the guards to prepare a room for you two. Now go get some rest you must be tired from your journey. We’ll talk later.” She gave her a reassuring smile.

“Thanks, Cadence.” She hugged her one more time before walking along to her room with Spike.

“She’s so obvious, isn’t she?” Shining Armor turned to his wife.

“Yeah, but that’s what makes her special.” Cadence kissed him on the cheek before returning to the throne for a day court session.

Twilight had finish setting up the room for her and Spike. She read her list of things to prepare for Spike’s birthday and did a quadruple check on it.

Spike had excused himself for an afternoon nap and Twilight decided it would be the best time to go prepare things on the list.

“Umm, the first thing to do is… ah ha! First, asked the local ponies about a place to find jewels.” She was bouncing happily out of the room.

“What?! What do you mean by I couldn't mine here?” Twilight looked at them, confused.

“Well, you see, princess. It works like this, if you want to mine the jewels, you’ll have to look somewhere else. You see, the jewels in town are a low grade stuff that won’t do you any good and all the quality ones, which are very rare in these parts, we already sent it to the palace or sold them.” One of the ponies explained.

“Oh, thanks for the info.” She waved goodbye to them and walked back to the palace.

“And I thought this was going to be easy.” She sighed, feeling a bit annoying.

“Maybe, I should give it up for today and ask Cadence about it tomorrow.” She trotted inside her room while a pair of eyes kept watching her from distance.

“I don’t need you anymore, Twilight.” Spike gave her a pity look and walked out the door.

*Slam*

“Whoa!” Twilight jumped from her bed and landed face first on the floor.

She got up and noticed that her number one assistant was already on the floor, laughing.

“What is it, Spike?” She said while glaring at him.

“Haha, sorry, Twilight, and here.” He pointed at the crystal plates full of oranges, wheat, hay, oats, corn, and various flowers on the table.

“Cadence has the guard prepare it for us, neat huh? She even got me her personal gems.” He looked at them while drooling like a faucet.

Twilight rolled her eyes, “Always be the same, Spike.” She mumbled to herself.

“Huh, did you say something, Twilight?” He looked at her, confusing.

“Nothing, Spike. Anyway, let’s eat.” She smiled at him.

After taking care of breakfast and getting ready for the day, both of them walk along the hallway inside the palace.

“Hey, Twilight! I want to go look around the palace. Do you want to go with me.” He turned to asked.

“I’m sorry, Spike, but I want to catch up thing with Cadence. Do you mind?” She said with a hint of guilt in her tone.

“It’s okay.” His head hung low a bit and it made her sad, “anyway, have fun talking with Cadence and say thanks to her for the gems for me!” He said and ran off quickly.

“Poor Spike. I’m sorry, but I’m doing this for you.” She huffed before walking towards the main hall.

She had arrived at the main hall, but didn’t expect this much crowd in the morning court. The line of ponies all the way from the throne to the end of the main hall, perhaps a little bit longer. She saw a very stressful alicorn sitting on the crystal throne and a pony, who was first in line, rambling something about being stalked.

She thought that this would be a bad time to have a talk with Cadence, but before she decided to leave, a guard noticed her presence before announcing it aloud.

“Her Highness, princess Twilight Sparkle.” And the reactions from all the ponies were quite what she was expecting.

“The Princess?”

“She’s here?”

“Bow to her you idiot.”

She sighed and began walking to Cadence, ignoring the gossip in the crowd. “Oh, Twilight I didn’t notice you there.” Cadence spoke while trying to get up from her seat.

“It’s okay, Cadence. It seems that you are a bit busy. Anything I can do to help?” She walked to greet her with a hug.

“Normally I wouldn’t ask you to do this, but all the ponies have gathered here in the case of being stalked.” She sighed.

“Stalker in Crystal Empire? Don’t you think they were just over thinking things?” Twilight said with a confuse look.

“I already told them that, Twilight, but you see, after what happened with King Sombra, they find it hard to trust someone and panic easily over everything.” She said with a sad look.

“Before you’ve decided to visit, we have already got a report of this case. I think it was some pony pulling prank, but I was wrong. After that everypony else had been coming to the palace more often and they all said the same thing about being stalked.” She put her hoof on her forehead.

“I see. So, what do you want me to do?” Twilight raised her eyebrows.

“I want you to help Shining Armor investigate this stalker. I already sent him to look around the town, but he still got nothing so far.” Twilight could tell that Cadence was very stressed out about this.

“I’ll do what I can and don’t worry, Cadence. I’ll get to the bottom of this before you’ll even know it!” She said proudly.

“Yeah, before you even know it, alright.” her eyes were red and her mane was a mess. A plenty of sweats had gone down on her face. She had been out looking for this stalker for 5 hours now and she hadn’t got any clues about him so far.

“He couldn’t just disappear into thin air, right?” Twilight sighed before she realized something important.

“If the stalker already know that ponies are searching for him. He would find a place to hide, but there are only a few amounts of ponies in Crystal Empire that are pegasi or unicorn.” Her eyes were glowing in excitement.

“And he wouldn’t expect such an alicorn like me either.” She let out a victory smile.

Twilight flew up in the sky and had positioned herself in one of the floating cloud. She had gathered all the crystal ponies in to one area. So she could notice if there was somepony out of place.

She scanned the entire town for a sign and she noticed something or in this case somepony, wearing a cape and this pony surely wasn’t a crystal ponies. She waited until he was alone and teleported to him.

Unfortunately, this pony is well aware of her presence. He activated a trap making the crystal around the place collapsed and it caught her off guard. She flew out of control and hit with one of the building and passed out.

“You’ve never give me something nice and you always use me like a slave. I hate you.” Spike walking closer making her stepped back. She was trembling in fear and the looks in his eyes are making it even worse, it filled with hatred and betrayal.

She backed up until she met with a cliff. She looked down and saw nothing but darkness down there.

“N-no, Spike, I-I-I’ll do everything.” She was terrified and tears were streaming down her face.

“It’s too late, Twilight Sparkle.” He finished the sentence and pushed her down into an endless darkness.

Twilight opened her eyes that was full of tears and found herself lying on the bed. She looked around and noticed that she was inside some old house. The place was full of dust and from the look of things. No one had lived here in quite a while.

“Ouch!” She felt a sharp pain on her head. She found a mirror at her side. She looked through it and saw a nasty bump on her head.

She began to look around and saw nothing out of ordinary except for one corner of the room. She saw a lot of tools that lay around.

She didn’t know the purpose of it, but she knew it wouldn’t be anything good for pony who was stalking others. She got up from the place and began to walk around inspecting the place. At least, she wanted to know as much as possible and she noticed some article on the walls.

“Fall of the crystal sculpture.” She was a bit confused but before she was interrupted by a sound of someone walking towards her.

“You seemed to have a pretty bad nightmare.” A dark voice appeared with a pony in cloak.

Twilight turned back and taking a fighting stance. “Who are you and why are you keeping me here?” She stayed focus and furrowed her eyebrows.

“You don’t need to know about that. I just want to talk to you about this Spike of yours.” His voice was deep yet terrifying at the same time.

“What do you want with him?” She was a bit angry yet scared at the same time.

“Oh, it’s not me. It’s you who want something for that little dragon.” Her eyes went wide in surprise.

“What how did you-”

“I know a lot of thing. Well, I do have a lot of jewels with me and I think we could make a deal out of it, hmm?” He raised his eyebrows.

Twilight was a bit hesitated at this point, but she did want Spike to be happy.

“I’m listening.” She looked at him with furrowed eyebrow, unsure that she had made the right decision or not.

“Well, the thing is…”

---------------------------------------------------------

“What!? Twilight had gone missing? Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” Shining Armor was panicking.

“Well, sir, she said she had a plan and she wanted to do it alone.” One of the guards explained.

“I want to dispatch the search team around the town. Asking for information on everypony you met and report to me if you find anything.” He was making a serious face and everypony know that it was best way to quickly do as they’ve been told.

Before Shining Armor had a chance to go looking for his sister, he had been interrupted by something poking around his legs. He turned to look at it and noticed that it was none other than Spike.

“What’s with all the commotion?” Spike asked him with a confuse look on his face.

“Well, Princess Twilight was missing.” The guard answered and Shining Armor was face-hoofing himself.

“What?!” Spike eyes went wide in horror.

“Why are you still here?” He asked the guard with the eyes that would tear his bone and flesh.

“Ugh… Sir, one of the villagers said that she saw the Princess.” His voice was trembling in fear.

“What?!” They both said together.

“Lead me to them, now.” He began walking, but soon noticed a worried look in Spike face.

“Let’s go, Spike. Twilight needs help from our little hero as well.” He made a gesture for him to get on his back.

Spike face lit up in delight before he quickly jumped on his back and both of them ran along to find their best pony.

They followed the guard until they reached the market that was full of crowd. Shining Armor decided to walk right in until he was in the center of the market.

“Anyone of you saw Princess Twilight?” He asked out loud to make sure everypony could hear him.

“I am, mister.” Shining Armor turned to the source of sound and met with a crystal pony with a pickaxe as a cutie mark.

“What happened, er…”

“It’s Chip, sir”

“Ah, Chip, tell me what happened.”

“The Princess came by today to ask if she could mine around here. She said she needed the jewels as a present for her friend.” He said, touching his chin.

Spike covered his mouth as soon as he remembered about his upcoming birthday. “She must be trying to get that for me.”

“After I told her that she could only get them from the palace, she headed back and a long while after that I heard something collapse around those part of town” He said pointing in the direction which seemed to be an alley.

“If I’m not mistaken, I saw the princess went there too.”

“Thanks for the information err…”

“It’s Chip, sir” he gave him a deadpan look.

“Thank you, Chip, for your assistant. Now let’s go, Spike.” He said turning back to look at the dragon.

“Uh… Oh, right. Let’s go!” Spike said, faking a smile and began hopping on his back.

‘I hope she’s alright.’ He thought to himself with a frown.

“You want me to do what?!” Twilight was unsure that she heard him right.

“It’s just a simple task yet I can’t do it on my own. That’s why I need your assistant and if you didn’t notice, I’m injured.” He said lifting up his right leg up in front of her..

“That’s a big wound.” Twilight frowned.

“Here, let me help you.” She trotted inside the house and came back with a piece of cloth. She began mending his wound.

“Why would you setup a trap like that anyway?” She looking at him, confused.

“I want my identity to be hidden, that’s all” The tone in his voice clearly stated that he was annoying.

“Fine, I won’t ask about that anymore.” She was pouting.

“Anyway, do you really want to do this? Isn’t it going to hurt…” Her voice trailed off.

“Don’t worry, they don’t have feelings. Dispose a few of them wouldn’t hurt anyone.” He said with an emotionless tone.

“I still think it would be a bad idea.” She frowned.

“Don’t you need these jewels anymore?” He asked.

“I-I...” She sighed, “Alright, I’ll do it.”

“Ha, that’s all I want to hear. Now, let’s get to it.” He laughed.

“All right, but first, we need a plan.” Twilight let out a victorious smile.

Spike and Shining Armor had arrived at the place where the pony said he last saw her here.

“Would you look at that.” Spike said while pointing out his claw at the scene.

The place was a big mess. It was full of crystal shards everywhere. There was no way to get around the path if you are not pegasi, but luckily for Shining Armor he had his shield spell and can walk right through it without any harm done to him.

He was walking slowly, proceeding through the crime scene with care. He didn’t want to damage the place or any evidence.

“Someone had set a trap here and it looks like it was some professional’s work. It’s not a dangerous trap, but it was made to distract ponies.”

“How could you tell that? All I see was thousand pieces of crystal lying around.”

“This trap was made out of crystal. The one who made this must be a really good crystal crafter.” He leaned in closer to inspect the ground.

“Crystal crafter?” Spike raised his eyebrows.

“Well, crystal crafter is basically a pony who can do a lot of things out of crystal, As you can see all the stuff in the palace, all of them was made out of crystals.”

“Then it must be easy to locate this guy, right?” He said, hoping to see Twilight soon.

“Well, that’s what I’m afraid of. No crystal ponies in this town that is a crystal crafter.” He furrowed his eyebrows.

“Huh? But that’s impossible. Then how are we supposed to find Twilight like this?” Spike said in worry.

“I don’t know spike, but we must keep looking. There’s must be some clues lying around that could help us find her.” His eyes was brimming with determination.

They searched around the place for a while and before Spike seemed to give up, he saw something on the floor.

“What about that red thing on the floor?” He point at something brown on the floor.

“This is… blood?! And a piece of cloth.” Shining Armor levitated it up and investigated.

“Twilight?! Is twilight going to be okay?” He raised his voice in panic.

“I hope that she is safe, Spike. There must be a trail of blood leading to the hideout.” They both looked around hoping to find it.

“There it is.” Spike saw a blood trail heading somewhere back to town.

“Let’s go, Spike” Spike hopped on his back and they both ran off following the blood trail.

Once they got back to the town, the blood trail was gone and it seemed that there wasn’t much pony left since it was beginning to get dark.

“He must have noticed his own blood and do something about it” Shining Armor looked at the last drop of blood on the floor.

“Let’s look around.” Spike suggested and received a nod in response.

Even though he heard him said that, Shining Armor knew that it was hard to find something out of this place. That is, until something caught his eyes. It was a pony in a brown cloak talking to some crystal ponies. From the look, he could tell that this pony wasn’t a crystal pony and the cloak was torn a bit that fitted the evidence they found back at the place, but before he could tell him to stop, that pony had disappear with another crystal pony.

“A teleportation spell?” He was surprised.

“That sure was a high level magic, but it will leave the magic essence and I think we can track it down.” He said with a grin.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

‘I must be mistaken, but that magic aura…, Twilight?’ Shining Armor thought before shook his head dismissing the wild thought.

“Ah, you’ve finally arrived, Princess, and you did bring us a guest.” The mysterious pony greeted her with a deep voice.

“Oh, please, don’t call me that and yes, does this pony look fine to you?” Twilight put down the cloak and looked back at the the crystal pony she brought with her.

“Haha, I wouldn’t mind anything, in fact, this is perfect.” He said in excitement, but it still sound creepy in Twilight’s ear.

“But first we will have to make this into pieces first.” He laughed.

“Err... Your laugh is a bit scary and what do you mean by pieces?”

“Oh, you’ll know it soon enough.” He trotted back into his room and came out a moment later.

“This is my latest creation.” He brought out the something that hid beneath a white covering.

He pulled it down revealing it to Twilight and her guest. Her eyes went wide as she saw what lay beneath it.

“Are you really sure you want to do this? She is a masterpiece.”

“Was and yes, I’m sure and I can make a better one with her.” He said pointing his hoof to the crystal pony, who was trembling in fear.

Twilight sighed in defeat, “Fine, but I’m sure you’re going to regret this decision.” She used her magic to levitated one of the pickaxe and stand in front of it.

“I don’t want to do this to you, but I have no choice.” Twilight levitated the pickaxe higher before bring it down in full swing.

*Crash* Shining Armor and Spike burst in through the door and witnessed Twilight using a pickaxe to disassemble a crystal pony to million pieces with a scream of a pony behind her.

“T-t-twilight?” Spike couldn’t believe his eyes. Twilight, the pony he admired, had become a murderer. Shining Armor wasn’t much different. He didn’t expect Twilight to do such thing.

“Spike? And Shining Armor? What are you guys doing here?” Twilight looked at them in surprise.

Both of them didn’t answer. They just stood there unable to comprehend what they had just seen.

“What’s wrong? Why are you two quiet?” Twilight was confused.

“Y-Y-You killed that pony.” Spike voiced was trembling.

“What?! Oh, you mean th-” Before Twilight could finish, Shining Armor interrupted her.

“How could you...” His face had turned pale after looking at all pieces of crystal.

“And you are going to do that to her too, huh?” Spike asked in disgust.

This time it was Twilight who had been quiet. She started to laugh a little then it turned into a guffaw. She was literally rolling on the floor while Spike and Shining Armor was looking at her, confused.

After her laugh died down she wiped off her tears and began explaining, “Did you guys really think I would kill some pony?”

“Then what is that thing?” Spike pointed at the scattered crystal pieces.

“It just one of his work.” Twilight said looking back at the pony standing at the back.

They both looked at him. He was an old stallion with a blue coat and white mane and tail. He had a crystal and toolbox as a cutie mark.

“His name is Bluebox.” Twilight said proudly.

“He used to live in canterlot and was a famous crystal crafter. He believed in the tales of the Crystal Empire and a crystal pony so he made one out of his imagination, but sadly no one was accepting his work and started calling him a fraud and the statue he made was a normal pony.” She explained.

“After that he moved to live at this place. Until that day, the day that Crystal Empire had returned. He just started following around those crystal ponies hop-”

“So it was you who kept stalking ponies in the crystal empire.” Shining Armor said with a grim look on his face.

“Yes and no, I was trying to talk to the ponies around town but I’m too shy to do.” He said with a creepy voice.

“Uh huh, and what is she doing here if you two didn’t plan to do that to her too?”

“You still didn’t believe me, didn’t you? Like I told you, he was a crystal crafter and he wanted to make a new statue of pony. So, he needs her to do some modeling for him.”

“And why do you have to do that to… that crystal pony?” Spike pointed at the pieces of crystal on the floor.

“Well, first off all, that’s not a real pony, it looks like one, but it’s not and because he didn’t like it.”

“So, he didn’t make it out of real crystal pony?” Shining Armor asked with the disgust look.

“Geez, you guys are so persistent. If it was a real pony there would be a lot of blood.” Twilight was getting a bit annoying by both of them.

“Blood?” They spoke up at the same time.

“Yes, blood. Wait, you think that crystal ponies don’t have blood?” Twilight was amazed by how dumb both of her brothers are.

They both looked at each other before looking back at her and said in unison, “Well, er… they do?”

“Of Course they do! What? Do you think that crystal ponies would just fall and scattered everywhere?” Her eyes was twitching.

They looked at each other again and did the same thing, “Well, they don’t?”

“Ugh… You guys are so… Ugh! I won’t explain about this anymore.” She walked back to the old pony.

“Well, I’ll explain everything from the start.” Bluebox stepped out and began explaining.

He had explained everything from the start from where he first wanted to come to seek a clue on Crystal Empire to find a way to get back his fame. One day the Crystal Empire had finally returned and he was really excited, but all he saw that day was everypony in a terrifying state. He could not began his work like that. After Twilight and her friend saved the town, he began to understand about friendship. He wanted to learn more about crystal pony that was why he started following ponies.

“I apologize if I have made everyone panic. I really have no idea that it would cause such commotion.” He said in his usual deep voice, but everypony knew that he really meant it.

“After that I found him well, I was following him and I had an accident and he brought me up here and he wants me to help him recreate his work. I went looking for pony to do the modeling and already explained to everyone about Bluebox.” Twilight continued.

“And then you guys came in while I was disassembling this statue.” She smiled at them after finished her best explaining.

“Oh, so that’s what was happened.” They said together with a bit of confused on their faces.

“So, you guys understand it?” She asked.

“Uh… No.” They smiled sheepishly.

“Oh, Celestia!”

And thus everything went back to normal very quickly and Twilight had stayed and helped Bluebox with his work for a while.

“It’s done.” Twilight wiping off sweat from her face.

“It’s beautiful.” The crystal pony was in awe.

“It truly is.” Bluebox said with a smile.

The crystal statue shaped like a pony was brimming with color and light. The mare was lifting her right hoof, looking ahead into a new day. The smooth and clean surfaces, clearly showed how much skill had been put to use. Her mane and her tail were almost lifelike. The statue itself was sparkling and shiny enough that you could see your own reflection.

“So, do you want to show this off to the world?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t think so. It would be best if I kept it here.” He looked proudly at his work.

“I know that you would say that. At least, let’s put it near the crystal heart.” She suggested.

“That would be the best choice, I supposed. Thank you for helping me, Princess.”

“Just Twilight is enough.” She smiled and gave him a hug.

“Anyway, about those jewels. How much do you want?” He asked.

“Actually, I think I have a better idea.” She was grinning while letting go of the hug.

“By the way, do you have a name for it?” She asked.

He nodded his head in response, “I’ll call it a Sparkle Heart.”

After they put the crystal statue next to the crystal heart. Twilight was back at the palace along with her silly brothers. (Or that was what she called them.)

“Twily/Twilight!” They both jumped at her, but they found nothing but air and landed their faces first on the floor.

She teleported to Cadence and gave her a smile while Cadence stood there giggling.

“Well, looks like she still mad at us, ain’t she?” Shining Armor looked at Spike.

“Yeah, I think so.” Before both of them burst out laughing.

She stayed at the palace for a few days before decided to go back to Ponyville.

When they got back, Pinkie already prepared a party for Spike. They were having a great time with the party. Until, everyone decided to leave the Golden Oak Library.

“Spike, I have one more present for you.” Twilight brought out a present behind her.

“Aww, chuck, Twilight. You don’t have to do that for me. You already went through all those trouble in Crystal Empire just for me. I appreciate that.”

“Just open it, Spike.” She insist and levitated the box to his hand.

He opened like he was told. What he found inside was a small crystal statue of him holding a crystal heart and there was a small text carved on it said “Spike, Heroes of the Crystal Empire.”

He was smiling and put his present on the table before went and hugged Twilight tightly. Twilight was surprised at first, but returned the hug anyway.

“Thank you so much, Twilight” He whispered with tears.

“It’s okay, Spike. I love you.” She wiped off his tears and smiled gently at him.

“I love you too.” He replied.