“Just to set the record straight, this is a stupid idea.”
“Yes, we know darling, that’s about six times you’ve set the record already.”
“And I’ll continue setting it until we’re dead, or worse, caught. This is a stupid, stupid, idea.”
Crystal only gawks at my opinion, as usual. Her eyes slide to our pale green brother, who has yet to voice a word on this whole situation. “Turquoise, you’re agreeing with me right? I mean we’re here in the Crystal Empire, we may never get another chance to see the castle unless we get in there now.”
Short breaths come out of his nostrils. His wings flap in what can only be interpreted as an ambivalent shrug.
“See, he understands. Lavey dear, try to be more open minded. This’ll be fun, and we’ll probably never get another opportunity like this again.”
“It’s Lavender! Don’t call me Lavey, you know I hate it.”
“And that makes it all the more fun to torture you with it.”
I seeth out my breath, blowing thin whiffs of smoke out my nostrils. “It’s closed for a reason alright. Every Princess in Equestria is in there now in an emergency meeting. They probably have guards walking around and everything. Do you really want to spend the rest of our lives in a tiny metal cell with chains on our ankles?”
“Oh come now, we’re Rarity’s kids, the guard wouldn’t dare throw the children of an Element of Harmony in prison.”
“Yes, we are Rarity’s kids. So with that fact in mind, I ask again. Do really want to spend the rest of your life chained in a cell with barely enough room to breath?”
She rolls her eyes at me, but her signature smile stays on her face; the sly smirk that can only mean trouble. “Very well, suit yourself Lavey.”
I grind my teeth and open my mouth to reply.
“You can just wait out here while Turquoise and I explore this marvelous castle made of solid Crystal and Gemstone. Did you know they’re starting to call this place the next wonder of the world? Oh, but I’m sure you won’t be missing much. We’ll see you in a bit Lavey, have fun out here all by yourself.”
She strides past me with a sway in her hip, Turquoise tails close behind her and closes the door as they go in. I continue glaring daggers at the door long after they leave. Anger practically comes steaming out of my nostrils. I’m half tempted to follow her in there just to give her a piece of my mind, but that’s exactly what she wants me to do. She must believe I’m stupid or something, thinking she can just dangle a palace in front of me like some kitty toy and expect me to jump. Well she’s got another thing coming if she thinks it’ll work. No way I’m going to fall for it, I’ll stay out here all day if I have to. Alone… in the freezing cold of winter… while they have all the fun… dear Luna why didn’t I bring one of mom’s scarfs?
I stand shivering outside for several moments, anger building in me like steam in a tea-pot, until finally yell out my frustrations and stomp my way through the door.
They’re waiting for me in the entrance hall.
I shoot a death gaze at Crystal. “You know, I sometimes wonder if those are dragon or devil horns on your head.”
“So glad you could join us as well Lavey,” she states with a smug grin. “Truly, it wouldn’t be the same without you.”
I don’t say a word, I don’t even grant her the pleasure of eye contact. I just walk right past her as if she wasn’t even there. It takes a few minutes for me to fully exhale the majority of the seething rage in my body, but once I do I begin to look around and appreciate the castle, and...
Okay, I’ll admit it, this place is absolutely gorgeous. It’s like I’ve stepped into the inside of a mirror, everything sparkles and gleams with such bright colors. Ornate chandeliers hang from the long hallway, at the end which a dual set of crystal staircases lead up further into the castle.
My siblings walk along side me with equally as much awe, their heads sway back and forth in the ocean of beauty before them. Crystal inhales the whole scene,and then walks up right beside me and whispers. “Still wishing you had stayed outside Lavey?”
“Okay, you were right, this place is gorgeous,” I say with an enamored glance at my surroundings. “So, are we done looking around then, good, lets go.”
Crystal’s horns light up with a light blue essence and her magick pins my tail to the ground to stop me from leaving. “I’d say nice try, but that would imply you actually did try.”
I groan silently. “Snide, that’s a new thing for you.”
“You seemed to have so much fun with it, I thought I’d give it a try myself for a change.”
I ignore her smug grin and follow Turquoise down a large corridor with grand portraits on all sides. We walk through this hallway with awed expressions, turning and gazing up at the grand figures, though all I can see is admonishment. Ponies of great stature and importance glare down at me, judging me, silently expressing their disdain for us disturbing this place. I walk past all these angry eyes with my claw in my mouth, my jaw noisily gnawing away at the sharp tips.
I’m constantly looking around, knowing full well that at any time a guard could walk through, or worse yet a princess! Not even our mom’s title will be able to save us if we anger one of them. Why did I follow them in here again?
“Hey look, isn’t that our dad?”
“Where!”
I look around in a panic, but there’s no sign of the lumbering purple dragon anywhere.
“No, no, the painting, look.” Turquoise points up at one of the large portraits, and sure enough there he is. In the image he’s standing next to a pedestal with a large crystal heart floating over it. he looks at us with his arms folded and a bright smile on his face. Beneath the picture is a small gold plaque, which Crystal reads aloud.
“Dedicated in honor of Spike the Dragon, for his unwavering bravery in delivering the crystal heart to Princess Cadence, and stopping the tyrannical King Sombra. “Wow, I knew he was young when that happened, but... he is really young here.”
“I’ll say, he doesn’t even look like he’s out of the infant stage yet,” Turquoise adds.
I have to admit, I didn’t picture him being that young when he told us the story. The painter did seem to capture dragon anatomy pretty well, so I can’t exactly blame it on poor skill. Then again, something does seem a little off about the crystal heart. “Hey guys, correct me if I’m wrong, but is the Crystal Heart supposed to be red?”
“No, it’s not,” Turquoise answers
“How do you know that, you’ve never seen it before?” says Crystal.
“Actually I have.”
“Truly, when was that?”
“Just now, over there.”
He points down the hallway, where a tall pedestal stands, on top of it the famous heart shaped stone recognized as the symbol of the Crystal Empire. I gawk at the incredible artifact with wide eyes. “That’s… that’s actually the Crystal Heart?”
“It appears to be.” Crystal approaches the display with gleaming eyes, staring at the mystic artifact in wonder.
I can’t help but feel some fascination myself, having heard of this stone so much before and all of its tremendous power. “What’s it doing here though? I thought this was supposed to be at the base of the castle, channeling the love of the crystal ponies, or something like that?”
“Perhaps, they took it in for some reason. There is an emergency meeting going on with the Princesses after all. What if the Crystal Heart has something to do with it?”
Her speculation sounds disturbingly valid. The world renown gem looks no where near as glamorous as it was made out to be. It’s color is faded and it seems worn in some places, almost fragile actually. Could something have happened to weaken it? If that’s the case then it’s no wonder why this emergency meeting is taking place. It’s a little disappointing to see it in this state.
This doesn’t stop Crystal from eyeballing the thing though. She walks around the pedestal like a predator circling its prey. The image of the heart reflects in her eyes, a dead star within sparkling aqua blue irises. Slowly, she lifts up a single claw and reaches out towards the sacred stone.
“What the hay are you doing?” I jump in front of her to stop her progress.
“Relax Lavender, I just wanted to see if it… uh, hummed with magickal energy, like I heard it did.”
“Crystal, this is a sacred artifact! You can’t just walk up to it and start prodding away like it’s some childs toy.”
She looks at me with continued defiance, but that quickly melts from her face the longer we stare at each other. She glances back at the Crystal Heart, and then shakes her head. “You know what, you’re right. We probably shouldn’t even be anywhere near this thing.”
Praise the Goddesses, she at least has a lick of sense in her. “Good to hear.”
“I mean this is the symbol of the Crystal Empire after all, the living embodiment of the love and kinship the Crystal Ponies have. I don’t even want to think about what would happen if something were too-”
She throws arm out to gesture towards the heart, so of course it’s only typical that she accidentally smacks it from its pedestal and causes it to fall over. Time itself seems to slow down as it falls, the breaths that me and my sister take in are the loudest thing I’ve ever heard. Horror leaps in my stomach as it descends down, and lands safely in the hands of my brother Turquoise.
We all breath out a relieved sigh in unison. “Nice save Turquoise. That could have been really bad.”
“Understatement of the century right there.” I can actually see my palms trembling after that. “You see why I don’t even want to mess around with this thing, because you never know when-”
“Is that a crack?”
My previous statement falls limp in my mouth. “Que?”
“The-the Crystal Heart… I think it’s cracked,” Turquoise says.
My brain must not be registering that statement. I know full well what it means, and the implications behind it, but I just can’t seem to get my head to fully comprehend it. I turn my stiff neck to get a look at the heart, and sure enough right in the center of it is a large crooked black line that one would recognize as a crack. One would recognize it as such, but again, my brain doesn’t seem to be responding properly at the moment. My lips form into a wide grin and grab the heart out of my brother’s hands.
“No, no, come on. That’s not a crack, it probably just got dirty when it fell into your hands. I’ll just wipe it off here, and set it back on the pedestal like that.” I giggle quite disturbingly while I do all this. “See, good as new, no one will even know we were here.”
My hysterical grin continues to grow as I stare at the beautifully restored stone, which then proceeds to split in half down the middle, fall to the ground in two pieces and shatter into a thousand tiny shards against the hard unloving floor.
My right eye twitches as I look at the mess. My grin does not leave my face. I begin giggle silently, then laugh loudly, and then sob uncontrollably. I burry my face in the mound of crystal pieces and beat my fist against the floor.
Crystal stands behind me with equally, though much well hidden horror. “Oh dear Celestia, what have we done!”
“Okay, okay, calm down. We can fix this,” Turquoise spouts.
“How! How are we going to fix this?” She grabs a handful of broken shards and let them fall through her fingers in front of him. “Do you even realize how bad this is? No, dear Luna how could you even begin to know. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed right now, but we are in deep here. We are standing at the precipice of Tartarus here ladies and gents, things could not possibly be any-”
“No!” I leap up from my fetal position and grab her by the snout to keep her from speaking. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence, those are the forbidden words Crystal, you never say them, you never even think about saying them. If you do I promise you no matter how bad things are already, they will always, and I mean always get…”
Before I can finish my warning the sound of hoof steps is heard coming around the corner. Somepony is coming this way.
The three of stare at the approaching shadows with raw untainted fear in our eyes.
My sister pries my claws off her mouth. “You know, shouting at the top of your lungs can also make things worse as well?”
“Just shut up and run.”
And we do just that. We break into a sprint, while Turquoise takes flight and follows right along side us on frenzied wings. We take every turn, round every corner we can to shake off our pursuers. No matter where we go through, hoofsteps are right behind us, closing in at an alarming rate. Turquoise suddenly shoots ahead of us, much to our panic.
“Hey, where are you going wait up!”
We rush to catch him, a useless endeavor considering he can fly twice the speed we can run. Never the less, we charge forward at burning speeds, our heads lowered to ramming speeds. We’re so focused on getting away that it’s not until we’re grabbed by the tails and pulled into one of the side rooms that we see where Turquoise went.
Our older brother holds us against the wall, his claws covering our mouths and his own breathing coming to a halt as we listen to the rushing hoof steps pass us by, and fade silently into the background.
Turquoise practically collapses to the ground as he lets us go, looking as though he spent the last three minutes with an Ursa Major on his chest. “You know, I was indifferent about this whole thing at first. Now I can safely agree with Lavender. This was a stupid idea.”
“What’s the words I’m looking for, oh right, I told you so.”
Crystal doesn’t seem to appreciate our comments, giving us a snarl in response. “Well we didn’t get caught, did we?”
“Yet.”
“Shut up!” she yells, letting her anger fly. I’m guessing the stress is finally getting to her. “Okay, we can still get out of here, we just need a plan. Maybe if we’re careful we can sneak out by… wait, is that what I think it is?”
We look in the direction that she points and see a strange looking mirror in the room. It’s a lonely piece of furniture that stands as the only furnishing in the place. It takes less then a second to recognize this as the Crystal Mirror, the infamous device which Princess Twilight used to travel to another universe.
For a moment we stare at the artifact in silence, lost in its majesty.
“Perhaps we don’t have to leave the castle. We could wait it out in there, that is, if it still works.” Crystal ponders allowed.
“I’d rather not find out.” I turn my head back to the door, and immediately notice the creeping shadows moving underneath, coming uncomfortably close to the entrance.
“On second thought, running blindly into a mysterious, unknown, possibly dangerous dimension sounds like a great idea. In fact, why don’t all jump through right now. Come on, onward and tally-ho guys, lets go!”
I charge the portal in a frenzy, duck my head down as I prepare to enter, then crash headlong against what feels more like stone than any kind of glass. My head slides down the surface of the mirror and I moan in pain the whole way.
“Oh yes, that’s right, I do remember hearing that the portal is only open during certain times of the year. Guess I should’ve brought that up first,” Crystal states.
“Gee, you don’t say.” I roll over on my back and press a claw to my face. “We are so dead, do you know that? Every guard in the castle is gonna be looking around after seeing the heart. It’s only a matter of time before they find us, maybe even throw us in a dungeon. Oh Luna, I can’t go to prison, mom would flip out if she heard I got sent to prison.”
My siblings at the very least seem to share my concerns. Crystal though seems a little more puzzled than worried. She looks at the mirror with a curious eye. “I could try to force it open.”
My eyes go wide and I jump to my feet. “How?”
“Well, I know this spell, that could-”
“No way!” I put myself up as a barricade between her and the mirror. “There is no way I’m letting you cast some random spell on something, when we have no idea how it’ll react to it.”
“Come now Lavey, I know I can pull this off.”
“No, the last time you tried anything beyond a basic levitation spell you nearly destroyed our house.”
“Oh I did not do that badly.”
“You tried to conjure a suite and tie onto dad’s body and then ended up sending him into mad rampage in which he ate, ate, every single dress in the shop. It was weeks before mom could even look him in the eye again, much less speak to him!”
“Alright, so my past experiments with magick haven’t gone so well!” she fumes. “Let me ask you this though. Which would you rather take your chances with? Me, or them?”
She points the door on her last word. I raise a claw to argue, which falls limp after a second in the air. I look at the door, and see a faint shadow moving outside, slowly approaching the door. “Do it, and hurry.”
I back away from the mirror and give her space to work. She stands facing the mirror and stares it down with a focused glare. Her dual horns glow with a faint blue essence. She grunts silently from effort, before firing a beam of light at the mirror.
I’m gnawing on my claws during the whole process. I watch the shadows outside with a knot in my gut. “Hurry Crystal.”
Her grunts become louder with time, sweat forms on her face. Then suddenly a strange vortex like hole begins to open up in the glass. Nothing short of jubilation spreads across my face.
“I-I did it, I think I did it. I actually got it to woah!” She suddenly get yanked forward towards the mirror, getting sucked in by some unknown force.
Turquoise is first on her, grabbing her by the waist and pulling back with all his might. “Hold on Crystal, I’ve got, he-he-hey!”
Now he’s getting pulled in and I panic. There’s nothing I can do other than grab onto Turquoise’s tail and try fruitlessly to pull him back as I get dragged screaming into the vortex with them.
Inside things become strange. There’s not really words in my vocabulary that can describe the sensation. We’re rocketing forward at speeds beyond comprehension, yet we’re not really going anywhere. It’s like nothing exists here, only an empty void of swirling colors and strange shapes. I try to scream, but no sound comes out. There ride continues, and there’s no sense of it ever stopping. The longer it lasts, the more hazy I become. I’m less aware of things the farther I go, until finally my conscience leaves me entirely, and my vision recedes to black.
I never knew it was possible to be this exhausted. I’ve stayed later than I should have a few times, I stayed up all night one time and passed out half way through the following day, into a bowl of cereal as my sister constantly likes to remind me. No past experience however, can compare to this. It’s like every ounce of energy I once had has been physically ripped out of me, leaving me as nothing but an immovable pile of flesh, bone, and scales.
I don’t know how long I sit like this. Minutes, hours, it could be days for all I know. It’s long enough for my muscles to finally regain some of their former strength and my bones to regain the ability to move. I open my eyes first, if only to squint them shut against the hostile rays of sunlight. I groan and then roll over on my side, crunching soft damp grass beneath me. I try to rub the remaining drowsiness out of my eyes to mild success, then slowly rise to my feet.
I yawn and stretch out my sore limbs while I continue in my attempts to wake up. I rub the side of my head that’s currently throbbing with pain, and that’s when I notice my siblings lying in the grass not too far away.
I stumble over to them, weakly stuttering out words. “H-hey! Crystal… Turquoise. You...you guys okay?”
They begin to move slowly, rolling on their sides to get up with tired groans. Crystal nearly falls over again, but I’m there to catch her. “T-t-take it easy… I don’t think any of us are feeling so well right now.”
She moans silently and rubs a claw down her face. “Ugh… what happened anyway?”
What happened? What did happen? I think back for a moment, my memory hazy and unresponsive for a moment, and then it all clicks in like a lightbulb.
“The mirror!” I drop my sister flat on her face and press my claws against my head in shock. “We went through the mirror! Oh Celestia we just jumped into an alternate dimension! This is soooo not good. Be prepared guys, there’s telling what we can expect to come across here.”
I scan our surroundings carefully, twitching my eyes at a any threatening leaf or hostile squirrel that runs through the grass. I blink a few times as everything comes into focus. “Then again, I’m not sure I remember hearing that this alternate world was supposed to look anything like this.”
“And I don’t remember hearing that everything was supposed to happen this way,” Turquoise states, looking down his claws and giving his wings a flap. “Didn’t Princess Twilight change shape when she went through the mirror?”
“‘m not sure, and at this point, I don’t really care,” Crystal grumbles as she pulls herself off the ground. “I’m just relieved that we’re away from the Crystal Castle, and out of that dreadful situation.”
I blow out an irritated sigh, though I really shouldn’t be surprised. It’s just like Crystal, freaking out one moment and then referring to the whole thing as a ‘situation’ the next. I shake my head and then look around again. “Where are we exactly anyway.”
“You… may not believe it,” Turquoise states.
I scoff at him. “Yeah, after everything that just happened, try me, I’m waiting for it.”
My brother shrugs and then points out towards the horizon. I squint my eyes in the direction and spot a small, familiar settlement with miles of farmland, a bustling town square, and a large library built into a tree on the outskirts.
I blink my eyes several times just to make sure they’re working properly. I give them a rubbing for good measure and then exhale my shock. “Okay, you win, I don’t believe it.”
“We’re back in Ponyvill? But why, how, I thought…” My sister stops talking a second, the gears can visibly be seen shifting in her head. “You know what, perhaps it’s best we not question Celestia when she has presented us a gift from on high. Come on, let’s hurry into town before anyone sees us.”
“Crystal wait!”
My cry doesn’t dissuade her, and we’re soon chasing her down through the long grass fields on on the outskirts of the town. It’s only when she slows down that we’re even get within speaking distance, and by then we’re so out of breath that it’s Crystal who speaks first.
“Okay, so here’s the plan. We’re going to head back into town, send mom and dad a message telling them where we are, and we’ll never speak of this day again.”
I glare at her under heavy eyelids. “Do I even need to tell you just how many problems there are with that plan?”
“Cross that bridge when we get to it Lavey. Right now lets just… wait a minute.” She squints her eyes ahead of ehr towards a structure in the distance. “Is that… Miss Fluttershy?”
Me and Turquoise both jump at this. “What? But wasn’t she in the Crystal Empire too?”
“Yes she is, so that can’t possibly be…” She walks forward a bit and squints her eyes in the direction of the house. “No, it is her. That must be Fluttershy, I wouldn’t mistake that shade of yellow no matter where I was.”
I’m more than a little shocked to hear this. “I hope nothing serious happened. She never struck me as the kind to leave her friends unless something important came up. You don’t think one of her animals was hurt or something?”
“Well, I guess we’re gonna find out.” Turquoise raises his hand in the air and waves to her. “Fluttershy! Excuse me, Fluttershy!”
She turns in our direction, raising her hoof to block out the sun. We approach with friendly smiles on our faces, silently praying that she somehow doesn’t know that we disappeared from the Crystal Empire. We close off the distance between us until we stand right in front of her.
Crystal is the first one to speak. “We’re happy to see you again Miss Fluttershy, though we have to ask, what are you doing back here so early? We believed that you were arriving back with the rest of us tomorrow morning?”
Fluttershy doesn’t answer the question. She doesn’t have any reaction beyond standing completely still and staring at us with distant looking eyes and a jaw that hangs loosely from her skull.
The response is a little concerning to us, to say the least. “Um, Fluttershy, is everything all-”
She screams.
She screams so loudly that I think it’s still going to be ringing in my ears tonight. Fluttershy backs herself against the wall of her house and stares at us trembling in huddled mess on the ground. “Dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-drag-dragons! P-p-p-please! Please don’t eat me!”
“Eat you!?”
Shock and confusion clouds my head. Is she serious? No, no way, she can’t be. Miss Rainbow or Pinkie had to have put her up to this, it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve talked her into a prank. Yeah, that’s definitely it, Fluttershy is putting on a good show to throw us through a loop that’s all.
I roll my eyes and then cast a smirk with mock malevolence. “Oh yeah, we’re going to eat you Fluttershy. We’re going dunk you in hot sauce, roast you on a skewer, and have us a good ol’ Pegasi shish-kebab.”
She stands straight up at this. The sound that comes out of her mouth could best be described as a mixture of a squeal, a scream, and squeek. She spends a few moments making these awkward noises and then looks straight up at the sky before falling over with her legs standing straight up in the air.
She doesn’t move at all after that.
For a moment there’s complete silence as we stare at the motionless body. The smirk I had a second ago is shot dead and buried under horrified scowl. I take a step forward. “Um, Fluttershy?”
Crystal smacks me across the face. “Ow, what was that for?”
“You know what that was for!” She blares in my face. “Lavender, what in Celestia’s golden sun possessed you to say that!?”
“I thought she was joking, I didn’t know she was for real?”
Crystal roars out in frustration and then turns her attention to the downed Pegasus. “Oh, I really hope she wasn’t injured in any way. Poor dear.”
“You don’t have to worry, it looks like she just passed out,” Turquoise states as he examines her. “Although, is it just me, or does she sort of look a little, what’s the word… less old?”
“Turquoise!”
“What? I’m just pointing something out, I didn’t mean to be rude.”
Crystal continues to glare at him until she walks up next to her, then her eyes go wide. “Now that you mention it though, she does look younger, a lot younger. Do you think she’s trying some new cleansing mask, because I have to say the results are absolutely remarkable.”
Of course leave it to my sister to focus on facial products at a time like this. Now that I think about it though, there’s quite a few details here that seem… well, off. The house doesn’t look anywhere near as worn and beaten in as I remember it. It’s actually kind of clean, though you can still tell it’s been home to a whole zoo of animals in the past few years. The window sills aren’t faded, the paint looks sorta new, and there’s hardly any signs of structural damage.
I continue examining the cottage, eventually making my way to a window and peeking in. The inside is picked up and clean, so at least that much hasn’t changed. There doesn’t seem to be nearly as many bird nests or animal shelters as I remember. It almost seems like the number of animals she’s been housing has been cut in half all of a sudden. It’s a little disturbing actually, almost as if… wait a minute.
I spot something inside that makes me shake my head in disbelief. I walk to the front door and turn the handle.
“Lavey, what are you doing?” Crystal grabs my tail with telekinesis. “We can’t just barge in there without being invited.”
I give her the darkest glare I can muster. “Now why didn’t you think of that before we broke into the castle.”
I yank on my tail, pulling her forward in the process, and landing her in a nice mud puddle. I proceed inside and walk to the far wall. I almost don’t believe what I see.
“Oh Lavey,” my sister chimes wiping mud off her cheeks. “Would you care to give me a good reason as to why I shouldn’t maul you after that kind little display?”
Her statement doesn’t register to clearly in my head. I’m not too sure I would care even if it did.
“Feeling silent are we? Just going to going to stand there and take it? Well, it certainly works for me.”
“Crystal, please,” Turquoise says. “Just let it go.”
“No, no, no, she decided to act very unlady like towards me, so now I believe it’s only fair that I return the courtesy. And if she just wants to sit there and take it, I have no qualms with-”
“Crystal,” I start without even sparing a glance. “Is it possible that the mirror could’ve sent us somewhere other than an alternate universe?”
“Darling, I believe we proved that just a few minutes ago. Now do be a dear, and don’t stall this.”
She grabs me by the chest with one hand and unfurls her claws in the other.
“Could it have sent us back in time?”
That causes her to pause her actions. She blinks at me twice, and then leans in close. “Why?”
I point to the object I’ve been looking at; a calendar with a date that’s a little off from the current date. Thirty years off, to be exact.
Crystal releases me from her grip and gapes open mouthed at the hanging pages. Her eye twitch and her rump hits the floor. Turquoise scoots in next to her, looking at the calendar with equal shock. We sit there staring at it for what feels like a full minute, before Crystal slowly turns her head to me with wide horror filled eyes.
The look I give in return has no sympathy. “Yeah, did I mention before that this was a stupid, stupid, stupid idea?”
Author's Note
Okay, so two things.
One, as I'm sure you can probably tell I've published a new story! I know, shocking news right? More to the point, this one is planned to be a little shorter than the other two I have going, and I'm still unsure as to when you can expect updates for this one. I'll be mainly focusing on my other two for right now.
Two, if you read the description page you'll probably know that this story was done as a request. Now before you begin to ask, the answer is no. I did this as a bit of an experiment to see if I could do requests, and for right now I won't be taking anymore.
So with that said, I hope you enjoyed the story. :)
Chapter 2: What Happens in the Past
“Now, I don’t want to say that I told ya so, but… oh wait a minute, that’s exactly what I want to say. I told ya so, I told ya so, I told ya so!”
Crystal buries her face further inside her palms. She glances over at T, who's currently helping a still unconscious Fluttershy onto the couch, and then glares back at me. “Okay Lavender, I think we understand how much I messed up this time. You can stop shouting about it now.”
“Oh no, I am not done rubbing it in yet,” I state with a smirk. I clap my hands together and then start to dance and sing an annoying tune. “I was right and you were wrong, so now you get to hear my song. Your plan was faulty, now you’re pouty, but don’t get salty, cause then you’ll-”
“Shut up! Just, shut the hell up Lavender!” Crystal snaps. “If there’s one thing you’ve made very clear it’s that we’re in a bit a predicament here and your taunting is not helping it!”
I look at her with a smirk on my face, “No, but it sure does relieve stress. I’m surprised you don’t do it more often.”
One moment later and a blast of flames engulfs my face, scorching my skin and leaving me gagging on smoke. Crystal stomps off, grumbling obscenities under her breath. "I don't know how Illusion is interested in you with an attitude like that!" I shout between coughs, trying to clear the smoke from my lungs.
"Maybe because I'm more mature than you!" She snorts in rage before glaring back at me.
"This coming from the Dragon that wanted to sneak into the palace, broke the Crystal Heart, and got us all sent to the past?!" I roar in rage before storming up to her till I was face to face with my sister, T is muttering something, but at the moment I’m too consumed with anger to listen, or care for that matter.
“You followed us straight in there!”
“Yeah, after you pressured me into following you! Face it Crystal this is entirely your fault!”
Crystal hunches down like a tiger ready to pounce, and bares her razor sharp teeth.
“It doesn’t matter whose fault it is!” Our brother's voice bellows throughout the cottage, silencing us both. My sister and I shiver, while T may be the youngest of us, he is by far the most intimidating, even if he doesn't show it that often.
“Incase you two haven’t noticed we have a serious situation here, and fighting each other isn’t helping! You’re calling each other immature, when really you both need to grow up!”
He stands lumbering over us with wings outstretched casting shadows over our shrinking forms. I’m guessing we must look as white as snow right now, because in the next moment our brother eases down with the slightest bit of embarrassment on his face. “I’m… I’m sorry about that, I, got a little worked up there.”
The silence could not be any more awkward if we purposed it to be that way. Me and Crystal glance at each other, and come to a subconscious agreement.
“No, you’re right T. We’re both acting like children.” My sister looks at me, but ultimately fails to make eye contact as she says it. “I’m… I’m sorry, for getting us into this whole mess.”
The words lift a whole world of stress off me. “And I’m sorry for teasing you about it… even if it was a little deserved.”
“Lavender!”
“Right, sorry, I really am.”
My sister retains a scowl for several moments, but eventually rolls her eyes and scoops me into a hug. “Oh Lavey, you may be the most annoying sister on the planet but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I grin at her and pat her on the back. “Right back at you sis.”
We giggle before letting go. Turquoise looks as though he just had a mountain lifted off of him. “Glad we could put that behind us, now maybe we can focus on getting back home.”
“Sounds good to me,” I declare. “I don’t think it’ll be easy, but then again we are from the future, so at the very least nothing will be able to catch us by surpri-
As if on cue, a loud shriek of terror echoes throughout the cottage. The three of us turn to see the now-awake Fluttershy backing away from us as if we we're going to maul her. I grimace at that thought, my little joke earlier didn't help in giving her a reason to think otherwise.
"P-P-Please d-don't hurt me! I don't have any rubies, sapphires, or emeralds, I swear!" She pleads, her eyes darting back and forth between us and the door, probably trying to see if she could make it out before any of us could catch her.
"Now, Miss Fluttershy..." I hear my brother start as he slowly approaches her, using the same tone I'd heard him use on his marefriend; Annie. Sadly, he forget's who he's talking to and does the worst. possible. thing.
He smiles, showing off all his razor-sharp teeth!
I cover my ears, waiting the inevitable-
"EEEEEEEEEKKKK! DON'T EAT ME! DON'T EAT ME! DON'T EAT ME!!!"
...that. Whatever was keeping her glued to the floor vanishes and she makes a beeline for the door...only to be enveloped by my sister's magic and lifted off the floor. The shy Pegasus stares at my sister in awe as she registers what's going on. "M-M-Magic?"
"Please hear us out Miss Fluttershy." My sister begins, speaking the way our mother would when addressing an important matter. "Ignoring my sister's poor choice in words, we don't-"
That's as far as she gets before I hear her gasp in shock, I see the look of utter fear on her and brother's faces and realize why;
Fluttershy is using the Stare!
"T, Sis! Close your eye's!" I call out, sadly my warning comes too late as my sister loses focus and faints, as a result the aura holding Fluttershy vanishes. She wastes no time and darts towards the door with a panicked look on her face.
"T, stop her!" I shout as I run to help my sister up. As I sling her claw over my shoulder I hear another shriek and turn to see T blocking her only exit.
"Please just listen-"
What happens next will be burned into my memory forever; Fluttershy turns around and proceeds to buck my brother in the face. He howls in pain and holds a claw to his wound, giving Fluttershy enough time to tackle him to the ground before galloping over his face and out the door.
I watch her run off towards town, squealing all the way. I turn back to my brother, groaning on the floor with a sea of bruises on his face, and then suddenly put two and two together.
My brother, the big, strong, silent, tough guy of our group, just got beat up by Fluttershy… Fluttershy!
My face scrunches up. I snort out breath and press both claws to my mouth, but whatever measures I take are completely in vain. I explode, hit the floor with thud and clutch at my chest as I suffocate on laughter. Tears form in my eyes, and I beat my fist against the floor.
“Lavender this is not funny!” my sister chastises as she gets up.
“I’m sorry!” I shout between fits. “I’m sorry, I can’t help it! Ha, haaaa, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!”
Crystal groans before moving to help Turquoise. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, nothing broken, except maybe my face, my pride, and… I’m not sure, do I have a black eye?”
“Yeah, you do,” I answer. “Oh dear Luna, I can’t believe you got beat up by Fluttershy.”
“Thank you, for those encouraging words Lavey,” Crystal chides. “This just goes to show that we can’t be careless like this anymore. We should head into town right now and try to sort this mess out before it gets out of hand.”
Whatever bit of humor that was left in me dies a horrible death at those words. “What! Are you insane, you can’t do that!”
“Why ever not?”
“Crystal, we’re in the past. What are we gonna say? ‘Hi mom and dad, we’re from the future, and also happen to be the kids you’ll have several years from now after you get married. Do you think you could help us?’”
Crystal goes silent for a moment. “Well, we don’t have to necessarily word it like that?”
“That’s not the point!” I blurt. “Don’t you read the stories? When you’re in the past you can’t do anything that might change the future, otherwise you end up with diamond dogs ruling the world, starting a full scale war, or worse, you could end up ceasing to exist altogether!”
I’m out of breath at the end of my rant, and as I take a moment to breath a disturbing fact crosses my mind. “Dear Luna, even that little scuffle with Fluttershy could’ve done something to affect the future, we really don’t have anyway of knowing. Guys, we need to be careful from now on. We shouldn’t even let anypony see us, much less talk to us.”
"And how exactly do you expect us to do that?" T asks while nursing his eye. "Celestia knows Fluttershy's running through town, screaming that there's dragons on the loose right now..."
"Okay Fluttershy, how many did you say there were?!"
Our ears perk up at the sound of a familiar voice. T glances out the window before turning to us in sheer panic. "It's Princess Twilight!"
My sister and I look at each other with matching expressions of terror. "We gotta get out of here, now!" I shout before making a mad dash for the back door.
The three of us race out of the cottage and into the forest. Behind us I can hear Twilight's voice, prompting me to run faster.
After a few more minutes of running we stop to take a breather, I'm pretty sure were somewhere close to Sweet Apple Acres right now.
"Okay, I don't think they're following us, now what do we do?" I ask between breaths.
Crystal lifts a claw to say ‘give me a minute’. She takes several deep breaths before answering. “Well, first thing’s first, we need to figure out a way to get back home. That mirror back in the Crystal Empire is probably our best bet, but we’ll need know more about it to be sure.”
“Great, no biggy,” I state. “We’ll just have to study up on some obscure magickal artifact, without anypony knowing about it whatsoever. Where are we suppose to look for that information anyway?”
“I think I might have an idea,” Turquoise states. “Did either of you happen to catch a glance at Princess Twilight when you were running?”
“No, sorry, I was a little too busy trying not to scream like a tiny filly at the time.”
“Right, well I did, and I happened to notice a rather... distinct feature missing from her.” T points to his wings in gesture.
“No wings? But that would mean-”
“We’re back before she was even a Princess,” Crystal finishes. “But how does that help us discover more about the mirror?”
“Girls, don’t you remember where Princess Twilight lived before she was a Princess?”
I think for a moment before an idea pops into my head. "That’s right! Ponyville had a library before the castle went in!"
"Yes!" Crystal smiles. "All we need to do is head over there, get a few books on mystical portals and whatnot, and we'll be on our way back home in no time!"
My brother gives Crystal a flat look. "Yes, but as I pointed out before, we are all dragons. There's no way we can just stroll through the town and not cause a panic."
"Hmm, yes that would be a bit of a dilemma..." My sister rubs her chin and paces back-and-forth, supposedly deep in thought. Then she stops and snaps her claws with a look of inspiration. "Idea~!" She proclaims, sounding awful lot like mom for a moment.
"You gotta plan?" I ask.
"But of course Lavey!" She says as her horns start to glow. "I just so happens that my dear boyfriend Illusion-the gentlecolt that he is-was nice enough to teach me a special type of illusionary magic for changing my appearance! And this will be the perfect time to test it out!" She explains as the glowing of her horns slow envelops her body. As the aura continues to glow however, I can't help but notice that she's starting to sweat. This spell must put quite the strain on her.
"Um...sis? Are you feeling okay?" I hear T ask in concern.
"I'm fine. Just... need to... focus a little..." She groans as the light around her body grows brighter.
Suddenly there's a blinding flash of light, I cover my eye's for a moment before light dies down, revealing my sister... or at least a pony that looks like her.
"Well don't keep me in suspense, how do I look?" She asks, although still seemingly out of breath if the beads of sweat are any indication.
I have to admit, this illusion was quite convincing. Besides her mane and face, everything other part of her body has been altered to look like a pony. On her forehead is a standard Unicorn horn. She has normal hooves in the place of claws, and her tail now looks like a normal furry one as opposed to our dragon-like ones. That said...
“Why don’t you have a cutie-mark?” I ask.
This question immediately throws her off and she checks to confirm that indeed, her flank is blank. “That… can probably be over-looked in town.”
“Also, are those horns I see poking out of your mane?”
To her credit the horns are a lot smaller than they once were and can barely be seen under the mane, but still, the fact that I could notice it doesn’t bode well.
“Lavey, please try to be less pessimistic about everything,” Crystal states, while at the same time adjusting her mane to better hide the horns. “It’s rather unbecoming of a young lady.”
“I’m not being pessimistic, I’m pointing out very valid concerns we should all be having, and you’re telling me to shut up in your own special language.”
“I could tell you to shut up directly if you’d like.”
“I’d prefer that more actually.”
“Okay then, shut up Lavender.” she says with an edge in her tone.
“Girls please, can we focus on what we’re doing here.” Turquoise says.
Crystal turns from me with a grunt. “Yeah, I guess you’re right Turquoise, we have other things to be concerned about.”
“I’m guessing from the strain it took just to cast that one spell, it probably means we won’t be seeing ourselves ponified any time soon.”
“You’d be correct Lavender. I’ll have to go into town alone, and you two should focus on staying hidden and not drawing any attention to yourselves.”
"Well, well, well. Look who we have here!"
All of our attention is drawn to another voice just beyond the trees. I arch a brow, something about that voice seems... familiar...
I quickly sneak through the trees and hide in the bushes, ignoring my sister’s warnings. As I peek through the leaves I see the most astonishing sight.
It was the mother of my best friend Sugar Snap; Diamond Tiara. Or at least a younger version of her. And she wasn't alone, with her was her best friend Silver Spoon. The two of them seemed to be circling three familiar looking fillies. My eyes widened as I instantly recognize them, it was my aunt Sweetie Bell and friends Scootaloo and Apple Bloom!
"Why I do believe it's the blank-flanks!" The younger Silver Spoon exclaims as she taunted my young aunt. "Still being your lame, useless selves?"
I scowl a little, where does she get off talking to my aunt like that?! I bite my tongue, maybe I'm overreacting. I mean, they're all good friends in our timeline, maybe this is just playful teasing.
"Don't ya'll got anything better to do than taunt us every day?!" The filly Apple Bloom snaps.
"And miss stating the obvious fact that you three will never get your cutie marks?" Diamond Tiara smirks. "I mean you've had at least how many failed attempts at getting them? Just face the facts, you'll just remain useless blank-flanks for the rest of your lives!"
Or, maybe they were a bunch of spoiled brats in their childhood, who quite clearly needed to be slapped upside the head. Thank Celestia my friend Sugar Snap never inherited this kind of attitude.
I hear a low growl and much to my horror, I see my Ponified sister strutting out of the bushes and straight towards them! I reach out to stop her, but Turquoise yanks me back into the bushes and tells me to wait.
This is not good. Knowing Crystal and her temper she’s likely to do something brash, if not downright stupid. I just pray we don’t see two fillies roasting on an open fire soon.
"Now, now. That's not exactly fair now, is it?" Crystal asks in a surprisingly calm voice as she approaches the five fillies. "After all, while they may not have marks to represent their talents, I highly doubt you are allowed to judge." She continues as she begins to pace around the two bullies.
"Oh yeah? Well what do you know? You're a blank-flank just like those losers!" The young Silver Spoon states, pointing to her flank. This gets the young CMC's attention.
"Yeah, and what's worse, your older! What kind of an adult mare doesn't have her cutie mark yet!?" Diamond Tiara taunts, earning a giggle from her friend. I'm starting to wonder if my sister has simply gone into "tranquil fury mode" and is just waiting for the right time to mual these little twerps.
"Well then if you're so knowledgeable about getting cutie marks, then let me ask you one simple question," She says as she leans down to the point what she's presently face-to-face with the two. "What do your cutie marks stand for?"
The two bullies immediately stop giggling, their eyes went wide as they stared at my sister in shock. My sister continues to speak. "I mean, your's is a tiara and your's is simply a spoon, what does that stand for? The ability to eat with spoons properly? The ability to wear a simple headpiece? That doesn't sound like a talent worth boasting about to me."
I bite my lip, trying to surpass a giggle, the looks on their faces are priceless! I notice my aunt and her friends have similar expressions.
"W-Well... uh... we... I mean..."
The more Diamond Tiara stutters the larger Crystal’s grin grows. “I don’t know about you, but personally, I’d much prefer being stuck with no cutie-mark than having one that’s pointless.”
“They-they are not pointless!” Diamond Tiara shouts. “Haven’t you ever heard of cutie marks that symbolize something? You know, have a deeper meaning than what they show at first glance?”
Crystal tilts her head to the side. “And what exactly do those marks of yours ‘symbolize’?”
Upon being asked those two almost immediately stood tall and proud with their chests pushed out, it’s like someone just reinflated the confidence in these two. “Well, I got my cutie mark after helping my dad impress an important client.”
“And I got my cutie mark after attending one of most high class banquets in Equestria.” Silver Spoon boasts.
Crystal cocks an eye at the two. She looks down at their cutie marks, and then back up at their faces. “So, what you’ve told me, essentially, is that you got your cutie mark in being a daddy’s girl, and you got your cutie mark in sitting on your butt and stuffing your face.”
Silence goes on for so long after that, it practically radiates off of the two boastful fillies my sister is speaking with. Apple Bloom and her friends manage to hold the silence as well, at least until they break down, fall to the ground and clutch at their sides in laughter. I barely managed to contain my own laughter, and T covers his mouth after snorting too loudly.
Diamond Tiara and her Silver Spoon don’t appear to share the amusement. They glare red faced at Crystal, attempting to bury her with under heated stares. Crystal giggles along with Apple Bloom and her friends, before turning to them with a smirk.
“Moral of the story kids, cutie marks are over rated.”
Sweetie Belle is still wiping tears out of her eyes when she answers. “Ha, ha, yeah, I think you might actually be right.”
“Yeah, who needs a dumb butt mark like theirs anyway? Being a blank flank is awesome!” Scootaloo states.
“Wait, does this mean we’re givin’ up tryin’ to find our cutie marks?" Applebloom asks.
There’s a brief silence between the three.
“What are you nuts? Of course not! It just means there's endless possibilities for us!” Scootaloo blurts. “We’re the cutie mark crusaders, we’re not gonna quit until the job is done!”
The three cheer in unison, prompting Crystal to shake her head. Well, you've gotta admire their persistence.
“Come on girls, we should try for a skydiving cutie mark this time.” Scootaloo states as they trotted off.
“Didn’t we already try that?” Sweetie asks.
“That was base jumping Sweetie, big difference.”
“Well, how are we going to get way up in the sky then?”
“We’ll find a way, Cutie Mark Crusaders, away!”
And with that they dash away on the road, galloping off into sunset on another grand adventure, or something cliche like that, I’m not really paying attention at that point. I’m much more focused on the two seething fillies stewing behind my sister.
Diamond Tiara sounds like she’s second away from erupting when she talks. “You know, my father is a very rich stallion, very powerful. He could make your life a living hell if you treat me badly.”
Crystal’s chuckles softly before turning to them with a large grin. “That’s rich, you know I might be scared if I actually believed that Filthy Rich would do anything of the sort.”
Diamond Tiara stutters, but never loses the wrath in her eyes. “He would, keep pushing me lady, he wouldn’t wait two seconds beat some respect into a stupid blank flank like you!”
“Such an amusing idle threat.” Crystal states in a blank monotone. “How about I show you girls what a real one looks like.”
My heart climbs into my throat at those words. No, Crystal, please don’t do something stupid, please don’t do something stupid, please...
My sister leans down to the two disrespectful fillies, meeting their glaring eyes head on.
“If, I, ever, see you picking on those three fillies again…” Her horn flares up and the spell around her face peels back, revealing her true, dragon face. “You will see more, than just harsh words coming out of my mouth.”
She blows a tiny whiff of flames just for emphasis, adding more horror to the increasingly pale faces of the fillies. They stare at her in wide eyed terror for a moment, and then scream at the top of their lungs, turn back, and run like their lives depend on it.
My sister laughs as they run off, her laughter is like grating metal to my ears. Something snaps inside me when I hear that laugh. I step out of the bush and walk up to her biting my lip so hard I taste blood.
Crystal is still laughing. “Oh Lavy, I think I know why Prizm loves doing things like that so much, the look on their faces was-”
My hand meets the back of her head before she can finish the sentence. "Clarie, do you want to explain to me what the buck you were thinking?!" I snap as my face stops inches away from hers.
Crystal holds a claw to the spot I hit her. Her head slowly cranes upward, her eyes give me a murderous glare. I’m half way toward regretting what I did when Turquoise comes to my rescue.
“As much as I found that amusing, I’m gonna side with Lavender on this. That wasn’t your smartest idea.”
Crystal turns her stare towards T, but her anger doesn't even last long enough to give a proper comeback. I guess even she knows on some level how stupid what she did right now was.
"I... Urrgh!... I'm sorry alright, but you know I can't stand other ponies picking on each other. Just seeing the way those two treated aunt Sweetie Belle and her friends made want to punch them into next week."
"Yeah, you don't need to tell us how you feel about bullies Crystal. Need I remind that I was there when you mauled those kids picking on me in school?”
“Yes, that’s exactly my point Lavey.”
“Or when you scared the ever loving crap out of that little kid just because he wouldn’t stop calling dragons monsters.”
“Well, yeah, but come on that brat was asking for it.”
“Not to mention that whole incident with the racist unicorn and the emerald writing quill.”
“Okay first off, no one can prove I did that; not even you. Second, shut up I get it already!” Crystal blares.
My heart rate spikes at her look, but I manage to keep myself composed. “Good, so you realize than that like all those bullies you scared off, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are probably on their way to regurgitate everything that happened here to their parents as we speak.”
Crystal’s face freezes in anger. She makes a few very unlady like sounds and throws her arms about as if trying to make a gesture, and then she stands straight stiff with a blank look on her face.
“Lets just go get that book already!” she blurts before stomping off towards town.
“Right, don’t mind us, we’ll just be waiting outside town trying not to be seen. Good luck Clare!”
She yells back something obscene enough to make Turquoise’s face go red.
“We love you too!” I chide back, before turning to T with a smile. “You know, Crystal’s anger is actually a little amusing when you’re not on the receiving end of it.”
Turquoise gives me a slanted look, and then heads into the forest with his back turned to me.
“What? It’s a joke, you’re supposed to laugh, it’s supposed to be funny!”
“Well, it’s not Lavender.” T replies in a deadpan tone.
"You'd find it funny if Annie had said it," I mumble. I crack a small smile when I see T's blush.
Author's Note
It's back people!
Yes, this story is apparently not dead. Sorry it took so long people. I'd like to say that I'll try to update this story sooner, but with finals hovering over me like cruel hammer of judgement that they are... yeah, no promises.
Oh, also, many thanks to DarknessRising who helped me finish this chapter. You were more help than you realize bro. 
