Unlikely but Possible

The Crystal Empire was just as Ocean remembered the last time he was there. It was big, shiny, and despite the near constant summer it was always annoyingly hot. But it was better than that constant blizzard that used to surround the Empire. But thankfully, Ocean was only gonna stay for a few nights if he had to, his colleague wasn't one to waste time, so this should hopefully go quickly. Looking at the other two, Ocean saw Crescent and Ruby all cuddled up together. Looking at the sleeping pair, Ocean was curious about Ruby.

'Why did Princess Luna make it so important that those two can't be apart for too long?' Ocean thought to himself. 'Just who is this mare?' Noticing that they were approaching their destination, Ocean gently shook both Crescent and Ruby. "Hey wake up, we're here."

Rousing from their sleep, Crescent and Ruby saw they were in a semi cuddling position, they quickly moved a few inches away from each other. Ruby distracted the faint blush on her face by looking out the window. Looking at the splendor of the upcoming crystal city. Crescent wasn't as enthusiastic. When he was promoted to lieutenant, he was almost stationed at the Crystal Empire, but thankfully, Princess Luna stopped the transfer. Crescent let out a sigh of discomfort as the city drew closer and closer.

"I know you don't like the Crystal Empire Crescent." Ocean sighed. "But just deal with it until I'm done talking to my colleague."

"Yeah, you get to talk about some energy crap." Crescent said, his tone was less than enthusiastic. "You don't have to deal with him."

"Crescent, just let your pointless frustration go." Ocean sighed, adjusting his scarf. "It has been years since your petty argument with Captain Armor. There is no need to-"

"Don't you DARE call what happened a 'petty argument'!" Crescent snapped in frustration, then he looked at the excited Ruby for a moment.

Ocean didn't say another word, only watched Crescent's tone of what he said and how he looked at Ruby afterwards. 'Intriguing. What is Ruby to Crescent?'

___________Meanwhile...at a Music Store in the Crystal Empire___________

"Thank you, come again." A dark grey Earth stallion with a black and purple streaked mane, and a music note on fire cutie mark, smiled as the last customer left.

Around the store, there were several instruments of various shapes and sizes. Though the store wasn't too big, but it was a nice "cozy" size. The dark grey Earth stallion looked around the room, as if he was looking for something. Then he found it, in the corner, behind a row of basses and cellos. Laying down in a lazy fashion was a light grey Earth stallion with a black and light green mane, his music note and lightning bolt cutie mark resting against the wall.

"You know that was quite the rush, eh Butch?" the dark grey stallion asked.

"I know. I've never seen you so busy Azer." Butch responded. "You were almost a blur with your speed."

"And you know what would have made the rush easier?" Azer asked calmly.

"And what is that?" Butch asked with a yawn.

"IF YOU ACTUALLY GOT OFF YOUR LAZY FLANK TO HELP ME!!" Butch shouted in an annoyed manner.

"Now now now. My dear brother." Butch said in a lazy, charismatic manner, that only annoyed Azer more. "Think of it like this...*yawn...if you do good here, you know who might be impressed."

"True, but I would've been easier to run this store, if I don't know, you HELPED me run this place!" Azer said, grabbing a broom to clean the floor, or hit his brother.

"Oh come on Azer." Butch said, getting up and wrapping his arm over Azer's shoulder. "Remember what we talked about yesterday.  You need some inner peace and should relax."

"Not if it makes me a lazy mooch like you. No thank you." Azer sighed, then he looked his brother right in the eye and saw the same look Butch always gave him. "And no, I'm not loaning you a few bits."

"Aw come on!" Butch said. "But this time, I need the money."

"For what?" Azer raised an eyebrow. "To piss it away at the bar and try to hit on some random crystal mares?"

"Noooo.....yes....so please?!" Butch asked again.

Azer let out a sigh, and thought of an idea. "If you actually do some work, I'll give you some bits."

"Nah, no much work." Butch said, going back to his resting spot behind the larger string instruments.

Azer just sighed and continued to clean the store.

___________Back at the Crystal Empire Train Station___________

Ocean, Crescent, and Ruby finished unloading their luggage and sorted everything out with the conductor.

"Okay, let's get this over with." Crescent said, his mood didn't improve much.

As the group of ponies left the station, and headed into the city, another pony; a yellow pegasus mare with a messy pink mane followed the group in the shadows and through the crowd. Getting into the city, Ruby was almost overwhelmed by the sheer splendor of the city. Everything shimmered and was made of some form of thick glass and crystal. It all sparkled so beautifully in the sunlight. Often, Ruby had to be roused out of her amazement by either Crescent or Ocean, so she wouldn't fall behind. Eventually, the group made it to the towering castle at the center of the city. Between it's four stands, the beautiful, tantalizing Crystal Heart shimmered in the light.

"Halt citizen." A crystal guard said, approaching the group as they approached the castle. "Do you have business in the castle?"

"Yes. We have an audience with Princess Cadance and Shining Armor." Ocean said, showing Celestia's seal on the letter.

The guards nodded and let the three pass. Though the mare following them was unable to follow and so looked around for another way into the palace.

"I know they told me not to." The mare quietly told herself, looking about the palace. "But I need to do something, anything." Then a strange feeling almost struck through the mare, like a sudden cramp. "No, not now!" Quickly looking for anywhere to go, the mare saw a nearby building.

Knowing what the cramp meant, the mare almost flew into the store. The exact second she closed the door behind her, a large spew of smoke filled the store and enveloped the mare. When the smoke cleared, which was relatively quickly, the mare was no longer there, and where she stood, an exhausted and heavily breathing Talon stood. When Talon looked around the store, he saw he was not alone. To Talon's embarrassed shock, two Earth stallions, Azer and Butch, not only saw Talon go from a mare to a stallion, but were very confused.

"Uh bro." Butch said, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. "Did a mare just burst into the room, let out a smokescreen, and become a stallion. Or am I still tired?"

"For once Butch." Azer said. "You are correct. That did happen, as unbelievable as it sounds."

"Uhhh...hi..." Talon said, slowly back to the door behind him. "You're not gonna tell other ponies about this, are you?"

"Well that depends." Butch smiled, getting up from his napping spot, approaching the increasingly scared Talon. "How 'bout you tell me how you did that."

Suddenly, Azer's hoof grabbed Butch from the back of his neck and pulled him away from Talon.

"I'm sorry about that." Azer said. "My brother can be stupidly nosey sometimes. We'll keep your secret, and you don't have to tell us anything if you don't want to. But I would like to know, what brings you to the Crystal Empire?"

"Oh well.." Talon said, kinda relaxing but still nervous. "It's a bit of a long story."

"Butch, go make some tea." Azer said. "We don't get customers around this time, so we have time to talk. Would you like some tea?"

"S-sure. I'd like some." Talon said, thankful that he met at least one other nice pony.

___________The Crystal Empire Throne Room___________

The interior of the throne room was full of large, shimmering crystals. The large throne at the end of the long carpet was a near explosion of crystals. Sitting in the crystal throne was Princess Cadance, and standing besides the throne was Shining Armor. Crescent avoided eye contact with Armor, he wanted to get this over with.

"Hello Ocean Stardust, Crescent-Blade, Ruby Wing." Cadance smiled gently. "It's good that you were able to come here."

"It's no problem Princess." Ocean said. "We are eager to solve this problem as soon as possible."

"I understand." Cadance nodded. "Take as much time as you need. Is there anything I can assist with?"

"My colleague should be here. Their name is Fusion and is the leading expert on energy signatures." Ocean asked. "Could you direct me to them?"

"Fusion is currently researching some strange crystals that were recovered on the outskirts of our borders." Armor answered, gesturing towards Ocean. "I can take you to them."

"Very well." Ocean said, then looked at Crescent and Ruby. "You two can enjoy the city while I work."

"Alright." Crescent said, happy to be leaving. "Whatever gets me away from that asshole Armor."

Armor didn't hear Crescent, but looked over his shoulder. The look in his eye when he saw Ruby was one of great disgust. "Whatever gets that creature out of my sight."

As Ocean and Armor ventured down the spiraling stairs, Ocean thought back to what he saw. Armor didn't catch him, but Ocean saw the look in Armor's eye and, though it was a hunch, Armor made that look at Ruby. Ocean wondered why Armor made such a look. It wasn't long until they reached the bottom of the stairs. In front of them was a overly large door. Large enough for a pony to stand on another pony's shoulders, and still it would too tall.

"This is Fusion's lab." Armor said.

"Thank you Armor." Ocean said, knocking on the door.

After a few moments of silence, the door was slowly opened. Opening the door was a large dark brown Earth stallion, his long grey mane and scruffy beard gave testament to his middle age. His eyes were a cold blue and, most astonishing was his forarms and forehooves were made entirely out of teal colored crystal.

"Ah Stone." Armor greeted. "Is Fusion in the lab."

"They are." Stone greeted, his voice was gruff, yet calm and polite. "Please come inside."

Walking through the doorway, Ocean got a good look of the lab. It was massive, quite bigger than he expected. He even had to adjust his scarf to cover the amazed smile on his face. Looking back at Stone, Ocean got a good look of the stallion. He was easily bigger than Big Mac back in Ponyville, and even more muscular. And his cutie mark was a golden axe. But it was those crystal arms that really caught Ocean's eye.

'How could this Earth pony be using crystals as prosthetic limbs?' Ocean thought to himself. 'They even bend and move as if they were organic appendages.'

"They are quite amazing aren't they?" An oddly genderless voice echoed from the end of the room. Stepping forward was another strange sight.

A pony, or what could be a pony wrapped in a heavy looking black and gold robe. This robe covered everything on this pony, their tail, their head, their hooves. It was impossible to know the type and gender of this pony. And even more odd was the face. Under the hood of this robed pony was an expressionless, genderless face, with a large purple gem stone in the area of the forehead.

"Stone Cold here has refused to tell me how he acquired such limbs." The pony said. "But it doesn't really matter, he has been a wonderful assistant." The pony then looked at Ocean. "It is good to see you my old friend."

"Hello to you too Fusion." Ocean nodded, then looked at Stone. "i am quite curious where they came from as well."

"I'm sorry Mr. Ocean." Stone said politely. "But I would rather nopony knows. I'll go get some refreshments Fusion. Would you like something Prince Armor?"

"No thank you." Armor said. "I have to get back Cadance and discuss some matters."

Armor then left the room, leaving Stone, Ocean, and Fusion in the lab.

"I take it you received my letter?" Ocean asked.

"Why yes I did." Fusion said, the gem on its head glowing faintly and a letter levitated towards Fusion. "But it seems you have no idea what this source is?"

"Yes and I was hoping you could help." Ocean said. "I'm sure your scanners would have a more accurate reading."

"Yes they do." Fusion said. "Come with me."

Leading Ocean to the other side of the lab, Ocean saw a large table covered with the same type of crystal gem Fusion wore in all shapes and sized.

"The guards found some of these shards around the borders of the Empire not a few months ago." Fusion said.

"Shards?" Ocean asked. "You say that as if they are pieces of something bigger."

"Oh but they are. " Fusion explained, levitating a shard. "There were more than twice the amount of shards here before. Then there was a massive power surge from the far North. I don't know how as of yet, but this surge affected the shards and bonded a few of them into the larger shards you see now. Even the gem on my head amplified in strength. But it soon passed."

"Were you able to get a reading on the source?" Ocean asked.

"Yes. But it was equally peculiar." Fusion said, moving the shards to the side of the table, showing a large map of not the Equestria, but the entire world map. "As you may have already guessed, this energy is comparable to Alicorn magic. And I have been able to find a place of origin. It is here." The hoof was places on a section of the map North of the Crystal Empire, in a mountainous region. "The area is locked in a constant blizzard, no Unicorn, nor Pegasus can alter the weather. But the source is there."

"But there must be a way to get there." Ocean hypothesized. "But how? Maybe something with the shards here."

"My thoughts exactly, but there is a problem." Fusion explained. "I have had teams search every acre of land in the Crystal Empire, these crystals are not native to the region. Yet they seem to be highly affected by this strange energy. I suspect there are more shards and they hold the key to entering that blizzard safely. As for now, I have only hypothesis to go on. And need another surge to further my experiments."

"Another? Have these surges been constant?" Ocean asked.

"Surprisingly so." Fusion said. "I don't know what caused the big surge that you picked up in Ponyville, but for the last week, there have been small surges every several hours or so."

"Fusion. It's time." Stone said, carrying a tray of hot tea on his back, placing it on a empty table.

"Ah perfect, thank you Stone." Fusion said, placing the shards next to each other, close enough where they were touching. "Stone noticed this only yesterday, but the surges are minute and only felt by these crystals, but every so often, there is a bigger surge that greatly affects these crystals. We have calculated that the next surge will be a large one."

Waiting in anticipation for the next surge, Ocean, Fusion, and Stone watched the shards. In the next moment, the shards, and even the gem on Fusion's head glowed rather brightly. Soon the shards started to slightly vibrate and the faint lines between them started to blur. The light became brighter and bright as the crystals seemed to fuse together. When the light finally faded,n all the shards were gone, instead there was an even bigger shard, easily twice or three times the size as the shards before.

"Magnificent." Fusion said. "And this proves that the surges and shards are somehow connected."

"It would appear so." Ocean said, in amazement, adjusting his scarf to hide his smile. "But this shard still looks incomplete."

"Exactly." Fusion said. "Even if we were to apply the gem on my head, it still would not be enough, I suspect that there are more of these shards and each pulse is slowly drawing them closer and closer to the source. But at the rate the shard moves whenever the surge occurs, it will be centuries before the shards return to this mystery source."

"This is an amazing find Fusion." Ocean said. "Do you have any notes and formulas prepared?"

"Why yes, Stone, could you get me those books over there?" Fusion pointed to a far shelf.

Stone retrieved the books Ocean requested and Ocean poured through page after page. These surges were a mystery that fascinated him, and he knew it had to be solved somehow.

___________In a Remote Cavern outside the Crystal Empire's Borders__________

A lone, tall, and slender figure walked through the dark cavern. Though she didn't see them, she knew they were there, countless eyes looking this figure over. As soon as she reached the center, she ignited her horn, illuminating the room. It was Queen Chrysalis of the Changeling Hive, and around around her were Changelings; but these Changelings looked different. They were mutated, deformed, scarred, and grotesque in appearance.

"My dear Misshapen children." Chrysalis spoke to these Misshapen, who looked upon Chrysalis with both hatred and fear. "I know I abandoned you, tossed you aside, and left you all to die. But I offer a chance for you all to earn your place in the Hive."

All the ears of the Misshapen lifted in anticipation. These were Changelings who were tossed from the Hive at birth for their birth defect and mutations. Left to die from predators, or the elements around them, or even starvation from lack of love to feed on. They would do anything to be welcomed into the Hive, Chrysalis knew this and was willing to take advantage of this desperation.

"Beyond this cave, this dank home you Misshapen live in, is the great Crystal Empire." Chrysalis announced. "Filled with the love and happiness of its ponies." Chrysalis saw how some of the Misshapen were practically drooling with anticipation. "Go there, feed on their love and bring it back to the Hive. Give the Hive the Crystal Empire's love and earn your place back home, my Misshapen!"

The Misshapen spread their wings and scattered all around Chrysalis. The Misshapen flew at full speed out of the cave. Their sheer numbers looked like a massive black cloud of clicks and buzzes. And the Crystal Empire was only just over the horizon of the midday Sun.