Lost Innocence, and a Growing Insanity

King Sombra looked at the Crystal Empire with disgust in his red eye's. "Foolish pony's. Soon i will have my throne back and you will all crumple under my iron hoof!" He closed his eye's contemplating his next move. He already felt the presence of darkness in his kingdom. "That mean's that some pony has found the first illusion." This did not boad well for his plan's. It seemed that he would have to use send Iggy after them. Even if the pony's manage to get there hoof's on the Crystal Heart, Iggy would have already intercepted them, 'I may not like relying on him to much, but his skills in conjuration and magic are useful.' Sombra's horn glowed and behind him stood a unconscious baby dragon- turtle, purple smoke leaking through his eyes. 'And besides I still have his brother. '

'Soon I will rule my kingdom again and eventually all of Equestria!' "hahahahaha ahahahahahah ahahahahahaha"  As if the very air agreed with him a few bolt's of lightning and the rumble of thunder was heard as the mad king laughed at his own genius.

Crystal Empire

Mean while back in the Crystal Castle Twilight Sparkle made her way down the flight of stair's that she had discovered. The Dark purple beam that she had fired at the crystal throne had revealed a hidden flight of stair's that led into a dark abyss below the castle. Desperately trying to find any hint of The Crystal Heart she followed the step's with her horn providing a light source.

"Hey Twilight are you doing ok down there?" Spike her assistant called out to her from the top of the step's.

"Ya spike I don't think I have much further to go." She called back.

Curious she dislodged a small dark crystal from the side of the wall and levitated it over the dark hole and dropped it. She strained to here the sound of stone on stone. When she was done with that put her hoof to her ear to catch the sound wave's that would soon come. A few second's later she heard the sound and her ear's dropped. 'That is a long way down.' She thought to herself.

"Hey Spike how's it going outside?" She called up to him.

He got up from the top stair step and ran to a window to see. He saw the sunny and cheery sky illusion begin to flicker on and off. "It's not looking good Twilight. Candace's magic is fading fast. We have to hurry up and find the Crystal Heart." He shout down into the hole.

As soon as Twilight heard this she kicked herself into high gear and took the step's two at a time. Unfortunately in her haste to get to the bottom of this never ending stair case she lost her balance and tripped on a broken step sending her tumbling end over end to the bottom. she quickly caught herself in a levitation field to stop the impact.

Spike yelled from the top of the stair case. "Hey Twilight are you ok?".

"Ya Spike. I'm at the bottom now."

"Good. Do you see anything?"

Twilight looked around her surrounding and instantly locked her eye's on a big royal red door engraved into the rock wall, two torches were on the side of the door. "huh?" Just as she was about to open the door, the door started to open by itself. Twilight took a few calming breathes, before heading inside.

As soon as Twilight went inside the doors slammed shut behind her. "Spike!? Spike!? Can you hear me!?" Twilight desperately called.

"Hehe, there's no use in calling for help little pony."

Twilight slowly turned around to see who was talking, the creature was similar to Iggy in appearance, he had a red turtle shell just like Iggy, but his didn't have spikes, his body was more bulkier, also he was bald. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Boom Boom." The creature got into a fighting stance. "And this is as far as you go!"

The koopa growled before he lunged at Twilight trying to catch her off guard. Twilight jumped up and landed on the turtle’s back forcing him into his shell. Twilight then kicked the shell sending it flying towards the wall.

"Ouch! Looks like I underestimated you." Boom Boom got back up, "Well I wont let that happen again." Boom Boom reared his head back, his snout glowing red. Suddenly Boom Boom unleashed several large fire balls, Twilight gasped and teleported away before she was able to get hit. "Stay Still!!!"

Twilight looked behind her and saw the large beast only a few inches away. Boom Boom's claw crash down to the spot Twilight was, "*groan* forgot she can teleport."

Twilight appeared behind the koopa and fired several powerful magic blast at his shell. Boom Boom got up his face red, "That's it!" He roared and lunged at Twilight, his arms swinging all over the place. Twilight turned her back and kicked the large turtle with her back legs, sending him wheeling through the air.

Boom Boom crashed into the crystal wall's starting to feel exhausted, " I wont *pant* let *pant* you- win...I still have my magic!" Boom Boom took out a wand and started to swing it around. "Let's see how you do against a flying opponent." Suddenly a purple foot stomped on his head, Boom Boom wobbled around a bit before he collapsed face first completely unconscious.

"Twilight!"

Twilight gasped and ran towards her savior. "Spike!" The two shared quick hug. "What are you doing down here!?"

"I came here to find you, you were taking quiet a long time."

The ground shook, both Twilight and Spike turned towards the source of the earthquake, suddenly another door appeared. As Twilight stepped through, Spike asked warily, “What’s in there?”

“Stairs,” she sighed as they both looked up to a column so high they couldn’t see the top. Encircling it were, “Lots and lots of stairs.”

Twilight took the first few steps but then looked to Spike, “Maybe you should come with me this time.”

Spike smiled brightly and followed her without hesitation.