Chapter 1View OnlineReturn of a KingChapter 1Twilight, her friends, and Spike were visiting the Crystal Empire. Twilight was there to attend a royal summit between the princesses and other heads of state from neighboring lands. It was mostly just boring politics consisting of land disputes, trade agreements, etc. but Twilight didn’t care. She looked forward to being able to visit her brother and sister-in-law. With the meeting over the dignitaries began to leave. Celestia and Luna had to return to Canterlot as well. But it was getting late and Twilight along with her friends and Spike decided to spend the night and take the morning train, so everypony retired for the evening. But what they didn’t know was that there was a cloaked figure making their way through the streets under the cover of darkness being very careful not to be seen. Once the coast was clear of guards or anypony else that may be out at that time of the night, it made its way toward its target the Crystal Heart, they reached out, grabbed it and ran as fast as they could. Seconds later all the crystal ponies coats dulled, the guards on duty took notice of this immediately and knew something was wrong but it was too late. A shadow went surging though the streets heading toward the Crystal Palace. The palace doors burst open, the guards eyes widened for there stood King Sombra. He quickly cast a spell to gain control of their minds before they could react, but one guard at the top of the stairs bolted intent on warning the others of his return, Sombra quickly gave chase. The lone guard made it to Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor’s room but all he managed to say was “Princess its-” before being hit by a blast of dark magic. Cadance and Shining woke with a start, they looked around and saw King Sombra standing in the doorway, he fired off a shot and everything went dark. Cadance was the first to wake, slowly opening her eyes. Once they came into focus she realized they were in the dungeon, in cells that were enchanted to negate magic. Cadance, Shining, and Twilight were in one cell, Twilight’s friends and Spike in the next, and in the third cell was a lone crystal pony mare with a light gray coat and a dark gray mane with a flower for a cutie mark, with two guards in black armor standing at the entrance. From the light coming in through the window she figured it had to be morning or maybe even in the afternoon for all she knew. The others started too wake when they heard a voice. “So you’re awake.” Everypony turned their heads to see King Sombra stroll through the entrance smirking. “King Sombra….how-” said Cadance. “Did I survive?” his smirk turning into a smile. “Well the Crystal Heart did do a number on me but I managed to escape before it finished me off.” He turned his attention toward Twilight. “So you must the pony along with your little dragon that thwarted my return to power last time.” Twilight and Spike were looking nervous, she nodded. “H-How did you get past the Crystal Heart?” Just then a crystal guard walked in and whispered something into Sombra’s ear. “What timing, send him in.” In walked a crystal pony by the name of Silver Shield, he had a tan coat and mane, with a cutie mark to match the name, head hung low unable to look at the prince and princesses. Shining recognized the pony. He was a crystal guard. He didn’t seem to be under Sombra’s influence and wondered what he had to do with this. “Silver, I trust our little problem has been taken care of.” Silver let out a sigh. “Yes it has, I made sure to hide the Crystal Heart were no pony will ever find it.” “What!?” Shining couldn’t believe that one of his own men would do such a thing. Sombra gave Shining a look but otherwise ignored the outburst, while Silver only looked more ashamed. “You’re sure?” “Yes I am. To be honest I probably did too good a job of hiding it.” “Good.” “Alright I did what you wanted, now let her go.” “Very well.” One of the guards opened the cell with the lone mare inside and Silver quickly ran to her as she made her way out of her cell. “Daisy,” he called out as he made his way to his marefriend. They embraced in a hug. Both had tears in their eyes. “You-you big idiot why did you do that.” “I just didn’t want to lose you.” “So you put the entire kingdom in danger.” “I-I’m so sorry.” “How touching. Guards arrest them!” Silver whirled around and looked at Sombra. “But you said you’d let us go.” “No I said you two could be reunited and you have. But I can’t just let you go, what with you being the only pony that knows the location of the Heart. You’ve become a liability.” “But-” “And put a muzzle on him so he can’t divulge any sensitive information to the others just in case.” The guards moved in, grabbed Silver and held him down while they strapped his muzzle shut. Daisy could only watch as she was forced back into her cell, Silver followed soon after. He tried to protest but all he could do was make grunts and muffled sounds. “You won’t get away with this!” Sombra turned his attention toward Cadance and smiled. “Oh I thing I will, with you all as my hostages the other Princesses won’t dare make a move against me, further more even if you cloud escape you lack the one item that can truly defeat me.” Sombra looked back at Silver. “As for you, I’ll have you executed after I’ve taken care of some business first. As for your marefriend I have yet to decide, maybe I’ll publicly execute both of you to remind the other slaves who’s in charge.” Sombra started to leave then stopped and looked back at a certain yellow, pink mane pegasus, who withered under his gaze. “Guards I wish to take the yellow pegasus with me.” “Yes your majesty.” “Like hell you will!” said Dash. “W-w-what do you w-w-want with me?” “You’ll find out soon enough.” One of the guards opened the door to her cell and stepped inside. Rainbow Dash immediately charged the guard who then took his spear in both hooves and turned it horizontally and braced himself, they collided. The guard slid back little but otherwise held his ground, Dash grabbed on to the spear and both pushed against each other. Then the guard managed swing Dash around and pin her against the bars of the cell, while another guard leveled his weapon at the other four. Fluttershy couldn’t stand to see her friends in danger and reluctantly made her way out of the cell. The guard pinning Dash smacked her to the ground and she lost her grip on the spear, he made his way out and locked the door behind him. Sombra gestured for Futtershy to follow him which she sheepishly did with one guard following behind her to make sure she didn’t try and run for it. The other two guards resumed their posts at the entrance. All the others could do was watch as Sombra and company left with the door closing behind them.
Chapter 2View OnlineReturn of a KingChapter 2Sombra, Fluttershy, and the crystal guard made their way down the halls of the palace until they come to the King’s (formerly Cadance and Shining’s) private chambers. Fluttershy made her way inside and Sombra turned to face the guard. “Go back to your post. I’ll handle things form here.” “Yes your majesty.” The doors closed behind him and Sombra made sure to lock it. He turned back to Fluttershy who started to shake little, not knowing what to expect. “Now then let’s get down to business.” Sombra motioned toward the bed. Fluttershy had a somewhat confused look on her face. With a smirk he removed his cape and started to undo his armor. Her eye widened, she had an idea of where this was going and she didn’t like it. Slowly she back away from him, but she had nowhere to go and backed into a wall which startled her a little. She was trapped. After undoing the last of his armor he gave her his full attention. “Going somewhere?” “P-p-please just l-let me go.” “Don’t worry you’ll be back with you friends again soon enough, but first were going to have are selves a little fun….well fun for me anyway, whether you enjoy it or not is completely up to you.” Sombra then used this magic to toss Fluttershy onto the bed, he hopped on himself and made his way to her. “P-please stop.” She pleaded with tears starting to form in her eyes. “No way, it’s been over thousand years since the last time I bedded a mare and I’ve waited too long for this to back down now. So let’s begin shall we.” Some time had passed in the dungeon and the others were wondering what to do. They couldn’t talk about escaping for the guards could easily eavesdrop on them. So they were left to their thoughts, wondering what kind of horrible things were happening on the outside. Just then there came a knock at the door. “Who’s there!” barked one of the guards. They knocked again. “I said who’s there!” No response this time. The two guards looked at each other and nodded. They positioned themselves in front of the door, weapons at the ready and quickly opened it. What they saw was a couple of hooves coming straight at them. Both got bucked in the face. They flew back a few feet and landed on their backs, slipping into unconsciousness a moment later. The others were surprised at what they just saw and looked back at the door. There stood Flash Sentry in the doorway. He quickly grabbed the keys and started opening up the cells. “Sorry for the delay, I would have been here sooner but I had to lay low for a little while till things settled down and it was harder than I thought for me to sneak around the palace.” “That’s quite alright,” said Shining. Once everypony was out and thanked him, Flash took his leave to escape the palace and warn the princesses in Canterlot. Then Shining walked over to Silver and eyed him with a stern look upon his face. Silver couldn’t bear look him in the eyes, he knew he was in the wrong and deserved whatever tongue lashing he was about to receive. Shining used his magic to undo his muzzle so he could speak. “Sir I-I-” “Don’t say another word. I’m sure that if Cadance were in danger I might have done something stupid and reckless to try and save her too. But that doesn’t excuse your actions.” Silver was a little surprised that he wasn’t chewed out on the spot. “I know sir, I’m sorry and I will do whatever it takes to make up for what I’ve done.” “Glad to hear it. Now where did you hide the Crystal Heart?” “Like I mentioned earlier I may have done too good a job of hiding it, I would have to take you there myself.” “Very well then we’ll leave at once.” “Wait what about Fluttershy?” said Pinkie “Yes we can’t just leave her, who knows what that ruffian will do to her when he finds out were gone.” “Exactly why we need to find them and kick his flank!” “I’m sorry girls but time is of the essence and we can’t face Sombra without the Crystal Heart,” said Shining. “But-” Twilight tried to protest but was cutoff. “I’m sorry Twilight, we’ll come back for her,” said Cadance while bringing her into a hug. “And the sooner we get the Heart back the sooner we can save her.” Twilight let out a sigh of defeat. “Alright.” “Then let’s get going, Silver where are we headed.” “Just a second.” Silver made his way over to one of the unconscious guards and started removing his armor and putting it on himself. “I hid it deep in a cave a little ways north of here and I’m not going back there without some kind of protection and a weapon.” “Whys that?” said Cadance sounding a little concerned. “Let’s just say that when I first went there I didn’t realize that the cave was inhabited." “What do you mean by inhabited?” said Shining. Silver finished putting the guard’s armor on and grabbed a spear. “I’ll explain when we get here.” “Alright then let’s go.” Twilight and Cadance charged up a teleportation spell and in a flash they were gone.
Chapter 3View OnlineReturn of a KingChapter 3They reappeared in the middle of the frozen north a ways away from the Crystal Empire. After getting his bearings Silver lead the others toward the direction of the cave. They finally reached it and looked inside. The others were surprised to find that the cave was lit with glowing crystals on the walls acting as natural light sources. “Alright were here, let’s go.” Silver took a couple steps forward before stopping, having remembered what lay ahead. “On second thought everypony besides the royalty and me should stay behind.” “Why’s that?” said Applejack. “It’s too dangerous, like I said before this cave is inhabited.” “Inhabited by what exactly?” said Dash. “Giant spider creatures, many bigger than a pony with naturally forming crystal around their bodies and limbs acting like armor, I barely made it out last time so I only think that the prince and princesses have the strength to fend them off should we have a run-in with them . The cave itself also happens to be a naturally forming labyrinth and the less of us there are the less chance we have of being separated and getting lost.” “Maybe the rest of you should stay behind,” said Shining. “Sounds like a plan to me,” said a nervous Spike. Rainbow Dash had an irritated look on her face. “Fine.” “Be careful, Silver.” “I will, Daisy.” And with that they made their way into the cave. King Sombra laid back in bed with a smug sense of self-satisfaction and his hooves behind his head. Fluttershy was on the other side facing away from him curled up and silently crying to herself, then came a pounding at the door. Sombra sounding annoyed made his way over and opened it. “This had better be…important?” Taking a short pause he noticed that one of the guards at the door was without armor or a weapon. “It is your majesty, the prisoners have escaped!” “WHAT!? HOW!?” “Somepony knocked on the door to the dungeon, when no one answered we took position and opened it.” “When we did all we saw was a couple of hooves bucking us in the face.” “It happened so fast we didn’t see who it was before we were knocked out cold.” Sombra growled in anger, realizing that they must have gone after the Crystal Heart. “Mobilize the troops, we must prepare for their return.” They saluted and ran off. He quickly turned his attention toward Fluttershy who had overheard the conversation and was looking back at him. “As for you my dear let’s see how far your friends are willing to go to protect you.” The four ponies made their way through the cave in an eerie silence. It had many passages and tunnels going left, right, up, down with twists and turns going every which way. Cadance was the first to break the silence. “Sooooo how is it you know which way to go?” “I left clues to help me find my way out, like leaving a trial on the floor or carving arrows into the walls, all I have to do is follow them in reverse.” Just as he finished they came upon one of his arrows pointing the way they just came opposite another passage in the wall to the right. “Down that way.” After several minutes of walking down several passages the group finally came to a large open chamber with some holes in the floor leading to more tunnels. “Mind your step now….I buried it in here in the center of the room.” Shining used his magic to scan the underground for it. After a few seconds he found it and dug it out of the ground. “We found it!” Twilight said excitedly. “Good now let’s get going,” said Cadance. They were about to leave when a couple small rocks fell from the ceiling. Silver looked up and his eyes when wide. “Oh sweet Celestia.” The others look up as well and what they saw was over a dozen of the creatures that Silver had mentioned, many descending on silk threads and down the walls. “RUN!!!” They made a mad dash for the exit but one of the spiders jumped down in front of them and blocked their path. With the others starting to touch down on the ground they had no choice but to fight. As they were touching down Silver made a quick observation. “Aim for their heads and joints!” Upon closer inspection Shining noticed that their heads and the joints in their legs were unprotected by crystal, so their sight would be unobstructed and to allow their mouth and legs freedom of movement. Shinning starting blasting one of them in the joints, it let out a squeal of pain from its legs being crippled and temporally unable to move. He then used his magic too pick the spider up and hurl it at another one Cadance was fending off. The fight continued for several minutes. Twilight, Cadance, and Shining were easily fending them off with their magic while Silver was having a more difficult time only armed with a spear. A spider was bearing down on Silver and he thrust his spear forward at an angle impaling it through the mouth and out the top of the head. Another one got behind him and he bucked it in the head leaving it momentarily stunned, he whipped around and impaled him as well. By this time the spiders that weren’t dead began scouring or limping away but one stayed, it turned around and pointed its rear toward Twilight. Silver took notice of this and knew something was about to happen. He leaped forward and pushed her out of the way, the spider shot out its web and it latched on to his armor and he started being dragged while the spider went down one of the holes in the floor. Twilight grabbed his hooves and tried to stop him but he still kept going, Shining also grabbed on but all they were able to do was slow him down a little. Cadance tried to sever the thread with a blast of magic but the spider silk was too strong. “Let me go or you’ll be dragged down with me!” Their grip was begging to slip. “Don’t you give up on me solider, where not leaving you,” said Shining. “It’s ok. Just tell Daisy I love HERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!” They lost their grip and he slid across the floor and down the hole. The others just sat there and gave him a moment of silence before they started making their way out of the cave.
Chapter 4View OnlineReturn of a KingChapter 4Twilight’s friends, spike, and Daisy started to wonder what was taking so long. Surly they must have found the Crystal Heart by now, unless something happened. Rainbow Dash was pacing back and forth, having already regretted the decision to not go after them when they first started to leave. The others just sat at the entrance with worried looks on their faces, waiting for them to return. Then they saw figures coming into view further down. When they came into full view the others saw it was Twilight, Shining, and Cadance with the Crystal Heart. They started to cheer and celebrate (especially Pinkie Pie who somehow pulled her confetti canon out nowhere and fired it off). All except for one who noticed they were down a pony. They stopped cheering when they saw the looks on the others faces. When they finally reached the entrance Daisy was the first to speak. “Where’s Silver?” “I’m so sorry, Daisy. He fought bravely but he didn’t make it. He sacrificed himself to save Twilight and for that I will be eternally grateful,” said Shining. Daisy put her hooves to her eyes and started crying. Cadance brought her into a hug and tried to comfort her. The others looked on saddened by her loss. Applejack took off her hat and put it to her chest out of respect. “There-there, you know Silver loved you right,” said Cadance. “Yeah,” she said still crying. “And I know he’d want you to be strong for him too. If we’re going to save the Crystal Empire then we have to get going.” “Ok,” she said trying to pull herself together. “Don’t worry I’ll make sure that he remembered not as a traitor but as a hero. Now let’s get going,” said Shining. Twilight and Cadance charged up another teleportation spell and they were gone. They reappeared inside an alleyway near the palace. They peaked their heads out and saw that the crystal guard was out in full force marching through the streets with a squad standing in front of the palace. In all there were about two hundred guards total. Twilight and the others were heavily outnumbered. The citizens or slaves were confined to their homes until further notice. Sombra meanwhile had been busy restoring the Crystal Empire to the way it had been when he last ruled, with black crystal everywhere and the city decorated in his colors. He was watching everything from his throne room balcony, just waiting for their return. Then an alarm sounded. “UP THERE!” yelled one of the guards. Everypony looked up and sombra couldn’t believe his eyes. The clouds parted and there was Celestia and Luna leading a mass of royal guards in attack formation. There was about three hundred pegasi and one hundred unicorns in chariots. They landed, each made their charge toward the other and the two forces clashed. Damn how did the princesses find out about my return so quickly? The pony that freed the others must have tipped them off. But how did they get to them so fast? Must have been a pegasus, no matter I still have one ace in the hole. Sombra retreated inside to make preparations for his confrontation with the princesses. Meanwhile the battle raged on, the royal guards had to be careful to try and keep casualties to a minimum for they knew that the enemy’s actions were being influenced by Sombra, which gave the opposition a slight advantage but they were still outnumbered 2 to 1. Twilight and the others (minus Daisy who kept the Crystal Heart for safe keeping) joined the fray. The battle lasted for what felt like hours and the crystal guard was finally being pushed back, it wouldn’t be long before the battle would be over. After several more minutes of fighting they finally broke and surrendered. The princesses, Twilight’s friends, Shining, Spike, and Daisy along with few a royal guards made their way to the palace. The doors opened and out came Sombra along with a couple of guards carrying Fluttershy by her forelegs with her hind legs dragging on the ground. The look on her face said everything, something bad had happened. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO FLUTTERSHY!” yelled Dash. Sombra just gave a soft chuckle. “You know your friend really is the element of kindness. She was kind enough to let me give her a good rutting,” he said letting out another chuckle. Everypony was taken aback by this. Rainbow Dash had to be held back from attacking him on the spot. “Now then hand over the Crystal Heart and surrender or she dies.” Then one of the guards put the tip of his spear to Fluttershy’s neck. A tense standoff ensued with the princesses unsure of how to proceed. Hopping an opportunity would present its self. Sombra was becoming increasingly irritated by lack of corporation. “Last chance, surrender or she dies!” Then a voice rang out off to his left. “LEAVE HER ALONE!” Sombra started to turn his head to see who said that when he was impaled by a spear. The spear entered his midsection and protruded a few inches out the other side. Sombra let out a bloodcurdling roar of pain and fell to one knee. Everypony turned their heads to see who threw it and there stood Silver Shield (minus the armor). “Silver you’re…alive?” Daisy ran to him with tears of joy in her eyes and they embraced each other. “I thought I’d never see you again.” “Shhh its ok I’m here now and that’s all that matters,” he said in a whisper. Celestia saw that the crystal guards were momentarily distracted by this and shot off a couple bolts of magic at them. They went flying back and a now free Fluttershy quickly made her way back to her friends. Twilight grabbed the Crystal Heart and rushed to put it back where it belonged. Sombra knew that in his weakened condition he wouldn’t survive a blast from the Heart. He reverted back into shadow, the spear fell to the ground and he fled. The Crystal Heart was put back in its place and a blast of love energy shot into the sky and the Empire started turning back to normal. The Crystal ponies coats started to shimmer again and they left their homes to see what happen. When they saw the Crystal Heart restored they cheered and celebrated (especially Pinkie Pie who once again had her confetti canon on standby). When everything was said and done Cadance and Shining Armor took their place back on the throne the others made their way home. A few weeks had passed and Fluttershy wasn’t feeling well. She had dizzy spells, cramps, and was vomiting. She decided to go see a doctor to make sure it wasn’t anything serious. Doctor Horse decided to run some tests and left. Twilight knew Fluttershy was going to the hospital and went to check on her. She made her way into the room. “Hi, Fluttershy you feeling alright?” “Oh better now I suppose but I really won’t know if it’s anything to worry about until the doctor gets back.” Sometime later Doctor Horse came back into the room. “Well we ran some tests and we did find something.” “Oh my, it’s not anything serious I hope.” “Well I suppose that all depends on how you want to look at it.” “Well what is it?” “Fluttershy you’re pregnant.”