Fallout Equestria: Crystal Reborn

Chapter Four: Memories

"Kindness, it's just a luxury I can't afford."

I woke up with a severe headache, I was sitting down, I went to reach for my head but my hooves had been tied down. My vision started to come back to me everything went from a blur to be more clear.

"What happened to me, why am I tied up?" I looked around, I was tied to one of the pillars in the throne room, I couldn't see Starlight either, I tried to use my magic to get myself free, I couldn't cast the spell I looked up at my horn, there was an anti-magic ring on it, damn it. I am stuck, I looked over at the throne and saw Ivory sitting on the throne, "You! Why did you do this to us?"

"You want to know why I did this, I am a slaver. I take ponies and sell them into slavery and you will fetch me a pretty big bonus. Princess Cadance, the former glorious princess of the Crystal Empire, is now a mere slave. Who knows maybe I will keep you for myself, or I can sell you to the griffons, they would pay loads of caps for an Equestrian Princess, and by the way my name is Shard, not Ivory," Shard walked back over to the throne in and sat down, "Now all I got to do is wait for the slavers who are going to transport all of you."

"What do you mean all of us?"

"Why of course you, Starlight, and Pepper of course, honestly I am surprised you didn't see this coming, haha it's like a dream come true I will be swimming in caps in no time, with all the extra weapons I can sell them off and make a fortune alone. Did you really think you could disappear for 200 years and come back and claim this place as yours, out here it's everpony for herself," she began to laugh. How am I going to get out of here?

"What about Drop Shot?"

"What that moron, he is dead, died from trying to protect Pepper, what a valiant knight, what garbage he didn't even last 5 minutes against me."

"I swear when I get out of here I am going to kill you, even if you sell me into slavery and get away with it I will hunt you down," she started laughing at me she jumped off the throne and walked up to me.

"My dear princess, you are in no position to make such an idle threat, maybe I will be the next queen of the Crystal Empire, Queen Shard, that has a nice ring to it don't you think? Don't worry you won't have to be sitting there for much longer, the slavers are almost here to pick you all up." One way or another I was going to kill her. I heard the throne room door swing open, four ponies each one wearing random pieces of metal that were just glued onto their clothes, three of them were crystal ponies, and the other was a unicorn. I saw the three crystal ponies look in my direction and their expressions changed, they were holding their guns in their mouths, one took hers out and started to whisper amongst the others, I assumed it was about me.

"Alright Shard what have you brought me today," the unicorns stepped forward.

"Well aren't you in for a surprise, I've brought you two unicorns and an alicorn," She grinned widely and pointed at me, "Its the pink one over there, her name is Cadance." I managed to get one of my hooves free and remove the ring off my head, right as she looked my way. "Oh shit she removed the ring get her quick, I sent out a wave of energy knocking the slavers to the ground, I untied my other hooves and used my magic to cut the rest of the rope around my body and I took cover behind the pillar.

"Crystal ponies that are with the slavers, it's me Cadance the former princess of the empire, do not fight for him fight for me instead, I have returned to help repair the war-torn streets of our once glorious empire, help me and you shall be rewarded," I peeked my head out, and the unicorn shot at me, he had a shotgun so from where he was he couldn't do much to me. I peaked out again and saw one of the crystal ponies drop her gun and run into the hallway. I had nowhere to go I had to think of something quick, I had to be in direct line of sight of them, and putting up a barrier will prevent me from using offensive spells.

"Come on out Cadance, your outnumbered, come out now and we won't kill you."

"Yeah and you think I am going to take your word on that Shard, you didn't trust us enough to tell us your real name, why should I believe you?" I looked over to my left I saw the cart of weapons we had hauled up her, my saddlebags were on the edge of the cart, I assume that's where Shard put our stuff. I peaked around the corner again and shot off a magical flare, that should blind them for now. I made a break for the cart, the slaver ponies were shooting blindly, I assume it was where I was last but I wasn't going to turn around and find out. I reached the saddlebags and pulled out the Crystal Revolver. I crawled underneath the cart to hide from the slavers.

"Damnit, get her to check every part of the castle she couldn't have gotten far, I will stay here and make sure she doesn't come back into the throne room, search every corridor for her," the slavers left the room and Shard walked around the throne room in search for me, I had the biggest urge just to shoot her from behind but on the other hoof, I wanted to rip her in two with my magic.

"What I am going to do, if I don't think of something fast she will kill me," I whispered to myself, I have to stop doing that but that is a problem for another time, I crawled out from under the cart and put the gun back in the saddlebag, I was going to kill her myself without a weapon, she was on the other side of the throne room looking behind the pillars, I snuck back up and sat on the throne, "Well now Shard looks whose at the bottom of the bin," I saw shard look back up to me she pulled out her pistol and I used my magic to freeze her, "Not so fast, Shard," I got off the throne and approached her.

"Help, she's in the throne room!"

"It's no use Shard, if they come back I have you hostage but I don't plan to keep you alive," I laughed maniacally.

"Oh shit, please I surrender I will do anything, please just let me live," Shard started crying but I felt no empathy. I felt the dark magic start to pulse out, my eyes turned green, and started to have a grey glow around the end of my eyes, my magic in my horn went from a light blue to black.

"Shard you want me to pity you because you are about to be punished, yet you forfeit others lives and don't give a second wind to what they think, you have committed treason against the empire and me, you deserve a fate worse than death, but you are lucky I am not going to banish your soul, I hope you find mercy in the afterlife," I gripped her with my magic and slammed her into the walls, then I vaporized her with dark magic, she screamed in agony as I started to vaporize her until finally, she was no more, there was no ash or anything for her to be remembered by only her gun laid on the floor where she once stood. I saw the other ponies walk in, they looked at me and the two other crystal ponies dropped their weapons and ran deeper into the castle, the unicorn fired two shots at me with his shotgun, I stopped every bullet and redirects all fragments at him, I watched them tear away at his flesh when it hit him, one of the crystal ponies that ran away earlier came out and bowed right in front of me, she didn't say a word, I sent magical streams of energy to pull out the other two crystal ponies that were in the castle, I felt my magic grab them and pull them out into the throne room floor, they were both scream and pleading for their life. I sat back on the throne, and I let the dark magic fade away, I looked like my normal self again.

"Please princess don't kill us, we were just doing our job," the one in the middle stood up, she was very brave, her coat was a nice shiny white with a grey mane and tail, her cutie mark was a gleaming quartz.

" What is your name so I may address you properly."

"My name is Milky Quartz."

"Ok Milky Quartz you three think slavery is ok and you're going to lionize your crime as it was just doing your job?"

"No I don't work for them, they hired us to work security on their way here, I had no idea they were slavers, honest Princess,"

"How about the other two how do you know them?"

"They are my sisters, we work as mercenaries, the one on my left is my younger sister Rose Quartz," she pointed to a young mare, she was maybe a few years older than a filly, she had a shiny light pink coat with a dark pink mane, her cutie mark was a rose wrapping around a quartz crystal. "The other one on my right is my older sister Smokey Quartz," Smokey Quartz was an unusual name for this mare, her coat was grayish-red with an ash grey mane and her cutie mark was literally a quartz with smoke coming out of it.

"I-I ran away from this fight when I saw you, p-princess, I had a hunch that you were the princess from before the war and I was right, I told you there was something wrong with the castle door suddenly opening Smokey," Rose was soft-spoken but she meant well.

"Yes, I know, Princess Cadance if you choose to spare us we will be indebted to you," Smokey Quartz rose up, she had a very raspy voice, her voice had a striking resemblance to Spitfire's.

"Well then, will you help me rebuild the Crystal Empire? You may discuss it if you need to," the three ponies huddled up and started talking amongst themselves, after a few minutes of talking they broke the huddle and Milky Quartz approached me.

"Princess if we may offer one condition to this if that's ok."

"You may."

"Can we bring our mother here and use the castle as a safe haven?"

"That's alright with me, how far is your mother from here?"

"May I see your PipBuck? I will mark her location for you so you can get a good reference," I held my hoof up to Milky and she entered in some coordinates and a small icon with a house appeared labeled, Quartz House. "It's only a few days trot from here, we will pack up what we need and set up here."

"Cadance? Cadance, where are you?" my ears perked up, that was Starlights voice.

"Starlight? Where are you?" I opened my wings and flew off the throne.

"I think I am at the end of the throne room I see a large door in front of me."

"I will be right there," I ran to the front of the throne room, I saw rope wrapped around one of the pillars on the left side and another one on the right, I went to the left, Starlight was tied to the pillar with an anti-magic ring on her horn. I removed her anti-magic ring and cut the rope with my magic. "Are you alright Starlight?"

"Yes I think I am alright, just a few bruises, that's all."

"Where is Pepper?"

"I think she was right across from me," Starlight rubbed her head and pointed at the column across from her. I walked over to it and there I saw Pepper, she was gagged and passed out, she had several bruises around her face and torso. I took the gag out and cut the ropes restraining her. Rose ran over to us.

"Princess is she going to be alright, she has taken some, she looks like she has been beaten badly, here hold her mouth open I am going to give her a healing potion," Rose started digging around her saddlebags and pulled out a medical potion, I held Peppers mouth open and Rose poured the potion in her mouth. I saw the cuts and bruises she had, disappear off her body. "All she will need is some rest and she should be fine."

"Thank you Rose. Starlight take Pepper to one of the empty rooms, it's down the hallway on your left, you will need to get some rest as well," Starlight nodded to me and picked up Pepper with her levitation, and walked off into the hallway.

"Princess would it be alright if I stayed with you and let my sisters go by themselves, they are more than capable of making the trip without me, I just carry most of their stuff," Rose looked over to her sisters.

"Milky it's up to you if you want to let her stay with me, I have no problem with it," I walked over to the cart where my saddlebags were and put them back on.

"That's alright with me, Rose just be careful I will see you in a week ok," Milky and Smokey walked out of the throne room and made their way to the castle gate.

"Let's get the castle's defenses set up, if we want ponies to know this is a safe place for them we need a way to protect it, there were some turrets down in the armory that we could move up here, want to help me bring them up here Rose?"

"Sure why not."

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After a few hours of hauling turrets from the armory to the castle entrance, we decided to take a break.

"Wow these things are heavier than they look, I am starving," Rose dug through her saddlebags and pulled out an apple, and started eating it.

"Yeah let's head to the kitchen and we can make some food," I got up and started walking to the kitchen, Rose was walking beside me, "What made you guys become mercenaries anyways?"

"Well um, when I was just a filly my family had issues with raiders, these ponies harassed my family, they even killed my father, so one day my sisters had enough, they took some of our fathers guns and marched into the raider camp and killed all the raiders there, as they were searching the camp they saw a merchant pony tied up, they set him free and he offered my sisters a job so we worked for him as guards for a long time, and when he didn't need us we hired ourselves out to work as both assassins, guards and stuff, so when I was old enough I joined them," we arrived at the kitchen, I started looking through the pantry, it was mainly just preserved food and rotten apples and other rotten fruits. I found a can of canned oranges and the other can contained peaches.

"So Rose do you want the one with oranges or peaches?" I turned to Rose levitating both of them next to me, I saw she took a seat at the bar across from the kitchen.

"The peaches is fine," I used my magic to cut open the lid on the can and levitated it over to her. I took the can of oranges and cut it open and sat next to her.

"You know Rose, back before the war the city was such a wondrous place, the buildings glistened and the palace was the crown jewel of it all. Now I wish I could just have it all back even if it's for a moment," I levitated one of the orange slices out of the can and into my mouth, it tasted like it was freshly picked, I had eaten in about a day, I didn't really feel all that hungry anyway, after the whole decapitating ghouls and turning Shard to basically nothing. At this point I was forcing myself to eat, starving wasn't an option, I got up and walked over to the fridge and opened it up, I pulled out two 'Sparkle~Cola's'. I levitated on to Rose and sat back down and continued eating.

"Life before the war sounded peaceful, I wish there was a day where I could sleep peacefully without having to worry about a monster possibly trying to eat me."

"I am going to help the crystal ponies put faith in the empire, in me and in the Crystal Heart, the empire will be doomed if we can't get the heart up to work again," I popped off the cap to the Sparkle~Cola and took a sip. I finished eating the can of oranges, I looked over to Rose, she was eating the peaches. "Rose, have you ever heard of the story of King Sombra before?" She looked at me and shook her head.

"I don't think I heard of him before."

"Well King Sombra was truly an evil pony, long ago he lived here in the empire as a normal unicorn, he was really good at casting spells, however his quest for knowledge drove him crazy. He started reading into dark magic, he used those spells to control others and bend them to his will, eventually, he fought the crystal queen and defeated her, he became the ruler of the Crystal Empire. Celestia and Luna the guardians of Equestria wouldn't stand for it so they banished Sombra and turned him into a shadow, he put a curse on the empire and it disappeared for 1000. After 1000 years passed the empire returned and Sombra along with it. Shining Armor and I were called to defend the empire, with the help of Twilight and her friends we were able to get the Crystal Heart and use it to defeat Sombra."

"Twilight? As in the ministry mare?"

"Yeah she was my sister-in-law, I was also her foal sitter when that was still a thing, we never really hung out as much since she left Canterlot to live in Ponyville and when the war started she visited once to help us establish a power plant to run on crystals," I sighed and got up. "I think it's best I get to bed." Rose nodded and got up and stood next to me.

"Where should I stay for the night?"

"I will show you to your room it's next to where Starlight and Pepper are sleeping. Oh and before we go let me grab one thing..." I went back to the pantry and grabbed another can of oranges. "Starlight hasn't eaten since before we entered the city," we walked out of the kitchen and went back into the throne room. She followed me into one of the hallways near the entrance of the throne room, I opened one of the doors and saw Starlight sleeping in the bed in there. I levitated the can of oranges I took and put it on the nightstand next to the bed and quietly closed the door, I check the room across from her, Pepper was sleeping in the bed in there, I closed the door and walked to the room next to the one Starlight was in. I opened the door and used my magic to light the candle in there. "Here you are Rose if you need me, go to the end of the hallway and up the stairs to the third floor, the giant door with my cutie mark on it is my room, see you tomorrow," Rose smiled at me and walked in, I shut the door and walked to the end of the hallway.

"I saw what you did back there, to that pony Shard was her name right?" I turned around and a dark figure walked out of the shadows it was Sombra.

"What do you want Sombra I thought you died when I defeated you."

"Hehe, that's where your wrong my dear girl, you destroyed my physical body, dark magic has more uses then you know, I heard your husband was kidnapped, what a shame," he started laughing. I have had enough shit today I wasn't going to let this delusion pester me.

"No magic in the world can make you live on once your body dies, not even soul jars could let you create your own form, " I approached Sombra, he disappeared and reappeared behind me.

"Dark magic is the strongest magic there is, raw emotion such as rage and sadness increase the magical strength of dark magic, as a last resort I cast a spell on myself as my body was destroyed by the light I can manifest myself into a... Well, let's say it's a ghost of sorts, I can't pick up or use magic outside basic magic, the only things I can touch and interact with are soul jars," I turned around to face him again.

"Why come back now? You have nothing to gain by haunting me or whatever you're trying to do."

"I am going to help you hone your dark magic, embrace it. It gave you strength when you needed it the most, the spell you cast is an advanced dark magic spell, the spell you cast uses a high concentration of heat to vaporize the target leaving nothing left behind, the target feels as if their own blood has turned into fire, however, you should start simple in dark magic, untrained users can destroy themselves, whether it's from their physical form or their mental status, dark magic is the strongest but it doesn't come without a price."

"Did I take any repercussion from the other magical blast?" I started to feel around my head to check for abnormalities.

"Yes you did, your mental state was affected by you gathering your rage and going out of control, the spell probably changed what makes you angry, how you handle violence, and possibly how you talk to others."

"I don't want your help, I think I can learn on my own thank you, even if I did let you teach me you would probably trick me into giving you back a physical body," I started to head up the stairs, Sombra placed his hoof on my shoulder.

"If dark magic had a way to give me back a physical body you think I would have done it by now! You are passing up an opportunity, this will keep you alive, this is what will help you save Shining Armor!" I turned around to face him, I was angry beyond belief.

"What makes you think this will save Shining Armor!? Dark magic corrupts its user even if performed properly, not because of a spell repercussion but because it will drive a pony-mad with power," I stormed off and headed up to the third floor, when I got up there I saw Sombra standing in front of my door.

"Look there is a workaround the corruption, that corruption is not from the dark magic, its what's in your mind and how you use dark magic, as long as you don't go crazy with the power you will be fine, learning this is like learning regular magic minus the side effects with certain spells," I took a deep breath trying to calm myself down, thinking about what Sombra said makes sense, power doesn't corrupt the user unless the user allows it to.

"Alright Sombra, I will let you train me but on one condition, after we rescue Shining Armor I never want to see you again, got it?

"Agreed," He held out his hoof, I put mine out and shook it.

"I thought you didn't have a physical body how am I able to touch you?"

"No idea, I stopped questioning how this spell works long ago, training will start tomorrow, have a good night princess," he faded away and I walked into my room, I walked over to my bed and just fell on it, it was good to sleep in a bed for once rather than on the floor or the cryo-pods. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

Footnote: Level up.
Perk added: Dark Magician(Level 1): You can now cast the basic dark magic..