A Story from Harmony

Chapters

The Silver Dragon Inn
The Politics of Power
Into the Crystal Mountains

The Silver Dragon Inn

by Nugget

Lying deep within the mystic catacombs of Canterlot, corridors of brightly lit torches illuminate an atmosphere of stone and clay mason, dust, and white marble. For those that manage to find themselves within these places without a particular reason of being there, the passageways has been historically known to cause quite the hysteria due to the common look of most of its rooms and narrow, protracted hallways. Thus, it has usually left the average pony to go wandering aimlessly until they usually turn up missing.

However, for those who do have a purpose of wanting to come down into the murky depths of what remained from Canterlot’s medieval days, their reasons all remain to be similar;

The Silver Dragon Inn

“A way of light shall shine a path that leads to an oasis of drinks on tap,” he repeated to himself over and over, feeling his inner nerves wanting to shake from the excessive amount of time he has spent following torches that only provided spots of light between their mounted placements. If I was only a unicorn, instead of being a damn earth pony, I could just carry of one of these things and be fine… but, noooooo! he thought to himself as he rolled his eyes and swiveled head.

“Ugg! Get a hold of yourself there, Dusty! You’re almost there anyway,” he said before taking in a short breath of air. Turning towards his leather brown bag, he pulled out a single piece of paper and scrolled down the writing. Mentally checking off each step written, the dirty tan coat pony read off the last step needed to be done.

“Finally, when reaching a stick that reads the number “15,” pulling on it will lead yourself to the place where you wish to be.” Looking up at the torch directly behind him, Dusty blocked its light by putting a hoof over his eyes. Just faintly reading out the number “15” that was carved into the wood, the pony took his hoof off his forehead and wrapped it around the lower half of the stick. Careful to not burn himself from the fire that engulfed the top of the torch, he used a bit of effort to pull down the burning leaver. The sound of gears were then heard turning within the interior of the brick walls. With air pressure releasing a cloud of dust that outlined a hidden entryway, it finally turned on its axis like a bookshelf. It swung open to reveal the pony’s evening safe haven.

“Ah!” he exalted.

Dusty liked this place, and equally hated where it was located. However, since the city was located within a dry state, the inconvenience of reaching the Inn did manage to act as a deterrent towards local law enforcement trying to shut down another speakeasy within Canterlot. Couple on top of the fact that it’s hidden within the old catacombs, where only riddles help to guide even the most un-confident of ponies, makes it less desirable for some good-willed Equestrians to want to be lurking in a place that creeps out darkness like it was its own signature specialty.

Not like it was a bad thing though.

It actually suited quite well for an old tavern theme, since what remained from its original center hub has been completely renovated from its days of being a crypt. Hanging on brownstone arches that supported the Inn’s roof, there were iron cauldrons that contained new burning fires which enveloped the room in an azure colored glow. Complemented by its warmth, the light blissfully reflected upon the misty covered surface of the water located just beneath the center of the copper dome. The Mirror Pool, as called by the patrons, dominated the middle of the floor space in a fashion similar to a thrust stage, leaving ponies to navigate around the unique aquatic feature.

Surrounding the water, the entire plaza was tiled and arranged in a configure that showed off a silver, glistening mosaic which was engraved into the concrete. It’s resemblance was of the full crescent moon which wrapped itself around the outskirts of the small pond. Meanwhile, in the small alcoves that were located a single step above the main floor, wooden booths, tables, and chairs were arranged within these wide holes. They served as a place to rest and enjoy the heartening spot for quiet drunkenness and other bewildering festivities that each pony, whom occupied the place, enjoyed.

As Dusty stepped down into the auditorium, he also noticed the fact that the entire place was covered in small candles that adored the middle of each table, around the lake, and on top of any random shelf found within the Silver Dragon Inn. What caught his attention though was the small raft island that floated on top of the largest alcove. For on this lumber island was the main bistro itself, backed into the stonework wall and arranged to cover the entire width of the bay.

“Bingo.”

Approaching the long counter, the stallion set his bags beside a wooden stool before climbing up and sitting down upon it. Hearing the beat of the Celtic winds that echoed through the acoustics of the tavern, Dusty turned his head and saw the Silver Dragon’s folk band playing along to a tune that carried a melody that reminded him of the grasslands outside of Ponyville. However, his focused changed once the Innkeeper came over to greet him.

“Welcome to the Inn,” greeted the unicorn barkeep with his thick Northern Equestrian Accent. “I’m guessing you're new to this place, aye?”

“Afraid not.” Dusty sighed, “I had a friend of mine once show me this place before while we were on a romp through the cities old taverns, but I never really had the chance to settle down, you know?”

“I guess so, since I usually am not a custom to memorizing faces unless you have been here a million times... like some other folks around here,” said the server, levitating a glass in his hazel aurora. He then cleaned the mug with a napkin.

“That understandable.” Dusty placed his hooves on the counter. “I guess for a pony like me, you would just consider another customer, no?”

The keeper chuckled. “I usually prefer the word, patron… but, I guess that will do as well. So I am guessing that your friend comes here more often than you, correct?”

Dusty scratched his chin. “Usually… This water hole had seemed to grow a custom to him and it left me to wonder about why he likes it so much.”

“Ah! Well your friend is very smart and I can probably guess why he like this place as well.” He waves his hoof behind him to show off the different assortments of bottles that each individually contained a certain brand of ale, wine, whisky, or vodka. “My name is Barnes, and you, sir, have managed to find one of the best hideaways in all of Equestria!”

He wipes a dry tear from his eye and sniffs. “Can’t say that I’m not proud.”

Dusty cracked a grin. “You should be.”

“Right? Holding a collection such as this brings all the happy patrons!” Barnes leans onto the counter where Dusty sat. “To which, I guess I shall ask you the same question that I give to everyone that comes here each night.”

“What will be your liking tonight?”

Dusty was confused by the statement. “What?”

The server sighed in brief frustration, for one again somepony didn’t quite understand his lingo. “What kind of drink are you looking for tonight, lad?”

“Oh! I see.” Dusty scanned the bottles before him, however he wasn’t able to find anything that satisfied his eyes. He asked in a curious manner, “Do you just so happen to have a bottle of cinnamon whiskey available?”

In what seemed to be a quote that made his day, the Innkeeper cracked a smile. Stepping away in a prideful stride, he walked over to the other end of the isle, searched among a stack of tall jars and found a particular ruby stained glass bottle. He returned to where Dusty sat with it levitating in his own magic.

Float the container near his head, he popped off the cork and read, “Imported from the lovely state of Vanhoover, sixty-six proof Fireball… Guaranteed to spice up your night!”

“Thank you,” Dusty replied, beaming like he was being honored in a toast.

“Now how will you like it, bub? Shot, on the rocks, or mixed?” Barnes asked, wondering upon the idea of how Dusty would take his liquor.

“I think I will just have a shot of it to start off my night.” Dusty looked back over at the isle of containers. “And if you also happen to have a bottle of low point Smirnhoofs… Shoot me one as well, please.”

Since Smirnhoofs offered more than just a regular lime-based taste of a malt beverage, the Innkeeper let out a silent groan as he was required to ask, “Regular, Screwdriver, Green Apple, Red Apple, or Raspberry?”

“Screwdriver.”

“Twenty bits.”

Reaching down and grabbing his saddle bag, Dusty sticked his hoof into its left pocket. Pulling out a small bag that was sealed at the top with a thread of amber-colored yarn, he pulled it loose and turned over the small parchment to let a stack of coins spill from within and onto the table. While he was making out the exact total, Barnes prepared his order by placing his shot of Fireball near Dusty.

“Eighteen, nineteen, aaannnddd twenty,” the tan pony exclaimed. “There you go, and I will throw in a five bit tip for you as well.”

“Thank you.” The Keeper scooped up the payment in his magic as he let go of the earth pony’s other requested drink, the Smirnhoofs.

Having both refreshments stand before him, Dusty took the shot of whiskey into his hoofs and smelled the faint aroma of cinnamon mixed with strong alcohol. Making him want to cough, he threw out an expression that reflected the essential task he had to accomplish. Rather than fighting it, he decided to take his drink in stride as he lifted it up to his lips. Downing it in one single gulp, Dusty immediately regretted his decision as he was meet with the mighty, stomach burning resistance of whiskey. It was then followed by him asking for a glass of water.

After Barnes brought over a cup filled to the brim with water, Dusty drank it down within a matter of seconds, helping him to wash away the Fireball in his mouth. Feeling the warmth the billowed within his guts, he again thanked the Innkeeper as he took the already open bottle of Screwdriver and siped upon it. While Dusty didn’t care for the mouth burning booze, he loved the taste of his citrus-flavored vodka.

“Not exactly a fitting drink to have around here,” said somepony with a thick Equestrian accent.

Dusty was caught off guard by the statement. Turning towards his side, he noticed a pony sitting next him with a cloak that draped over his head and lead all the way down to his lower back. He had his own drink sitting nearby.

“Um, ok.” Dusty took another sip of his vodka.

“Here take a shot of this.” The strange pony slid a over his amber colored bottle. The front of it adored a picture of a smiling pony holding a foaming mug.

“What is it?” said the earth pony as he further inspected the bottle.

“Equestrian Ale.” The pony slid out his grey hoof from underneath the cloak and waved it once towards Dusty. “Go on, give it a try. I promise it's not that terrible.”

That was all the encouragement he needed.

“Alright.” Dusty took the bottle to his muzzle and drank down one gulp of the brew. Having the taste of hops and fruit now mixed in with his orange malt, he took another sip of water, swashed it around his mouth, and swallowed it. He felt a bit of numb relief afterwards.

“Mmm, Strong…” he remarked. “But not that bad.”

“Aye,” replied the pony. “It's a favorite around these stones.”

From where Dusty sat, he could see other ponies were either holding, swinging, or drinking out of bottles that were similar to the one he was given. He even chuckled a bit at the sight of one other lavender pony trying to bribe, and what could be assumed was, a female bat pony into a drink. Sadly, the stallion was almost decked by the ill tempered mistress.

“So, since it seems like you haven’t been around these parts before…” The grey pony placed his hoof on the counter. “I must ask, where are you from?”

“A little town south of here… You might have heard of Dodge Junction before?” Dusty extended his hoof out towards the cloaked pony has he posed the question. He had his original drink in the other hoof, taking another sip.

“Ah! Yes, I fancy a visit there from time to time…” The grey pony took out a pipe. With the his piece of wood clenched, he levitated a match, lit it, and then warmed his pipe. A huff of white smoke then followed.

“You mind?” the pony asked.

“Not Really.” Dusty waved off his quote. “So, you’ve been to the old Junction?”

“Yeah,” he replied, after taking the pipe out of his mouth with another puff of smoke. “Given my old occupation that is.”

Curious upon what he meant by “old occupation”, the tan pony took a sip of his drink and leaned back a bit in his seat. “Well then, what did you do?”

“I was a traveler, for a short time that is…” The grey pony waved his pipe around, “Never really liked it much, although I kinda liked seeing Equestria…”

He reached over and bumped Dusty’s shoulder. “It beats dwelling here though.”

As he took his hoof off his new found buddy, the earth pony glanced over the aesthetics of the Inn again. While he could have been dismissive of the pony’s comment, he felt like he had to at least make a positive remark about the place. It wasn’t like it was a terrible location to hang out and drink.

“It’s nice, you must admit,” Dusty said before taking another sip of his drink.

“Well thank you,” replied the stranger. “Modeled it after my admiration for what laid beyond our own world…”

The pony looked up at the ceiling. “In the stars and vast areas known in the space beyond us.”

“Interesting…” Dusty paused momentarily to himself before realizing the full extent of the grey pony’s words. “Wait, do you own this place?”

The cloaked pony nodded, “Yes.”

“Well...” The tan pony was a bit baffled by the fact he was meeting the owner of the establishment, but also uneasy with the fact of how he viewed his Inn. It was beautiful after all, and no pony, not even its owner, should feel like it's terrible. “...You have quite the establishment. Oh tartarus, I would love to own this place if given the opportunity.”

The hooded equine chuckled. “I guess so.”

Dusty extended his hoof out with the intention of a hoof-shake. “Names Dusty... I assume your name is the Dark Cloak Owner, given the hood?”

The pony laughed from within his cover, extending out his own hoof to shake Dusty’s. “Just call me a storyteller.”

“A Storyteller?” Dusty asked, “Why that name?”

“Well, you see, my friend...” The cloaked pony explained, “...When I traveled around these States of Equestria, I wasn’t just visiting them for my own amusement. You see during my days when I was a professor up at the school, I became a bit of a culturalist and wanted to seek the far out regions of our land… To sorta, get a better understanding of the world in which we all inhabit. So, occasionally, I would take extended trips from the mountains up north to the deserts down in the east, and so on. Everywhere I went, I always meet interesting characters, such as yourself, that always had stories to tell about their homelands. Therefore, in my spare time, I would usually write down some of the more interesting ones into this book here.”

Situated near the grey pony’s wooden stool, a blue threaded saddle bag laid on the floor. After he bent down and reached into one of its main sacks, The Storyteller pulled out a leather skinned book with the word “Harmony” wrote in gold ink on the cover. He presented the notebook to Dusty and said, “Afterwards, I began to take this book around more often and share the tales of our own state we live in while collecting more stories to narrate to others.”

Dusty took the book and opened it contents to reveal numerous notes and paragraphs written into the aged paper. Often times he passed by illustrations and ink drawn artwork of various creatures such as wolves, dragons, and other animals not even known to the earth pony. He also caught a quick glance at a mountain valley drawn across two pages, creating a detailed landscape similar to the valleys in the Crystal Empire. Wow, he thought to himself.

The Storyteller continued, “Eventually, and after I retired from teaching, I once again traveled the world and used my magic to bring to life some of the best stories I have heard from over the years… Thus, ponies began to refer to me as The Storyteller. A pony of a thousand tales.” He inhaled his pipe before before blowing out another billow of smoke.

“That’s amazing,” Dusty remarked, still flipping through the book. He then stopped and tried to read what the pony had written down. However, since he couldn’t understand the text in front of him, he had to ask, “Hey, what stories do you usually write in here?”

The Storyteller didn’t respond to the question.

Assuming that he was confused by the statement, Dusty altered his question. “What genre do you usually speak about?”

That got a response out of the stallion. “Oh, well, they are usually epic stories about love and romance, trying to find the right one in a sea of potentials… Or they are about overcoming the odds and having to fight for what you believe in.”

The grey pony inhaled and blew out more white smoke. “Other times, they are just about daily things like cooking or paying taxes and such.”

Dusty chuckled. “Well that's cool, I guess.”

As if their was a sudden mood change within The Storyteller, he leaned towards Dusty and asked directly to him in a deep tone, “Do you want to hear one?”

“Sure,” the tan pony replied, unfazed by the pony’s movement.

“Excellent, just give me a little bit… Oh, and I must warn you...” said the cloaked equine as he finished his pipe. “They can be very long stories if you have the time to sit through them.”

“No problem.” Feeling a bit snarky, Dusty added, “I’m guessing you are going to ask other ponies to gather around that way you have an audience?”

The gray equine took no immediate response to the remark. Instead, after he puffed out one more billowing cloud of white smoke, he just simply said, “You’ll see, my friend.”

Dusty questioned, “What will it be about?”

“Hmmmmm…” The Storyteller had to think about the tale of which he did want to share with him and the others. Pulling the book out, he flipped it to a certain page while strumming through the words of which were written down. After about a moment of figuring out where he was in his literature, he quickly cried out a short “Ah, ha!” before closing the book and resting it beside him.

Turning his head back toward the tan earth pony, he asked, “Are you very familiar with a certain pony named Princess Luna?”

“Well, yeah.” Dusty rolled his eyes. “She is one of our rulers… I think I would know who she is.”

“And are you familiar with the Crystal Heart…” The Storyteller included the words, “That thing that guards the Crystal Empire?”

“I am aware of its existence, but I don’t actually care about it,” Dusty replied while turning his head toward the cloaked pony. “What makes that thing so special anyway?”

“Well,” the old pony trailed off. “What if I was to tell you the story of how it was found and how it played into the disaster of multiple pony lives including that of Princess Luna’s?”

Dusty seemed to be intrigued by the idea behind the story. Taking a sip from the bottle he drank before leaning on the counter, he urged the stranger to tell him more with two simple words. “Go on…”

As the clock struck upon the eleventh hour of the night, Dusty watched as a grey pony walked from his wooden bar stool and over to a small podium positioned in front of The Mirror Pool. He then looked past the surface of the water and focused upon the whole tavern itself while seeing the candles adored throughout the Inn burnout at his presence. Settling into the position he was in, he lit his horn and levitated The Book of Harmony in a golden aurora from his saddlebag and over to where he stood. He flipped through the pages until he found a title at the top that read Spiritus Anima.

Dusty could then see the ponies within the tavern beginning to quiet down as the noise level began to dip into the silence along with the Inn’s music. As a few last whispering shushes could be heard from the ponies wanting to establish a silent environment, the flames within the cauldrons dimmed with a spotlight casted upon The Storyteller. In full basking light, he flipped up his hood to reveal himself as a rather old stallion with a long white beard.

“Mares and Stallions,” he spoke with an amplification spell. “I welcome you to The Silver Dragon Inn… and in part of keeping traditions alive in this old theatre, I ask you all to join me in a song and story for tonight’s entertainment. Otherwise, please remain quiet out of respect for the others in the audience.”

Dusty saw the old pony jester to the band, a signal to start a tune that had the auditorium’s flames turning their burning glow from azure to amber. The song filled the air with it’s soft, pleasant tone of pitch as the woodwind players seemed to gracefully sway along to the beat of drum. In front of the flutes, the strings were taping their hoofs along with the rhythm like a slow ticking metronome, keeping the pace at slow steady tempo.

Along with the rest of the ponies within the tavern, Dusty began to knock his hoofs to the counter while others used tables or their stools to produce a loud clack that could be heard around the auditorium. It filled the place to the brim with a sudden, harsh bashing sound of wood being hit on by pony hoofs. Thus, it reassured that everypony in the tavern was in unison.

All at once, after the opening measure of the song had passed, the Silver Dragon Inn became a choir of voices singing harmoniously to lyrics of the song being played;

“In the deep old crypts from those ages which have passed
A single pony laid in the ruins of the old and of the last
Crusade of which have laid their bones inside the crypt
To let the others outside the world know they have refused.”

The Storyteller took over and sung, in a deep baritone;

“They refused to give up their meade and die by the code they stand,
A knights dignity and honor which they sacrifice for the land.
To feast on the ale, vodka, and wine, or whiskey in the hand,
While they tell the days of which have passed in stories with a band.”

There was long musical rest within the middle of the song, to let all the ponies within the tavern continue to swing their mugs, clack their hoofs, or drink what hasn’t spilled to the floor. As for Dusty, he was enjoying the tune with a smile upon his face and a sip of his Screwdriver. He watched the old stallion upon the ledge began to sing the second half of the lyrics;

“That single pony that laid in the ruins knowed,
He had to keep the tradition alive and preserve the stories of the old.
He build this place and welcome those far and wide,
To safe haven of drinks and rye while providing a place to hide.”

The entire tavern then joined back into the song to finish out the rest of the tune;

“We thank the pony to which he build for us to play and hide,
as we drink all day and party on into the night.
As we all sit here and enjoy the tells of which he speaks,
To entertain us all tonight and remember for the rest of our years.”

After all the ponies within the Silver Dragon Inn cheered for their efforts in successfully performing their song, the flames within the cauldrons began to burn out. As it was an indication for everypony to return to silence, they all sat within the darkness, remaining quiet while Dusty could see the fog above the Mirror Pool beginning to clear out and reveal the surface of the water underneath. It swirled silently around the room until it formed into a giant grey sphere above the lake. It hovered in the space, slowly turning while some of the fog continuously seeped downward and back onto the top of the water.

Oh his cue, The Storyteller levitated his book into the air and casted a spell upon the parchment. It caused the text to erupt into a bright golden glow with the ink writing illuminating a series of rainbow colored arrays, only for the entire book itself to disappear in a flash after about a minute later. Darkness then consumed the entire tavern once again.

Then another subtle tune began to play as the ball of fog shaped itself into a clear picture of the Crystal Heart in its current glory. It brightened the room with a clear, glistening celeste color while it spun slowly, showing itself off in a three-dimensional spectrum that allowed all the ponies in the Inn to gaze upon its every side. For the most part, the heart looked like it was cut and crafted from the very best of Equestria’s jewelers.

It was the first image that began the entire story.

Author's Note

To the readers,

I want to thank you for taking the time to read the beginning to my brand new story, and I hope you will enjoy the entirety of it since their will be a lot more in store ahead of this chapter. As always, I invite everyone to comment, like, and favor this story while providing me with any constructive critics you wish to share. Also, if you see any grammar mistakes in these chapters, just simply PM me the mistakes and I will resolve them as soon as possible.

Thank you once again,

Nugget

The Politics of Power

With the scene on stage dimming into the darkness, gusts of wind swirled around the auditorium as the story prepared itself for the next scene. While Dusty was almost merely drunk from the vodka he had been sipping on, the earth pony was just sober enough to remain in utter amazement by the powers of which the Storyteller wields. To make his scenes come to life, it literally was leaving the tan earth pony speechless towards how he was able to control the elements within the theatre while still narrating the story.

Leaving his bottle to rest on the counter, the equine sat back to relax with his forelegs crossed over him. He then saw the set come back to life with amber fires burning in the cauldrons above. Lying on a white marble floor below, an elegant tapestry of red and gold stitching draped over a bare wooden table that was displayed with a single spotlight. Six royal delegates sat around it with Princess Celestia herself being at the head. Her sister, Princess Luna, sat at the other end while the remaining ponies were located on opposite sides of the long board.

Banners of the past independent nations were hung around the meeting room with the new Equestrian Flag also present. Meant to symbolize the union of the earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasus, the members of the Royal Cabinet were also representatives of their former empires or nations they once served. With most of them being the highest of senior officials, they were quite older looking in their appearances when compared to the alicorn rulers they serve under.

With the scene completely step up and the characters mimicking their words as if they were carrying on a discussion, the Storyteller spoke up.

“Upon the arrival of the Gadabouts trip back from the mountains, the explores immediately made their way to the throne of Princess Celestia. Upon bowing to her, they presented the heart to their Highness while explaining the actions that unfolded and why they returned earlier than expected. After they presented the jewel to her as a gift, the Princess was almost baffled by the claim that the heart can see into the future of any pony that happens to touches it.”

“Seeing it for herself, Princess Celestia and eventually Princess Luna witnessed the vision of the same ceremony that Olona saw in her future as well. They both then understood the amount of magic contained within the heart was absurd and the potential action towards how they should handle the jewel needed to delegated upon. Did it need to have its power striped? Does it need to placed in a safe keep? Does it have an original owner to return to?”

“All those questions were laid out on the table and one pony seemed to have an idea upon what should be its intended use.”

“It seems to me as if we were presented with an opportunity my Princess,” said a grey unicorn with a general's uniform on.

“General Tempest,” the Storyteller explained. “...Commander of the 3rd Solar Guard and one of Celestia’s chief military advisers, was a rough riding pony that saw the establishment of the Equestrian Military from the three former nations. While he was at the command of the front lines, he used the information from the Gadabout Expeditions to expand the Equestrian influence and drive out, with relentless force, some of the land’s more terrifying creatures into an area he began to call the Everfree Forest, where they can roam forever free of their ideals.”

“And that is?” Princess Celestia’s words resumed the conversation.

“As you may have heard, your Highness,” the General stated. “While we might have been able to conquer the vast the land that was acquired from the constitutional agreement of the three advisors, there has been a bit of struggle in the west with an ever growing bug population we discovered to be quite hostile to ponies. They even have went as far to capture some of our troops which are currently MIA at this moment, pending a possible POW status if our intelligence comes back true.”

“I concur, your Highness. I have been hearing about this incidents just as General Tempest was tending to the situation as well,” said a pink pegasus with the same style of uniform as General Tempest. The only difference was the golden lightning bolts she wore on the top of her shoulders and around the neck.

“General Firefly, head of the Pegasus Flight Division (PFD),” spoke the narrator. “...Was a specialist in tactical trades and aerial flight assigned to the Equestrian Counsel on the demand for the advancement and preparation of Equestrian troops, regardless of race. A supreme commander, she later on went on to form a special ceremonial flight team called the Wonderbolts after overseeing the banishment of Princess Luna. As for now, she was also the current the overseer of the Gadabout Expedition’s since her and Aulus were husband and wife.”

Firefly resumed, “My scout teams have reported that the Equestrian forces were being ambushed by these changelings that pretend to disguise themselves as our troops, infiltrating our ranks and surround ourselves in numbers that are more vast than our own. For the most part they have overwhelmed our small teams and taken them alive without any warning or hesitation.”

She turned to the white alicorn and addressed directly to her, “Princess Celestia. We tried raising our security standards, but they have continued to be proven ineffective since our enemy is using camouflage techniques that we simply cannot counter without serious interrogation of our entire military population. As far as I’m aware, we don’t seem to have that many options at this moment except for what General Tempest is proposing.”

Celestia turned her head towards the old unicorn, “And so what do you advise, General Tempest?”

Clearing his throat, he presented his idea to the princess. “It’s quite simple, really. We use the power of this heart to strike back at them with relentless force! If they are willing to do harm to our troops, then we must hit them with everything we have to offer…” He slammed his hoof on the table while raising himself up tall. “...and if the power within the heart remains true, it should give us an upper hand in maybe predicting how, where, why they are able to slip past us without notice.”

He got down from the table and looked back at Celestia. “Of course, that is considering the fact of which we can bend the gem to our use, Princess.”

Quickly sharing a glare at him, the white alicorn then turned her attention to the middle of the table with both her forehooves pressed in front of her face.

The Storyteller explained, “Considering the idea of which has been placed in front of her, the Ruler of Equestria had to ponder upon the idea of wanting to order her counsel to try and tap a new found source of power for the sake of her own kind. While she didn’t quite know the clear risks towards drawing out magic from another object and possibly transferring it into other source or host, that wasn’t the main thought upon Celestia’s mind.”

“She was thinking about if General Tempest did succeed in the task of obtaining the magical properties of the heart. To which, seeing him using the boost to push out or eliminate the foes of which that captured her forces wouldn’t come as a surprise to her considering his record. He was a beast tamer, so to speak, and used the forces themselves under her orders to move the creatures around with effortless will to shape up the kingdom of which she ruled. While most of the time, movement, and settlement of the animals were mostly peaceful, the violent disruption of others had often left to casualties and loss of lives at the expense of training other ponies to take their place and funerals for the fallen. Also, she and the delegates had to live with the burden of their orders that created the situations in the first place.”

“The Tempest Movements were harsh and unforgiving at times to those who were involved regardless of which side they served. To see that kind of power posed within a pony was equally detrimental to the kind of destruction that any tyrannical dictator or ruler would use to show their udder dominance to another creature or race. As for the other side, to see that kind of power posed against them with the tent of harm or something equally worse could cause something with a more violent nature to attack or defend what they hold dear. Not giving up on what they hold close.”

“That was on Celestia’s mind. To further advance the power of oneself, she could see it as almost an act of mutual self destruction in regards towards the kingdom lossing ponies and / or becoming power hungry. To her, and after pondering about the idea for a minute, it just didn’t seem to sit well with her as the time passed and more thought was put into it.”

Celestia clacked her hoof on the table, declaring a direct, “No.”

She then explained, “We have already done enough harm as it is to the creatures that of which roam this land we called home. We have removed them from their remote lands, forced them into a concentrated area, and have keep up with the entire population’s near extinction due to their environment almost not supporting their needs. If are to do the same with these creatures, then I will not allow it… However, I will look for alternative options that see fit to rescue and return our soldiers to their rightful homes.”

General Tempest wasn’t happy with the response as his mouth made an ‘O’ shape with his jaw dropped. Raising a hoof onto the table, he curled it inward and cinched it tight while he looked directly back at Celestia. With a hint of anger in his tone, he spoke very clearly to her.

“Princess Celestia,” said the General. “...Out of respect I simply must say that it's a completely absurd approach towards keeping our ponies safe from harm. They are captured POW’s for your sake, Your Highness! I’m sure that deep down inside that the necessary use of force is the only way we can see their lives being saved! Otherwise, it just might be better to assume they are died with their blood on our hoofs.”

Matching his tone of voice, she responded, “I understand your concern, General. However, I cannot hold myself responsible anymore for the cause of another tragedy that I could prevent since the first time was… unexpected given the harsh resistance.”

“But I urge to you to reconsider, Princess Celestia!” he shouted.

“We could finally have the chance here to fix those mistakes in the past as well while helping to increase our catalyst to the point that our power can scare those creatures into our will without a single spell being casted after some bloodshed! Thus, we can possibly achieve total victory and bring home those of which we have lost, Your Highness. I urge you, Celestia, it can do very much more good than you could ever think-”

“That’s enough!” Celestia nearly snapped at her official, leaving his words to die within his throat while once again wearing an expression of shock upon his face. He has never seen his princess lash out like she did. Her cool, logical demeter seemed to be shattered upon the idea of obtaining more power for the sake of control.

General Tempest then leaned back in his seat. Cracking a smile upon an idea he thought of, he called out his royal dignitary and made sure she heard every word. “Hey Celestia… Just admit it, you are scared of the power to take the life of another.”

The comment didn’t soothed over with the angered alicorn. “General Tempest, I must ask if you speak out another line like that once again, I will order that your position on the council to be terminated on the spot with your career being evaluated for a potential discharge. Do you understand?”

The words fell flat upon the ears of Tempest, remaining silent while his hoofs were crossed. With moments passing by, no words were spoken between the two while the rest of the council waited for a response from the old pegasus. With Celestia’s anger growing by the second, she cleared her throat, lowered her eyebrows, and glared at her general. She made sure that every single one of her words were spoken directly to him.

“Final warning General Peter Tempest, do you understand?” Celestia asked, speaking perfectly clear, yet bitter Equestrian.

“Yes, your highness,” he replied.

The scene dimmed into darkness with the fires in the cauldrons burning out.

With a single spotlight shining on the Storyteller, he stood with the complete darkness while addressing the crowd in an authoritative manner. “General Tempest didn’t take to kindly to the idea of a cautious approach of rescuing his fellow soldiers, in fact he hated the very ideal of not using force at all to overwhelm anyone or thing that posed as a threat towards the new nation of Equestria itself. For the most part, he wasn’t welcoming to Celestia’s idea of not using a new found power source to establish dominance above all, for good… even if he didn’t fully understand the heart himself.”

“That gave him an idea.”

With the light returning to the mirror pool, the water within began to reflect slideshow images of what the narrator was speaking about. The first image was of General Tempus wearing a black cloak and appearing to be running down a long marble corridor with the Crystal Heart floating in his magic above him. It seemed to be that he was in quite a hurry to get out of where he was at since his face was portraying an expression of complete determination while sweating.

The narrator continued, “After requesting that the heart be put through trials of experiments to see exactly where its source of magic comes from, he insteads steals the heart after the countless denials and requests being dismissed by Princess Celestia herself. Risking his entire career, his original goal was to prove to the Princess and the rest of the Council that peace can only be achieved through the new power of which the heart could supply. However, after he felt disrespected by Celestia for her continuously ignoring her senior officials due to the idea of such power, his plan changed.”

“Mutiny.”

After the pool showed Tempest’s eyes burning with wild furry, the image began to transition into another still frame. In the photo shown to the audience, it had two ponies looking at each other in a confrontation of might and power. With Tempest and Celestia being the ponies portrayed, they were looking at each other with anger in their eyes while the general seemed to be shouting something at the white alicorn. With his horn being charged up, it appeared that he was ready to attack Celestia with very vigorous spell.

“He was going to stage an ultimatum on Princess Celestia herself. The conditions were for her to either give up the throne or risk being thrown into the dungeons on charges of neglecting the duties of the royalty, which included keeping its subjects well equipped and safe. With the power of the heart, he should have no problems going hoof-to-hoof with an alicorn if the situation called for it. To him, it’s force alone would ultimately secure his victory over Celestia without a hoof or magic even being struck between the two.”

“If only the heart would have coordinated with him.”

Smoke began to rise around the edge of the pond as the pink heart came into view. Spiraling around the middle of the lake, its glow allowed for Dusty and the rest of the ponies in attendance to see it through the rising fog. The rest of the set remained in the dark while small beams of light orbited the jewel like electrons. Occasionally, a thin shield would form around the heart with the spheres of light protecting it.

“You see everypony, magic isn’t exactly a kind of force that does bend to the will of whoever pony is in control if it. It can have a mind of its own due to the unstableness of how it conducts itself within a natural field that surrounds us, to which if some inexperienced pony was to simply command this force without the proper training and confidence to do so… then what on Celestia’s Earth would even listen to or do whatever it asks?”

“Instead, the heart reacted in its own unique, and quite interesting way.”

With the rest of the light returning to the stage, General Tempest and few other ponies could be seen inside a stone room that appears to be underground in a location not known to anyone except the occupants. With a few tables, chairs, and various sources of candle light scattered around the basement, the configuration of furniture could give away the idea that they were moved in order to levitate the heart within an open space. A single unicorn was circling around the heart with a clipboard in her magic, taking down a vast amount of notes.

“Done under the watchful eye of one of General Tempest’s most trusted field scientist, a unicorn named Dr. Mortem, the experimenter shot various amounts of different beams of magic at the heart in an attempt to draw out the magic’s source within, only to be reflected off by the heart’s strong natural force field. It was quite annoying to the experimenters that something very inanimate to them is resisting anything and everything that they can throw at it. Spells, charms, and even curses couldn’t penetrate the wall that heart kept strong. It seemed almost hopeless to even continue trying after their countless attempts.”

All the unicorns within the area were huffing and puffing after their attacks. Bringing themselves to mere exhaustion, sweat was raining down their faces as they all glared at the heart with enmity. They were not familiar with an opposition as unique as what the heart was capable of, bring their heads down and almost to the floor out of their ruthless aggressions. It just didn’t seem to anypony that the heart could be tampered with.

“I… I cannot do this anymore, sir.” Dr. Mortem panted, “It just simply is too strong…. for anypony to tamper…. with its properties-”

“Nonsense!” Tempest shouted. “You are just too weak to even possibly do anything to break the force field… This is magic that comprehends even our most advanced practices. Dare I say it's almost, ancient?”

“What do you... mean?” Dr. Mortem asked out of his fatigue.

“What I mean is that this heart could have been produced from a ritual of some sort,” Tempest explained. “One to give it the ability to see in the future… and the other is to protect it from anypony willing to destroy or draw the magic from it such as ourselves, possibly casted upon the heart in the same ceremony as the ability of foresight. This is why both properties could possibly be active at the same time without the heart breaking into pieces.”

“So what are you getting at here?” Dr. Mortem asked while curling his hoof around in a circle before pausing with the underside out.

The general casted a spell on a nearby book and floated it within view of everypony to see. With the Tavern’s band beginning to play an deep hasty tune, General Tempest took his front hoof and slowly rubbed it all the way down the spine. He told them, “Like the treads on a book, we could be able to just simply unwind the magic from the Crystal itself…”

He opened the book and began to tear the pages out of it. Grunting with anger in his voice, the stallion was beginning to shred apart the book with an increasing effort. “Giving us the chance to capture it... transfer it… and then use it. Afterwards, I can dispose of the heart and Princess Celestia herself. Tartarus, maybe even Princess Luna if she dares to ever challenge me as well.”

After lighting the book on fire and tossing it into a nearby bin, he let out a maniacal laugh in front of Dr. Mortem while ordering his troops to stand around the heart in preparation for a spell that will combine the effort and powers of all present. Unknown to them however, Dr. Mortem wasn’t quite accepting towards the attitude of Tempest with his greed and rage starting to get the better of him. To her, she felt almost betrayed by the way the General was composing himself. She knew him for quite awhile to be a very level headed equine with impressive intelligence for the leader that he was.

She never would have considered him to be a power crazed dictator that he was slowly becoming.

The Storyteller spoke further, “Calling upon a couple friends of his that shared within the same vision of General Tempest, he, Dr. Mortem, and two other unicorns stood around the heart and recited a spell that caused the four unicorns in the room to have their horns start glowing a mystic red that burned with an yearning for what was ahead. Together, they held strong as they all felt the magic within themselves beginning to tug and pull as streams of light began to leave from the tip of their horns.”

Shooting out in every direction, the individuals held strong while their magic was flustering with sparks and streaks of light bursting from their horns. With robust “pops” and “crackles” sounding off with each flair and spark, their spells were beginning to focus upon the heart as small spheres of light shined from the edge of each unicorn.They began to grow in their individual sizes as they all absorbed and drained the magic from their hosts. Thus, they became a vessel of power to use in the ritual to strike the heart’s defences with a much stronger force.

With the lights building in size, the conditions within the room began to intensify with a relentless gust of wind swirling around the ponies as a bulk of their magic left their bodies entirely. While the dust within the room was violently twisting behind the equines, the lights themselves rose into the air before they rushed towards the heart and conformed with an illumination that made the jewel glow almost intensely bright. The combined powers then held the Crystal Heart within its grasp.

Acting out of a natural reaction to an invading attack, the Crystal Heart’s force field began to appear as a glass blanket layered on top of the surface. While it did completely resist the aggression of the continuous onslaught the ritual was causing at first, it wasn’t before long that the glass shield around the heart showed signs of faltering as the spell increased its barrage along with the brightness. Thus, each pony had to cover their eyes while they could hear the sound of glass crackling, coming from the epicenter of the act they created.

General Tempest couldn’t be anymore happier with what he was hearing. “That is excellent my fellow soldiers! Feel the ritual begin to make the heart break from the pressure!”

He let out a hearty laugh while Dr. Mortem looked at him with disbelief and mere sorrow in her eyes.

Within the chaos, the narrator spoke over the action, “As the heart began to lose its shield from the force of a spell combined by four unicorns, the General began to act more hysterical with each passing second. And just like how each piece of the shield’s heart began to crack and fall, the General’s true attitude began to show through his once cool demeter, making his face almost seem like he was possessed with the power he seemed to be unlocking.”

General Tempest couldn’t be anymore happier with what he was hearing. “That is excellent my fellow soldiers! Feel the ritual begin to make the heart break from the pressure!”

He let out a hearty laugh while Dr. Mortem looked at him with disbelief and mere sorrow in her eyes.

“This terrified his best friend, Dr. Mortem, seeing who was once a leader to an improving army beginning to act like he won the ultimate power that he could lay his hoofs upon. Not only did it scare her, it made herself feel betrayed by the thought of him being a modest gentleman, who would not put his own self greed above all else. Who saw his elders as a symbol of righteousness and proud honor to serve under, not as the enemy.”

“As a stallion who wouldn’t dare use the power to take a life of another.”

It was then at that instant she knew the power from the heart shouldn’t belong to him or anypony for the matter. Mustering what she could from the remaining amount of effort and willingness she had left in herself, her horn began to glow a bit brighter than the other unicorns within the room. General Tempest seemed to noticed as he tried to look at his assistant, only to be shocked by what she was trying to do.

“I’m sorry, General,” she cried out. “But I cannot let you do this!”

“WHAT!” he shouted back, not realizing the fact she was trying to cast small spell.

With a loud grunt, Dr. Mortem threw everything she had into casting her charm into the fury of the ritual as she nearly collapsed to floor out of physical and near mental exhaustion. Before her eyes closed, she was just able to see the spell hit the glowing intensity around the heart. Afterwards, the doctor couldn’t see the reaction she caused as it began to shift through different rays of colors.

With the spell twisting and bending itself out of the form of a once perfect sphere, beams of magic were being shot back to the individual owners of their shared part. Feeling their magic return to them, the two assistants within the room were being pushed back behind the grey wall of dust every time the heart shot their magic to them. As for the general, managing to stand his ground while trying to hold his forceful grip on the heart, he remained in complete awe by what Dr. Mortem did to his attempt at power.

Rushing over to her and trying to shove her with his front hoofs back to consciousness, Tempest glared at her with anguish and yelled, “What, what did you do! No wait, the heart!”

Opening her eyes after faintly hearing the words of the old unicorn, she tried to speak up to him and could only barely uttered out the words she spoke. “I shot a simple... teleportation spell at it…. which should cause the heart to... transport somewhere even I have... no idea to where it could be located.”

“Wait, noooo, you bitch!” were the only words that General Tempest could scream before he tried to grab onto the heart he was about to lose.

Using the magic that was being shot back at him, the unicorn formed a golden ring that spun violently around the breaking shield of the Crystal Heart. With it being clasped onto the outer layer which was protecting the gem, it only seemed to look like it was crushing what was left of the shield as it continued to break and crack with the magic that was leaving from the original spell. Upon realizing the fact that the magic from the ritual was now the only thing maintaining the glass shield, General Tempest tried to tighten his gold band in effort to maintain the entire heart in once piece while trapping as much of what was left from the ritual.

However, as the last ounce of magic shot off from cover that protected the heart and back into the General himself, the shield exploded, sending smoke and pieces of pink glass shards in all directions. While the heart itself disappeared in a flash, the ponies within mere seconds put up enough of a defencive barrier to protect themselves from the flying shrapnel. Passing thru their respective walls of defence, the glass turned into dust and covered the unicorns until their coats turned grey. They managed to sustain no clear or visible damage as they waited for the smoke to die down and check upon each other.

As it did though, they realized that not all of them were able to defend themselves as the music within the auditorium fell silent.

Lying next to Dr. Mortem with a glass shard that stabbed all the way through his chest, General Tempest was bleeding profusely as his lifeless body was completely torn apart from the debris. As the shard died out with sparks that sputtered with small bolts of magic that swirled outwards and into the mid air, the rest of the body remained slashed up with gaping incisions that cut deep into the flesh. Pieces of his fur were ripped away from him in patches while his mane and coat soaked in a pool of his own blood.

General Tempest was dead and completely beyond any chance of a recovery. As Dr. Mortem tried to look upon the body with a paralyzing realization of the unicorn’s death, she herself didn’t have enough time to react before being pinned down by the two guards within the room. With both of them aiming their horns while she was plastered to the floor, they held within themselves a sudden deep aggression. They assumed she the murderer of their dear leader.

The slate colored guard shouted at Dr. Mortem, “WHAT DID YOU DO!”

“I DON’T KNOW, I DIDN’T-”

“BULLSHIT!” the other guard cried. “YOU KILLED HIM IN THE SMOKE!”

“DON’T LIE TO US,” the slate unicorn demained.

With tears running down her face, she cried, “IT WAS AN ACCIDENT I SWEAR!”

“Well buddy,” the slate equine huffed. “I can cause accidents too you know. Now tells us, WHY DID YOU KILL HIM?”

“I DIDN’T KILL HIM I SWEAR!” she pleaded.

Pleading for her life, Dr. Mortem was able to convince the guards of her innocence while in exchange for helping them to leave the scene entirely spotless of their presence. With just the body of General Tempest left behind, the two guards and the assistant fled the scene of the crime and sealed the steel door tight with loud bang, in hopes of never returning to the room again. Silence once again dominated the auditorium as the scene itself faded into the darkness. A single spotlight remained casted over the Storyteller as he closed out the first part of his story.

“That was the last time that anypony heard from the General… After the incident, the three unicorns disappeared into the unknown to regroup themselves within the guard while an investigation pended on the recent disappearance of a high end military official. Upon discovering his body at the scene of the accident, it was later ruled as a suicide since no one in the guard seemed to know how General Tempest ended up stabbing himself to death. Later on down the road, the case was dismissed by the royal court as a “sad and unnecessary tragic event that further shows the dark nature of us Equestrians,” as said by Princess Celestia herself. Meanwhile, searches were sent out to find the stolen heart and return it safely to Canterlot.”

“However, after months of relentless search conducted by General Firefly herself as the lead of many expeditions, all of them came back with nothing except for what the original Gadabouts expeditions were doing. Thus, not all was at a loss… However, unknown to anyone at that time, some of the higher delegates will learn that will take another certain pony to discover what was lost.”

“And the battles she faces to find the Crystal Heart.”

Into the Crystal Mountains

A subtle tune to listen to as the story begins...

The Storyteller began to speak.

“A long time ago in our very land of Equestria, after the three equestrian nations had sworn their allegiance to a unified cause that created the empire we live in today…”

The Crystal Heart began to slowly expand outward as the fog formed an image of three ponies within the foreground of the Equestrian flag. As the still image spun around the auditorium for the entire audience to see, Dusty could tell that each pony was of a different race. Standing tall, they all wore metal armor with leather saddlebags strapped to their backs. They were filled with hefty loads of supplies.

“...Three explorers from each former pony government were sent out with orders from the new found Equestrian Counsel to explore the vast new territory they claimed to inhabit. Their goal was to survey…”

The fog shifted and twisted itself to form the three ponies being located near a large cliff side, overlooking a vast green valley while the ceiling above turned into a cloudless sky. The unicorn had a book and quill levitating within a blue aurora, constantly writing down notes. The pegasus hovered in space and was pointing into the distance while the earth pony was placing a hoof into its pack behind the two other ponies.

“...Gather intelligence about local ecosystems within the land...”

The image panned down and into the valley below the cliff. Producing a tree that stood tall in the middle of the sat, the earth pony could be seen digging into the dirt around the base. Beside the hardy equine, the unicorn was continuing to write down field notes into its ledger. As for the pegasus, it was sleeping on a thick branch in the tree.

“...And further help out with plotting townships so farmers from the old country of earth ponies would have a place to immigrate to and farm once more, leaving behind the harsh colds of the North.”

The three ponies stood on top of a hill with a single piece of long paper stretched out in front of them. Displaying a topographic map of the local area, the unicorn was using its hoof to point out certain details on the paper. The pegasus was beside the unicorn looking upon were the other equine’s hoof was being placed. The earth pony stood tall beside his friends while gazing straight out into the unknown.

“Self named the Gadabouts, their journeys from the new found city of Canterlot lead themselves to discover and explore the vast varieties of lands, creatures, and environments that existed within the borders of Equestria. Their journeys were quite legendary and still to this day talked about as the first ever true exploration into the home that everypony here has become familiar with. For without their bravery, some things might not ever been found.”

The sky above the auditorium began to change from daylight to nighttime with a full array of stars and a half crescent moon. Meanwhile, a single vine began to grow from underneath the water of the mirror pool. Towering its way up and into the ceiling before hooking over and dangling with small droplets of water, numerous patches of tall grass began to penetrate the surface of the pond. It began to transform into a small moist habitat. Filled to the brim with lily pads, moss, and small balls of light that represented fireflies, an indoor swamp had taken over the auditorium while the azure flames burned within the cauldrons.

Soaked up to the ankles, the earth pony and the unicorn stood within the water underneath the huge vine. Soaring above them, a ball of magic held together the group’s luggage and prevented it from being dampened by the water below. Within the same air, the pegasis was pointing in a certain direction that indicated where they should be heading. His figure was slowly flashing a golden aurora.

“Their first expedition sent them to the southeast side of the country. Facing the harsh marsh of the Hayseed Swamps during the peak of summer, the group almost lost its supply of canteen water and nearly half their food. However, since their pegasus, Aulus, was a swift flyer, he was able to help guide his fellow ponies out of the marshland and into the deserts of San Palomino.”

A ginormous gust of tan colored smoke began to spiral around the entire set, simulating an abrupt sandstorm that blocked out the vision of the audience while providing a gentle breeze throughout the auditorium. Dusty could feel the mist lightly touching his hair while a dash of warm air brushed over his skin. He could then see the fog beginning to die down and clear out.

An entire desert was erected upon where the swamp was located. Instead of vines and vegetation, there were cactuses and tumbleweeds being blown slightly around the environment. Sand had replaced the surface of the water and the midnight sky was turned back into daylight once more, including a burning hot sun that shined down from the roof. The humidity also changed from moist to dry while the flames within the cauldrons were nonexistent.

The three ponies stood within the middle of the scene. With all of their heads down, they looked like they had been walking through the San Palomino for days, making them pant, sweat, and cramp around their leg muscles. The earth pony’s figurine was illuminated.

“Meeting the heat of Celestia’s Sun, the three adventures carried themselves prideful and true to the mission of which they were tasked with. They managed within the sand to see the potential spot of were Appleloosa is currently located, only after the earth pony, Olona, managed to use her knowledge of irrigation to locate softened dirt below the valley of the Macintosh Hills. She single hoof-edly found water to refill their team’s spirits and needs for travel, along with a spot to temporarily grow and farm crops.”

The daylight turned back into the nighttime sky. While the desert remained in place, the three ponies were seen lying next to a campfire. Huddled up next to the flames, they wrapped themselves in their sleeping bags while the unicorn pointed to sky. His body was glowing.

“However, whenever they ever felt lost in their direction without any signs to put them back on course, the unicorn of the group, Scout Leader Darelittle, managed to use his knowledge in navigation and conquests under the rule of Princess Platinum to steer the team back on the correct course. It came quite in need a few times whenever the group passed through the mountains such as the Smoky…”

An image of a foggy mountain top appeared.

“...Fowl…”

Another picture of a clear top mountain appeared next to Smoky’s image.

“...and Crystal.”

Behind the scene of the desert, an entire mountain range illuminated before The Storyteller within a shine that glimmered like crystals.

“He managed to provide the usual, and often times more safer passages through the terrains that each cliff or ridge had to offer while also finding shelters within the gorges or caves nearby.”

“Thus, our story now focuses upon a particular instance that happened late in their expedition.”

The Storyteller paused as he inhaled. The set began to move from the desert and into the mocked upped version of the Crystal Mountains. As he exhaled, a sudden, abrupt rush of gust, smoke, and sand began to spiral from the middle of the stage and into the ceiling, creating cloud cover that blocked out the view of the roof. While the cauldrons bared chunks of clear blue ice, a large snow covered rock dominated the jagged, ice covered floor. The rock had a dark opening within it to signify that it held a cave within. Dusty could feel slight brushes of bone chilling wind.

“After scaling into the Crystal Mountains on an attempt to discover a safe trade route from Neighagra to Rainbow Falls, the harsh snow storms of the pass had forced the travelers to seek shelter within a stalagmite cave while waiting for the chilling conditions outside to die down.”

While the ice within the cauldrons began to crystallize with a simple change of color from azure to a luminous ruby, the entire room became the inside of a red crystal cave with the fog covered roof being converted into a rocky ceiling. The snow on top of the giant rock melted away as its dark gap began to show an image of a violent blizzard blowing outside of the entrance. Flakes would occasionally twist and drift into the cavern before falling to the ground.

In the middle of the set, a fire was burning bright as the three adventures huddled around the warmth with their supplies laying on the ground. Freezing and shivering, each pony had their blankets wrapped around them in an effort to prevent hypothermia due to the sub-zero temperatures. Olona and Darelittle were literally deadpanned while Aulus was in terrorized disgust, looking up into the atrium.

“Ugg, this place gives me the damn creeps,” he said with an annoyed tone in his voice.

Olona spoke up with the same accent as Aulus. “We could not have picked a better place, right?”

“Will you two just shut it?” snapped Darelittle with his accent. “If you guys rather wish to die than rather camp out in here, then be my guest and go back out there and stand in the cold. I’m sure it will welcome you quite quickly.”

“Look bub,” Aulus replied. “If you just stuck to the route before Griffkey’s way through, we would have clear out of the path before the head of the storm arrived!”

“Well excuse my Aulus, some of us don’t have wings, but near broken legs from the distance we have already traveled. Unless you want us to physically defy gravity by scaling the way through’s cliff, I think I’ll keep the realism on the ground.” The leader let out a huff.

Aulus could be seen with a stern look towards Darelittle.

He continued, “Besides, we should have stopped awhile back for a rest period anyway. So if you are done bitching about the decisions we made, let's help each other out by setting up the rest of the camp... so we can rest here for the night.”

He paused and looked back upon the pegasus. The hefty pony wanted some kind of a response out him as he leaned towards Aulus with his eyebrows raised and his head cocked to the side. “Shall we?” said Darelittle with an inviting tone.

“Ugggg, fine. But don’t expect anything more out of me,” replied Aulus.

I wouldn’t count on it, Darelittle thought.

Olona was seen on the other side of the cave, scratching at the dirt. “I already dug up spots for our tents if that helps.”

“It should….” Darelittle looked up at the ceiling before panning his head and viewing the storm billowing in front of the entryway.

“It should.”

The fire was burned out upon the scene of tents that surrounded it. The wind was still howling as the crystals continued to glow their ominous red throughout the cavern. Besides the bustling sound of the snowstorm, all remained quiet.

The storyteller spoke up. “After the fire had burned out and the Gadabouts were snuggled within their separate sleeping bags and tents, they rested their bruised and beaten bodies while munching upon their stored food and drinks. Once they were half asleep, Olona happened to wake up to the sound of a rather faint scream. Terrified by the noise, she peered out of her small tent and alerted the others, pointing in the direction of where it possibly came from.”

Aulus was annoyed to be woken up by his friend’s shouting. “It’s all in your head, Olona!”

“No, I swear I heard something in there,” she hollered, rather certain that her ears did pick up something similar to somepony crying out in terror. She pointed, “...Further on down this cave.”

Darelittle asked, “Are sure that you didn’t mistake it for the wind?”

“No!” Olona stepped out of her tent with her blanket tied to her armor, managing to let it cover her entire coat. “That scream I heard was clear as day, and it's coming from deep within this cave. I must check it out.”

“Why?” Aulus was perplexed by her decision. “It’s dark, foreign, and their could possibly be something down there that could eat us as a snack if it wanted to.”

The unicorn produced a ball of light from the tip of his horn, casing a white glow that lit up the cave “Or it could be somepony else in trouble…”

He pointed to the floor. “We seem to not be the only ones that have stepped in here before.”

About ten feet away from the camp, there were hoof prints that lead on further down into the depths of the cavern. Far enough away from the marks, the three explorers knew that their wasn’t any chance of them creating the same tracks which Darelittle saw. Since their arrival, they stayed within a tight circle around their campground.

“They look fresh as well,” Olona noted, noticing each print was pressed firmly into the snow.

She sighed. Pulling out a glow stick from within her pack and tossing it onto the ground, she stepped on it to activate its luminous green glow. Before she wanted to pick it up with her mouth, she said, “I will go and check it what made these marks… and if I am not back within ten-”

“No, Olona!” Darelittle intervened. “You know how we work, you simply cannot just go into that alone. It’s simply too dangerous and I simply will not allow this to-”

He was cut off by the sound of a female scream that reflected upon the crystals that surrounded the camp. Looking upon Aulus before turning to Olona, he could tell that neither of them produced the noise they all just heard do to the proximity of how close they were to each other. If Olona was the pony that had produced it, then the volume would have been a lot higher.

Due to the desperation within the shriek, Darelittle groaned as he changed his mind about going deeper into the cave. While he had doubts about the fact that they would actually find anything alive besides themselves, he had to assume their was something within their cave just crawling around and producing a noise loud enough for all of them to hear. Whether or not if it was friendly rested upon the group’s luck.

He whistled over at Aulus, “Come on you lazy pegasus.”

“Uggggg…” Aulus was not thrilled by the sudden change of plans.

The Storyteller narrated, “As Darelittle hit his horn and casted away the darkness further within, he lead his fellow comrades down into the depths of the cave while following the hoof prints as a guide. Leading themselfs pass the rock walls that shows signs of charred ash, hoof marks, and broken chunks of rock, the three began to wonder about the possibilities towards what might have caused the destruction to occur. One thing was for certain, there had to have been one tartarus of a fight.”

“It seemed like some pony went mad in here and shot up this place,” implied Aulus, flying above Olona and Darelittle.

“...Our it could be that some weird black magic tried to consume the mind of a some lonely pony and it fought in desperation to keep its own sanity!”

“Uh-um,” replied Olona.

The pegasus trembled, “OR IT COULD HAVE BEEN A MONSTER WANTING TO-”

“Oh will you pipe it down a notch!” snapped Darelittle, maintaining concentration upon his ball of light while not wanting to hear the concerns of his group.

“Sorry.”

Inside the auditorium, the giant rock that adored the stage faded away into obscurity and left behind the three explorers, their ball of light, and the rest of the cave that surrounded them. While the wailing wind could still be heard echoing throughout the cavern, Olona and Darelittle’s hooves clacked upon the ground as they journeyed towards a dead end.

The Storyteller declared, “After reaching a point where they couldn’t continue any further, Scout Leader Darelittle ordered his ponies to split up and search the place for any signs of struggle from whatever caused the markings to occur. However after they searched the grounds, they found nothing after looking around for a various amount of time.”

“This was pointless…” Aulus rebuttaled.

Another scream howled through the cave and caused each pony to have their hairs stand on end. Startled by sudden noise from the unknown source, Aulus quickly flew around the hovering ball of light and landed in the vancity of Darelittle, who was wide eyed and turning his head on swivel. Olona had ran off to the other side of the misty room since her eye managed to catch something that shined during the screech.

“I really wished I didn’t hear that.” Aulus tucked his wings in tight, shifting his eyes left and right in search of what Darelittle might be trying to find.

“Me too,” replied the unicorn.

“It came from over here!” shouted Olona, waving the others down.

“All three of them trotting over to the source of the noise, and what they discovered changed the course of their entire journey,” emphasized by the narrator.

On the stage, Aulus and Darelittle troted over towards Olona and meetup with her. She was nearly shrieking by what she found. While Aulus held the earth pony within his wings, Darelittle invested further by trying to redirect his only source of light over a dark figure that leaned up against a crimson slab of crystal. Once it became within plain view of his sight, Olona screamed in terror as both Aulus and Darelittle stepped back, nearly disgusted and surprised by what they found.

Frozen by the temperatures within the cavern, the corpse of a fallen equine laid in rest of the three explorers. Above the neck, the head of the pony was bashed inward, leaving only bits and pieces of a broken skull while the cranium was plastered on the red stalagmite. Below the head, the carcass remained a mess of bloodshed, slashed up fur, and charred skin that was rugged to the touch. The back hooves were completely cracked while the front hooves held onto a large object draped over with a brown cloth.

“What on Celestia’s green earth is that?!?” screamed Aulus. His eyes widened in shock while he pointed a shaky hoof at the frozen body.

“Well, obviously is a dead pony…” Darelittle wasn’t completely fazed by the sight as he inspected upon what remained of the equine. He stated, “He properly died from serious head trauma due to the wounds that were inflicted.”

“You don’t think he did that to himself, do you?” Olona asked, weeping at the site after being nearly terrified to death by it.

“I don’t know really... ” Darelittle used his hoof to touch the top of the bashed in poll. Feeling the solid flesh of ice and fur, the unicorn retracted its foot before using to scratch his chin. It's the only thing in here besides us, he thought to himself. And since their isn’t signs of another presence that could have bare witness to his death, like other hoof or animal tracks on the ground… He took his hoof off his chin and lowered his head, shaking it slowly as his eyes were closed. He could only feel sorrow for the conclusion he thought was the most likely at that second.

“Sad really…” were the only words Darelittle could speak before he sighed.

“Should we just leave it here?” Aulus spoke while still holding Olona within his wings. She had managed to recomposing herself within his grasp, reducing her sobbing down to slight sniffles. Her eyes were red from the crying she did.

“I’m afraid so…” replied Darelittle. “It wouldn’t do us any good to even try to lift this from where it lays. Probably will fall apart since its stuck to ice and I cannot have us taking this thing back down the mountain since it will give us extra dead weight.”

After seeing that she was going to be able to recover from her sudden trauma, Aulus took his wings off Olona as he walked over to gaze upon the body himself. Looking at the rather large drape that seemed to be covering an object, the pegasus pointed at while he had his head tilted to the side. “It seems to be holding onto something quite large… Here, let me see if I can pry it from his hooves.”

Pushing both of his front hooves against the drapes, he leaned into the solid object and tried to push the thing from the equine’s frozen grip. Huffing and grunting from the amount of force he put into each thrust, it seemed to Aulus that whatever was underneath the tapestry wasn’t wanting to move anywhere or anytime soon. However, the pegasus continued to try and pry at it without any signs of progress.

“Damn it,” he cursed. “The hooves are frozen to the grip! Darelittle, you give it a shot!”

Rolling his eyes, the unicorn lit up his horn and focused upon the cold hooves of the deceased pony. Using a simple heating spell, Darelittle began to warm up the front hooves of the dead carcass as the icicles began to melt away with the passing time. Before long, the strength within the grasp began to falter as the object should be seen slipping away from the hoofs of the equine. Aulus was then able to knock it out of its resting place and let slide onto the floor, uncovered from the blanket.

Out of all the things they never expected to unravel from the cover, the explorers soon set their eyes upon a glowing pink crystal shaped in a fashion that exactly resembled a heart. Lying on the ground in the middle of the room, the three explorers were almost immediately awe struck by the jewel as they approached it with newfound curiosity. Seeing it illuminate such a warm color that it made itself look like it was alive and beating with magic, the jewel managed to give off a certain mystic presence that radiated through Aulus, Olona, and Darelittle. It seemed to further encourage them to examine it closer.

“Woah….” Olona had the glare from the crystal within her eyes, mouth almost open by the beauty of it.

“What in tartarus is that!” Aulus has his forehead scrunched as he tried to process exactly what he was seeing in front of him, as if the dead body from earlier wasn’t hard enough already.

“It looks like a pink, Crystal Heart.” Olona tried to touch it with her front hoof, only to be stopped by Darelittle placing a hoof on her chest.

“Don’t touch it!” he declared, pointing at the object like it was toxin. “We don’t know what this thing is and by the look of it, it might seem very valuable…. Especially since this pony died with it clutched to its hoofs.”

“Um, no shit!” Aulus yelled, not being mindful of his language.

“I know,” Darelittle responded. “But I don’t want to run the risk of anyone’s lives being in more danger than the circumstances we are currently in… In the best interests of the group, I will say that I will take into the care of this thing until we get back to your base to further look into this thing. Is that understood?”

Aulus and Olona looked at each other before they nodded their heads in unison, unsure with what Darelittle could have tasked himself with.

“Good,” the unicorn sharply stated.

After levitating the heart off the icy cold ground, Darelittle and Olona had proceeded to leave the room, but stopped shortly after they noticed Aulus looking back over the dead equine which still laid by the crimson stalagmite. With a single huff of air, the pegasus grabbed the cloak that originally laid over the heart and threw it over the pony, covering it entirely with also a sense of serenity for the life which occupied the body. Joined by his friends, the three adventurers held a eulogy for the equine with words that simply described the meaning to life and how everypony should live it to its fullest.

With the conclusion of the memorial scene, the Storyteller continued his part once more. “After sharing some words of kindness for an unknown pony, Aulus, Olona, and Darelittle made their way back to the camp at the front of the cave’s entrance. Reaching their base with the heart in tow, Aulus and Olona saw Darelittle set the gem down beside himself while relighting the fire to bring back their light and warmth. In the burning azure glow, they all managed to gaze upon the craft of which they discovered. Each picking apart the details of the gem, they all agreed upon the fact that is was something not made from pony hooves.”

“It doesn’t even seem to be real, especially considering how smooth it looks,” Aulus remarked.

“It actually looks quite pretty, especially with the fire reflecting off the surface of the gem.” Olona noted, seeing how the flames glistened across the glass frame of the jewel.

“I concur as well, that pony certainly was holding onto something quite interesting.” Darelittle looked upon the crystal and peered his head around it, admiring the curvature and how the heart seemed to be flawless in its cuts.

“Do you think it's one of those priceless jewels the higher ups once talked about, or some long lost treasure of the Princesses...” Aulus almost fluttered his wings with excitement over the ideas that came to his mind. “...or maybe even a rare diamond that no one has found yet!”

“I don’t know.” Darelittle levitated the jewel into the air. “...but it might a fetch a good price at an auction…”

Aulus and Olona stared at him with discontent at the proposal he just stated. To them, they didn’t like the idea of just selling something they just found after prying it from another pony, a dead pony nevertheless. It didn’t seem right to anypony within the group to make a quick bit of the property of others regardless of the circumstances and whether or not the deceased equine actually owned it.

“Orrrrr...” The earth pony proposed, “It would be a great gift to the royals for their efforts in funding our expedition.”

“I concur,” Aulus hastily favored.

With the gem slowly hovering beside Darelittle, it began to dim and brighten its pink glow in a steady oscillating rhythm similar to a beating heart more noticeably than before. The group then sat up as they approached the jewel, again curious by it's properties. Standing around the thing as it spun in space, the three ponies wondered why it was producing light in such an interesting manner.

“Why is it doing that?” Aulus pondered.

“I really don’t know.” Darelittle was beginning to huff and puff as he tried to break his levitation spell on the heart. Sweat could be seen from his efforts. “But it's now…. starting to… attract my…. magic.”

“Let me see if I can help!” Olona reached for the jewel, trying to push it out of Darelittle’s invisible grasp.

“Wait, no Olona!”

Upon touching the heart with her hoof, Olona’s eyes began to glow as a ball of light appeared above the scene on stage. While everything below it turned turned grey and froze within their places, the sphere began to project the three explorers dresses in formal attire as they stood upon a golden altar in Canterlot. With confetti raining down upon the royal crowd that gathered within an auditorium decorated in a festive manner with beautiful glass stained windows, Princess Celestia could be seen in front of the three Gadabouts, giving a speech to the mass.

“It is with great honor that I bestow upon these three individuals the new Equestrian Medal of Freedom for their sacrifices they made to help bring home one of our fallen military veterans along with their contributions and efforts to expand and learn about the great kingdom of which we occupy.”

The ponies began to cheer as Princess Celestia draped Aulus, Darelittle, and Olona with a gold star that hung upon a blue ribbon around their necks. After the earth pony received her award, the vision began to fade out as the ball quickly contracted inward before dissipating above the set. Meanwhile, the scenery within the cave, the ponies, the heart, and other miscellaneous items around their camp began to regain their respective colors as Olona fell back first and onto the ground. Hastily scooting away from the pink stone, she was quickly breathed in and out while her eyes were as wide as they could physically be.

With Aulus and Darelittle quickly rushing to her aid, she laid on the freezing cold earth before finally being held within their hoofs. It was at that moment she was certain of the next thing she wanted to say to them as her mouth tried to utter out words despite her internal shock. A minute passes by and after Olona had a moment to calm down, the pegasus and the unicorn found out what she was trying to say. To which, they all soon agreed upon a choice after Olona told them what had happened.

“We need to back to Canterlot immediately.”