The arrival

Chara’s new home
Part 4

Chara’s pov

“I *huff* won’t tell you *huff* how to destroy the crystal heart.”

“Are you sure? It will mean that you will have a quick death. I might even keep you as a servant.”

“I said it before and I’ll say it again. I will not tell you.”

“Very well then. I suppose we’ll just have to continue with the ‘interrogation’. Say, since you’ll be spending the rest of your likely short life down here, you probably won’t need any magic.”

“W-what are y- AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Real world

“Mmmmmpppphhhhh!!!” I barely manage to block my scream as I wake up. I frantically look around the room, knife in hand, looking for any threats. Only then I realise where I am. A train on the way to the Crystal empire.

Sighing, I put down the knife and rub my face, trying to clear my mind and remember the dream. ‘It was that queen again. She was in, a dungeon? Yes, a dungeon! She was being tortured about something involving a crystal heart? What the hell is tha-’ I am interrupted from my thoughts as one of the guards walk into the room, looking around for a moment before settling her eyes on me.

“We’re nearly at the empire. Get your possessions and meet us at the front car.” Before I could respond, she turned around and left.

‘Well that was rude.’ I thought as I grabbed my knife and ran out the car door, not noticing the dark mist that was at one of the nearby windows before it dissipated.

10 minutes later

“Damn, this is colder than Snowdin.”

We had just stepped out of the train and were met with a winter wasteland, with a heavy blizzard coming from pretty much everywhere.

“I’m not sure where the hay ‘Snowdin’ is, but we better get to the empire before we all freeze.” High Strike commented as we started walking off towards a shining blue dome in the distance. We had barely walked a minute when a figure approaching from the blizzard. Getting ready for a fight, I grab my knife in case they attack. I also see a couple of the nearby guards tense up.

“Twilight!”

“Shining Armor!”

The pony then stepped out into view, lowering his black scarf and face mask. Twilight rushed up to him and hugged him, causing me to lower my caution. When High gave me a nod, I fully lowered my knife.

“Twiley! It’s good to see you. You too High!”

I tune out their conversation and look around as they talked, checking the surrounding area. Besides the dome, the train station, and some nearby mountains, it was all snow. Luckily, I didn’t see any signs of Sombra so far. Then again, I don’t exactly know what those signs are.

“Hey Chara, you coming?”

Hearing my name, I look over and see Rainbow Dash waving me over as the others started walking away. Blushing, I run to catch up to them.

“Something keeps trying to get into the city. We think it’s Sombra.” Shining Armor yelled over the howl of the blizzard.

“But Princess Celestia said that I was being sent here to find a way to protect the empire. If King Sombra can’t get in, then it must already be protected.” Twilight reasoned. Shining looked like he was about to say something else, but then the sound of the piercing wind was broken by what sounded like a mixture of a war horn and a demonic wolf howling.

“Ah! I-it’s one of the things isn’t it!!!” Fluttershy said panicky, darting her head back and forth. I heard the sound of leather against metal as several of the guards pull out their weapons, I myself take out my knife and prepare to summon several magic ones.

“We have to get to the Crystal empire, now!” Shining said just as a geyser of black smoke burst out of the snow several hundred yards behind us. At the top, two green eyes appeared, purple mist billowing out of them. With that, we all turned and started running. I heard another howl and what sounded like snarling, likely meaning that the smoke demon thing was chasing after us.

“That must be Sombra!” High Strike yelled as the guards followed behind us, the unicorns among them occasionally firing a bolt of energy behind them. Luckily we weren’t too far from safety, as I could see the dome rapidly approaching. Before we could get there however, I heard a crash and yell for help behind me. Turning my head around, I saw that Spike had fallen and was trying to get up. Twilight rushed up to him and helped him up, but it was too late. Smoke Sombra appeared above them, giving an evil chuckle before what looked like a house sized blade made out of dark crystals appeared in his grasp, immediately swinging downward towards Twilight and Spike.

"NO!"

I jump in front of the two, determination and magic coursing through me as my knife glowed, magic increasing the size of the knife blade to a size similar to Sombra’s own sword. It wasn’t a moment too soon either. Just as the blade finished forming, his crystal sword collided with my kni- er sword, making cracks appear in both. Before he could respond, I pushed his sword out of the way before sending a blast of pure determination at him, hitting him straight on the face.

As he growled in pain and anger, the guards started firing more shots at him, causing him to retreat. We all ran to the dome, dodging random energy shots and crystal attacks from Sombra. As I went into the dome, I look back and see him glaring at me with the hate and terror of a demon. I only smirk at him as I walked all the way through, making sure that everyone else is inside.

“Is *huff* is everypony *huff* alright?” Twilight asked between breaths, warily looking around at us.”

“He got a… lucky hit on my horn, but otherwise I’m alright.”

I turn around and see that Shining armor was examining his horn, which had multiple black crystals on the end. He tried to use his magic, but the crystals blocked it, sending the magic back into his head and making him stumble a bit in pain. Twilight gasped and rushed over to him, giving a worried look as she looked at his horn herself.

“We better get to the palace and find out all the details.” I say, snapping everyone back into focus. With that, we walked towards the city.

30 minutes later

‘Alright, the outskirts I can understand, but why are there no ponies here!?! I mean, it’s the city center after all! You’d think that there’d at least be some guards.’ I think as I look around. I can see that some of the guards see this too, giving varied looks of cautiousness, curiosity, and worriedness. I decide to address the problem myself.

“Hey Shining armor, why aren’t there any guards or civilians around?” He looks surprised at the sudden question, but then calms down and explains.

“Well, most ponies are still inside their homes. See, when Sombra took over the empire, he enslaved or brainwashed the population, forcing them to work in the mines or construct various structures and monuments. According to our reports, not only were they poorly treated, but also often tortured and forced to witness public execution. While times back then were less harmonic and things like hardship and war were present, most ponies were still very innocent. That, and the fact that to them no time has passed at all, they’re still coping.

As for the guard, most of them had been killed or imprisoned when Sombra ruled. The remainder and some others were brainwashed and forced to serve as his soldiers. Many had been killed when the princesses originally attacked the empire, and the rest are either too injured to serve or are coping with the traumatic experience like most others. Currently, only about half a dozen are still on guard, and they’re posted in the palace itself. Hopefully with the additional couple dozen guards here, things will be less stretched.”

We then continued on in silence as we arrived at the palace, only broken by Rarity gushing over the palace and Dash playing a joke on her. Once we went inside, all the guards except High Strike left to take their posts. As we made our way to the throne room, Shining decided to ask me a question of his own.

“Say, I know it’s a bit late to ask this, but what exactly are you?”

“Shining!” Twilight hissed. “Don’t ask such rude questions.”

I gave a small smile and held my hand up. “It’s alright Twilight. Well Shining, I am a human. I’m not actually from this world, believe it or not. I had arrived here after an, incident, and appeared in the Everfree forest. I had managed to make my way through the forest, but not before being attacked by those wooden wolves. After passing out, I woke up in the hospital and met the staff there, along with the girls. Afterwards, I went with the girls to Canterlot. Turns out Celestia decided to use the chance of summoning Twilight and the others to see me as well. It all went pretty well until we were ambushed by a controlled prince. After that, I just talked with Celestia, boarded a train, and arrived here. You know the rest.”

Shining nodded before pausing and giving a questioning look. “Controlled prince?”

Twilight elaborated. “It was Blueblood. We think that he was somehow controlled or influenced, maybe by Sombra. Knowing him though, convincing him to attack us wouldn’t have been that much of a challenge. Infact, he wa-”

“Hey Chara, you ok?” Applejack asked, bringing the focus of everypony to me. I realised that as we had been walking on, my face had become more and more negative, a look of melancholy appearing on my face. It took me a bit, but I realized why with a startled thought. These halls reminded me of the throne room from my dreams.

“Yeah, I’m alright. Just feeling a bit down I guess. The architecture just reminds me of a couple of dreams I had.” Applejack looked like she wanted to press on, but stopped when Fluttershy shook her head. Sighing, she dropped the subject and let us continue on in silence. Shining then decided to talk again.

"By the way, thanks for saving Twilight and Spike earlier. I thought they were gonners for a moment." At this, Twilight perked up.

"Oh yeah! Thank's Chara!"

"It's no problem. I won't let any of my friends die." I responded. 'Especially after Asriel.' We kept walking for a few more minutes before we arrived at the doors to the throne room. In front of them are two guards, who I presume are some of the only ones still on duty.

“Alright, let us in.”

“Yes, sir!” The guards shouted as they pull open the doors, revealing…

...no.

...How?

The throne room looked almost exactly like the one from my dream, except this one looked a bit more cheerful. While most of the group walked in and Twilight did a little dance who I presume is princess Cadance, I wasn’t entirely ignored. Applejack saw my look and immediately grabbed the sleeve of my sweater with her mouth, pulling me both away from the room and out of the trance I was in.

“H-Hey! What are you doing!?! Shouldn’t we be in there! What if they say something important?”

“Then Twilight can tell us about it afterwards.”

“What if they notice that we’re gone and get worried!?!”

“I already told High Strike what I was going to do, so if any of them notice, he’ll cover for us.”

“I… *sigh* fine.”

I continue being led for another minute or so before she stopped and released her grip. Before I can say anything, she glares at me and starts talking.

“I can tell that you’re bottling up your thoughts an’ feelings Chara. It wasn’t bad at first, but I can tell it’s been getting worse and worse since the fight w’ Blueblood. You’re not okay Chara, I can see that, and I’m not going ta drop the subject like before. I’ve been stubborn before, and it caused me and the ponies around me to be hurt. It’s likely nothin compared to your problems, but please just tell me. Ah’ won’t tell anypony else unless you’re okay with it.

“It’s really that bad huh. So, there’s no convincing you to drop it again?”

“Nope.”

“I see… if I do tell you, listen to everything I have to say without any interruptions. Also, try to keep an open mind.”

With that, I told her everything. No sugarcoating or lying, the whole truth. From my childhood experiences, to my time in the underground with my new family and my time with Frisk, up to now. The whole time, Applejack was intensly listening, occasionally grimacing or smiling depending on what I said, but didn’t say anything until I was done.

“I’ll have to admit, I didn’t expect ya’ll ta have gone through all of that. Hay, nopony should. Are ya at least feeling better now?”

“Yeah, a little. It felt good to just let loose and tell someone, instead of lying or keeping it bottled up. Thanks Applejack.”

“No problem Sugarcube. Honesty is the best policy, at least in my book. Now come on, we better get back before the others get worried.” With that, we turn back around and head back to the throne room.

Author's Note

Another chapter done! I think that this was a pretty decent chapter, even if I wasn't that good with Applejack's country speech and all of that. I'm thinking that this story will go on for another three or four chapters before it's done, with the end likely happening after school starts. Well, as with my normal schedule, next is 'Tales of Littlepip'! If you have any opinions, advice, or comments that aren't blunt hate, then go ahead and leave them down below!

Stay determined folks!