He felt a hoof on his shoulder, gently shaking him and rousing him from sleep. He barely raised his head before letting it fall back, kicking weakly at the disturbance. He’d worked so hard that day that even the simple sleeping mat seemed comfortable.
“Banded Agate,” came the hushed whisper, the speaker close enough for him to feel her breath on his ear. “Wake up! Now!”
He finally came out of his slumber, recognizing his mother’s voice and raising his head. He rubbed his tired eyes with one hoof before she suddenly yanked him up to his hooves.
“Mom?” he whispered back, his eyes becoming used to the darkness in the cramped room they shared with all the other workers. The sounds of snoring, labored breathing, and even a wheezing cough surrounded him. The floor was almost completely covered with the sleeping forms of his fellow gem polishers.
Bright Lapis, his mother, put her hoof to his lips. He saw her shaking her head and realized he was not to make another sound. Quickly, she helped him gather up a small number of things he’d been allowed to keep - a storybook, his favorite stuffed toy dragon, and a portrait of his favorite jouster, Thunder Crash - as well as a few rations they’d managed to hide from the guards and put them all into a simple burlap sack. She helped fasten them to his back and, following her, he tip-toed among the sleeping bodies as silently as ghosts until they were at the door.
She opened the door a crack, and the light that bled through revealed her crystalline features, including her brilliant blue coat which once glittered brightly enough to inspire envy even among the rest of the crystal ponies.
The cold wind from outside made him shiver. Or perhaps he was just telling himself that it was the chill. He could have just been trembling in fear.
If the guards saw… if they caught them…
He drew up alongside his mother, feeling the warmth of her body. She draped a foreleg over his shoulders, and they both peered across the snow-swept field of the mining camp, the moon overhead giving the unbroken blanket of snow a pale, almost otherworldly glow.
“Watch for the signal,” his mother whispered.
Banded Agate nodded. Three quick red flashes. He remembered.
Tonight they would be gem cutters and polishers no more. He would fear being sent to the mines no more. They would be slaves no more.
He saw it: three red flashes out in the darkness. He met his mother’s gaze, and she nodded.
They ran.
The train pulled into the station at the Crystal Empire. It was the furthest stop on the long railroad through Equestria, and by now the locals, the crystal ponies, were no strangers to all sorts of tourists wanting to explore the ancient architecture, watch a jousting match, or maybe get a glimpse of Princess Cadance or Prince Shining Armor.
But this group was a bit different.
“Such glory!” said the tall pink mare, Desert Rose, her elegant Saddle Arabian harness and clothing attracting a fair bit of attention from the station attendants. She stared in wonder at the sight of the royal palace towering above the shimmering city.
“I say, the photographs truly do not do the place justice!” declared the mustachioed stallion in the bowler hat in his prim Trottingham accent. “And to think I once considered it all to be nothing more than a fantasy tale my old granny’d invented.”
“You ain’t the only one whut heard that story,” said the dusty brown mare striding behind him and Desert Rose. She removed her wide-brimmed hat and placed it over her chest. “But I always took it to be the straight truth, chapter an’ verse!”
“Look, can ya quit yammerin’ about it,” growled a chubby, pale green stallion as he yanked a cart filled with their luggage out of the train, “and help me with this? I think I pulled a muscle ovah here!”
One after another, a dozen more of them got off the train, and they began to group up. Once they were all together, they finally cleared the platform and began to trek toward the city itself.
“Ya’ll think they’ve got enough room fer everypony here at the hotel, Thistle Thorn?” the dusty brown mare asked.
“I cannae say,” the mottled gray Shetlander stallion replied. Then he smiled, and it seemed even his prodigious mustache curved upwards with his broad grin. “But I’m sure we’ll find another if they don’t, so dunnae worry, Miss… er, uh…”
“Dust Devil,” she laughed, pulling him in close. “Shoot, who’d a thunk we’d all come together like this?”
She looked around and saw the others chatting like old friends. She supposed Thistle Thorn was right. Now that they were there together, they’d stick together, and soon they’d do what they’d all promised to do.
He kept his head low, but Banded Agate kept glancing off to the sides. Any minute now, he expected to see one of the guards wearing their fearsome masks, their eyes glowing an unnatural green.
He shuddered. The Umbral Guard struck terror into the hearts of every crystal pony who saw them. They moved mechanically, they spoke in growling monosyllables, and they unquestioningly served the king. The worst part was when you saw one you knew and realized they no longer recognized or cared who you were. Like some of his former neighbors.
Like when they’d caught Thunder Crash. He watched when they forced the helmet on him…
“Lapis! Bandy!”
His heart nearly leaped out of his chest when he saw the figure emerging from behind the shadow a supply shed.
“Dad!” he cried, wrapping his forelegs around him.
“Oh thank goodness you’re both still all right,” his father said, pulling them both close.
His father had once owned a gem shop with his mother. His name was Trilliant Cut, and he was a gray stallion with a purple mane and a pair of spectacles.
“Darling,” Lapis said, covering her mouth with her hooves, “you… you look so pale!”
“We all do,” he said. “It’s something to do with Sombra’s magic. It’s affecting us all somehow. I’m just glad that after tonight I’ll never have to work on another crown or scepter for that tyrant!”
Then he looked down at his son and his expression grew tight.
“Bandy,” he whispered. “Your mane…”
He tilted his head and then turned, seeing his reflection in a nearby mirror. His flowing brown and white striped mane had been the reason for his name. Now it looked dull, disheveled, and patchy.
“I look like a slave,” he said, his tiny voice shaking. “I… I saw the others, but I never realized that I looked just like they did…”
Another pony came around from behind the shed. They all bristled until they saw that the mare carried the red lantern she'd used to signal them.
“We’ve got about another minute more,” she whispered, her voice barely audible above the frigid wind lashing at them all. “If the group from the miners don’t show, we’ll have to leave without them.”
“Can’t we take them all with us?” Banded Agate asked, looking first at his father, then back to his mother. “The other workers? The miners?”
His father shook his head.
“But--”
“They would notice if we were all gone, sweetheart,” his mother said, hugging him tightly. “We have a chance to escape if it’s just a few of us here and there. They might not notice, and that will give us more time to run.”
There was the sound of hooves crunching in snow and they all whirled around. Then they breathed a sigh of relief when they saw it was a group of three miners.
“Thank goodness you’re here,” said a mare among them.
Banded Agate gasped when he saw the shackles around their necks and the chain connecting them together.
“Can you please get this off?” asked a stallion, straining against the heavy iron around his neck.
The mare with the lantern shook her head. “Not now. We don’t have the tools or the time. We just need to get to Pyrestone Village, and from there we can get food, supplies, and a wagon to travel to Equestria.”
She glanced around one last time. “Okay, ponies, time’s up. Follow me!” she declared, beckoning for them to follow her. “We’ll meet up with the other refugees and get out of here!”
Banded Agate followed as they all galloped away from the mining camp, the little ramshackle buildings slowly disappearing behind him in the curtain of snow which fell ever more heavily. It spattered against him, but he told himself that it would at least cover their hoofprints as they ran.
They met up with a dozen other ponies in a cave. Coats and scarves and snow boots were distributed. They divided up a small portion of food to take for the journey. It wasn’t a long journey ahead of them, only a day, but that was long enough to be treacherous, especially if the weather worsened or, even worse, if the Umbral Guard pursued them.
Banded Agate looked over his shoulder as they left the safety of the cave. He took one last look at his home, the Crystal Empire, where he’d spent all his life.
The once smooth, glittering jewel rising up from the green valley now stood black and jagged like a mountainous sepulchre.
It wasn’t his home anymore.
He felt his father’s hoof on his shoulder and turned to face him. “Don’t worry, Bandy,” he said, giving him a confident grin. “After today, you’re going to be free. You’ll grow up with other free ponies, and you’ll never have to worry about Sombra again.”
He smiled, feeling his spirits rise, and nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “We’ll be free, no matter what!”
They pressed on through the snow for an hour. The stinging wind and fat snowflakes made the march unbearable, but the feeling of his parents on either side of him, comforting and urging him on made him force his small, weary legs to work.
“The end of the Crystal Plain is just ahead!” called the lead pony. “We make it down the embankment, we can hide in the forest just a few hundred meters after that!”
There was a sound of relief from all of those gathered. He looked up at his parents and saw them smile. A little further and nopony would catch them.
Then there was another sound. At first, it also sounded like a sigh. But it built in volume and soon became a low rumble. It took on a guttural quality.
“Is that the wind?” Lapis asked.
“Not sure,” Trilliant Cut replied, his ears going back as he peered around. “Maybe an animal?”
Banded Agate clung close to him at the mention of an animal.
Trilliant smiled and patted him on the head. “No, relax, Bandy, I’m sure it’s… it…”
His eyes went wide, and he turned around as the sound suddenly grew into a roar.
They all whirled around to see a billowing cloud emerging from the snow behind them.
“It’s an avalanche!” cried one of them.
“N-no, it’s… it’s him!” shouted another.
The cloud rose up before them, and a smoldering pair of green and red eyes stared down at them. Laughter drowned out the snowstorm.
“My slaves,” said the disembodied voice. “Did you truly think you could escape your king? You are forever the servants of King Sombra.”
“No!” one of the miners shrieked.
“Run!” screamed the lead pony, and they all turned and bolted.
The laughter and the roaring of the swirling black cloud filled Banded Agate’s ears, and his heart thundered inside his chest. He thought of what had happened to his friends and neighbors, and felt a sickening dread in his stomach when he realized what would probably happen to him and his family.
Screams behind him abruptly cut off, and he risked a glance back to see the cloud enveloping the slowest of their group, swallowing them up as though they were nothing more than tiny morsels. The three miners chained together tried to move together, but one of the stallions stumbled and they all vanished into the cloud.
“Keep going!” the lead pony screamed.
“Don’t stop!” his mother shouted. “Don’t even look!”
But then the cloud surged around them on all sides and began to close in.
They skidded to a halt, and Banded Agate screamed in terror, his eyes filling with tears.
“Bandy,” his father said, his voice strangely calm. “Your mother and I love you very much.”
He only briefly caught the look his parents exchanged. They both seized him at once, lifting him up by his legs and then heaving him up and forward through the closing gap in the cloud.
He screamed as he sailed through the air, and his legs flailed, trying in vain to find purchase, but he tumbled into the snow and then right to the edge of the embankment before falling and rolling downhill.
His body was wracked with pain as he continued rolling down the hill until finally he crashed into a deep snowbank, his body enveloped in a fluffy expanse of frosty cold whiteness.
He sat there, frozen not with cold, but sheer terror. He tried to contain his breathing so he wouldn’t be heard and detected, even though he expected any minute for that horrible black cloud to come swallow him up too.
But it never came.
Then he remembered: Mom! Dad!
He pushed himself out of the snowbank, not caring if he was seen or not, and did his best to climb back up the embankment, his hooves sliding on the steep slope. Eventually, he made it back up to the top and stared at the scene before him.
Nothing. The cloud was gone. The ponies were gone. His parents were nowhere to be seen. There was nothing but the swirling of snowflakes in the wind and the hoofprints in the snow, their trails abruptly ending where the ponies who’d made them had been snatched up.
A sob escaped him. “M-mom,” he cried. “Dad…”
He sank to his haunches, feeling the hot tears roll down his face, cutting twin tracks through the frost caking his cheeks.
(“Don’t worry, Bandy. After today, you’re going to be free. You’ll grow up with other free ponies, and you’ll never have to worry about Sombra again.”)
He paused, remembering the words of confidence his father had given him. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to stop crying.
Somehow Sombra hadn’t seen him. Though he knew there was nothing he could do to help his parents now, he could at least fulfill their wish and find his freedom.
The sun slowly began to illuminate the horizon. He turned toward that light and began the trek toward Pyrestone.
Without a guide, he wandered the wilderness for three days, scrounging for food like a wild pony, evading crystal wolves, forcing himself to keep going through sheer force of will.
On the third day, a group of ice cutters found him collapsed in the snow and brought him back into Pyrestone where they nursed him back to health.
It was a week later that he heard the news: the Crystal Empire, along with all its citizens, had vanished.
Thistle Thorn took a sip of his tea in the hotel lobby as he and the others sat down to lunch. They’d divided up to search different sections of the city, but one by one they’d all come back empty hooved.
He heard the door open behind him and turned to see Desert Rose walk through.
“Did ye--”
She shook her head. “No,” she replied sadly.
“Drat,” said Tea Biscuit, the stallion from Trottingham. He wrinkled his muzzle in irritation. He and the others sat back dejectedly.
“Nearly everypony’s back,” said Dust Devil, her brow creased with worry and her ears drooping, “an’ not a single word about ‘em. Ya don’t think… maybe Sombra…”
Then somepony else burst through the door. “I found ‘em, I found ‘em, I found ‘em!” she cried joyously, leaping around the room.
“Smashing!” Tea Biscuit exclaimed, getting to his hooves. “However did you find out?”
“Oh, I just asked Cadance and Shining Armor,” she said nonchalantly, brushing her pink, poofy mane back. “They knew just who to ask!”
“That’s wonderful news!” Desert Rose declared, rearing up and kicking her forelegs with glee.
Behind her, another pony entered. It was Brick Top, the stallion from Manehattan, and he looked out of breath.
“Jeez, nopony told me this place was this big,” he huffed. “Anyway, I got nothin’. Half of the time, I ask an’ they just keep starin’ at me, like they never seen…”
He trailed off when he saw the broad smiles on the others’ faces. “What’d I miss?” he asked.
Banded Agate loaded another bag onto the cart outside his small house in Pyrestone. He would pull it himself while his wife sat in the front seat.
“I still can’t believe you’re leaving, Bandy,” said a voice.
Banded Agate turned and smiled at the white stallion with the long mane coming up behind him.
“Come on, Frosty Mug,” Banded Agate replied. “I’ve been over this before. I just want to take Snow Carol somewhere else. Somewhere warmer. I just want to do something else besides cut ice.”
“You used to want to do it for the rest of your life,” Frosty said, raising an eyebrow.
“That’s because the ice cutters were the ones who saved me,” he replied, rolling his eyes as he hefted a large trunk and tied it to the back of the cart. “But that was ten years ago. I’ve got to go out there, Frosty, take some chances, and live my life.”
Frosty bit his lip. “Hey,” he said hesitantly. “Do you think… the Empire will ever return?”
Banded Agate paused, looking down. “I don’t know,” he replied quietly. “But even if it doesn’t, I promised my dad that I would be free. And to me, that means not sticking with the safest option. I might be the only crystal pony who escaped, but if there are others, I ought to go find ‘em.”
Frosty sighed, but cracked a smile nonetheless. “Okay,” he said. “I get it.” He stretched out his foreleg, offering his hoof.
Banded Agate bumped it lightly, then embraced his old friend. “I’ll miss you, Frosty,” he said, patting him on the back.
“Me too,” Frosty replied. Letting him go, he then frowned and said, “You know, I never asked you: where are you going to go?”
Banded Agate winked. “Everywhere,” he replied.
Tea Biscuit knocked on the door of the small but elegant home. A few moments later, they all heard hooves approaching the door. It opened, and a bright blue mare stood there.
“Yes?” she asked.
“I beg your pardon, madam,” Tea Biscuit said, “but are you named Bright Lapis, by any chance?”
She blinked, looking nervously at the large group of ponies on her doorstep. “I… y-yes?” she replied.
“So your husband,” said Brick Top, “must be Trilliant Cut, am I right?”
Her confusion turned to annoyance, and she scowled at them. “Yes, but just what is this about?” she asked.
“Please forgive us,” Desert Rose said, raising a hoof gently, “but we are here to discuss your son, Banded Agate.”
Lapis’s mouth dropped open. For a moment, she only stared, no sound coming from her at all. Then she turned back into the house.
“Trilliant!” she called, her voice practically a scream. “Darling, please come here!”
A few moments later, Trilliant had arrived, and the couple invited the large group into their home.
They all gathered around the small table while Lapis tried to brew enough tea for them all.
“Now what’s all this about our son?” Trilliant asked, steepling his hooves. “We haven’t seen him since… I mean, is he…?”
They all became somber and lowered their heads.
Lapis began to tear up, covering her mouth with her hooves.
“Now hold on there!” Dust Devil cried. “He wasn’t killed back then! We’re here to tell ya that yer boy lived! Back a thousand years ago, he lived a long, long life!”
Trilliant and Lapis paused, then exchanged a look that was at once relieved and somber.
“He lived, Trilly,” Lapis whispered.
“Yes,” he whispered back. “He made it, honey.”
“Not to interrupt ye,” Thistle Thorn said, clearing his throat, “but we dinnae come here just to tell ye that. Any one o’ us coulda told ye that much!”
“Yes, quite right!” Tea Biscuit said. “I… oh, er, everypony, would you mind terribly much if I explained this?”
They all looked to each other, then smiled at Tea Biscuit, giving him the go ahead.
“You see,” he began, taking a deep breath as he sat up, “all of us here have something in common. In each of our families, we have heard tales of a rowdy adventurer, a travelling pony who escaped an evil empire which vanished from the face of the world. We heard of fights against griffon thieves, plunder from dragons’ hoards, and, most of all, of how he shared those adventures with his wife and family. His, ah… very large family.”
“Five young ‘uns!” Dust Devil cried. “Can ya imagine that? Five!”
Lapis and Trilliant continued staring at them all, not understanding.
“Well, what we mean is that those children went on to have children of their own,” Tea Biscuit said. “And in Equestria’s infancy, Banded Agate felt he had a role to play in developing the country. And so did his children and grandchildren. And so they spread out far and wide. A score of them became scholars and professors at King Bullion’s College in Trottingham, for instance.”
“Another,” said Desert Rose, “brought water to my country of Saddle Arabia during a drought out of the goodness of his own heart and married a rich mare of a noble family.”
“Would you believe one helped found Manehattan?” Brick Top asked, puffing out his chest with pride.
“One bold great granddaughter of his,” Thistle Thorn added, “fought off the ancient giants of the Shetland Highlands!”
“One even settled down on a rock farm!” said the pink one among them, throwing up her hooves jubilantly.
Trilliant and Lapis continued staring. One by one, they all shared stories of this group of travelers.
Then, finally, they realized the connection.
“You mean to tell us,” Trilliant said, his voice breaking, “that you… all of you are…”
They all stood, bowing to them.
“Correct,” Tea Biscuit said, smiling at them. “We are the descendants of Banded Agate. Through a thousand years, generations have passed down tales of a long and rich family history to a burgeoning multitude. Untold more of us may be out there, but this group is all we know for now. And among the tales we all grew up with, there was the story of how he wished to one day go home, see his beloved Crystal Empire again, and see his parents once more and tell them that he’d lived out their desire for him to be free.
“But you see, if we are the descendants of Banded Agate, then you are our great-great-great-grandparents.” He chuckled nervously. “Well, I skipped a few ‘greats,’ but you get the right idea. We are your family, and you are ours.”
Lapis broke down, tears streaming from her eyes.
“Oh dear,” Desert Rose said, frowning and lowering her head. “Was this too much for you? We can leave if--”
“No, please stay,” Lapis managed to say, raising her head to show a beaming smile. “We... we thought our family was lost forever.”
“But you,” Trilliant added, though he was also crying for joy, “have shown us that it isn’t! You let us know that we have a huge, flourishing family, and that Bandy grew up free and gave a thousand other ponies a chance to live their own lives. We… thank you all. Thank you all so much!”
They all came together, embracing one another, the family separated by a millennium back together once more. For a moment, they all simply held each other. So many walks of life from so many different places spread across Equestria were now together as one.
“Sooo….” said the pink one among them, breaking the silence, “I’m Pinkie Pie by the way, and - just putting it out there, no pressure - but I really ought to say it: you two have missed a lot of birthday presents for your grandkids.”
Author's Note
Written in about 5 and a half hours to fit in this story before the deadline for Everfree Northwest's Scribblefest. Kinda forgot the looming deadline, but I wanted to try my hand at this contest anyway. 
Wish me luck!
Other notes:
-Lapis and Banded Agate are both named after gemstones
-Trilliant Cut is named after a type of jewel cut
-Three travelers reference common natural things found in the places near their birth (or at least their expies): Desert Rose references the crystal formation found in Saddle Arabia (Saudi Arabia) and other places; Thistle Thorn references the thistle plant which grows in and is a symbol of the Shetland Highlands (Scotland); and Dust Devil references the common natural phenomenon seen in Appleloosa (the American Southwest)
-Tea Biscuit references both tea and biscuits, a common snack in Trottingham (England) and also the famous racehorse Seabiscuit
-Brick Top references both the brick buildings common in Manehattan and is also named after the villain in the crime film Snatch
Thanks again for reading! 
