During preparations before the much-anticipated wedding between Captain Shining Armor and "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza", Twilight Sparkle had vanished without a trace. Ignoring her warnings and proceeding with the occasion without her, the rest of Twilight's friends were powerless to watch as Queen Chrysalis and her waiting Changeling invasion force swept in and devastated Canterlot. With the capital gone and Celestia apparently under their control, the Kingdom of Equestria fell in a matter of weeks. Forced to choose between abandoning their homeland or face lifelong enslavement, Applejack and the rest of the Mane Five have managed to flee to the North with a large group of refugees from parts all over the ruined nation and establish a settlement to escape the emotion-feeding parasites.

A decade has passed since then, and things seemed to have calmed until the discovery of their refuge is made apparent by a survivor originating from what perhaps is the only source of salvation for Ponykind: The Crystal Empire

And its mysterious, but faithful Queen.

This is meant to be a rewrite of my previous story The Twilight Citadel, aspects of the old story can be found in this new one, but most of the structure and character development has changed significantly.

Cover Art not owned by me, I only added a few effects to it.