Once upon a time,
In the magical land of Equestria,
There ruled 4 beautiful princesses,
The eldest princess used her powers to raise the sun above the land and bring harmony to all,
Her younger sister, used her powers to set the night sky ablaze with brilliant light and benevolent dreams,
The adopted niece of the eldest princess, shone a beacon that enveloped all the land in passion and protecting love,
The youngest princess used her powers to create powerful new magical spells,
Spells capaible of ensuring Equestria's freedom both defensively and offensively.

Their rule exceeded legendary and secured them a place in history for all time,
bringing peace and equality to the magical land of Equestria for many years to come.
Perpetual peace and eternal happiness seemed to flow through all of Equestria and no matter what threat the collective nation of Equestria faced.
For all their harmony and negotiations with less peaceful nations, they seemed all too invulnerable.

4 Powerful, Honorable, Loving and Dedicated princesses,
6 legendary souls of harmony incarnate,
Peaceful trade agreements with several other nations,
A strong and rapidly expanding economy.

Equestria was certain to become an absolute superpower of serenity. . . .
Just one disagreement, Changed all that...

. . .

Equestria,
In peaceful times.

Snowflakes danced through the air merrily as the wind sent the one of a kind crystalline wonders, swirling into a delicate dance of diamonds. It was a few days before Hearth's Warming Eve and Cassandra was happily relaxing in the window as she contently watched the spectacle just outside her window. It seemed like just yesterday there were no snowflakes, no merriment and certainly no holiday celebration taking place in her homeland.

Hearth's Warming Eve was a holiday that originated in Mid-Equestria, back before the races of equine had united under one banner. It would take many years for the Crystal Empire to catch up with modern Equestria's customs, but this "Hearth's Warming Eve" was something made all the more enjoyable with such memories of darker times still fresh in so many crystal ponies minds.

~Flashback~
1000 years ago.

Cassandra was little more than a filly when Sombra heartlessly struck down their caring leader, Princess Amore. The attack came from the shadows themselves when Amore's number one pupil challenged her for the crown. Amore was stricken most that her greatest student would ever think to turn on her, she had done everything in a princess's power to see Sombra had all the tools needed to become a great mage and an even greater leader. It was also no secret that Amore had personally taken Sombra under her care, giving him the maternal figure his life had lacked. It was Sombra's uncravable lust for power that ended up corrupting him and caused him to turn on his benevolent mentor.

Amore refused to step down, only asking why he felt she was unworthy to rule the Empire. Sombra's response was a vicious attack that sent the crystal diarch airborne with a crack of dark magic as onyx aeriths erupted from below Amore. Seeing how Amore was a unicorn and how the attack had greatly taken her by surprise, Amore's unaltered impact with the ground was heartbreaking for her ponies to see. Broken flesh and bone could never match the hurt in Amore's heart as she stared up at the beloved pupil whom felt like a son to her. Sombra claimed Amore's mantle of regency from the ground as he approached the Crystal Heart. Amore was now getting back on her hooves somewhat deshelved, eyes still pleading for answers towards his actions.

"Sombra, Why do you do this? Was I not at your disposal for any needs you requested? Did I not give you all the care a proud teacher and a loving mother could?"

Sombra's magic responded without a hint of remorse, sending Amore into the nearby leg of the castle. Again the princess refused to so much as defend herself from the assault. This only proved to provoke Sombra when their leader refused to fight for her kingdom, further driving his opinion of her unworthy rule. Something made a sharp, crystalline crack as Amore's delicate features collided against the rigid crystal with harsh velocity. By now, many of Amore's crystal ponies had gathered in concern for their princess, some pleading, others yelling for Sombra to cease his attacks upon their princess. Sombra's magic responded again before his muzzle did, a wave a lightning fast and deadly black aeriths screamed toward the offending ponies as they smashed into a azure blue barrier of powerful magic.

"Do not provoke him my beloved subjects, Dark magic has scorched his body, we must purify his heart before he can hope to be reasoned with."

Amore pleaded to the collected crystal ponies as she struggled to stand once more, Sombra's malicious grin only magnified at her struggle.

"So will you defend yourself now, or must I strip more than your crown away?"

Sombra chuckled sinisterly as he grinned at her subjects surrounding them.

"Sombra, I love you like a son from my own womb, I raised you, gave you the best upbringing possible in our lands, will you explain to me why you do this to my ponies? To me?"

Amore pleaded as her figure trembled with pain, her injuries would heal with time, but Sombra's actions left deep lashes upon a loving heart that would never truly heal. Sombra only responded with a sneer as his magic stilled her hooves, turning them into crystal as black as night. However the dark crystal did not stop there, continuing up her forelegs like some kind of living onyx ivy, paralyzing all they came in contact with.

"Sombra, Please, Don't continue down this path! It will only lead you to destruction and misery my dear student!"

Even facing certain death, Amore still only had concerns for her student's well being. The crystal ponies could do little more than watch as the dark crystal slowly swallowed their dear princess whole. Amore could feel her lungs going cold and solid as living darkness crept toward her neck, her eyes ran with tears as she looked to her beloved subjects, her beautiful empire and to the slowly setting sun. Her odds of ever seeing them again were fleeting quickly with the sun's fading rays.

"Be strong my lovely subjects, light will shine in our lands again one day, your love will save us all, I promise this with my final breath!"

The crystal princess declared. Sombra only grinned as he watched that stupid smile of hers, forever freeze on her precious face. Sombra grinned like a beast from Tartarus itself as the collection of shouts and demands from around him turned to silence, occasionally punctuated by a sniffle, sob or sound of disbelief.

"Now you see how pathetic our leader was, unwilling to fight for the Empire she claimed to love so very much. You all need to be taught a firm lesson, if you will not learn willingly, then I will have to teach you through punishment."

Sombra intoned as his aura surrounded the Crystal Heart, plucking it from it's perch below the palace. Without Amore's beacon of light and love, Sombra's dark presence twisted through the gleaming city, turning palace and all into lifeless black onyx, plunging a once bright and lovely empire into deep darkness. Sombra then turned back to Amore's frozen figure and smirked evily.

"Allow this to be your one and only lesson of what will become of anypony who stands in my way."

Sombra intoned as his horn shone with green magic, his aura surrounding the solid figure of Amore, lifting her into the air above her subjects as his magical aura intensified around her before reducing the loving figure of Amore into so many shattered pieces that were flung to every corner of Equestria. After that, the silence was broken by so very many screams that shook the Empire for many years to come.

~Present Day~

Cassandra shook the painful memories from her head as she looked to steady glow of the Crystal Heart below the castle nearby. It's glow felt like a warm blanket on the coldest winter night, Warming, comforting, protecting and bright. Amore was gone and nopony knew if it was even possible to bring her back again, but fate had smiled warmly upon them when a distant descendant of Amore's own bloodline was discovered by none other than Princess Celestia herself. The princess raised the filly into the regal mare that would become their new princess.

Most believed Amore's body was indeed destroyed, but that her soul lived on within their new princess. Princess Cadance's appearance, leadership and loving personality reminded the crystal ponies all too well of their dear Princess Amore. The Crystal Empire had seen hard times for certain, but with time and faith, their prayers for a world like the one they remembered so fondly, eventually came true, but not until after Sombra, in all his rage and thirst for control, banished the entire Empire rather than risk losing control over it.

His curse held their homeland prisoner for over a thousand years. Cassandra reminded herself to smile and allow the past to rest, Sombra was no more and with their leader's rule, it seemed nothing would surpass the shielding love Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza shared.

Then everything around her disappeared in a single flash of brilliant light. . . .

"SURPRISE!!"

Emerald Light shouted as he rushed his mate, camera floating in his magical aura.

"Faust darn it Emmy!"

Cassandra shrieked as she blinked the stars from her eyes. Emerald Light laughed as he hugged his mate lovingly while she wiggled and nickered under his grip.

"Can I help it that I just love to get an adorable reaction out of you Cassy?"

Emerald Light laughed as his magic allowed the camera to rest upon the table nearby. Cassandra grumbled about him nearly getting a less-than-adorable "reaction" from her.

"So, What are you up to sweetie? Watching the snowflakes again are we?"

Emerald Light questioned, Cassandra looked back out the window and nodded her head.

"I heard that down south the pegasi actually control the weather instead of nature's own magic, I wonder what that's like Emmy, to control the weather, I could make it sunny all year long."

Cassandra spoke as Emerald Light shrugged and gave his mate a loving nip on the ear.

"I'd rather it be winter all year long frankly, the cold offers so many more chances to cuddle up close for warmth with the ones you love."

Emerald Light chuckled as Cassandra gave him a playful shove.

"Something tells me it's not just my wing you're wanting under Emmy."

Cassandra teased. Emerald Light blushed and nickered in embarrassment.

"Cassy, I love you with all my heart and you mean so much more to me than just tha-"

Emerald Light would have likely continued with his honest deceleration had Cassandra not placed her lips to his in a loving kiss. The two simply held each other close and watched the snow fall outside their home as all was content around them. Crystal ponies sung old songs around crystal Hearth's Warming trees, Hearts and hearths simply glowed with warmth all throughout the Empire as another day came to a close. Cassandra ended the kiss with a smile and draped a wing over her mate.

"Emmy, I was thinking about going on a trip for Hearths Warming, maybe going to Canterlot to see what it's like down there. Would you like to do that hun?"

Emerald Light raised a brow and looked at his mate quizzically.

"You mean go away from our home on it's first Hearth's Warming Eve ever dear?"

Emerald questioned his mate. Cassandra nodded her head in response, a soft smile always upon her face.

"It's beautiful here Emmy, and this will ALWAYS be home, but it's just so bitterly cold outside since they lowered the shield, I want to be outside more for Hearth's Warming dear, perhaps it's just my pegasus ways, but I long to be outside more often."

Cassandra spoke as she daydreamed quietly. Emerald Light closed his eyes and ran his cheek across his mate's delicate crystal feathers tenderly, sighing softly as he contemplated what his mate had proposed.

"Cassy, Hearth's Warming Eve is about keeping each other warm in these colder months, Warm in our hooves, but especially warm in each others hearts love. If you want to spend it elsewhere than here, I have no qualms about that sweetie, as I will follow you straight into Tartarus if you ever feel the need to vacation there."

The two crystal ponies kissed once again, hearts warm as hearths as the snow fell silently outside. . . .

In the distant Future . . .

Low droning filled the dark room as something within the alarm on the wall gave out with a final crackling buzz. The light level was ominously low and the only dim illumination came from slowly spinning amber lights, on their last thousand or so rotations before they ground to a halt forever. For a time yet unknown they had remained on, singing an eerie song of imminent danger that had long since past, perhaps.

The only movement around came from the same room that recently fell silent, a room of vials and clipboards, charts and readouts. Most noticeable however were the 4 large capsules to the lefthoof corner of the room. One of them seemed to have leaked a fluid that still clung to the floor with an icy cold that refused to thaw. Another seemed to have been opened or had never been shut to begin with, either way it was empty and various cables and hoses dangled from within the capsule, like some sort of machine. The last two were as dark as the others with the exception of a panel upon one of the capsules that flickered so dimly it was barely to be seen, even in all the darkness that surrounded it. A crackly chime sounded as a puff of acrid smoke rose from the capsule, scrambling the barely live panel in a final burst of bright life before mechanical death took it.

-OPENING CAPSULE 26-

A shrill whistle of air scrambled its way from the opening crevices on the capsule as it ground unseen gears into pulp as it opened it's icy maw, dropping the fair temperature in the room to levels one would think deadly to anything living as it revealed it's contents. Inside, a pretty young mare seemed at rest, seemingly composed of beautiful, solid crystal, evidently frozen solid by this contraption. For whatever reason, the capsule had opened shortly before it's energy supply was exhausted. Had that not happened, the machine would have ceased it's watch over the mare and left her to an icy tomb forever. Originally the machine likely would have some routine to bringing the pony-cicle back to the realm of the living, but the capsule's last burst of arcane life had shorted something out and delivered a heart-stopping jolt of electricity through the dead mare.

Perhaps it was by a miracle that such a burst of energy that could kill a living pony, . . .
Could also save a dying pony. . .

Flakes of ice sailed across the dim room as the mare's lungs seized up in a violent clenching intended to remove foreign matter from inside her airway, in laymares terms, She coughed.

Over and over again she did so as air just barely warmer than her frigid lungs filled them for the first time in what seemed like. . . Well, It seemed like she was alive, well and warm just yesterday. But what was this place? The dark silence surrounded her as she struggled to move, her legs feeling like they hadn't moved in centuries. The thought was insane of course, even as a crystal pony she knew she lived and died just like any other mortal pony, so she couldn't have just laid here for that long without keeling over.

The mare blinked her eyes and carefully stretched as her body slowly warmed itself against all odds. Realizing what she was and feeling the sensation at both her sides she attempted to open her wings. Her reward for such efforts was a pain beyond comprehension as hundreds of sensitive feathers pulled and cracked under the cold and strain.

"Owwww!"

The mare cried out in knee-jerk reaction to the rather unplesant sensation of painful pulling in her frozen wings.

"Alright, I need to give myself more time before I go trying something like that again, first I need to find out where I am, if it's a safe place or not and lastly how to get back home."

The crystal pegasus looked around in the dim light as she read barely legible names and words on the wall nearby.

"Testing on re-configuring crystalline cell structure failure #182"
. . .
"Subject #46#1 - Ca#sa#dr# #a#rat, Sub#ect Or#gin, Cr#st#l E#pi#e"
. . .
"Possible radiation mutation"
. . .
"Capsule #2, Coolant leak needs fixing"

The pegasus looked closer at the second bit she had found as the ice fell from her brilliant coat of crystal.

"Ca#sa#dr# #c#rat" "Cr#st#l E#pi#e"

The mare looked around for more that stuck out, but all she found was more lab reports about testing and possible genetic mutations on some unique species of equine. Frustrated, the pegasus mare made her way toward the open doorway, ever so slowly peeking her head out into the hallway.

The hallway was active with the spinning lights that had illuminated the room she first found herself inside. What was odd was how something kept dimly reflecting the amber light back, like light reflecting off of a lake or pond's surface. When she moved, the reflections of light moved, when she stopped moving, so did the reflections. The mare looked around until the sound of another chunk of ice hitting the hard floor, as it fell from her chest, caught her attention. Then the mare found the source of the reflections. It was her coat, her entire coat was a warm ruby hue, No... She was ruby, her coat was brilliant crystal just like her...

. . .

The mare's thought process finally found purchase as her memories came flooding back into her mind.

"Crystal... I'm a crystal pony, I have a mate, I live in an Empire of Crystal."

The mare looked around at her vastly darker surroundings, compared to what her memory last recalled of home, she wanted to be away from the place very soon and back in the warm hooves of her mate and safe in their solid home of bright protecting crystal. Cassandra nearly crawled through the halls, not knowing which way to go, or what she might find with each turn of the hallways. Many little rooms, Medical supplies, Stretchers and machines she rather wished not to know their purpose. The halls went on and on before Cassandra stopped in her tracks as a single empty can rolled across the floor before her. Petrified with fear she crouched until her belly clinked against the floor, hoping, praying if it was something dangerous it would leave her be.

A form filled the hallway as it rounded the corner, seemingly stopping like it might have heard her presence. Cassandra's heart tinkled madly in her chest like a marble caught in a jar that was being tossed about.

"Faust shelter me, Celestia guide me, Luna hide me, Cadenza protect me, Twilight empower me."

Cassandra mentally prayed over and over in her head as the figure turned it head toward her, a single, bright red light aiming toward her as she closed her eyes tightly and began to cry.

Author's Note

Been reading Fallout Equestria stories for years now and always been kinda curious how the Crystal Empire might have been involved in the universe of Fallout Equestria universe.

Just trying my ~~hoof~~ hand at writing for a change, do please leave any comments or suggestions and let me know what you think of what I've got thus far.

Thanks for reading FoE:HLG,
Here's to seeing you in the next chapter! ^^
-AutumnShy88