Princess Flurry Heart, Defender of the Crystal Empire

While Cadance and Shining Armor were busy... Well busy getting beaten, Flurry was back in the room where she was arranging things for the Crystal Fair, and well... Even a young teenage alicorn grows sleepy as Flurry was sleeping while sitting down on a stool, her head on a desk as she was having a pleasant dream.

"Oh yes Pound Cake, I would like some more tea, thanks for asking..." Flurry spoke dreamily and out loud. "You're such a gentlestallion..."

And then came a knocking at the door, of course Flurry was still out of it and took the knocking to be in her dream.

"Pumpkin Cake if that's you, your brother and I are fine..." Flurry spoke while the real pony at the door was rather confused as he cleared his throat before speaking.

"Your highness, I'm not this Pumpkin Cake you speak of..." The pony replied. "It's the captain of the guard..."

"Captain..." Flurry spoke as she slowly opened her eyes and realized she was only dreaming as she nearly fell off her stool. "Oh yes! I'm sorry! I'll be out there in a minute!" Flurry shaking her head to wake herself up and presenting herself to her full height as she went to the door and opened it, being greeted by a saluting guardspony. "What is it captain?"

"Your highness, something's gone wrong..." The captain began. "A pony came in demanding to see you, he's in a pretty bad shape and needs to see you right away."

"Can't my parents see him?" Flurry asked, thinking it would be better for the pony to speak to her mom or dad.

"That's the thing your highness, the princess and prince... Are gone, in a way..." The captain reported.

"What!?" Flurry now throughly alarmed as she tried to remain as calm as she could. "Okay, please tell the pony to meet me in the throne room."

With the captain leaving, Flurry was left alone with many thoughts racing through her head, wondering what exactly happened to her parents, but she knew she had to remain patient and calm, the only way to find out what happened to her parents was to see this pony. And well arriving at the throne room, Flurry saw a few guards and a very terrified looking crystal pony, who right away bowed to the young alicorn.

"Your highness... Please forgive my suddenness..." The pony apologized.

"It's alright, please take a deep breath and tell me what happened." Flurry putting a hoof on the pony's shoulder.

"Right..." The pony doing as instructed before starting. "Okay, this unicorn pony had me trapped in an alleyway, I had no idea what she wanted, but the princess and prince, with a few guards came to save me, but turns out that unicorn didn't want me, she wanted your parents... And..."

"Go on..." Flurry spoke softly, despite the lingering fear in her head.

"She turned the guards into spears and the prince into a shield and the princess... Into a stone heart." The pony continued. "I thought I was going to be next, but the unicorn didn't do anything to me, but she wanted me to give you a message... She said she wants you to find her if you want to see the princess and prince again."

"This isn't good..." Flurry began panicking in her head. "Can you tell me anything else?" Flurry needing more information.

"The only other thing I know is that her name is Majesty." The pony answered.

"Thank you very much." Flurry smiled at the pony. "I'll have a couple of guards escort you back to your home and stay there until this is over."

"Thank you your highness..." The pony bowed before he was escorted out, back to his house while Flurry began thinking.

"Captain." Flurry calling over the captain of the guard.

"Yes, your highness!" The captain saluted.

"Have the kingdom on lockdown, everypony needs to stay in there homes until we find whoever this "Majesty" is, close the train station and cancel all trains coming in and out, have guards patrolling the streets, making sure everypony is in there homes, search for Majesty and my parents." Flurry began issuing out orders.

"Yes, your highness, I'll also have guards stationed around the palace to protect you." The captain replied.

"No captain, I'm going to look for Majesty and my parents myself." Flurry replied, starting to leave the throne room.

"Your highness, I don't think that's a very good idea..." The captain began to protest.

"Don't worry captain, I can take care of myself, just follow my instructions and get it done." Flurry reassured the guardspony as she left the palace. "Hopefully I can find mom and dad before Majesty finds me..." Flurry told herself as she started the search.

Meanwhile, in Canterlot...

Blooming Rose, a young red unicorn, after saying goodbye to her parents, was off to the train station, her destination the Crystal Empire to join her friend, Princess Flurry Heart, in attending the Crystal Fair, the first one where Flurry planned out the fair, being an official princess now. And it also gave her a chance to see all her other friends as well, especially her "special" friend, Feather Tang.

"I can't wait to get there, Flurry's going to be so happy to see us." Rose spoke to herself as she arrived at the train station, just in time to catch the next train for the Crystal Empire or so she thought...

As Rose arrived on the station platform, ponies were a little upset with the conductor, who gave them some bad news.

"What do you mean all the trains for the Crystal Empire are cancelled!?" One pony shouted. "How else are we supposed to attend the Crystal Fair!?"

"I'm sorry, but Princess Flurry Heart has ordered all trains to and from the Crystal Empire cancelled until further notice." The conductor answered.

"Cancelled?" Rose thought in her head. "Why would Flurry do that... Something's clearly wrong..." Rose not wasting a second to get into action and going inside the train station, began writing a letter to her "special" friend, Feather Tang...

Of course since all the trains going to the Crystal Empire were cancelled and all of Flurry's friends were to go, but of course couldn't, they were all also very confused as Feather got Rose's letter, Rose using her magic to teleport it to him, Feather getting a quick message than to Abby in Griffonstone, who wrote to Teresa in the Changeling Kingdom, who then wrote to Smoky in the dragon lands, and finally wrote to Khan in Yakyakistan. All of them going to meet Rose in Canterlot and by day's end, the six friends were together, all wanting answers.

"Do you think Flurry is in trouble?" Feather asked.

"Well, why else would she cancel all the trains, obviously she doesn't want anyone escaping." Teresa pointed out.

"So why are we here than?" Smoky asked.

"We need to get into the Crystal Empire, help out Flurry and see what's wrong." Rose suggesting.

"Yak doesn't believe it's safe..." Khan a bit scared.

"Come on Khan, Flurry has always helped out us, we need to go and help her how ever we can." Abby replied.

"The trains are cancelled, but I already managed to rent a hot air balloon for the ride there while I was waiting for you all to make it here." Rose spoke as she led her friends to where the hot balloon was ready to go, Rose paying the bits to the pony she was renting the balloon from as her friends got in, it was a little tight, but they managed to fit in as the balloon was filled with hot air before slowly lifting off the ground, on its way to the Crystal Empire.

Back at the Crystal Empire...

Flurry was very busy looking for her parents, but there were groups of crystal ponies who saw the princess and were asking a lot of questions, since they were told to stay in their homes, but didn't know exactly why.

"Please everypony, you need to stay inside, it's not safe out here." Flurry spoke as calmly as she could.

"Are we in trouble princess?" A little filly asked.

"Are we under attack by something or someone!?" An older adult pony asked in a little panicking tone as others kept going on with the panic clear in their voice.

"Look everypony, I know you're all scared, but I can assure you, the crystal guards and I have everything under control and it will be easier if you all stay in your homes and wait until this is over." Flurry spoke loudly to be heard above the crowd.

And then out of the corner of her eye, Flurry saw a hot air balloon coming in, wondering who it could be until she then saw magical beams shoot out and hit the balloon, ripping holes in it as she then began coming down rapidly as Flurry saw that it was a few of the unicorn guards who were positioned on the castle balconies. Ignoring the crowd, Flurry ran to where she saw the balloon drop down...

"Not exactly a fun welcome..." Abby groaned as luckily the balloon fell in the kingdom's park, having crashed through a tree before the basket of the balloon dropped down the rest of the way onto the ground.

"Well, at least we're all okay..." Smoky said with relief as the group of friends were recovering from the fall and were about to get up, only for crystal guards to gallop up and surround them, holding out their spears.

"Halt!" One of the guards shouted.

"Who are you!?" Another asked.

"What are you all doing here?" A familiar voice spoke up as Flurry came up, making her in between a couple of the guards to see her friends. "It's okay, they're my friends, go back to your orders." Flurry ordered the guards as they lowered their spears and went back to their jobs.

"Well, now I think I know why you cancelled all the trains coming to and from here..." Teresa said a little salty as she wasn't entirely happy about the welcome.

"Yeah, care to explain what this is all about Flurry?" Rose asking as she was rubbing her head and making sure her unicorn horn was okay.

"Look I'm sorry I didn't tell you all myself, but things are very chaotic right now." Flurry began. "Somepony named Majesty is in the Crystal Empire, already having taken out several guards and even done something to my parents, that's why I ordered all the trains cancelled as well as everypony to stay in their homes until I find her and my parents."

"Than Princess's friends go with their friend." Khan said, excited to join in.

"No, this is exactly why I cancelled all the trains, so you all and others wouldn't get hurt potentially, it's not that I'm not happy to see you all, it's just I don't want to have to worry about any of you getting hurt." Flurry replied.

"But Flurry..." Feather began.

"No, I need you all to stay in the palace until I come back." Flurry stood her ground before lowering her voice. "Please, I just want to know you all are safe, I'll be fine by myself and be back with mom and dad in no time and then we can all enjoy the Crystal Fair together."

Alright Flurry..." Rose sighed.

"I'll have some guards make sure you get to the palace safely." Flurry smiled, seeing her friends accept her decision.

So while Flurry's friends headed off under escort to the palace, Flurry continued her search for her parents, looking through the alleyways, seeing if there was anything out of the ordinary, but so far nothing, until she quickly checked through one about to continue her search until she heard her mother's voice.

"Mom?" Flurry questioned as she went in, looking until she found a pink colored heart shaped stone. "Mom, what happened to you!?"

"Sweetie, get out of here, now!" Cadance shouted, however before Flurry could say anything, a magic beam shot at her, knocking her onto the ground as a cloaked pony was standing nearby...

"Well, well... The final obstacle in my way..." The cloaked pony chuckled.

"You must be Majesty..." Flurry replied as she picked herself up and ready to defend herself...