Prologue: A Flash as Bright as the Sun
A Crack in Creativity
Chapter 1
The flash of light was harsh enough to have been a second sun, and it made the window light up like fireworks on the darkest night. This, unfortunately, made the young colt drop the pen he was currently using to write some things down on paper.
The young blue colt leapt up, his white mane bouncing along with him. He abandoned his paper and half hazardly spilled ink in his room, and ran down the stairs that spiraled to the foyer. He nearly slipped on a few of the steps but managed to retain his balance as he landed on the crystal below.
His larger hooves made loud clacking noises as he rushed past some other ponies, making them nearly drop the cleaning products they had been using. One of the clear mares gave the young unicorn a fierce glare, but he merely ignored it.
"FLURRY!" The unicorn threw open the doors to the royal room, making a crystal pony stumble into one of the large decorative planters nearby.
"Braveheart! What are you doing?! You nearly knocked Amethyst over!" The alicorn on the throne shot a blue eyed glance of apology towards the crystal pony.
"Did you see it?!" yelped Braveheart as he bounced up and down, "Flurry Heart! It could be Twilight! We have to go look-"
"I already know and have some guards looking into it already. Now Braveheart, please don't go running off on one of your complicated little missions. I assure you I have everything under control!" Flurry Heart responded with a glance at some of the servant ponies.
"But you don't! You always talk about how stressed out you are! Ever since mom and dad had to go to Canterlot to help out since Twilight and her friends went missing!" Braveheart chided back at his sister.
Flurry Heart immediately drew herself up, she dismissed the servants and the guards and flew down to land beside her brother, "Brave… you know you shouldn't be talking about what mom and dad very specifically said NOT to talk about." Flurry Heart put a hoof down firmly, "I am in charge of this whole kingdom and you. If you went missing, mom and dad would never forgive me. Too many ponies have already gone missing and I can't ri-"
Braveheart interrupted, "but sending out more guards isn't going to solve the problem. It will just make it so much worse Flurry. I can help! I'll be super careful I promise! I'll come straight home if anything happens!"
Flurry Heart shut her eyes for a moment. She then looked at the ceiling as if asking Celestia herself for relief. The truth was, the young Alicorn was in no way ready to take her mother's place as the head of the Crystal Empire. She had stepped in bravely, as a last resort to a much bigger issue.
As she looked back down at Braveheart, she suddenly remembered being his age and how she had saved the Crystal Heart from being destroyed by the Umbra yet again. She had taken a chance then, why shouldn't she let her brother take a chance now?
Worry shot through her…. Things had not been the same since Twilight Sparkle and her friends went missing. Search parties had not returned…. And she recalled that her brother's mentor, Flash Sentry, had been at the head of one of the lost search parties in this mess. Tempest, Flash Sentry, Luna, and even Celestia….
Yet, as she gazed down at Braveheart, she couldn't help but trust him. Besides, not every flash of light had something to do with the disappearance of the ponies. Plus it would keep him from going crazy and pacing around… she would be able to focus on her duties more thoroughly.
"Alright, you may go, on one condition. You have to go with Luster Dawn. She is the most responsible Unicorn I know and she will be sure that you won't poke your nose into a beehive….again!" Flurry Heart decided.
"Awww! Luster? Really? She is so boring! And strict!" Braveheart whined.
Flurry frowned, "then you will be locked in your room until this situation is resolved!"
Braveheart gave a resentful sigh, he then bowed his head in defeat.
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"Oh CELESTIA it is cold out here!" Braveheart whined.
"Brave… you live in one of the coldest places in Equestria, and you have more layers on than there are colors in the rainbow. How could you possibly be that cold? Weren't you the one who wanted to come out here?" Luster Dawn sighed.
Braveheart frowned, "yes, but it's different in the Crystal Empire! The Crystal Heart keeps us safe from the cold! It's a bit chilly but-" he paused briefly to shake a large lump of snow from one of his boots, "not THIS cold!"
Luster Dawn rolled her eyes. She trotted onward in the direction that Braveheart had said the light had flashed. The landscape was very cold, a blanket of fresh snow had covered most of the landscape. Luster could only make out a lump or two peeking its way up and out of the snowy drifts.
'But if there is any possible way that it could be Twilight, I would freeze a million times over to know she is safe!' Luster Dawn felt the familiar anxiety sinking deep into her heart. 'I just hope she is ok...where-'
The mare was jolted out of her thoughts by a large clump of cold smashing against her face. She shook herself off, "HEY! Braveheart! Watch where you're flinging that!"
Braveheart yelped, "Sorry! I hate it when too much builds up on my boots! It makes it hard to walk…
Luster Dawn shook her head. As they traveled onward, she still couldn't seem to make out anything out of the ordinary. It was just as it had always been. Snow...Snow…. And more snow. At least the yaks loved it. The Crystal Ponies…. Well… they tolerated it. They had the luxury of warm homes and the protection of magic to keep their luxurious kingdom safe from the relentless pounding of snow.
After about another half hour of walking, Luster Dawn stopped, "are you positive it came from this direction? I am not seeing anything too different…."
Braveheart looked a little indignant, "yes! I'm absolutely positive! It came from this direction! I could see it over top of Snowshoes home!"
Luster Dawn frowned, "We could always try another direction!"
Even though she was doing her best to lightly suggest that they should head another direction, she was not in the least bit surprised when the young stallion in front of her got angry.
"Don't you believe me? I'm positive it was-"
And the ground swallowed him up. A sea of snow cascaded down into a crater, or a small hole rather.
Alarmed, Luster Dawn rushed over. She peered down into the darkness and could just see Braveheart lying on the ground. Luster Dawn called, "Braveheart?! Are you ok?!"
"Yeah I'm fine!" Braveheart hopped to his feet and shook himself off.
Relief washed over Luster. She called, "hang on… I'm going to try to find a way down!"
Braveheart nodded and Luster Dawn looked around carefully. Surely there had to be another entrance to this cave like crater.
Luckily, she was smart enough to make something for herself or rather use what was made for her. The snow that had crumpled around the hole had what looked like a conveniently placed slide. She carefully starting heading down the "ramp" and made it to the bottom.
Braveheart was looking around, "whoa. This place is weird…. I wonder why no one has ever found it! I never read about this in any of my books!"
"Neither have I…" Luster Dawn peered into the yawning darkness.
Braveheart frowned, "it doesn't seem too big! I think I see something over there… but it's kind of hard to tell."
Luster Dawn nodded, "hang on…."
The pink unicorns horn lit up. It eerily illuminated the small crater they had been in. The pink light danced against the walls, all except for when it was swallowed by a tunnel against the far side. Braveheart suddenly dashed forward. Luster Dawn was about to snap at him, when he stopped and stooped down, coming up with something between his teeth.
"I...is that a paint brush?!" Luster Dawn trotted forward to examine the object.
"Mmmph mooks….Mike...mit!" Braveheart replied through the paintbrush embedded in his jaws.
It appeared to be a rather simple brush. It was made out of what appeared to be some sort of wood that Luster was not familiar with. The only thing out of the ordinary, was the rainbow tip and the rainbow puddle it had left behind.
'A paintbrush that never dries? That's odd… maybe magic. Or somepony has a very special talent.' Luster Dawn concluded.
"Here… let me take that. I'll put it in my bag!" Luster carefully took the brush from Braveheart.
Braveheart looked eager, "what do you think it is? What's it for? Did we discover something amazing?!"
Luster shook her head at the blue unicorn. She smiled at the way he bounced up and down as if they had discovered a mound of gold, "I'm not sure if I'm being honest. I've never seen anything like this before. Anyway… please get behind me."
"Why?" Braveheart stopped and tilted his head.
"Because we need to go down that tunnel…. Maybe the paintbrush has an owner. If the owner is dangerous, you would probably want me to handle it…" Luster Dawn asserted as she pushed past Braveheart.
Braveheart snorted. Rather than arguing, he stayed quiet. Luster was a bit surprised, he could be stubborn when he wanted to. Then again… she was the one holding the light to see, and he probably didn't want to slam into any walls any time soon.
As the two unicorns made their way down the tunnel, they couldn't help but feel claustrophobic. Luster Dawn looked nervously around. The tunnel had smooth sides to it, and was probably formed by some natural means. Had there been an explosion, it probably wouldn't have appeared so smooth.
At the end of the tunnel, Luster Dawn halted. She carefully poked her nose out and looked around.
It was then she let out a loud gasp. Braveheart quickly shoved past her, "what?! Is it a polar bear? Or an ursa-"
His gaze fell on what Luster Dawn had been staring at.
Before them were two statues, more lifelike than any of them had seen. One of them was a unicorn with a broken horn. Her face appeared to be screwed up in anger or pain.
Next to her was a pegasus. He wore the armour of the Crystal Empire guard. He appeared to be rearing in a state of a last ditch effort to fight.
"Flash Sentry!" Braveheart dashed over, tears welled in his eyes.
"They were… turned to stone. Tempest and Flash...b..but how? Surely this isn't the place where a cockatrice would live?!" Luster Dawn walked over, her yellow gaze wide eyed and confused.
Braveheart was sobbing, "he will never be free! He is a statue! Who could have done this?!"
Luster Dawn quickly tried to comfort the crying colt. She wrapped her hooves around him and hugged him close. She buried her face in his mane on his head. She did her best to calm him down, but the tears fell freely.
That was until they both heard a loud, and echoing groan.
