Klugetown

"Final stop, Klugetown!" The Friendship Express's conductor called out to all the ponies in the carriage, before he moved on through to the next one.

"Finally." Spike sighed in relief, stretching out his wings to loosen the overly stiff muscle within. "I’ve been sitting here for far too long."

"Yeah." Flash agreed as he stretched his body and his wings. "Why didn’t we just use one of the chariots to fly here?"

"We wouldn't survive that long under that hot weather. Hay, the first time me, Twilight, Cadance and her friends walked through Bone Dry Desert was after the Storm King conquered and petrified the two princesses. And it was a torture, even for me." The dragon explained to his brother-in-law.

Tempest briefly tensed at the mention of the Storm King. Her eyes flickered with a shadow of old memories, but her expression quickly hardened into one of quiet determination.

"Spike's right." The captain spoke. "During my time as lieutenant of the Storm King, I had to walk through the desert to get a good view on the town for any weakness to breach the town and it was burning hoy for me, even the soldiers with me were sweating profusely."

“Yikes.” The lieutenant muttered, wincing. The guards shared uneasy glances, imagining the trek under the blistering sun.

"We're here." Twilight spoke, just as the train finally came to a complete halt with a hiss. “Come on, we have work to do."

The group began to unload their bags from overhead compartments, with Spike and Flash using their wings to gently lower the heavier pieces of bags and luggages. Outside of their compartment, the corridor was already rammed with some ponies exiting their own compartments and making for the carriage doors, everypony seemingly eager to finally put to an end the hours long journey, leaving the group of guards, three ponies and a dragon alone.

"Got everything?" The Princess of Friendship asked as she strapped her saddlebag to her body with her magic from her horn.

"I think so." The lieutenant answered his wife's question as he inspected the bags in the possession. “Yes, we have everything.”

"Good, let's go." Twilight said.

Tempest gave a sharp nod and move to the door to slide it open, waiting for the Princess of Friendship, Flash, the dragon and the guards to move on past before moving into the corridor herself. It was a tight squeeze through the corridor, but eventually they made it to the exit and stepped down onto the platform.

The hot desert air greeted them, prompting the group to shield their eyes with their hooves and claw before they adjusted to the harsh light.

The building in front of them, once ramshackle and decayed, was replaced with sturdy, colorful architecture. The Princess of Friendship couldn’t help but smiled as she looked on the colorful building.

"So..." Spike interrupted. "Where is the ambassador meant to be meeting us?”

Twilight blinked her eyes before placing a hoof under her chin. “I… don’t actually know. He might be waiting out front?”

As the group approached customs, they were ushered straight through without any of the hassle. A royal guard, stationed at the station, saluted at them before guiding them through the station and out to the front, where three golden carriages were in wait.

Four heavily armoured guards each sat in front of each golden carriage, two of them being the Royal Guards while the two other two were Crystal Imperial guards, ready to take them to the embassy once given the word. An ambassador, a stallion unicorn with light gray coat wearing a black tie with a collar; with the mane and tail being moderate and light phthalo blue; the eyes being gold and a cutie mark of a scroll with two quills on each sides, stood near the one of the carriage as he waited for the arrival of the group. He smiled warmly once the group came into his view.

"Your highness." The ambassador addressed as he bowed down before raising up. "Welcome to Klugetown. My name is Silver Quill, the ambassador here."

"Hello, Silver Quill." The Princess of Friendship said with a smile.

"It’s an honor to have you here, Princess Twilight. I trust your journey was smooth?" Silver asked.

Twilight nodded, though there was a slight sigh in her voice. "It was fine, just a bit long. But it’s good to be here. Now, I believe the mayor is waiting for us in the embassy and how is Klugetown going?"

"Yes, he is." The ambassador replied. "On your way to the embassy, you'll find things have improved greatly since the Storm King's death. We’ve made strides in infrastructure, trade, and security. The citizens are now thriving."

“That’s good to hear.” The Princess of Friendship said, her gaze sweeping over the rebuilt town. "It’s incredible to see the progress. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together."

Silver Quill dipped his head in agreement. "None of it would have been possible without you, your highness."

Twilight blushed slightly at the compliment, but quickly regained her focus. "Thank you, Silver Quill." She then turned to the dragon, the captain and the guards. "Spike and Tempest. Help the others to load up the bags and luggages into the carriage."

Spike, Tempest and the guards began to load up the bags and luggages into the carriages’ storages while the ambassador motioned the Princess of Friendship and Flash to board the middle carriage.

As Silver got into the carriage, Twilight quickly pulled her husband aside.

"Twily, what is it?" The lieutenant asked.

"Nothing... It's just... You know what you said about what it would feel like to have kids a few days ago?" The Princess of Friendship stammered out.

"Yeah? What about it?" Flash asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Well, you see..." Twilight scuffed the ground with a hoof as she tried to explain to her husband, her wings fluttered slightly.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" The lieutenant asked with concern.

"Nothing's wrong. It's actually quite the opposite." The Princess of Friendship stated.

"What are you talking-" Flash was interrupted by the ambassador calling out to Twilight.

"Your highness, are you coming?" Silver asked. "All the bags and luggages are loaded, your guards and assistant are on board on the other two carriages and waiting for you."

"In a second!" The lieutenant called back, before turning back to his wife. “Now, what is it you were saying?”

Twilight bit her lip. “Actually, this can wait until later."

"Okay... You do know that you can talk to me about anything, right?” Flash’s concern softened into a warm smile.

"I know. It's just I think some privacy would suit this a bit better. I promise I will tell you later." Twilight assured her husband with a smile.

The lieutenant stared at his wife for a while before nodding his head with a warm smile. “Alright, come on then. Let's not keep the ambassador and others waiting."

The Princess of Friendship nodded her head before Flash turned away and began to walk towards the carriage. He did not noticed his wife gently lay a hoof on her belly, a small motherly smile on her face.

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Outpost Crystal

The once busy outpost city lay in ruins, debris strewn across the battlefield. Dead crystal ponies and creatures littered the ground. King Sombra was grabbing the crystal changeling's neck with his magic and lifted him up in the air as the changeling struggled.

A few minutes, the changeling's struggle lessened, his eyes slowly closed before the umbrum pony snapped his neck and tossed his limp body aside.

"You killed him, didn't you?" Radiant Hope asked as she emerged from the corner of the crystal building which was now destroyed.

Sombra looked at his best friend with a neutral expression. "Of course. He attempted to attack you and me. Just like the others who tried to attack."

The crystal unicorn sighed in guilt. "I... I see."

Deep down, the umbrum pony had wanted to torture the crystal ponies and creatures to satisfy himself but not wanting to upset Hope and expose his plan on using the crystal heart to conquer the Crystal Empire, he decided merely to kill them quickly.

"Is that all of them?" Sombra asked as the crystal unicorn slowly made her way towards her best friend while avoiding or stepping over dead crystal ponies and creatures, scanning across the battlefield.

"I believe so. I don't see anypony or anycreature moving, so I think you got them all." Hope said, a bit of guilt still in her voice as she looked over the battlefield.

The umbrum pony sighed to himself. "That's good. I had hoped that it wouldn't come to this."

"It's alright, Sombra. They wouldn't listen to us, so you did what you needed to do." The crystal unicorn assured her best friend.

Both ponies stayed silence after a good amount of minutes as they took in the battlefield and the dead bodies.

"So..." Sombra broke the silence. "What now?"

Hope was startled off from her musing before composing herself. "Well, since this is one of the outpost cities, it would mean that the Crystal Empire is close. But there will be a lot more guards than the ones we are currently at."

The crystal unicorn sighed. "So, when we reached the empire, we are going to be careful and stealthy if we want to reach the Crystal Heart to cure you."

The umbrum pony nodded his head. "Alright, lead the way."

Hope smiled and walked, leading her best friend to the empire.

'Almost there.' Sombra thought to himself as he followed the crystal unicorn to the empire, leaving the ruined outpost city.

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Unbeknownst to them, a crystal griffon was watching from the doorway of a ruined crystal building as the crystal unicorn led the umbrum pony toward the outpost city's entrance.

'Holy crystal...' The crystal griffon thought angrily. 'To think we have a traitor working with King Sombra.'

The crystal griffon continued to glare furiously at the traitor unicorn as she led Sombra out into the blizzard and toward the Crystal Empire, his jaw clenching at the thought that a traitor would work with the tyrant.

A pain groaning interrupted the griffon's thought and his anger was replaced with concern and worry as his eyes fell on a injured crystal bat pony.

"Florence? How are you holding?" The griffon asked the bat pony, wincing at the bandages wrapped around her belly as it was slowly becoming red from the blood.

Florence let out a pain breath as she laid on the bed, medical supply laid empty beside the bed. "Well... other than a huge gash on my belly cut by King Sombra, I'm not dead yet, Skystrike."

Florence the bat pony has a coat of crystal white, blonde and light blonde stripes mane and tail, her white with trailing edges of the wings being pale blue bat wings, light blue slitted-eyes and a cutie mark of green white-belled flower.

Skystrike the griffon has a coat of crystal dark scarlet with brown, his head feather being lightish brown to brilliant brown, a pair of white with trailing edges of the feathers being pale blue wings and dark brown eyes.

"Are... are they gone?" The crystal bat pony asked before letting out a pain hiss as she placed a hoof on her bloodied bandage on her belly, her wings twitching.

The crystal griffon nodded gravely, his gaze flickering from his injured companion to the entrance of the outpost. "Yes, they're gone. Heading for the Crystal Empire. Sombra and that traitor unicorn."

Florence groaned, her face contorted in pain as she shifted slightly to try to ease the pressure on her wound. "We need to… warn the Empire." She rasped. "They need to know Sombra is coming."

Skystrike looked at his companion in worry. "You’re in no shape to move, Florence. If we don’t get you proper medical attention soon…"

"I don’t care about me." The crystal bat pony winced but pressed on. "Sombra can’t… can’t reach the Crystal Empire. He’ll enslave the Empire again." She locked eyes with the crystal griffon. "Princess Amore, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor have to be warned about the danger."

Skystrike hesitated, torn between helping his injured friend and the duty that now weighed on him. His mind raced. The outpost was in shambles, and all soldiers were dead after Sombra killed them except two. He couldn’t leave Flame Song here alone, but if they didn’t get word to the empire…

"How about this? I will carry you on my back and bring you back to the empire, that way we can both warn Princess Amore and her family." The crystal griffon suggested.

Florence opened her mouth to refuse, but the crystal griffon held up a claw before she could speak. “No arguments, Florence. I’m not leaving you behind, and I’m not losing you either. We’ll make it back together.”

The crystal bat pony sighed but gave a weak nod, her body clearly too drained to protest further. “Alright…"

Skystrike smiled. "Good. But first, let me see if I can patch you up a little better. I will go and scrounge the outpost for medical supplies and supplies. Once I got those, I will patch your injury on your belly before we get moving to the empire."

Florence weakly nodded her head as the crystal griffon stuck his head out for any signs of King Sombra and the traitor before he went out, leaving the crystal bat pony alone on the bed.

Author's Note

King Sombra is coming.