Twilight had arrived to the Crystal Empire as soon as she could, she was notified something strange was happening to the Crystal Heart and they needed her assistence.
She made her way from the train station to the Crystal Heart and noticed it was spinning as it always does, nothing different. Then came her brother Shining Armor.
"Shining..! Brother?!" She was shocked.
Her brother was crystallized! You know, when the Crystal Heart sends it's massive shockwave and turns everyone into crystal ponies. But that only happened twice in their lifetimes and that's when the Crystal Heart got taken away or broken and needed to fully power up.
"Uh... yeah... This is what was happening, the Crystal Heart is-" Suddenly the protective shield against the frozen north went away and the Crystal Heart stopped spinning. Shining Armor and all the Crystal Ponies lost their shining properties and promplty started to panic.
"What... the..." Twilight said confused.
Shining Armor sighed "Wait for it... 3... 2..."
The Crystal Heart turned back on and sent it's shockwave enveloping both siblings and everything back to how it was.
"Waaah!" Twilight was lifted up by the shockwave along with her brother and transformed into their crystal selves. She squinted her eyes from the bright light. When it was done she opened her eyes and looked at herself, yup, she's crystal again alright. Nice tight bang tied together with a single silver string and multiple silver ribbons around her tail.
"So... you see the problem..." Said Shining Armor.
"Ah! I see you've already arrived and saw the... problem"
Twilight turns around to greet Sunburst, also crystallized of course. At least he could see him without the absolute mess that his mane and beard were.
"Sunburst!.. Sorry, Starlight didn't come with me" Said Twilight.
"Oh- Oh..." He fixed his glasses. "That's... okay Twilight" He took out some books from a saddlebag. "I've been trying to find any clues to what was happening with all the books about the Crystal Heart" He levitates one closer to Twilight. "Can you lend-"
"OF COURSE!" Twilight grabbed the book with excitement.
"Okay, I'm no bookworm or genius, but doesn't it seem that the heart...Is almost like running out of batteries?"
Twilight and Sunburst stare at him in confusion.
"So... You talk like the Heart is a machine" Sunburst says.
"Maybe something is dusrupting it, to the point where it just shuts it off" Twilight says. She opens the book and skips to a passage. "The crystal heart IS supposed to feed off love to do it's job... but all that energy probably has to go somewhere... remember how everything lights up when the heart starts taking it?"
"Theres the chance the princesses know something about the heart that isn't in the books" Sunburst says. "Have you notified the princesses?" He asked to Shining Armor.
Shining Armor nods. "Sent everyone a letter, Celestia should be coming-"
"What seems to be the problem?" Luna landed with grace, startling everyone.
"L-Luna?! Not Celestia?!" Shining Armor said surprised.
"... Were you expecting my sister? She sent me here without telling me the problem" Luna said slightly offended.
"N-no... sorry" Shining said embarrased. "It's the Crystal Heart... it's shutting off and turning back on again!"
"...You made it sound as if the Crystal Heart was a machine" Responded Luna.
"That's what we told him but it could kinda make sense Princess. The Heart has to store it's power somewhere before releasing it..." Said Twilight.
Luna looked at the heart and noticed it was spinning a bit slower. "Then... I say it's time we look for clues"
Sunburst and Twilight went to the library to search for any book that could help.
"These are all the books thatvare related to the Crystal Heart but none of them provide any clues!" Says Sunburst.
"But if we're going with the machine theory... I say we look for books about machines!" Said Twilight, flying towards the M section.
"Huh... I guess I never though about that"
Luna and Shining Armor were walking around the castle for clues.
"So... you've never actually really visited the castle before, Princess Luna?" Shining Armor asked.
She shook her head. "Back then we only visited the place for diplomatic meetings, my sister and I never stayed here for long"
"Ah... alright..." They both reached a high place in the castle. Shining Armor looked at his crystal hoof and lets out a sigh.
"Is something wrong?" Asks Luna.
"No.. It's just, okay, I rule the Crystal Empire, but I'm not a Crystal Pony, it feels weird.. and wrong somehow.." Shining Armor responds.
"I understand your concerns, but you have to see the Crystal Ponies accept you anyway, you don't need to be like them" Luna says. "You can say being an Alicorn is the same problem, I'm not like you, yet, I rule"
"... I guess..." Shining looks at the horizon and sees the protective barrier from the heart flicker. "And I hope we find a fix for this"
"I wasn't expecting the Empire have such a rich history with machines.." Said Sunburst after closing another book. "But we didn't find anything close Crystal Heart"
"...What about this Stallion... Dr. Franshoover..." Twilight held a book. "He apparently was the greatest mind when the Crystal Empire was still in it's infancy" The book shows he picture of a clock.
Sunbursts looks at the clock confused. "Why does that look awfully familiar?"
"Huh?..." Twilight looks at the picture, it looks like a snowflake.
Both of their eyes grow wide in realization.
Shining Armor and Luna stood at the highest point in the castle which overlooked the entire city.
"It's 2:45" Said Shining Armor.
"Pardon?" Luna said confused.
"2:46 now, all the time living in this castle and I take notice how the castle is the perfect solar clock" He said pointing at the shadow the castle casted. "Whoever built this castle is a great-" Shining Armor's eyes grew wide. "I have an idea" He looks at Luna. "Princess, can you give me a lift?"
"It's all one"
"Big clock!"
Both duos met each other at the Crystal Heart.
The team tries to look around the place.
"And like all clocks!" Says Sunburst rubbing one of the walls.
"There must be...!" Twilight was poking the ground.
"A reset button!" Shining Armor feels a slight elevation near the stairs and gives it a small kick, revealing a small button, he steps on it.
The Crystal Heart suddenly stops spinning, the crystal effect on Twilight, Sunburst and Shining Armor goes away. The shield barrier goes away. The whole effect pulls everyone to the ground.
"Oof!"
"Gaah!"
"Yikes!"
"Hmmm!"
The Crystal Heart stands there, completely idle, everyone looks at it excited.
SWOOOOSH!
The Crystal Heart suddenly activates, lifting everyone up and crystallizing them, the barrier forms again, even stronger and the Heart spins even faster too, everything was fixed!
The team floats down safely in the crystallized forms.
"That did it!" Sunburst said excited.
"It looks like it's spinning even faster now!" Twilight smiled.
"Thanks everyone!" Shining Armor said.
Luna looked at her crystal form. "Now I get what you mean by this"
Twilight and Sunburst looked at Luna confused.
"Oh... it's nothing important.." Luna dismissed the thought.
Aa everyone celebrated, a machine roared to life below them in a very big room, showing a symbol as it shut off once more...
An eye