Crystal Blood Part 3: Arrival

Crystal Empire, Day 1

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight Sparkle reclined at her desk as the snow of the far north pelleted her window. She shivered, despite the fact that her train car was heated. “I hope it's warmer in the Crystal Empire,” the princess chuckled to herself as her royal train engine chugged through the storm.

She turned her attention back to the mountain of papers that sat at her desk and sighed, her throat tightened as she looked down at all the work she had to attend to.

Becoming the sole ruler of Equestria came with a load of responsibilities that Twilight was still getting used to. Everyday she had to deal with foreign dignitaries, petitions, press interviews, governmental meetings, and bills.

While Twilight had secretaries to help with the influx of work, (Thank Celestia) there was only so much she could accomplish.

Her days were so jam packed that even the great planner herself could not formulate a spreadsheet which would include space for everything. Her only solace was the occasional opening in her schedule where she could spend time with her friends or family.

Twilight placed her hoof under her chin as she began to read over another legal document concerning the Equestrian military budget. She had been hearing reports of concerned ponies who wanted to bolster Equestria’s security ever since Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis also took over all of Equestria. It was all she had heard about for at least a month. Her mind began to wander to the Crystal Empire half way through, however.

It had been months since she had seen her brother and his family. This “diplomatic mission” as she called it was the one chance to see them outside of the holidays.

Celestia and Luna were keeping tabs on Twilight’s work around Canterlot while she was gone. They had just returned from a vacation and had some down time before their next adventure just when Twilight had begun to develop the need for her own rest and relaxation. They understood the most about how demanding the job of princess could be and immediately volunteered to help.

A sudden knock on the door awoke her from her daydreams as Spike poked his head in through the train car door. “Uhm, Twilight? I hope I’m not interrupting.”

Twilight sighed. “Don’t worry, Spike. I’m not getting any work done anyway.”

Spike approached Twilight’s desk with a tray of breakfast. “Jeez, Twilight, you look awful! It’s like you haven’t slept in days.”

Twilight face planted into her desk. “I know, Spike. I really need this vacation,” she mumbled with his cheek pressed against the wood.

“Well, you're in luck.” Spike smiled as he flew up to Twilight's desk and dropped off the food. “I just talked to the conductor and he said that we should be in the Crystal Empire in just half an hour.”

Twilight happily munched on a bowl of assorted fruits as she straightened her main. “I guess that means I better get ready for my royal entrance.”

“I know, and Spike the Brave and Glorious needs to prepare for his too,” Spike replied as he flexed his small biceps.

Twilight chuckled weakly before yawning. “Good one, Spike. Now is there anything else you need from me?”

Spike smiled. “Well, I don’t need anything from you…”

Twilight raised her eyebrow. “Yes?”

“He wants to talk to you,” Spike announced as Twilight’s heart bounced and her cheeks blushed a bright red.

“What does he want?” Twilight asked as she steadied her beating heart with her hoof to her chest.

“He…wants to discuss your security detail,” Spike replied while twiddling his thumbs.

Twilight smacked her face. “Spike…you don’t need to talk in codes while we’re in private. We only use them in front of the paparazzi.”

Spike shrugged his shoulders. “What? Can’t a dragon pretend that he’s a secret agent?”

Twilight laughed and waved Spike away. “You can send him in,” she added as Spike slid the car door open and waved to a far off figure.

Twilight's heart fluttered as the captain of her royal guards stepped into her office.

“I hope I’m not bothering you.” The orange pegasus smiled.

“You're not, in fact I really needed this…Flash,” Twilight replied as Flash Sentry removed his helmet and hung it on a nearby coat rack.

“I could tell,” Flash explained as he trotted over to Twilight and wrapped her wings around her. Twilight immediately felt his warmth as the two nuzzled.

Twilight blushed, but soon pulled away and straightened herself up.

“What? Is it my breath?” Flash gasped playfully as he smirked.

Twilight chuckled softly. “No, It’s just that I have to get off this train in about half an hour and I need to start getting ready. I’ll have hundreds of ponies, reporters, and dignitaries to impress. Not to mention the paparazzi and tabloid writers,” she groaned.

Flash’s energy immediately burned out as he crawled away from Twilight’s desk and began to look over her shelves of personal belongings and photos. “Oh, right, we still have to deal with those ponies.”

Twilight took a sip of tea. “Only for as long as I’m the most important mare in Equestria. I guess that’s a part of the royal duties, you have to put on a pretty face for the kingdom, even if it means you get no privacy,” she huffed.

Flash once again wrapped his wings around Twilight's tense body. “You know, I wish we didn’t have to keep meeting up in secret like this. I’ve always wanted to take you out to a fancy restaurant but I suppose this will have to suffice for now.”

Twilight's mind began to race. She imagined herself at a candlelit dinner with Flash by her side. The closest they had gotten to anything like that in their six month relationship was the occasional cup of coffee in the privacy of her palace. “I want that too,” she replied. “But if I do, your face will be plastered all over the front pages of Equestria Daily…then your family will be hounded by ponies day and night asking for interviews…and then-!”

“Twilight! You’re spiraling again,” Flash warned as he held Twilight close to his chest.

Twilight began to relax in Flash’s embrace. She stopped spiraling, but her fears still ate away at her.

“I don’t want you to get so worked up over me. I don’t want my family to get wrapped up in the next celebrity news cycle, sure, but it also hurts me to hide our relationship from everypony and watching you have a panic attack every time we are almost caught. I want to just rip the bandage off and come clean, and this is the perfect place to do this.” Flash began to caress Twilight's hair.

Twilight narrowed her eyebrows as she pulled away from her stallion. “You aren’t suggesting what I think you are. We talked about this,” she gasped with her hooves implanted into Flash’s chest.

Flash became defensive. “Twi, I don’t get why you don’t want your family to know about us, I personally have been dying to introduce you to my brother.”

“That's because it would be easy for you!” Twilight shouted as she began to tremble. She placed her hooves against her temples and started to panic. “You only have your mom and little brother to deal with. On the other hoof, I have to deal with my big brother. If he found out about us, he would try to vaporize you!”

Flash settled down as he tried to comfort Twilight. “I know, but trust me, I served under your brother during my time in the Crystal Empire. I doubt that he’d try to vaporize me with a magical laser blast…I hope.”

Twilight looked at Flash like he was crazy.

Flash placed his hoof on Twilight's shoulder and looked directly into her eyes. His own eyes were soft and open, like a comfy, inviting bed. “Twi, I know this might seem scary now, but I remember the stories you told me of the Canterlot wedding. You were so hurt when you found out that Shining Armor was getting married without telling you first, I don’t want to be the force that wedges a divide between you and your brother.”

Twilight sighed. “I get where you’re coming from, babe, but I don’t know if I’m ready to tell Shining Armor just yet.”

Flash leaned back and lowered his head as he thought to himself. “I understand, Twi. If you aren't ready, then I won’t bother you about this for the rest of our time in the Crystal Empire. I won’t force anything on you.”

“You’ll really do that, for me?” Twilight whispered as she cracked a smile.

“Of course, I love you after all. If you aren’t ready yet I won’t spoil this vacation for you,” Flash replied as he smirked and leaned up against Twilight's ear. “Besides, you are a princess after all. Your wish is my command, your highness.”

Twilight blushed and recoiled back. She had always told Flash that he did not need to be so professional around her. Yet, occasionally, Flash would use “your highness” as a way to make her feel better when she was feeling down or to simply tease her. It usually always worked on her.

The flustered Twilight leaned back in next to Flash’s face and grinned. “Your right about one thing, I’m the princess here. If you don’t follow my orders, I’ll have no choice but to send you to the dungeon!” she announced melodramatically, like an amateur actor and caressed Flash’s chest.

Flash bit his lip, before bursting out in full blown laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked.

“Send me to the dungeon?” Flash whipped a tear from his eye. “I think that you have been reading too many of those romance novels of yours.”

“Hey, I can smooth talk too!” Twilight defended herself with a playful smile.

“Please Twi, save the flirting for me. There's a reason why I made the first move to ask you out.”

Twilight shook her head while laughing like a little filly. “Fine, but my offer still stands,” Twilight leaned in as the pair locked lips.

As they embraced, the train suddenly slammed on its breaks, sending the two careening into the desk.

Twilight shrieked as Flash extended his wings to slow down their fall, but the two still hit the ground hard. She slammed her head against the desk as Flash landed on top of her.

The train's breaks screamed as they shot out sparks up towards the windows.

Eventually the train came to a full stop as Twilight groaned in pain.

Flash held Twilight's head. “Are you hurt?”

“I think I’m good? But what was that?” Twilight moaned as the offices cars door slammed open.

Spike flew through the open door with a panicked look on his face. “Twilight, we have an emergen-” he stopped and covered his eyes as he watched Flash cover Twilight's body with his own. “Uhm, am I interrupting your “meeting?” Because I can come back later.”

Flash looked down at Twilight as the two blushed.

“Where weren't doing anything! Just tell us what happened,” Twilight shouted like an older sister and teleported both herself and Flash back up right.

The two ponies acted like nothing happened.

“Something has happened to the Crystal Empire!” Spike exclaimed as he began to fly outside. “You have to see it for yourself.”

Both Twilight’s and Flash’s hearts dropped. Twilight ran outside. Flash grabbed his helmet and followed her.

Twilight pushed through her attachment of royal guards they got out of their travel bunks and threw open the train doors to the harsh, whistling winds of the north.

Dagger-like snowflakes cut through the air and Twilight's body.

Twilight turned in the direction of the Crystal Empire, which was still a couple of miles away, and fell to her knees. “What in Equestria-” she muttered to herself as she locked her eyes on the massive pink doom that covered the entire city.

“That’s the captain's protection spell,” Flash replied as he lifted Twilight out of the snow.

“But why didn’t he send us a warning letter or something before he set it up?”

“I don’t know, I just got a letter from him a few days ago discussing my visit. He knew that I was coming yet he didn’t warn me of this.”

“Princess Twilight!” The conductor hoped from the engine with a pair of binoculars around his neck and bowed before Twilight. “Your highness, the protection spell appears to be blocking off the entire city. I do not see an entrance. Should we head back to Canterlot?”

“Of course not, if there's an emergency at the Crystal Empire then I must solve it immediately,” Twilight replied without even giving the pony’s suggestion any thought.

“Of-of course, your highness,” the conductor stuttered as he trotted back to his car and ignited the engines.

Twilight turned back and faced a herd of dozens of staff members who had wandered off the train. Most of the crowd were members of the royal guards with a few medical, cleaning, and train repair staff dropped in between. Twilight took on a politician's stance as she announced, “This does not change our plans. We will continue onto the Crystal Empire, be prepared for anything.”

The guards nodded stoically as they funneled back into the train.

Spike flew next to Twilight with a scroll in hand. “Twilight, I tried to send a letter to Shining Armor and Cadence, but nothing is happening,” the dragon cried as he blew flames on the scroll in his hands. Instead of the letter whispering away into a beam of energy and flying off into the direction of the Crystal Empire, it simply turned to ash and blew into the snow.

“Impossible, it’s a simple teleportation spell,” Twilight explained as she took another scroll from Spike and cast the same spell. She focused on the Crystal Empire, specifically the royal throne room, before causing the scroll to vanish in a burst of pink light and electrical wisp. “There, the message has been sent,” she replied confidently.

To her surprise, the scroll reappeared just a few feet away from her.

Twilight’s ears dropped as she twitched.

“Uhm, was that supposed to happen?” Flash asked.

Twilight didn’t answer and began to pace back and forth. “What? How is that possible? Me and Spike have cast this spell hundreds of times. How did we both screw it up?” She activated her horn and cast the teleportation spell on herself.

A dome of magic formed around her body before popping, yet the same thing happened to her.

Twilight reappeared just a few feet away, on top of the scroll. She tried to teleport again, only for nothing to happen this time. The magic dome just appeared and reappeared without Twilight moving forward even an inch.

Curious, Twilight used he telekinesis to levitate the scroll of the ground and wave it in front of her, the scroll levitated like normal in her control without any problems.

“Strange, my teleportation appears to not be working when we are this close to the city. Maybe it has something to do with Shining’s protection spell,” she suggested as she looked back at Flash and Spike.

“Or it could be the reason why Shinging put up his protection spell. Either way, I don’t like this,” Spike trembled.

“But we still have to go, we need to make sure that the Crystal Empire is safe,” Twilight added.

Flash nodded as he tightened the straps on his armor. “In that case, I’ll rally the guards.”

The trio stepped back onto the train as it chugged itself down the tracks to the border of the Crystal Empire.

The train grinded to a halt in the Crystal Empires train station, just short of the massive pink dome.

Twenty guards stepped out of the train under the command of Flash Sentry. They stood in rows of 10, each row flanking each side of the train car’s door as Twilight and Spike left the train.

Twilight crown glimmered in the light of the rising sun and her purple scarf flapped in the wind.

The station was eerily quiet. The train station at Canterlot had been filled with ponies, their voices and the noises of other trains had filled the air and blended together.

Here, only the faint buzz of Shining Armor's protective shield could be heard.

The guards fell into formation as Twilight exited the train and formed a barrier around her and Spike. Flash Sentry led the formation as they approached the bubble.

Flash halted the detachment in front of the transparent, pink shield. He raised his hoof and taped it against the dome like he was knocking on a door.

Twilight poked her head through the herd of guards and got a look into the city for herself.

The whole area was a complete ghost town. Not a single pony was in sight. The once lively city was now completely still with the exception of the uncharacteristically placed pieces of trash that glided through the streets.

“Where is everypony? Shouldn’t the crystal ponies be getting out of bed and heading to work and school by now?” Spike asked as he hid behind Twilight leg.

Twilight looked down at Spike and opened her mouth but immediately closed it. Her throat was in a knot. A cold sweat ran down her face.

Flash turned back to Twilight with an attentive, yet nervous look. “Your highness, I can’t detect anypony inside the dome. Should we work on finding an entrance?”

“No,” Twilight replied gravely. “My brother’s protection spell is almost flawless. He doesn’t leave gaps in her dome unless he specifically wants to. We are going to have to brute force our way through.”

Spike winced. “But Shining's protection spell is top tier. Remember when it took an entire army of changelings to break it?”

“But we don’t need to break the shield. We just need to create an opening large enough to pass through. I could probably use my magic to pull back some of the shielding and allow us all to pass through.” Twilight activated her horn.

“Unfortunately, my brother's spell is a tough nut to crack, even for me. I have no idea how long I will be able to hold the shield open for. This will need to be quick.”

Flash nodded and imminently began to organize his men in front of the spell’s barrier.

Twilight sent a beam of energy striking against the shield. A section of the pink bubble, just large enough for a pony to enter, faded before being parted.

“Now!” Flash ordered as he pushed his soldiers through the hole.

Twilight groaned and fell to her knees as she kept up the magical beam. “I can’t keep this up for much longer.”

Spike sat on Twilight's back and comforted her. “C’mon, Twilight, you got this! We just need to get ten more ponies including us.”

The remaining guards pushed their way through the slowly shrinking hole until Flash, Twilight, and Spike were the only ones remaining outside the boundary.

Twilight felt as if a switch was flipped in her body. Her legs gave out as she huffed and fell to the ground.

The hole in the magical barrier began to shrink as Twilight succumbed to exhaustion.

Flash clenched her teeth as he turned towards Twilight and flapped his wings. He and Spike grabbed onto Twilight as the two pulled her through the barrier right as it snapped shut behind them.

Twilight blacked out as she hit the cities floor, only to be pulled out of her exhaustion by Flash as he waved his wings and sent a gust of cold wind in Twilight's face.

“Your highness, wake up! We are inside the Crystal Empire, your plan worked!” Flash exclaimed as Twilight groaned and leaned up in confusion.

“Well…I hope that the hard part is over,” Twilight gasped as Flash held out his hoof to her.

Twilight smiled as she took Flash’s hoof and was pulled back onto her legs.

“Are you feeling alright?” Flash asked.

“I’m fine, just a little drained,” Twilight explained as she looked over to the other guards who stood on guard around them.

“Yeah, thanks to me!” Spike replied as Flash chuckled and Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Uh…I think that Flash did most of the heavy lifting when he carried me in,” Twilight replied.

“Well, he still got an assist from Spike the Brave and Glorious! Speaking of which, I kind of assumed that the Crystal ponies would come running to me when we entered the city.” Spike looked around in concern.

The erie aura of the city was much more potent while inside the pink dome. Not a single voices echoed through the usually crowded streets.

Twilight straightened herself up as she turned to Flash. “Commander, we need to get to the palace. Now, I’ll allow you to do your duties,” Twilight announced as cordially as she could muster. She began to quiver softly as she thought about what might have happened to her brother.

Flash nodded as he stood in front of his troops. Yet instead of shouting like drill sergeant, he talked in a stern but hushed voice. “Alright guards, you heard the princess, we are to approach the palace. Be quiet and stay vigilant, we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”

The group began to trek through the abandoned streets, and it only got more erie as they got closer to the center of the city. Carriages had been knocked over, the front doors of ponies homes had been knocked in, and cloths, trash, and suitcases had been strung through the streets. The magical dome above them was thick enough to cast a light pink, dim shadow over the entire city.

“Twilight, this doesn’t look like the works of Sombra.” Spike trembled at Twilight's side.

“Whatever it is Spike, we have to be ready to fight it,” Twilight replied as she wielded a purple, glowing orb on the tip of her horn that acted as a torch in the shaded, dawn light.

Suddenly, Flash raised his hoof in the air, causing all the trailing guards to halt in their place. His face, scrunched up in disgust at his eyes widened as if he was looking at a ghost.

Twilight pushed her way to the front of her protective entourage and gasped when she found herself at the front.

Out in the middle of the street was the bloody, torn body of a young stallion.

Twilight and Flash ran towards the body as the guards formed a defensive perimeter around the two with a fence of spears raised.

Flash shook the stallion with his gauntlet wrapped hooves before rolling the stallions body over onto his back.

Twilight squealed as he did.

The stallions stomached had been completely torn open and his bowels strewn across the ground like the messy insides of a pie. The poor pony's right eye had been penetrated by a crystal that appeared to be completely covered in blood and that went straight into his brain.

Spike tensed up as tears filled his eyes.

“Sweet Celestia,” Flash muttered under his breath. “What did this?”

“More like who did this,” Twilight thought to herself. The princess kept herself from gagging as she looked over the body.

Besides for the crystal shard through the ponies' eye, there was no sign of sharp cuts from a blade or claw. There were, however, bite marks. Although, the wounds did not look like they came from fangs. It looked like the aftermath of a pony’s gluttonous feast.

The guards around the body began to exchange nervous looks and stubbled away.

Twilight did not say a word. She just looked up at Flash and gave him a worried look.

Flash gulped dryly and turned back to his ponies. “Be careful and keep your eyes peeled.

Whatever did this could still be in the city, and we don’t want to end up like this stallion, don’t we?”

The guards uncomfortably began to fall back into formation with an audible silence as one suddenly yelped in terror and sprung their spear outwards in the direction of a dark alleyway. “I got movement: 3 o'clock!” he shouted as Twilight readied a spell while Flash flew over to the young guard.

Flash Sentry stood on guard as he gazed into the nighttime-like abyss and watched as nothing moved into view. “Are you sure you weren’t just seeing things, private?”

“No, I saw it too,” another cried. “It was a mare, running between the buildings. It looked like she was hurt. She was hobbling across the alleyway.”

Flash readied his spear as he shouted down the alleyway. His authoritative voice echoed like a blast of sounds through an instrument as it passed through the crystal architecture. “Hello! Is anypony back there? I’m here to help.”

The silhouette of a young mare appeared at the far end of the alley. A wet crackling noise sounded off from the distance as the shadowy figure hobbled towards the light. The mare's legs looked torn, like ribbons. The shimmered that was usually covering the citizens of the Crystal Empire was uncharacteristically absent.

Flash’s ears popped up as Twilight stood by protectively. He removed his helmet and held out his hoof. “Hello, young lady, are you alright? Don’t be scared.”

The mare stepped into the sunlight.

Twilight nearly screamed.

The pony was covered from hoof and ear in bite marks that ranged from minor tooth print to full on tears of flesh. Her jaw had been broken and was hanging on solely by a few tangled strands of muscle. The pony’s eyes were still, like a corpse’s, until they suddenly flinched over in Flash's direction. The pony threw herself forward like she was shot out of a cannon.

“Watch out!” Twilight screamed as she activated a shield. A blast of pink light came from her horn and grounded itself in front of the mare that slammed into the shield and then back onto the ground.

The mare began to scratch at the shield while gurgling loudly.

Flash began to take short, shallow breaths. “Who is that?”

“I don’t know, but I think it's the same thing that did all of this,” Twilight replied as she looked out at the abandoned city.

“Twelve o’clock!” One of the guards yelled.

Twilight and Flash immediately looked down the street as a second blood covered pony ran towards the formation.

Twilight pulsated her horn, causing her shield to electrify and send the contained mare flying back into the darkness. She lowered her shield before aiming her horn at the incoming pony.

Twilight and her unicorn guards all fired barrages of magical charged missiles. A few attacks missed and scorched the crystal streets, but most impacted the pony directly in their chest, knocking them to the ground.

“Stay down! That’s an order.” Flash screamed at the top of his lungs like a barbarian.

The two ponies got back on their hooves as if Flash’s words did not even register with them. They raised his snout up in the air as a crackling shriek roared across the air before charging in as if nothing had happened.

Twilight heard what sounded like a stampede of buffaloes start up in the distance as another guard shouted, “Sweet Celestia! Six o’clock!”

“We got even more! Nine o’clock!” another cried. “They’re surrounding us.”

The guards formation began to fold in like a poorly built tent as Flash sprung into action.

“Hold the line! Don’t let those things get close.”

Twilight, Spike, and Flash flew above the guards and observed the situation. A dozen snarling, bloodied ponies ran from between houses or thorough front doors and windows. They swarmed the streets like an army.

The unicorn guards let out a barrage of magic beams that knocked the crystal ponies back, clearing a section of street in front of the formation.

“Forward! Get to the castle!” Flash ordered as his subordinates charged.

Twilight shot down the street and rained static sparks down on the attacking ponies that gargled and hissed. Blood and saliva dripped from their mouths. Their bodies sounded like hollowed trees every time they were hit.

Twilight winced every time she shoot one of the citizens with her magic, although they showed no pain, the creators simply shrugged the blasts of and kept moving forward.

The groups armor clanked as their hooves pounded the pavement and attracted more monstrous ponies who chased them through the streets.

The creatures snapped at the companies tails as they ran, only to be quickly stunned by lasers and stumbling to the ground for a few vital seconds.

“We are almost there…we just need to make a turn down this street and we’ll be at the castle!” Twilight shouted in between breaths as her heart beated harder than her wings.

Twilight and the first half of the guards made a sharp turn towards the castle before stopping suddenly as the guards behind them ran into their frozen bodies.

“What’s the hold up!” Spike cried as he looked towards the castle that stood before them and dropped his jaw.

It looked like a concert was being held at the foot of the palace. A hoard of thousands of crystal ponies stood snarling with their snouts pointed directly at the pointed tip of the castle. Some were missing legs, others were covered with bite marks and wounds that should have killed a normal pony.

The bloody crystal ponies collectively turned their heads in Twilight’s direction like she had just walked into a private conversation that she was not supposed to even witness. They unhinged their jaws and growled. Their voices echoed across the open field and caused more ponies to point in their direction and charge like a herd of rapid animals.

Spike quickly turned and flew the opposite way only to be blocked by a wall of pegasi who had flown into the air and were diving down towards the guards who raised their spears in anticipation. Spike screamed weakly as a pony flew towards the dragon with its jaws wide open.

“Spike!” Twilight cried as her horn glimmered and a massive dome formed above her head.

The magic crashed against the ground like a tidal wave making landfall and swallowed the entire entourage.

The hoard ran jaws first into the shield with the sounds of water balloons pelleting a window. Their bodies piled against each other, blocking out the sunlight. Soon about a hundred pairs of eyes were glued onto the princess and her guards.

A bloodthirsty unicorn leaned himself up against the shield before blasting the surface with a crystal projectile the size of an arrow head. A small hairline crack formed in the dome as more unicorns ignited their horns in a flurry of sparks and pelted the shield with tiny crystals.

Some of the guard began to panic, other just hopped around wildly with their spears raised in the direction of the beastly ponies as they attempted to bust through.

One guards just dropped his spear and looked up at a pegasus filly that was missing a leg before he began to hyperventilate. “What the buck?!” he cried. “They’re going to kill us! I don’t want to die!”

Flash pushed the guards to the ground with his front hooves and hovered above the stallion. “Shut up, soldier! No one is dying on my watch!”

“The-then-what do we do, sir? Those monsters are everywhere and they're all trying to rip us open like that corpse we found in the street.”

The entire squad of guards stood at attention and looked directly at Flash. The inside of the bubble went quiet besides for the labored breaths of the ponies inside and the gnashing of teeth that faintly groaned from the outside.

Flash addressed his guards with bags under his eyes and sweat dripping down his face. “First of all, everyone needs to remain calm. Once we take care of that, everypony needs to get into a phalanx formation. I want three rows of six ponies with two unicorns in the back providing air cover with Twilight and Spike. Once the shield breaks, we'll have no choice but to move towards the castle and hope there is somepony left to let us inside.”

“Sir, with all due respect, the mission is as good as done. Why don’t we run back to the train while we still have the chance?”

“And abandon our allies in the Crystal Empire and disobey Princess Twilight's orders? I think not, besides, if we run back to the train we’ll draw the hoard out and they’ll rip the others apart.” Flash slammed his hoof down to the ground as he looked over to Twilight.

“Your highness, can you use your magic to take care of these creatures?” Flash motioned up to the many dozens of ponies that bled out on top of the dome and snarled angrily like fighting dogs in a cage, waiting to be let out so they could rip and tear.

“I-I might have a spell that can wipe out most of them,” Twilight exhaled in exhaustion and looked up as bits and pieces of her spell began to break off in spaces.

Spike wrapped his chubby little arms around his neck as he troubled like a filly holding onto the safety rail on a rollercoaster. “Du-don’t worry, Twilight, I’ll keep you safe with my fire.”

Twilight corresed Spike’s hands gently like a mother while the guard nervously got into formation.

The ponies outside the bubble roared out like animals in frustration. Saliva ran down their mouths like they were looking into a window at a five star restaurant that they did not have reservations to. Their eyes were dead yet predatory and hungry.

Twilight gulped as Flash gave her a comforting look and nodded to her. She nodded back and ignited the very tip of her horn. Her veins popped and sweat ran down her forehead while a beam of energy ran from her horn to the shield, causing the structure to glow and bright white before erupting into an explosion that rocked the entire city block.

The pink shock wave fluctuated across the castle grounds, blowing all of the blood hungry ponies in a thirty meter sphere to the ground.

Pegusi where blown off their flight paths and rammed into their comrades before the unfortunate couples twisted and spiraled all the way to the ground.

Earth ponies and unicorns found themselves pilling up in massive piles of flesh and broken bones that riled and screamed.

“This is our chance! Charge!” Flash Sentry's booming voice cut through the screams as he took flight with a spear held tightly in his hooves.

The rows of royal guards let out a war cry as they made beeline towards the massive crystal castle that stood before them.

A handful of unstunned ponies stood between the guards and castle.

“Take them out!” Flash ordered as the front row of spear ripped deep into the oncoming crystal ponies.

Fountains of blood shot through the air as seahead ripped throats open and send the attackers stumbling back onto their flanks, but still they were able to eventually hop back up and continue the pursuit.

“They’re not dying!” a guard cried as his spear went straight through the chest of a wobbling earth pony and snapped in half.

“Quiet, private! Keep running, we’re almost there!” Flash ordered as he bobbed and weaved through the air as half a dozen crystal shards were blasted at the stallion from her left by a barrage from the remaining unicorns.

Twilight and her unicorn guards let out a focused spread of quick and numerous energy beams to their left. The beams either knocked the crystals out of the sky or hit their senders in the chest and scorched their bodies.

Twilight kept up the stunning blows as Spike screamed.

“Twilight! To your right!” Spike shouted as a green flame illuminated Twilight peripheral vision. She turned and watched as a single pegasus dove into Twilight airspace. Spike breathed flames onto the pony which immediately engulfed the pony's entire body.

The pegasus’ body melted away down to its bones, its pastel body turned to a bloody ash, yet it still kept slicing through the sky.

Spike’s cheeks turned red as he gasped and fell against Twilight's neck. His flames died out like an empty lighter.

Twilight screamed like a little filly as the pegasus shot towards her neck like a burning comet towards a city. It was too late for her to redirect her shield around herself.

The pegasus unhinged its jaw.

Twilight looked deep into the pony’s jaw. It was rubbed raw and bloody. The pony’s teeth where crooked and loose, as if they were a filly who was in the process of gaining new teeth.

Sharp needle-like objects were embedded deep within the pony’s throat and gums. They made the pegasus’ insides look like a blender.

The objects where a blood red and shone like a crystal, yet that did not make sense to

Twilight at all. However, Twilight didn't have time to ponder on the wounds, she raised her hooves above her head as her eyelids winced shut. She anticipated the pain.

A pink beam of energy, similar in color to Twilight’s aura, rushed across the sky.

The energetic crackling alerted Twilight, who threw her eyes open.

The pinkish beam did not just stun and bruise the pegasus. It tore its way through the ponies skull like a drill and dropped the attacker.

Spike screamed. “What was that?”

Twilight followed the trajectory of the blast and found herself looking directly at the tip of the Crystal Castle. Her heart fluttered. “There's only one pony I know who has a magical aura that looks like that. Now get to the castle!”

The guards trotted to an immediate stop in front of one of the castle entrances.

Twilight swooped down to the ground and activated a shield. She could not help but notice an emptiness in the courtyard. She looked over to the center of the palace ground and noticed that the crystal heart was gone. Her racing thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain that sliced through Twilight's head as she struggled to keep the shield from collapsing like a glass vase.

Monster like ponies pounded at the perimeter as the largest of Twilight’s guards lowered their shoulders and charged directly through the castle doors. The crystal doors were knocked off their hinges as the ponies rushed into the safety of the castle.

Flash grabbed onto Twilight and pulled her through the entrance as he shield cracked and shattered behind her.

The attacking ponies rushed the entrance, getting stuck as they all tried to enter through the same door at one time. Ponies ran over and trampled each other as they made their way up the winding staircase.

Guards either shot back at the ponies with their magic of just threw their spears into the horde.

Twilight's legs grew weak. Her head throbbed as thought her brain was inflating like a balloon with each step she took.

Shrieks and roars echoed up and down the entire crystal staircase.

“Hang on, Twily, we are almost at the top!” Flash screamed as the guards rushed a locked gate at the top of the stairs.

A guard slammed his bulky hooves into the door, yet this time the door did not fly off the hinges so easily. The guard continued to no avail. “It’s not working. This door feels like it's been completely barricaded shut!”

“No, it can’t be!” Flash shouted as the echoes of shrieking ponies, now combined with the damp sound of bloody hooves sliding across the crystal floors got even louder.

Twilight looked down at the staircase and raised her head.

“Twilight, what are we going to do now?” Spike trembled behind Twilight's front legs.

Twilight’s stomach dropped, she tried to speak but felt like she was about to throw up with each word. “We are going to be fine, Spike,” she lied.

The guards continued to beat down the stiff door. “Help! Let us in!” they screamed.

“What if they can’t get the door down in time?” Spike squealed.

Flash positioned the front of his body between Twilight and the advancing horde. “We’ll keep you safe, Spike.” Flash turned to Twilight and gave her a comforting look.

Twilight gulped and nodded as she primed her horns' magical aura.

A single, bloody pony stumbled and slipped up the flat crystal floors as the guards panicked. The beast growled as more assailants made it up the stairs and ran over each other.

Multiple rows of bloody teeth snapped in the air like battle lines of soldiers.

Twilight prepared to cast yet another shield. She mustered up her remaining strength and hoped she had enough stamina. To at least be able to create a shield, maybe hold back the vicious ponies for a few fleeting moments. As Twilight prepared herself, she heard a loud bang followed by the screeching hinges of a door.

“It's open!” one of the guards screamed.

Twilight turned and watched as soldiers pushed their way through the gaping door frame.

“Where saved!” Spike replied as he flew through the doors.

Flash and Twilight flapped their wings in unison and soared through the opening as the guards slammed the door shut behind them and used their own bosses to barricade the doors against the tidal wave of bodies.

Twilight noticed a pile of hastily stacked crystal bars. “Quick! Use these,” announced as she levitated a few of the bars off the ground and slid them into special designed racks that were held in the palace as the horde pounded at the door.

The guards slowly back away from the door. To their astonishment, the defenses held efficiently.

Twilight gave a sigh of relief before fainting and falling to her side.

Flash swooped in and caught her.

Twilight awoke with a startle right as she landed in Flash’s arms. “Sorry, I’m just drained right now.”

“That’s fine, we’re safe now,” Flash announced as he stabilized Twilight against his own body. “Those magic spells of yours prevented us from being cannibalized out there.”

“Whoever broke down that door was the real hero,' Twilight kicked in between hacking coughs.

“But we didn’t break down the door. It kind of just swung open on its own.”

“What?” Twilight gasped.

“It’s true, your highness, I saw it all myself,” an especially bulky guards humbly replied as he rubbed a scrape on his elbows. “I had backed up and was about ready to tear those doors off their hinges when they just suddenly swung open. I couldn’t stop myself from tripping through the door frame and hitting the floor.”

“Then who opened the door?” Flash asked at the slicing sound of a metallic sword being pulled from a scabbard cut through the conversation.

Twilight slowly turned around as if she was coming face to face with a predator. Only instead of coming face to face with a row of razor sharp jaws, Twilight was faced with a wall of spearheads pointed directly at her face.

Author's Note

Twilight has arrived in the Crystal Empire, but will she be able to help the infected nation or will she herself fall victim to the hoards of the undead?

Find out next week-and leave a comment if you have any suggestions or ideas for what ponies you want to see in future chapters! Thanks for reading!