Dark Crystal

Back at Crystal City, the situation was dire. Ordinally ponies talked about the battle of Aquavitae. They talked about how a band of cultists attempted to attack the town, only to be repelled by Heart Guard under the command of Shining Armor.

There was a talk about an unknown alicorn supporting the cultists, despite Celestia sending a note saying she would know about alicorn ascending and that there are only five alicorns in the whole world. Twilight made an official presentation where she explained how a sufficiently powerful unicorn could use illusion and flight spells to pretend to be an alicorn for a period of time.

However, the greatest loss suffered by the Crystal Empire in the battle was kept a secret.

In the Crystal Palace, Cadance was barely keeping herself together.

“How could this happen! How could you let her go to war!” she shouted at Thorax.

“Princess, I didn’t know she would go to battle. I told her it would be a bad idea. I really thought she was just going to sneak out with her friends,” Thorax defended himself, shaking with fear as he was subject to an alicorn’s wrath.

“And you,” Cadance turned towards Grumpy, the pegasus teleported back to Crystal City by Shining Armor. “You willingly led a thirteen years old filly into a warzone!”

“Your majesty, I believed Flurry would manage. Alicorns aren’t ordinally ponies. She already is a better warrior than most of the guards.”

“Alicorn or not, she’s a child,” shouted Cadance. She turned towards Flash Sentry. “We must find those cultists at once. I cannot let them hurt Flurry”

Somewhere above Aquavitae Hill, there was a plane. Its pilot, Steel Rose, was tasked with finding the cultists.

She looked over the forested hills. It was a very nice place, all things considered.She might visit it in the future, once the foalnapping cultists are dealt with.

She noticed something in the distance. It looked like a plane, but after Steel observed it for some time, she realized it wasn’t a Crystal plane.

“I found something,” she said over the radio, and gave her coordinates. She flew towards the strange object.

Once she came closer, she noticed the plane had an alien design. It didn’t have a propeller, the wings were far too small to lift it. It looked more like a metal-covered miniature airship.

The pilot of the strange airship noticed Steel’s plane. The airship turned in place and with a great speed, flew away.

“Who are we fighting against?” Steel asked herself.

Shining Armor led his unit into the woods. According to reconesance, there were cultists in these area.

He was angry. If those cultists hurt his daughter…

He stopped and ordered his unit to hold.

He heard a pony walking through the forest. He moved forward a bit, stopping on a hill.

Behind the hill, he saw two ponies in masks and strange black-red armor. Sombra’s cultists? Possibly.

He prepared a spell. Magic shot forward towards the cultists. Magical bubble covered them. Shining and his unit moved forward. Gunfire erupted from other cultists hidden behind bushes. After a short while, the cultists were forced to retreat.

Shining Armor walked towards the trapped cultists. “Who in Tartarus are you!” he shouted. The cultists stopped trying to break out of the shield, just staring at him.

“You’ve kidnapped my daughter and other ponies. Where are they!” he shouted again. No response. “You don’t want to talk? You will, once we go back to Crystal City.”

—

Despite the situation on the frontier, ponies of the Crystal City were living their lives in peace. They knew that the Princess and the guard would catch the cultists, and that the cultists wouldn't dare enter the city.

Crystal filly walked on the street. Her coat was shining. She was happy, the school finished for today, the holidays were just around the corner. She walked the street towards her house. She couldn’t wait to play with her brother.

Suddenly, she noticed something was off. Ponies stopped what they were doing and looked up. The filly also decided to look.

Above the city, there was an airship. Normally, it wasn’t too out of ordinally. Airships were used to transport ponies and material, especially across the mountains to Yakyakistan. This one, however, was different.

First, it was completely covered in metal. It had an unknown insignia painted on the side. It flew towards the city center, zig-zagging on the way.

Ponies started whispering, not knowing where this strange airship came from. Then, they saw planes. Three fighters of the Crystal Air Force started to approach the strange airship. The airship stopped, its engines started glowing brightly, and then it flew away, effortlessly outrunning the fighters.

“What was that?” asked somepony.

“Sombra’s cultists”

“I bet they are griffons.”

The filly started quickly walking towards her home. She worried about her family. She hoped they were safe.