Chapter 16: Waking Kingdom

"Concentrate, let the energy flow through you, don't force it out," Davian instructed as we stood outside his shack.

I had begun training with him more and more often. If I truly was a pure blood he had said my powers needed to increase, that I need more control. At the moment he was teaching me simple ways to extend my stamina so I wouldn't drain my energy too quickly. Having no sort of mentor besides old books before, it was proving rather odd.

"When you go to strike, let the magic roll of your arm as you extend, don't throw it like a ball," he said, gesturing me to start practicing.

I took a stance and began striking the air like he showed me, moving my arms in a controlled movement rather than rapid bursts. My eyes became a cyan glow as magic shot out of my hands, vaporizing innocently in the air as I repeated my movements. Davian eyed me cautiously as he began the next step.

"So lets talk about your personal life for a moment,"  he said bluntly.

The slightest twitch of my arm was enough for him to begin speaking, I just tried to calm myself while he did.

"It seems you've become quite attached to one of them. Twilight, am I correct? So what happens if you need to leave? Or if she does? What happens when the war comes here, which it will," he snarled. "She has watched you rise and fall, along with the rest of your friends and the town. What happens if they give up on you?  If they finally just reject you." he attacked.

My pace began to quicken, the magic shooting a little faster every time.

"And young Scootaloo, who knows how long til-" he tried before I cut in.

"You WILL NOT bring her into this," I shouted

Davian sighed heavily and hung his head to the ground, pointing at my hands. I looked over to see a patch of grass on fire, burning elegantly in the daylight. I let out a cuss as I waved my hand, extinguishing the small blaze, knowing I failed this test.

"You have to learn to control your anger, you cannot lose yourself that easily. You know I use these things as examples, I don't mean them," he sighed.

"Yeah well why don't you leave Scootaloo out of it? She's to young to be brought into this shit," I cussed.

"She needs a protector in the coming times. Do you think you'll be to handle that?" he said.

"Why don't you just let me handle that okay? Continue what you're doing and stay out of their life," I commanded.

"If you lose yourself with such simplicity you won't be able to handle it," he bluntly said.

"Then I'll learn to control it. But like I said, stay out of their lives," I repeated.

He simply nodded, not saying a word, obviously disappointed. I shook my head and cleared my thoughts, letting the stress flow away. I looked back up to the masked man standing before me, knowing he was only trying to help, but in the harshest way.

"Are you ever going to take off that mask?" I chuckled slightly.

The mask wrinkled a bit, signalling a smile as he answered, "Wouldn't want to blind anyone with my beauty. Why don't we call it a day huh? Got some stuff to take care of."

"Yeah. I'll see you later Davian," I said as I turned and made my way home.

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The chirping of Davian's communicator brought him back to reality as he continued to watch over the horizon, long after the young magi had left. He looked at the device in his hands, knowing too well who it would be, and dreadfully clicked the receive button.

"Davian here," he said.

"The time is coming. They make their move within the coming year. The boy is to be brought back to Karkland immediately," Head Magister Vastras commanded.

Davian sat there for a few minutes, contemplating what the old fool had just told him. What he had never told Evan, and what he had never let himself fully know. The Janmori threat was growing beyond anyone's knowledge, it would soon be the biggest threat not only Karkland had seen, but the whole planet as well. But what they would do to Evan, what he would let happen, was unspeakable.

"Ha. You know Master I've watched this boy grow much in the past year. And I've grown a little myself, so my answer to you is to no. I won't do this anymore, I'm supposed to protect him, and that's what I'm going to do," Davian said proudly.

"You would betray the Order? You would betray the Magi? You would betray humanity?!" Vastras shouted.

"If it means saving the life of an innocent being then yes, I would," Davian said calmly.

"You know what this means then. Magi are not permitted to leave the Order, we will find you and take the Pure Blood," the head Magi threatened.

"You can try, but I'll be waiting. I also can't wait to burn your smug face like you did mine. Davian out," he said, turning the communicator to ash before staring peacefully back over the horizon, waiting.

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Arriving home after the walk from Davian's shack I found my home empty except for the clacking of small hooves upstairs in the loft. Twilight the gang had gone out today to Canterlot for some test Celestia was giving her, leaving me and Scootaloo behind to relax and do whatever.

"Hey Scoot, I'm home. Want anything for lunch?" I asked to the filly upstairs. I head a surprised yet happy squeak as she came trotting down from our room.

"Well its about time! I'm starviiinng," she whined.

"Well I'm sorry, most big fillies can make their own food," I chuckled, "Want to go out to lunch?"

"Uh, yeah! SugarCube Corner?" she asked.

"What is with you ponies and pastries? But anyway we can't, Pinkie went out with everyone and the Cakes don't work weekends," I explained.

"Ahh drat...well then I guess lets just go to the diner down the street.." she grumbled.

"You know they have desert too? Whiny little thing, alright lets get going. Just gotta grab my stuff real quick," I said as I ran upstairs into the loft.

Scootaloo followed behind me into the bedchambers where I had my computer resting on the desk. I picked it up and pocketed it, hesitating as my hand hovered over the small drawer, turning back to Scootaloo who suddenly had a terrified expression on her face.

"Scoot, whats wron-bashat!" I cried as a glowing vortex surrounded me.

Instinctively, Scootaloo tried to pull me out of it but her contact with me only engulfed her into the vortex of light also. She screamed as I grabbed her into a protective hold, kneeling down and forming a barrier over us. Within seconds all I heard was a zap, then the vortex was gone completely, although it was much brighter than it was moments before. I realized why as I looked up to see we were now in Canterlot, Twilight and the gang stood in front of us, her horn still glowing from teleporting us.

"Twilight?! What in the-" I tried to exclaim before she raised a hoof in the air. She smiled and lowered it, silencing me.

"I can explain, everyone else go get ready. We'll be there in a second," she said, the others left as told, entering the train behind me. Scootaloo pranced in place nervous and confused before being shooed in by Rainbow Dash, leaving Twilight and me alone.

"Well I guess you better give me the short version, cause apparently we're on to a new goddess damned adventure when I'm supposed to be at home relaxing," I said bitterly.

"Hey! Don't get that tone with me mister, and I do have an explanation," she paused, and took a deep breath. "Princess Celestia called me here to tell me a long lost kingdom called the Crystal Empire has suddenly returned. So it is up to me, and me alone the Princess said, to return the Empire to its formal state of love and kindness. She also told me that my friends were to accompany me and you fit into that category..greatly, and I had to teleport you here!"

I sat there for a moment trying to process the information, smirking a bit at her comment towards me, but soon found my sarcastic side taking over.

"Well...I can honestly say I have no clue why I'm constantly dragged into these situations, but I'm always here for you. One problem though," I said. Twilight's head turned slightly to the side confused. "Scootaloo came here with me."

"And?" she said. "What's wrong with that?"

"Well nothing, but what if something goes wrong? I don't know anything about this place," I said, worried.

"It'll be fine, you have nothing to worry about trust me. I just need you by my side okay?" she asked, her eyes shining bright in the sun.

"Of course I trust you, and alright. I'm in," I said, knowing she'd drag me if she had to.

"Great! Let's go!" Twilight said boarding the train.

My head lowered as I boarded the train that felt more like a second home from recent events. I just felt tired as the train began chugging away and I took my seat next to Twilight as the others talked among themselves. I never got much free time since nearly everyday consisted of some crazy event that came up. I shrugged it off as I realized I could now spend some time with the two beings I cared about most in the world, and that offered me some satisfaction. Twilight began rambling on about her mission ahead, more to herself than me, but I still pretended to listen as I gazed out the train car's window. It had taken a turn that I've never seen used before; everything we passed by was usually open fields or rolling hills. No other stations or even signs of any civilization seemed present. This track hadn't seen much use in a long time, I guessed.

On usual train rides I would have fallen asleep by now, but a mix of Twilight's constant talking and uncertainty of this trip kept me awake. The train had finally left the temperate territory of Canterlot and its surrounding cities, and we found ourselves chugging through snow covered plains, a tundra it seemed. The train's horn rang loud three times, signalling its arrival. Looking outside, all I could see was a small unused service station.

"Well I guess this is our stop. Everybody ready?" Twilight asked as she stepped off of the train.

As I stepped off the train I was shocked at what I saw before me. Thick blizzards blew without restraint through the merciless tundra, the unrelenting wind hurt as it smacked against my open face. The hood of my jacket suddenly placed itself on my head and tightened to offer some protection from the harsh winds. I gave a glance to Twilight who gave a small wink as we waited for the others to group up. Rarity was busy having Spike haul her enormous amount of luggage when we all heard a shout from the distance.

"Twily!" a voice said hidden in the snow storm.

Suddenly a silhouette appeared through the storm, as the shadow came closer it shouted again for Twilight. This time the voice sounded very familiar as Shining Armour trudged towards us though the winds.

"Twily you made it!" Shining said as he ran towards his little sister.

"Shining Armour!" she said as they grasped each other in a hug.

"C'mon all of you, we have to go now. There are things out here we don't want to run into after dark."

"Wha..what kind of things?" Fluttershy squeaked.

"Lets just say..the Empire isn't the only thing that's returned." Shining said before leading us into the storm.

As we made our way through the frozen wasteland I came to the conclusion that I hated snow. It had hardly ever snowed in Juno, it was a very temperate area, and I dread the day the Pegasus decide to have it snow in Ponyville. Lighting my hands ablaze to feel the warmth of fire was a relief for a brief moment, until I let them extinguish as I bent down and picked Scootaloo up.

"C'mon Scoot, you don't need to be walking in all this." I said as I place her on my shoulders.

Her tiny body was shaking from the cold, her wings folded flat against her sides. I loosened my jackets hood and let her use it to soften the blow of the raging winds, it didn't help me much but at least the wind didn't hit her face anymore. I overheard Twilight talking to Shining about something to do with the Empire, I was about to join in until we all heard a sick moaning coming from somewhere in the darkness.

"That's one of those things isn't it!" Fluttershy shouted.

"Come on! We have to get to the Crystal Empire now!" Shining Armour commanded.

As soon as the words left his mouth a sick cloud of pure black rose from the ground behind us, it stretched itself until it rose many feet above us. I found myself running as fast as I could when I saw the pair of green eyes open in the body of the cloud. Scootaloo screamed on my shoulders as I chased after the rest of my group, adrenaline not letting my body fumble or slow down.

"Quick! There it is!" Shining yelled out as we passed over a hill, coming into the view of a great shining barrier.

The sight of haven only made us sprint faster until I made the mistake of looking behind me, only to see the dark cloud right on us. The moan it once made turned into a terrible screaming, one of pure anger. I brought Scootaloo off my shoulders and ran with her in my arms, carrying her life an athlete does a sports ball. The barrier's wall was close now, just a couple more yards and safety would be reached. Shining Armour suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around, standing in place defiantly. I felt myself stumble, I reached the barrier with my friends, but I brought out a hand to try and grasp him with me. The colt fired off a few shots of powerful magic before the dark cloud crashed into him, engulfing him, I let out and angry scream and through Scootaloo through the barrier, my body about to ignite. The cloud turned to me, its green eyes scanning me, then it seemed to get even angrier.

"Huumaann.." an echoed whisper came from the black mass.

I stood there shocked for a moment before being tackled through the barrier by a large white mass. I landed with an 'omphf' as I gazed up shocked to see Shining Armour stumble off me, black crystals covering his horn.

"Shining Armour! Evan! You're okay!" Twilight shouted, running towards us.

"Oh no, Shining your horn!" she exclaimed, seeing the crystals that covered his horn.

He attempted to gather magic to no avail as the crystals seemed to block or absorb it. He gave a silent shake of his head but padded Twilight on the head. She looked to me as he walked ahead of the group, her eyes filled with worry.

"What do you think you were doing?! Why didn't you come through with us?" Twilight bombed me with questions.

"I needed to help your brother Twi! Or at least try, and I couldn't do that with Scoot in my hands." I tried to answer back, reaching down and rubbing the mane of the filly who had approached my side.

"Sorry bout that Scoot, I needed to know you were safe." I told her.

"I'm a big filly, I can take care of myself...but thanks Evan." Scootaloo said, trying to hide her earlier terror.

I looked back up to see Twilight with a disappointed look still glaring at me, I gave a shrug of my shoulders and tried to usher her along. She gave an audible sigh as we regrouped at an two crystal columns jetted into the sky, three individual crystals hovered midair between the two. As we looked pat them the sight before us made our mouths drop. An entire city spanned before us, made entirely by crystal it reflected magnificent colors across it. Perched over all of it was an enormous crystal castle than spanned high into the sky above. I couldn't think of any words to say before Pinkie spoke up for all of us.

"Woah...Sparklerific!" she exclaimed.

Shining Armour chuckled to himself before coming to the head of the group.

"That's the same reaction I had when I first got here. Well everypony, and human, welcome to the Crystal Empire." he said, gesturing us ahead.