Crystals Grow on Rainbows

Cold, freezing cold... The dull feeling suddenly became a sharp pain in her leg, urging Opal to struggle upward. Or was it downward? She'd heard about ponies being trapped like this, the orientation of the earth was thrown into chaos when trapped deep in the snow. The recommendation was to relieve one's self, but she had a far less icky and definitely more effective method of freeing herself from the snow tomb.

The resulting explosion of magic would double as a signal to anypony nearby, but for the moment, it did the trick of getting her free at the cost of leaving her forehead singed. At least it was obvious she was somewhere in the Frozen North. Flying wouldn't be much use if she didn't know where to go, and of course, the one thing that would get her back home in a pinch was beyond her ability. Teleportation. Shelter had to become her priority.

"Come on Opal, mare up and tackle this like Rainbow Dash would." A nearly outcrop seemed to be the best option, initial protection from the wind, and a solid wall to keep her flank to. King Sombra had brought her out here, and there was a very good chance that he'd return at some point to finish the job. She didn't intend to be there when he did so.

While the outcrop didn't seem to be too far away, getting there against the wind proved to be a significant challenge. Unfurling her wings would just cause too much air resistance, and a lot of her magic had gone into the explosion. Determination to beat Sombra drove her forward, each step a struggle, but an achievement too. With that mindset, she found herself in the shelter of a jutting ice spike at long last.

"Stay warm, find or build shelter, and wait for rescue." That was the instructions she had been given on every camping trip. For now, she pushed snow up into a wall around her little sheltered area, using magic very sparingly to keep it from crumbling again. Once she had a reasonable space to hide in, she sealed the entrance up. It didn't take too long to warm up; at least she was no longer shivering her feathers off.

What seemed like hours, and was probably minutes passed. Patience wasn't a strong point of hers in such circumstances. She knew that the advice that she had followed so far was sound, yet it felt wrong to sit there. At least if she headed away from the Crystal Mountains, there was a reasonable chance she could escape the cold. But they twisted and turned at all different points, and she didn't know the exact location she had been put in.

And so she continued to wait. The effort that Rarity had put into styling her mane gradually faded, leaving it in a flattened mess. Sombra had really done it this time; she was definitely quite a way out. Each moment ate away at her motivation to keep going, the reality of her helplessness closing in tighter and tighter. And the cold was too, far from building up snow on the outside, the wind was eating away at her shelter. Snowflake, by snowflake...

"They'll come, they'll come... You just need to stay calm..." A heavy gust of wind tore out one side of her shelter. All the heat that had accumulated around her was washed out into the sea of ice. That decided it; shelter wasn't going to be viable. South was the only way to survive, she just needed to work out where south was. If she could get to a warm enough place, her magic could then recover and dispel the storm. It wouldn't last long, but it would certainly give her a lot more time to find her way to somewhere.

She didn't get far at all before the ground began to shake. The plan to avoid King Sombra was going to be very short lived it seemed. Flying was a possibility, but she didn't have enough magic to keep the winds settled and fend off the unicorn's attack. And the latter she wouldn't be able to sustain for long if she stayed. A pickle barrel full of pickles, like Pinkie would say to lighten the mood.

At last, her recently returned enemy made his appearance. A dense black cloud that reeked of evil, rearing up a column to support the head of the king. But it wasn't his face that was made manifest, at least not entirely. The eyes were slitted, a sick blue-green instead of red. And the horn was long and straight, with both lumps and holes in its surface now. What scared Opal most however, was the very distinctive voice.

"What have we here... A little Princess, far from home and family, wandering the ice looking for her mother. How ridiculously adorable, such a tasty morsel of love." Chrysombra was what Opal came up with for a name. They had merged into... whatever it was that they called two nasty enemies combined into one monster. Still, they snatched her right out of the Crystal Empire without trouble. And now she was stuck in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to rely on for help. The situation was definitely something she needed to tread carefully around. "So, King and Queen combine. That's pretty sick, in the bad way."

Laughing wouldn't quite be an accurate description of the sound they made, even though that was what it had to be. A truly horrible mix of shrills and gurgles. "Ah, you fail to see the significant advantage that such a union brings. The power to absorb love, without requiring a form to hide in. Celestia was powerless to stop us the first time, from the dear Shining Armor's love alone. And now, we have the whole of Equestria to feed on at will!" Shining Armor. Where was he now? In the aether undoubtedly, Twilight wouldn't remember him of course... It was something to think about when she wasn't in danger of being consumed.

"Yeah, well... Why haven't you gone and consumed me then? I'll admit I don't have a great grasp on magic, but Celestia always said I had a lot of potential I just didn't feel like using." Asking questions and taunting was building up her confidence again. "Or am I too powerful for you? Is trying to touch me going to burn? Some super-villain you two make!" Chrysombra hissed at her with a dark anger, but her idea had worked. Getting them mad would distract from precise thinking, and that was exactly what would save her.

"You, we need alive. As the youngest Princess, you are open to a new way of life. Every King and Queen needs somepony to carry on their legacy, after all." That hadn't occurred to her. Become corrupted, until she was the Princess of the dark Crystal Changelings, or whatever race they had made together. No, Rarity and Rainbow Dash were her parents. Nothing, and nopony would ever change that.

"Mind if I interrupt?" Rainbow Dash burst through the cloud at that moment, catching Opal in her hooves as she charged forward. "You know, that's just not cool. I mean, aren't you having changeling babies with yourself?" Both landed down beside Rarity, who had taken the brief window of opportunity to create an ice shield against any initial attacks. There was no time for happy reunions unfortunately.

"Dash! Get back to the Crystal Empire; get everypony, and the Elements of Harmony! Opal and I will delay, it, until Celestia arrives with help" Chrysombra laughed again, maintaining their distance for the moment. Dash was hesitant to leave her mare and older filly out in the cold, but Rarity was right. They couldn't face this threat alone.