Chapters Chapter 4: The Coronation
Twilight and friends departed the train at the Crystal Empire, eventually they reached the city where a crowd of Crystal Ponies were gathered at the castle.
“Oh no, the coronation is starting an hour early!” Twilight gasped “If King Sombra does reveal himself there’s nothing we can do!”
“Fillies and Gentlecolts!” Spike announced from the castle balcony “May I present to you: Princess Cadence and Shining Armor!”
Cadence and Shining Armor walked out to the balcony, not only were they in crystal form but were dressed for the occasion. Shining Armor was wearing his wedding suit with the Crystal Empire emblem on the front of it and Cadence was wearing a long blue dress and the Traditional Royal Headdress.
An elderly crystal pony wearing a white robe followed them out
“1 month ago today, Princess Cadence, with the help of Spike, the dragon, saved the Crystal Empire from the clutches of the evil King Sombra! Today Cadence and her husband, Shining Armor will be crowned Prince and Princess of the Crystal Empire!” the priest announced “Also, Spike will be knighted by the new prince due to his heroic efforts of bringing the Crystal Heart to us in the nick of time!”
“Ooooh this is so exciting, I love coronations!” Pinkie exclaimed
“If Twilight is right, this might be the last coronation we’ll ever see” Luna worried.
“And so, by the power invested in me by the previous Crystal Queen, I hereby crown Cadence, Princess Cadence of the Crystal Emp-”
“Stop!” a voice yelled from inside the castle
“Uh oh!” Twilight gasped
“Do not coronate these ponies” Trixie cried as she walked onto the balcony. “In the name of King Sombra, I, The Great and Powerful Trixie, will not allow these two to not be given such power for their actions!”
“What actions?” Cadence asked
“For what you’ve done to me!” a deep, burly voice echoed from seemingly nowhere
Trixie’s amulet started to glow as it projected the image of King Sombra once again, but when it stopped glowing, Sombra was still there.
Trixie fainted from releasing so much energy through the amulet
“I fooled that mare into believing I was a good pony who just wanted his empire back, and she actually believed me!” Sombra bragged
The Crystal Ponies knelt down to activate the Crystal Heart but Sombra’s horn started glowing, his black aura surrounded the heart and it shattered to pieces.
All the Crystal Ponies immediately lost their crystal glow and they went into their depressed state.
Sombra laughed, “The Crystal Empire is mine once more!”
Cadence flew down to the ground and carried Shining Armor with her.
As soon as Cadence landed her wings disappeared and she turned smaller and younger, like how she was when she was Twilight’s foal sitter. She was now just a normal unicorn.
Sombra held up a black box with the Crystal Heart engraved on top of it “These are your wings, if you want them you have to come get them”
Rainbow Dash flew straight up to Sombra but the box vanished and Sombra laughed “I said Cadence had to come and get them not one of her little friends”
“And how’s she supposed to get them when she can’t even get up here? You locked all the castle doors and she can’t fly”
“Oh, did I? Oh well” Sombra went back inside as his dark crystals began to surround the castle walls and the sky turned brown.
The Mane 6, along with Spike, Luna, Shining Armor and Cadence left the Crystal Empire to go to Canterlot. Sombra had taken the Elements of Harmony from the ponies so they couldn’t stop him with them.
When the reached the train station, Cadence looked back at the Empire, tears in her eyes
“The Crystal Empire…..has fallen.”
Chapter 5: The Crystal Amulet
"This is really really bad!" Twilight panicked on the train as the clear blue skies in the Crystal Mountains turned to a dark, miserable brown.
"We need to make sure Sombra does not leave the mountains or else he may take over all of Equestria" Luna paced along the carriage which was specifically made to carry royalty and their companions.
The panic was stopped by a blinding bright purple light in the carriage. After it passes, somepony who nopony expected to see emerged, Trixie.
"You!" Cadence pounced at Trixie and pinned her to the ground, showing a very out of character rage.
"This is all happening because of you!" Twilight was not happy at all to see Trixie.
"I know, I'm sorry, this was all because of this stupid Alicorn Amulet!" Trixie levitated her amulet off and threw it to the ground, the gem had already shattered after Sombra's escape.
"The Alicorn Amulet!?" Cadence gasped "That's why this is all happening, Sombra sealed some of his magic inside this and when some fool puts it on he becomes stronger until he can fully possess the wearer and free himself from the amulet."
"My sister knows of an ancient artifact that can be used to defeat Sombra without using the Crystal Heart" Luna explained "If we can go to Canterlot and get the information we need from her we can defeat Sombra once and for all"
As the train exited the mountain range it stopped in Vanhoover. A shadowy figure was following behind the train to Canterlot, who could it be?
Eventually the train arrived in Canterlot where Sombra's return was not even heard of. The ponies exited the train and headed for the castle, hastily followed by the shadow.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight cried as she and her friends ran into the throne room "King Sombra's back! He escaped through the Alicorn Amulet and-" Twilight was cut off by Celestia
"I am aware of this" Celestia began "The ancient artifact which Luna may have told you about that will defeat Sombra is the Alicorn Amulet itself!"
Cadence was confused "I thought it was the-" Once again, she was cut off by Celestia
"Alicorn Amulet! Do you have it?" Celestia impatiently asked?
"Yes" Trixie levitated the broken amulet to the Princess, who took over and levitated it herself
Only Luna noticed the black aura on Celestia's horn
"So, how does the amulet stop Sombra?" Twilight asked
Celestia turned her back to the ponies as she tried to repair the gem "The magic should trap Sombra inside the amulet for another 1,000 years"
Everypony stayed silent as Luna crept up behind her "sister", knowing she must have a reason.
Luna focused her magic and used a truth spell on the larger alicorn. A black aura surrounded the monarch as her pure white coat slowly turned black and she became more muscular
"Sombra!" Shining Armor growled at the dark stallion, he was posing as Celestia to trick the ponies into giving him the Amulet, and it sort of worked!
"Ha ha ha!" Sombra laughed "Thanks for the Amulet" He dissapeared in a shadowy glow as the real Celestia emerged from the shadows, only she wasn't walking. She was standing completely still
"Sombra has crystallised her!" Luna gasped as she ran to her sister and tapped her on her side, her body was as hard as a crystal. Celestia was now nothing more than a crystal statue.
Twilight levitated a book that was beside the princess over to her and read the title "Ancient History of the Crystal Empire, Volume 2: Protection
"The Crystal Amulet was used as a substitute for the Crystal Heart when it wasn't available. It was simple to make, and there have been many different amulets created. The ingredients are: A shard of the Crystal Heart, 300g of Magic Crystal Dust and the blessing of the Crystal Princess" Twilight read out the information.
"Well that seems easy enough, the heart is in pieces anyway, we have the Crystal Princess right here, but where can we get Magic Crystal Dust?" Applejack wondered.
"It's Simple" Luna began "We need to return of the Crystal Empire!"
Return to the Crystal Empire
Chapter 6: Return to the Crystal Empire
"Last Stop! Vanhoover!"
"That's weird" Spike wondered as he and the rest of the "King Sombra Resistance Team" left the train "The train should go on to the Crystal Empire"
"You're right" The conducter walked up to the ponies. "But we got a message from Vanhoover station saying the tracks in the Crystal Mountains mysteriously dissapeared and were replaced with buffers".
"I guess we'll have to hoof it" Twilight sighed "Getting back to the empire is imperative!"
"Alright! Me, Fluttershy and Princess Luna will fly overhead and watch out for any danger" Rainbow Dash announced as she flew up with Luna
"Um, maybe I'll just stay down here" Fluttershy whispered, no way was she flying around in a dark, scary place full of unknown dangers "Maybe I'll wait here until you come back"
"Come now, Fluttershy" Rarity comforted her scared friend "You can walk with us but you simply can't stay here"
"Fine" Fluttershy sighed as she walked along with her friends
"Getting to the empire will take a couple hours, it's at the other side of the range" Cadence trotted in front to lead the way.
It took 4 hours of walking until the empire was in sight, the dark red glow could be seen in the distance, it looked like Sombra wasn't getting any weaker.
"There it is!" Pinkie panted, all this walking had made everypony tired, except for Spike who was riding on Twilight's back.
"Look out!" Luna yelled down as a red beam of magic shot past the team, luckily they all ducked out of the way before anyone was hurt by it. A pony made of pure shadow emerged from the blizzard.
"One of Sombra's guards!" Shining Armor cried.
Cadence shot the shadow pony with her magic, he vaporized immediately.
"So we don't get caught, we should all disguise ourselves as Crystal Ponies" Luna suggested
Cadence transformed the whole group, even Spike, into depressed Crystal Ponies.
"Cool!" Pinkie was amazed
"Can't we be a bit more sparkly?" Rarity complained
"Don't you think Sombra would be suspicious if he saw a group of happy Crystal Ponies?" Rainbow replied
"True" Rarity admitted as the group continued walking.
Eventually they entered the once great empire. They were greeted by a large troop of Shadow Guards who escorted them to the Castle.
"Your majesty" One of the guards addressed their king as they brought the 10 ponies into the throne room "We caught these ponies entering the city a while ago, we don't know where they came from or why they are coming to the city."
"Intresting." Sombra didn't recognise these ponies "Where did you come from?"
Cadence spoke up "We come from a small village on Mount. Snowflake, we are mostly the only adults in the village and have left our foals in the care of one elderly mare. We came to make sure all was well when we saw that the city was under your control"
Sombra raised an eyebrow "And why must you all be here and not just sent this stallion here" He pointed a hoof at the disguised Shining Armor "He seems able to brave these weather conditions and get here from such a far away part of the mountain range."
"Safety in numbers?" Cadence replied
Sombra shot a truth spell at the group and exposed them all as the ponies they really were. "Guards! Arrest these ponies and throw them in the dungeon, except for the dragon and the Crystal Princess. I want to keep an eye on them!"
The group was seperated as most of them were taken to the dungeon, leaving only Spike and Cadence in the throne room.
"How stupid do you think I am?" He began "Unlike you, I have some knowledge of this entire mountain range. There is no village on Mount. Snowflake and even if there was every single Crystal Pony in Equestria has been forced to come to the city, so that I can keep an eye on them all!"
Sombra conjoured up a cage to keep his prisoners in and he left the throne room to patrol his empire for any more intruders.
"Now what are we gonna do?" Cadence whimpered
Spike looked around looking for a way out, he tried burning the bars of the cage, but they were fireproof.
Cadence noticed something in the distance, a bookshelf. She used a magnification spell to read the names of the book. After a minute she found something of intrest: "Ancient History of the Crystal Empire, Volume 3: Rulers and their History
Cadence levitated it over to her and opened the section on King Sombra "This should be interesting!".
Chapter 7: King Sombra's History
Prince Shadow Blaze was the young prince of the Crystal Empire and heir to the throne, he would one day become the king!
He lived in the castle in the great city, he was born with a rare genetic condition that made him look nothing like his parents, he was born with red eyes, a black coat and a darker black mane. His Cutie Mark was a dark purple crown, signifying his place in the royal family and the fact that he was so different in his family.
One day he was practicing his magic, he was levitating an old crystal ball, and he was doing very good.
"Excellent work, Shadow!" His father, King Arctic Ice, commended. "You've been improving a lot at your magic."
"Thank you, father" Shadow bowed to his father.
"I think It's time you started working on a new type of magic" The king levitated a black spell book out of a nearby bookcase and gave it to his son.
Shadow read the title "Dark Magic, A Beginner's Guide" Shadow was confused "Why Dark Magic? Isn't that dangerous, Ms Amber Leaf told us in school that-" Shadow was cut off by his father.
"It's only dangerous if you don't use it correctly, that's why I'm giving you this book" Arctic opened the book on the first page and showed his son how to activate dark magic.
The king lit his unicorn horn, the usual bright blue aura got darker and darker until it was completely black, a trail of purple smoke poured from the kings eyes as they began to glow green.
This scared the young prince. "Father, what's happening to you!?"
Arctic's horn stopped glowing and his eyes went back to normal, he panted heavily.
Shadow still looked worried.
"Dark Magic takes a lot out of you, only use it when you need to." Arctic warned his son.
Shadow lit his horn, his aura was a dark red, to match his eyes, it didn't take as much time as his father's did to turn black. The colt levitated off the ground as his eyes turned green and began to pour out smoke.
Arctic gasped, how was he able to levitate!?
A beam of dark magic zapped a crystal ornament and it turned black then shattered.
"Son! What are you doing!?" The king yelled!
Shadow had lost control, the dark magic was overpowering him. There was something about him that gave the dark magic strength.
Arctic Ice shot his son with a beam of his own magic. Shadow's horn stopped glowing and he fell to the ground.
"Are you ok!?" Arctic levitated his son off the ground and onto his hooves.
"Wh-What happened?" Shadow asked, dazed.
Arctic's face turned grim "You can't use dark magic anymore, It's too dangerous."
"What? Why?" Shadow had no recollection of the events that had just passed.
"A colt your age can't control it properly" The king lied, he didn't want his son thinking he was turning into a monster.
"Oh, ok" Shadow turned and left his father alone in the throne room.
A few years later
Prince Shadow Blaze was now older, he was almost a fully grown stallion. He still hadn't used Dark Magic since his first attempt, his father would never let him.
To prepare for being king, he spent a lot of time with his mother, Queen Winter Breeze, since she had more control over the empire than Arctic Ice did.
He still practiced magic, he was getting better at it. And most of the citizens of the Crystal Empire were excited for the day he would step out to the castle balcony and be crowned king.
As Shadow was practicing a special spell that would allow him to sprout artificial wings and fly temporarily for a short amount of time, the royal butler arrived with a bag containing the prince's new robe.
"My Prince, this robe is to be worn by you on your Coronation Day and for the rest of your rule over the Crystal Empire." The butler explained. He levitated a red and white robe out of the bag to show the future king.
Shadow took the robe and tried it on, it fit perfectly and was quite comfortable.
"Winter! Shadow!" Arctic Ice galloped into the throne room to his family.
"The Abominable Snow-Ponies! They're outside the city, The Crystal Heart can't hold them off any longer, we have to fend them off ourselves!"
Shadow threw off his robe and levitated his black suit of armor onto him. The Royal Family galloped through the city to the snowy mountain range outside to face the Crystal Empire's worst enemies. Abominable Snow-Ponies were ponies made from snow and ice, it was a disease of sorts that only the Crystal Heart can cure, The Crystal Ponies wouldn't mind helping them, but the Snow-Ponies want the Crystal Heart all for themselves, so they attempt to invade the city frequently, always being defeated by the royal family, their population was quite small, all 14 Snow-Ponies in existence were lined up outside the city, ready for battle.
When the 3 Crystal Unicorns reached them, the Snow-Ponies all lunged at the monarchs, leaving Shadow alone for an unknown reason, perhaps his appearence frightened them?
Shadow blasted the attackers off his parents with a bolt of his magic, the family chased the Snow-Ponies further away from the Empire, and deeper into the cold, dark mountain range.
Shadow was next to be attacked, he used his powerful magic to blast all of the Snow-Ponies away from him.
"They're getting stronger!" Arctic began. "If we don't keep them away from the empire who knows what could happen"
The king and queen found themselves trapped in an Ice Sphere. It was freezing inside. Snow-Ponies had the ability to simply fall apart into the snow around them and re-build anywhere that had snow, so a couple of them were able to get into the sphere with the king and queen.
Shadow's magic couldn't stop them! He thought about what he could do when his father's voice started echoing in his head
"Only use it when you need to!" Shadow knew what he meant, dark magic! Shadow knew it was hard to control at first. so as he darkened his red aura he fought with his instrinicts to keep control. When his dark magic was fully activated, the stallion's strong will kept him from plunging into a rage of eternal darkness, he blasted the snow-ponies with the strongest bolt of dark magic he could possibly conjour up! The blast was so strong, it melted the snow around him for about a mile, but the blizzard quickly covered it all up again.
The strong blast also wiped out the snow-ponies. As of that moment, Abominable Snow-Ponies were now extinct.
The Ice Sphere had melted and as the prince went to see if his parents were ok, he got the shock of his young life. His parents were lying, still and stiff. The King and Queen had frozen to death.
At that moment, Shadow stopped fighting, he forgot that if he let go, it could be the end of him. The prince snapped. A loud roar erupted from within, the prince became taller, more muscular, and his mane flowed behind him as if it were pure shadow. The Dark Magic had taken over the prince completely, Shadow Blaze was gone.
He found and old wagon buried in the snow and pulled the lifeless corpses that were once his parents back to the Crystal Empire.
As he entered the city, a crowd of crystal ponies watched, knowing, by the look of their former royal couple, what had happened.
Nobody spoke, Shadow looked angry, and if anypony were to set him off it would make him worse. The prince entered the castle, carrying his dead parents on his back.
About 1 hour later, Shadow Blaze came out to the balcony of the Crystal Empire, bringing a smile to the Crystal Ponies' faces. The day they had all waited for was here, Shadow Blaze was about to become their king, but not in the way they imagined.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts!" The prince announced, he had recieved a new, much deeper voice, with his new transformation. "As you know, King Arctic Ice and Queen Winter Breeze passed away in their battle with the Abominable Snow-Ponies, meaning, as their son, I must step up as your new king!" The stallion produced a silver crown, much different than his father's crown. It resembled a silver headband. He placed it on his head.
"From this day forth, I shall not be known as King Shadow Blaze, as you thought I might be, but a newer name I have chosen for myself, you are all required to now call me: King Sombra!"
Chapter 8: The Great Escape
Cadence closed the book and levitated it back to the bookcase before anyone noticed it was gone. She had spent a while reading about King Sombra's history, who would've thought he was once a good pony corrupted by the darkness within him.
"Cadence, you've been reading for nearly an hour!" Spike said "Did you find anything helpful."
Cadence sighed "Nothing that could help us defeat Sombra. Just the fact that he was once a good pony. We still need the Crystal Amulet to help us."
A shadow guard entered the throne room and walked straight to the cage holding the two prisoners.
"What do you want?" Cadence flared.
"I want to help" A sparkly flash transformed the dark shadowy pony into a white, muscular stallion.
"Lietenant Onyx!" Cadence gasped. "How are you not a prisoner?"
"I 'surrendered' to Sombra and he let me join his guards. Secretly I knew you would return, I knew about the Crystal Amulet, so if you were to return and Sombra caught you, I could be of some help." The guard unlocked the cage and set the two prisoners free.
"I've already released the rest of your team. Follow me and I'll show you where they're hidden."
Onyx led Spike and Cadence through the castle, until they reached an old library which didn't look like it had been used since the empire returned.
Onyx opened a hidden door in a bookcase and led his friends through the old catacombs of the castle. They soon reached a spacious cave where Twilight, the elements, Luna, Shining Armor and Trixie were waiting.
"Spike!" Twilight hugged the baby dragon.
"Cadence!" Shining Armor and Cadence shared a kiss after being reunited.
"We've already gathered the Crystal Dust and the shard from the Crystal Heart" Trixie announced.
"Great!" Cadence smiled.
"Now all we need is your blessing on them" Shining Armor continued
Cadence lit her horn. The light blue aura englufed the mixture of the shard and the blue crystal dust. The aura got brighter and brighter until the objects it was holding dissapeared in the light. When the aura dissapeared a tiny blue crystal heart appeared, held in a gold necklace.
"We did it!" Applejack gasped
"We did it! We're gonna kick Sombra's flank!" Rainbow Dash announced excitedly.
"Wait!" Cadence shushed everypony "The Crystal Amulet needs a bearer, and It'll only let somepony who's intentions are pure take it on."
Trixie sighed "I started this whole mess, so I'm gonna stop it!" The blue unicorn levitated the amulet over to her and put it on. A surge of power went through her, like when she put on the Alicorn Amulet, but it felt even better.
The crystal in it began glowing and a blue beam shot out of it and dissapeared.
"I wonder what that was" Luna pondered. Suddenly her horn started glowing.
"Princess! What's happening to your horn?" Fluttershy asked
"My sister, I sense that whatever the amulet did, it turned her back to normal. I must go to see me sister right away!" Luna teleported away before anypony could even take in what she had said.
"I guess this is it girls" Twilight began. "The battle for the Crystal Empire begins now"
And with that, the team, now short Luna, left the cave to confront Sombra once and for all.
Chapter 9: The Final Battle
Sombra paced in his throne room, a small group of his guards were there with him.
"How could they have escaped?" The king pondered "That cage was magic and fireproof. There was absolutely no possible way they could have escaped on their own. Someone helped them. All of you bumbling fools have keys to the cage. One of you let them out. Are all 7 of the key holders here?"
"No, your majesty, Onyx, the new recruit, is missing."
"Onyx!" Sombra growled, he never trusted that stallion, he never should have let him join the guards.
"Find him!" The unicorn demanded. "Bring him back to me so he can be punished for what he has done!"
Sombra noticed a blue glow in the corner of his eyes. He turned around to look out his window to see the most shocking sight he had ever seen since he overpowered Prince Shadow Blaze and took over his body. There, in the street below. The fools whom he had locked away were out fighting his guards, the mare he had tricked intro setting him free was wearing something on her neck. No, it couldn't be. It wasn't possible. The Crystal Amulet?
Trixie was using the amulet to convert the guards back into Crystal Guards. She had already gone through about half of the troop attacking them.
"Forget Onyx! All of you get out there and put a stop to this!" Sombra screamed. Now he was mad, how dare these ponies try to defeat him.
Outside, the battle was getting more intense as more and more guards showed up.
"Trixie, use the amulet to crystallise them! Converting them all is taking too long, and if we beat Sombra they'll all go back to normal anyway!" Cadence commanded.
Trixie built up the magic in her amulet and sent out a powerful wave, turning all the shadow guards in the empire into crystal statues.
Sombra appeared on his balcony and began shooting his dark magic down at the group, he was far more powerful than his guards!
Trixie galloped off into the castle and climbed up the stairs leading to the throne room.
With all his guards turned into statues, Sombra had put a curse on the castle. Everypony inside were now his mindless puppets. Trixie ran into some and tried to break the spell, but the spell was too powerful! Trixie kept running, trying to avoid them. But one of them grabbed her by the hooves and dragged her down to stairs.
Outside, the rest of the team tried to keep Sombra distracted while Trixie was making her way up to him.
"Trixie should be up there by now, I hope she's ok" Twilight said, shooting her magic beams at the tyrant king.
"Don't worry Twiley" Shining Armor replied "Trixie seems like the kind of mare who'd never give up on anyone, she'll keep trying no matter what, hopefully"
Twilight smiled at her brother, even in a situation like this he never failed to calm her down. "I love you, Shiny"
"I love you too, Twiley" The two siblings hugged, hoping this wouldn't be the end for the two of them.
"Hey! Hate to interupt the family moment, but Sombra's kind fo winning, so could you two quit being all mushy and help us?" Rainbow Dash yelled.
In the castle, Trixie was at the mercy of Sombra's minions. They were closing in just as the amulet started glowing all by itself. Another wave of energy froze all the mind zombies into crystal statues and Trixie bolted for the throne room.
She entered the room, Sombra was out on the balcony, he hadn't noticed she had arrived.
"Sombra!" Trixie yelled. The unicorn king turned around.
"Ah, Trixie!" Sombra grinned evily. "Have you decided to join me and defeat these fools?"
Trixie grew angry "These fools.... are my friends!" Trixie replied. This whole adventure had made her see that even after how she had treated Twilight and her friends, they still saw her as a good pony who deserved a second chance. They truly were Trixie's friends.
While thinking about this, Trixie didn't notice Sombra snatch her amulet and run with it.
"Hey! Give that back" Trixie used a magic cancelling spell, causing Sombra to drop the amulet right at the edge of the balcony, even the slightest movement of the artifact could cause it to fall, dooming Equestria forever.
Trixie ran to grab it but was pulled back by Sombra's magic. She was just inches away from grabbing it but Sombra's grip was strong. She needed to use all her magic to keep him from pulling any further, if she tried to levitate the amulet she would lose her grip.
Trixie reached out further, focusing her magic to try and weaken Sombra's grip more. Just a little bit closer.... closer.....
Trixie grabbed the amulet in her hoof and put it on. She obliderated Sombra's grip spell and forced him into a corner.
Sombra knew he was defeated. He humbly bowed his head to Trixie. "Go on, do it, you've got me. Use your amulet and finish me off."
Trixie grinned as she wrapped Sombra in a blue aura. The kings eyes began to glow as a black shadowy essence faded off of him and dissapeared into the air. Sombra was gone. In the king's place stood a slightly smaller, less muscular stallion, Shadow Blaze!
"Thank you" The young stallion smiled at Trixie.
The two unicorns raced down to the castle courtyard to meet the others. Everyone gasped when Shadow appeared, still wearing Sombra's robe, shoes and crown.
"Cadence was right! He really is a good pony on the inside." Trixie announced.
"We don't have time!" Shadow began "Sombra may be gone but his spell remains over Equestria. If we don't re-assemble the Crystal Heart and destroy his magic, he could return."
Shadow levitated the box which held Cadence's wings to the princess, who opened the box to recieve her wings and her normal height back once more.
Together, Shadow and Cadence began re-assembling the Crystal Heart using the shards that were still on the ground. After it was put back together Trixie shot it with a beam from her amulet to activate it.
The Crystal Heart began glowing. It sent out it's magical wave, shattering Sombra's black Crystals and restoring the old Crystal Empire, the multicolored aura cleared the brown sky, making it blue again.
Meanwhile, in Canterlot. Luna, Celestia and all of the citizens of the city were waiting for a sign that Sombra was defeated. The rainbow aura seeped through the sky, turning it from brown to blue and shattering any dark crystals that had spawned. The whole city erupted in cheers. Equestria was free! The two alicorn princesses hugged in celebration.
Back in the empire, The city was restored, everpony, even the normal ponies, were crystalised. Rarity was the most excited with her new coat, of course.
Trixie's amulet had expanded. The necklace which holded it was now a golden suit of armor, helmet and all. The gem which contained the powers was now a slight bit bigger and was on the chestplate. Shadow Blaze was also crystallised for the first time ever. Everypony in the empire began cheering for The Great and Powerful Trixie, the pony who had saved the Crystal Empire from King Sombra.
Epilogue
It had been a week since Sombra was defeated and turned back into Shadow Blaze. Shining Armor and Cadence's coronation was only a few days away and everypony was preparing for the event.
Rarity designed dresses for everypony, she was in charge of Cadence's mane, Shining Armor's new traditional robe and she even made a robe for Shadow Blaze to wear since he was to become a duke.
"Oh, darling! Your mane is simply divine!" Rarity complimented her own work as she finished off Cadence's mane, she weaved Crystals into it so it would resemble the Traditional Royal Headdress, but also kept it straight so it was less hard work to get extensions in and get them all just right.
Cadence's new dress was also the best dress Rarity could possibly come out with, even better than Cadence's wedding dress. The whole thing had a yellow, purple and magenta pattern, studded with Crystals at the hemlines and a gorgeous scarf.
Shining Armor's robe was recycled from the one Shadow Blaze used as King Sombra. Rarity touched it up a little so that it was much longer and trailed behind him. He wore his Royal Guard armor under it.
But the most beautiful dress of all was Trixie's, hooves down.
She wore a long purple dress studded with all sorts of gemstones. Her mane was tied in a bun with a little crystal heart clip in it. She still wore her amulet with it, being able to switch it from a suit of armor to a simple necklace at any time. Her shoes were made specially for her, carved out of the best crystals found in the catacombs of the castle. The shimmering would have ponies staring at the mare's hooves for hours.
Just as the ceremony was about to begin, Trixie stepped up to make an announcement to her new friends.
"I just want to say that this adventure has made me realise the importance of friendship. When I put on the Alicorn Amulet back at the very beginning, I done it because I wanted power. I was thinking about myself. But last week, when I put on the Crystal Amulet, I did it for a completely different reason. All you ponies showed you cared about me, you showed me that even after all the horrible things I did to you in Ponyville when I first visited, I deserved a second chance, I put on that amulet to help my friends and save the Crystal Empire. And I will always remember that moment. Thank you all for showing me the light."
As the sound of flugel horns echoed through the castle, Cadence, Shining Armor, Spike, Shadow Blaze and Trixie, stepped out to the balcony, follow by the mane 6.
"We are gathered here today, once again, to witness the coronation of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and Prince Shining Armor." The priest from the first coronation announced.
The elderly stallion turned around and approached Cadence.
"By the power invested in me by Queen Winter Breeze, I hereby coronate you Queen Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire."
He then turned to Shining Armor. "As the husband of the Queen of the Crystal Empire, I hereby crown you King Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire."
At that everypony in the Crystal Empire cheered for their new rulers as the couple waved to their new subjects.
"Now, as King of the Crystal Empire, I am obliged to reward these two ponies, and dragon, for their deeds." Shining Armor announced.
The new king turned to Spike first, the baby dragon bowed low. "Spike the Dragon. For your heroic efforts of bringing the Crystal Heart to the Crystal Faire during King Sombra's first attack, I herby knight you Sir Spike the Dragon." Shining Armor levitated an old sword and touched Spike on his shoulders with it. He was now officially knighted.
Next, he turned to Trixie. "Trixie, for becoming the bearer of the Crystal Amulet and defeating King Sombra during his second attack, and turning him back into Prince Shadow Blaze, I herby knight you Lady Trixie, The Great and Powerful, Bearer of the Crystal Amulet." Shining Armor done the same to Trixie as he had done to Spike, next he turned to Shadow Blaze.
"Prince Shadow Blaze, despite the fact you are no longer royalty, Cadence and I have agreed that we will make you a duke, so I herby.... um, what do you do when you make somepony a duke? Um, I hererby... make you Shadow Blaze, Duke of the Crystal Empire."
Later that day, The mane 6, Cadence, Shining Armor, Trixie and Shadow Blaze were all in the ballroom of the castle, celebrating the coronation.
"Well, that was some epic adventure! As usual, everything turned out great, and we didn't even have to use the Elements of Harmony!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah, We didn't even have to do anything, what was the whole point of us even being in this story?" Twilight asked.
"Don't ask me" Pinkie answered "It's my crazy weirdo depressed alter-ego who writes these, apparently."
Everyone stared at Pinkie for a few moments but burst out laughing after, it was the perfect end to a perfect adventure!
"Hey! That's cheesy! Think of something better next time" Pinkie growled
The Return of Sombra Chapter 1: The Alicorn Amulet
1000 years ago
The Crystal Empire was in the middle of a large snowstorm. Without the Crystal Heart the great city wasn't guarded from the ruthless elements of the arctic north. In the castle in the middle of the city King Sombra, a ruthless unicorn with a heart as black as night, was putting the finishing touches on a new artifact that would benefit him in the future, The Alicorn Amulet. The purpose of this great amulet was to take a fraction of the king's dark magic and preserve it until a pony curious enough to put on the amulet triggers the curse which would lead to the king's return.
King Sombra levitated a red gem and put it on the amulet. He then shot a beam of his dark magic at the gem, his magic was absorbed into the amulet.
"It is complete!" Sombra hissed to himself. Now he would be unstoppable, nopony would see him coming.
"Your majesty!" A young guard bursted into the room. He looked as if he had something urgent to tell the king.
"Yes? What is it?"
"The two princesses from the south of Equestria, they're on their way to liberate the empire and be gone with you." The guard explained
"Here!" Sombra gave the amulet to the guard "Take this amulet and hide it somewhere where the princesses will never find it. Far away from the empire".
The guard ran with the amulet as Sombra went out to his throne. Sombra looked down his seemingly endless flight of stairs which were built in front of his throne. King Sombra loved his stairs so and it would be a shame to have to leave them for a while.
Before the princesses arrived Sombra put a curse on the entire empire, if he was going down, so was the empire.
Sombra monitored his crystal pony slaves building him more stairs for no apparent reason. Rumour has it that Sombra was planning on building an endless stair case that he would send anypony who defied him to build by themselves. He watched as the slaves who had previously gone against his order walked in a circle around the palace. Sombra looks over to the horizon, seeing a small light getting closer to the empire. The princesses were almost here. After some final preperations Sombra was ready to be "defeated".
Eventually the two princesses arrived.
"King Sombra!" Princess Celestia began "You have enslaved all Crystal Ponies to do whatever you wish, that is not how a king rules his ponies. For your actions we will banish you to the ice of the arctic."
The two alicorns lit their horns King Sombra watched as the black crystals that surrounded his castle began to shatter, revealing the old blue crystals. His empire was litterally falling apart around him. King Sombra felt himself turn to shadow, knowing that his time had come he did not resist. He was sealed away in the ice of the arctic. And the Crystal Empire vanished with him, leaving the two princesses hovering over just another part of the Crystal Mountains. The alicorns returned the Canterlot, King Sombra had been defeated... or had he.....
1000 years later
Trixie was walking through the cold crystal mountains, it was cold, it was windy and it was kind of scary too. But Trixie knew about the Crystal Empire and hoped to find something that could get her rich and famous back home. Maybe a crown or a necklace. She used a spell to detect anything under the snow.
After about an hour she still found nothing, but then she noticed something under the snow. She quickly levitated the snow off the ground to reveal something she'd never seen before. A strange silver amulet with a red gem in the middle of it. Little did Trixie know that she had discovered The Alicorn Amulet!
"Hmm, Trixie has never seen this before, perhaps it is something rare and valuable, but it does look nice" She said to herself.
Without thinking she tried the amulet on. Not knowing that what she was doing could doom Equestria. When Trixie put on the amulet she felt a sudden surge of power go through her, and whats he didn't feel was something waking of inside the Amulet. This thing, was King Sombra.
Slowly, the amulet would corrupt Trixie until King Sombra had total control and could revert back to his true form. Trixie leviated the snow back to it's original place. The first thing she noticed was her magic aura was no longer purple, it was red. She guessed it was a side effect from the amulet and moved on the the Crystal Empire.
When Trixie entered the great city, which had recently been restored she was amazed, it was much bigger than Canterlot by far. There was a new Crystal Faire being held since the last once was interupted by the brief return of Sombra, but he was quickly defeated.
As Trixie made her way through the fair she noticed the Crystal Heart residing under the castle. Something inside her made her think she remembered the heart. But she couldn't figure out what.
"I just know I've seen this before, but where?" she said to herself.
She continued looking around the fair, buying herself some crystal cotton candy, which despite it's name did not contain any crystals.
"TRIXIE!?" Trixie's eyes widened, did somepony just call her name?
Something in her head told her "Hide the amulet" Trixie did a quick spell to cloak the amulet to make it look like she wasn't wearing it at all and turned around to see her arch-nemesis, Twilight Sparkle.
"What are you doing here?" Twilight asked. Being strangely friendly towards Trixie
"Trixie, I mean, I, am here to enjoy the Crystal Faire, what brings you to the Crystal Empire, Sparkle?"
"I'm helping my brother and his wife with the fair, they are the king and queen of the empire you know."
Trixie's eyes widened. If Twilight's brother was a king, that meant that Twlight was some sort of royalty as well, how dare she have a higher title than The Great and Powerful Trixie?.
"Hey, how about you come see my friends, you remember them right?" Twilight began as she walked with Trixie to where the rest of the gang were. Trixie knew this would be a long day.
A Letter From the Princess
Chapter 2: A Letter From the Princess
Trixie walked with Twilight Sparkle through the streets of the city. All her friends were grouped together by a drinks stall. Trixie could remember them all. The cyan pegasus with the rainbow mane, Rainbow Dash wasn’t it? Rarity, Trixie remembered what she had done to Rarity’s mane; Green wasn’t her colour after all. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack.
“What? Why is she here?” Asked Rainbow Dash, angered at the sight of Trixie.
“She was all alone so I thought maybe she could use our company.” Replied Twilight
“Twilight! I. Have. A. Letter. From. The princess!” Spike, Twilight’s dragon and #1 assistant had ran all the way from the palace where he was helping Princess Cadence and Shining Armor prepare for their coronation later that day. He was exhausted from the run.
Spike took the letter from behind his back and showed it to Twilight
My Dearest Twilight.
A guard of mine has reported a small outburst of King Sombra’s magic outside the Crystal Empire about an hour ago. I fear this could mean his return.
I suggest that you return to Canterlot at once to retrieve the Elements of Harmony just in case the Crystal Heart does not keep him out of the city.
I believe a train will be departing for Canterlot from the Crystal Empire in about 1 hour. If you are coming to Canterlot I suggest you take that train.
Once you have retrieved the Elements of Harmony, the faith of Equestria and the Crystal Empire is in your hooves.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
Twilight folded the letter and put it in her saddle bag.
“Sorry Trixie, but we have to leave for Canterlot in an hour to meet the Princess. I hope you don’t mind, unless you want to come?”
“Oh no, I don’t mind I will stay here, there’s just something about this place that makes me want to stay for a while. Go ahead to Canterlot.”
The ponies galloped off to the train station as Trixie headed for the palace, where a guided tour was about to take place.
In the middle of the tour, Trixie was in the throne room when her amulet began to glow. A beam from it pointed to the wall. Trixie followed it and walked to the wall. But something made her keep walking even when she got close enough to it. Trixie tried to stop and was just about to walk into the wall. She braced for impact and closed her eyes.
Eventually, she stopped walking. She opened her eyes and realised she was in some sort of little drawing room. Another beam from her amulet projected something on the table. Trixie looked closer to the projection and concluded that is was a unicorn stallion.
“Who are you?” Trixie asked
“I, Am King Sombra”
Chapter 3: Luna Joins the Fun
“King Sombra?” Trixie asked “I think I hear of you somewhere before”
Trixie tried to think of where she heard of him
“Oh Yeah! You were the evil king of the Crystal Empire 1000 years ago right?”
“Evil? Oh is that still being tossed around?” Sombra asked. “It’s all a lie, I’m no kinder a pony than you, Trixie”
I’m not that kind of a pony, Trixie thought to herself. “Wait, how do you know my name?” Trixie asked, shocked
“You are wearing my amulet aren’t you? I know everything about anypony who wears this”
Trixie was a little creeped out by the stallion, but maybe he was telling the truth about him being nicer than everypony thought.
“So, what’s so important that you feel the need to talk to me?” Trixie asked
“Well, you are the pony that found my amulet. And I think you could be the perfect mare to help my public image! Convince the crystal ponies that I am a nice stallion and maybe they’d say they would prefer me over that girly pink pony Princess Cadence” Sombra scowled at the thought of Cadence ruling his empire.
“Well, maybe I can help you” Trixie offered. “But only if you make me a princess!”
“Oh yes!” King Sombra replied “You were always going to be royalty if you went along with this.”
^^^^^^^^
“Princess Celestia! We came as soon as we got your letter” Twilight and the rest of the Mane 6 ran into Canterlot Castle to meet Princess Celestia.
“Thank you for coming Twilight, follow me please.” Princess Celestia lead the ponies to Canterlot Tower, where the Elements of Harmony were kept. Princess Luna was waiting for them.
“Luna will be accompanying you back to the Crystal Empire, she begged me to let her go for 2 hours straight.” Celestia explained. She walked over to the safe where the Elements were kept and opened it up. She then took the chest holding the elements and distributed them to the Mane 6.
“King Sombra is a very powerful enemy who can only be defeated by the Crystal Heart of the Elements of Harmony, if he is not stopped before he returns and takes over the Crystal Empire, all of Equestria could be doomed!” Luna explained.
“We’ve defeated him once, we can do it again!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed!
“Ooh ooh ooh! Can we go back now!? The coronation’s in a few hours and I wanna get some more crystal cotton candy!” Pinkie Pie screamed
“The coronation!” Twilight gasped “That’s when Sombra’s gonna reveal himself, it has to be!”
“You’re probably right, Twilight!” Rarity said “If he does anything to Cadence’s dress that I worked so hard on he’ll be getting a big dose of the Elements of Harmony!”
The 7 ponies and boarded the train to the Crystal Empire and headed back to find Sombra!
