Starting Over 2: Returning Home

Spectra, Rainbow and her friends were all on the way to The Crystal Empire on a train. Rainbow Dash was in a car with her friends, while Spectra requested to be alone in another car. He was practising controlling Dark-Red. He couldn't figure out a way to control him, but he found something out at least. Dark-Red doesn't come out just because Rainbow's hurt. Dark-Red comes out whenever Spectra is really angry. So, Spectra could become Dark-Red if anypony walked up to him and made him mad.

The point of practising was so when he was Dark-Red, he could get out of it. So far, he had no luck. He tried making himself angry, then getting control of Dark-Red and making him turn back to normal. He also found out another wicked fact. Dark-Red has super strength, super speed, fast reflexes and magic! Spectra found this out when he grew an orb of dark red coloured energy at the wall. He got himself angry by thinking of his foster parents, Double Edge and Chrysalis. He turned into Dark-Red and tried controlling his actions. He failed each time. When Dark-Red sees no threat, he retreats back inside of Spectra, ready to attack.

Rainbow was looking out the window of the car, listening to her friends conversations. She didn't hear much until Twilight shoved her in the side. Rainbow turned to her friend with an annoyed look on her face.

"What, Twilight?"

Twilight giggled. "Sorry to distract you from your sight seeing."

Rainbow smiled and laughed. "Okay, what is it Twilight?"

"You need to listen to this. It's important information."

Rainbow nodded and flew next to AJ, who was on the floor with everypony else. Twilight stood in front of the group.

"Princess Celestia tells me that an evil unicorn king of The Crystal Empire ruled the empire with an iron hoof. Until the princess' banished him into the ice using The Elements Of Harmony. Princess Celestia tells me that the king was called King Sombra, and that he might be coming back to take control of the empire again, after it was lost for 1000 years."

Everypony nodded. Rainbow had one question though.

"Well, where are the elements? If we need to stop him don't we need the elements?"

Twilight shook her head. "I've figured out two ways we can stop him. Princess Celestia says we need to find the Crystal Heart, and then the empire will flourish with the happiness of the Crystal Ponies."

Rainbow nods. "What's the second way?"

Twilight grows a sad look and turns her head towards the car that Spectra was in.

"If we can't find the Heart, we may need to use Dark-Red again."

Rainbow looked shocked and flew right up to Twilights face with a furious look in her eyes.

"My soon-to-be husband is NOT YOUR WEAPON!"

Twilight staggers back and falls over. Rainbow flies back to her window and rests her head on her hoof, which was propped up against the window. Twilight gets up and sighs. Then a thought struck Twilight.

"How did Spectra even get Dark-Red in the first place?"

Rainbow answers without turning her head towards the unicorn.

"I don't know. I'm thankful he had it in the castle, otherwise we mightn't be here."

Twilight puts a hoof to her chin and looks at the door to Spectra's car. She starts walking up to it, before Rainbow flies in front of her.

"Do you really wanna go in there when he's trying to control Dark-Red?"

Twilight remembered the last time she denied a warning, and turned back around and sat on her seat.

-----The Crystal Empire, The Next Day-----

The train stopped in the middle of nowhere, and there was a blizzard going on. When everypony stepped off, they looked around for the great empire. All they could see was snow, snow and more snow. Twilight started walking off into a direction, and eventually everypony followed. They were walking for 3 minutes until they spotted a figure. He was wearing a mask of some sort and a scarf. He pulled off the mask and revealed his face. He was a white unicorn with a blue mane and tail. His cutie mark was a shield with what looked to be Twilights cutie mark in the middle.

"Twily!"

Twilight jumped forward and hugged the unicorn.

"Shinning Armour! Boy, are we glad to see you!"

(Authors Note: I am not quoting the show on purpose. If I do, sorry.)

Shinning Armour looked happy at first, but then he looked terrified.

"We have to get to the empire. Something's trying to get in."

Spectra stepped forward. "What's trying to get in?"

Shinning looked at Spectra confused at first, and was probably going to ask who he is, but his face grew a shocked expression.

"Behind you!"

Spectra whirled around to see a giant cloud of black smoke. It was charging after everypony. Shinning turned around.

"We need to go! Now!"

Everypony ran away from the cloud, following Shinning. The cloud shot out bolts of energy at everypony, one of them got Shinning's horn. It grew black crystals. They were approaching a wall of energy, trying to out run the cloud. Shinning turned his head and saw the cloud gaining.

"We'll never make it!"

Spectra started thinking about all the things that make him angry.

'Foster Parents, Chrysalis, Double Edg-aaaaaahhhh!'

Spectra's eyes instantly glowed dark red.

"EVERYPONY RUN AHEAD! I'LL HOLD HIM OFF!'

Dark-Red turned around and slammed his hooves into the ground. A dark red wall of energy appeared in front of him, stopping the cloud in it's tracks. Dark-Red glared at the cloud, a face of a unicorn appeared inside, looking at Dark-Red with hatred. Dark-Red chuckled.

"I hope I get to smash you in later!"

Dark-Red's eyes flickered back to their normal blood red colour. Spectra turned around and made a mad dash for the wall. Dark-Red's wall wouldn't hold forever. It soon fell and the cloud charged forward but missed Spectra by mere inches. Spectra went through and landed on some grass. He looked up to see Rainbow Dash looking down at him with a smile. Spectra winked at her.

"It'll take more then a pile of air pollution to stop me."

Rainbow offered Spectra her hoof, which he grabbed and used to help himself up. Spectra looked ahead to see a giant castle made of crystals. He stared in awe for a few seconds, before Shinning came up to him.

"I take it you like what you see?"

Spectra nods with his jaw hanging. Shinning chuckles.

"Didn't catch your name, buddy?"

Spectra turned his head to Shinning.

"Names Spectra Speed, mate."

Shinning nodded. "I am Shinning Armour."

Shinning turns to the city ahead.

"I welcome you all, to The Crystal Empire!"

The ponies all "Oooh"d. Twilight turns to Shinning and looks at his horn.

"Shinning! Your horn!"

Shinning raised a hoof and touched his horn, which sparked with black electricity. He swipes his hoof away.

"Ah, well. I didn't need it that badly. Come with me. I'll take you to Cadance at the castle."

The group followed Shinning through the city. Shinning turned his head to Spectra.

"How did you hold that thing off?"

Spectra shrugs. "Luna kissed me and gave me some weird 'power'. Turns out my power is anger."

Shinning laughs and nods. "Cadance gave me the power to increase my brain capacity."

Spectra nods with his lower lip ticking out. "Not bad."

Shinning winks at Spectra. Rainbow walked next to Spectra. She had an angry look on her face.

"You never told me you kissed Luna!"

Spectra shakes his head. "No. That's because she kissed me. I didn't kiss her. I swear, Rainbow. I would never kiss another mare besides you."

Rainbow grew a smile and kissed Spectra on the cheek.

They arrive at the castle within a short time. Shinning opens the door and lets everypony through and into the throne room. On the throne was a pink coated alicorn with pink-themed mane and tail. She looked weak and frail, though. Shinning ran up to her and gave her a kiss.

"Oh, hey Shinning. I see you brought Twilight and her friends. It's so nice to see you all again."

She looked over to Spectra, then to Rainbow. She giggled very softly. Spectra looked terrified.

"What? Do I have lettuce in my teeth or something?"

Cadance smiles warmly. "No. You two love each other so much. It's just nice to see such a wonderful couple."

Rainbow walked up to Spectra and gave him a hug. "Thank you, princess."

The princess nods, but then she looked like she was in pain. Twilight was going forward to help her, but Shinning stuck out his hoof to stop her. They watched as a beam of magic escaped Cadance's horn, shooting up into the sky. Cadance fell limp on the throne.

"I need to keep the shield up. Otherwise King Sombra will get in."

Spectra remembered back to when he was outside the shield, and when he saw the unicorn's face.

"That cloud is King Sombra?"

Cadance nodded. "Yes. If we don't stop him soon, my spell will fail, and he will get control of the empire. Using the Crystal Ponies as slaves, as well as making the empire shine hatred and darkness through Equestria."

Everypony looked at each other, trying to find a plan. Twilight stepped forward.

"The library! We can go and find a book on The Crystal Empire's history! Don't worry, princess! We will find the Crystal Heart and save the empire!"

Everypony nodded, so did Cadance. "Good luck, everypony."

The group ran out to find a library. Spectra was walking down the street when he noticed all the Crystal Ponies.

"The don't look so happy, do they?"

Rainbow turned to the ponies and gave a sad look.

"No, I guess being lost for 1000 years must be depressing."

The group soon found the library and entered.

-----Crystal Library, 30 Minutes Later-----

After searching for ages, Twilight finally finds the book that could solve their problems.

"It says here that the Crystal Ponies host a thing called The Crystal Fair. By using the power of their happiness, they fuel the Crystal Heart and spread love and happiness throughout Equestria!"

Spectra nods. "Alright, then! Twilight, go find this Crystal Heart. The rest of us, set up the Crystal Fair! We don;t have long so move it!"

Everypony starts running around, gathering supplies. Rainbow walks up to Spectra and whispers in his ear.

"I like it when you take charge like that."

She kisses him and winks, making Spectra blush redder then Dark-Red's eyes.

-----Some Time Later...-----

Everything was in order. The fair was set up, the Crystal Ponies were happy. All was going well.

Except that Twilight hadn't returned with the heart.

The Crystal Ponies were growing curious as to what was under the tarp underneath the castle. Rarity had made a faux heart to fool them until they found the real heart and put it in it's place. There was a huge crowd of ponies around the heart. Spectra looked around frantically, trying to think of something. That's when a brilliant idea struck him. He ran for the castle and went inside to grab his portable turntable.

'I knew I would need you.'

Spectra ran back outside and sat on his flanks and placed "Wubsy" as he called the turntable, in front of him. He starts playing out some  notes, getting the ponies attention.

"I'm not a fan of puppeteers but I've a nagging fear

someone else is pulling at the strings

Something terrible is going down through the entire town

wreaking anarchy and all it brings

I can't sit idly, no, I can't move at all

I curse the name, the one behind it all...

Discord, I'm howlin' at the moon

And sleepin' in the middle of a summer afternoon

Discord, whatever did we do

To make you take our world away?

Discord, are we your prey alone,

Or are we just a stepping stone for taking back the throne?

Discord, we won't take it anymore

So take your tyranny away!

I'm fine with changing status quo, but not in letting go

Now the world is being torn apart

A terrible catastrophe played by your symphony,

what a terrifying work of art!

Everypony clapped and walked off, Rarity and Applejack, who were holding the ponies off earlier, walked up to Spectra.

"Ya wrote a song about Discord? Why"

Spectra shrugs. "Discord was pretty cool, all he wanted to do was to have fun. Besides, you can't have harmony without chaos."

'I never knew somepony thought of me like that. Thank you, Spectra'

'No problem, mate.'

AJ shook her head. "He was a jerk! And-"

"AJ, do you really want to argue with a pony whose special talent is arguing?"

AJ looked to his flank, then back at his face, then grumbled and walked off.

Spectra smiled and nodded.

Suddenly, lighting and thunder filled the area. Spectra looked up to see that the shield was failing, and fast. Sombra was on the other side, trying to smash down the barrier.

"Oh, buck."

Sombra smashed through the barrier and made his way up to the top of the castle. Spectra looks up to see Spike carrying a heart shaped crystal. Spike kept dodging Sombra's attacks, but eventually he dropped the heart. Sombra flew in faster and faster, trying to get the heart. Then what Spectra saw next would forever bewilder him. He saw Cadance flying at a very fast speed towards the heart. She grabbed it and Spike. She flew down to where Spectra was and placed the real heart in place of the faux heart.

Cadance looked out towards all the ponies.

"Mares, and Gentlecolts! Make your happiness shine! Let Equestria see you live and prosper! Tell the land, that you have returned!"

The road Spectra was sitting on glowed, so he grabbed his turntable and got the buck off there. What he saw next shocked him. He saw Sombra break into a bazillion pieces. Spectra has killed somepony before, Chrysalis. But that was just brutal! They atomized him! Twilight and the rest of the ponies were up on the balcony above him, crystal-fied. Spectra looked down to see that he too, was crystal-fied. His coat was now bright blue, his eyes had hexagons in them and were bright red coloured. His normal shaggy mane was now all neat and slick. (His hair looks like Draco Malfoy's)

He jumped up and down in excitement.

"We beat him! We beat him! Yeah!"

Rainbow Dash and the rest of her friends ran down and met Spectra. Rainbow and Spectra kissed and rejoiced in happiness. They had just saved an entire empire, and Equestria.

-----Canterlot, Outside The Royal Castle-----

Spectra and the rest of the group just got home, and they were waiting for Twilight to come back from telling Celestia about her test. Luna came up to Spectra and gave him a hug, Spectra returned the gesture.

"Well? Did you save the Crystal Empire?"

Spectra grins. "Nope. Spike did. We helped."

Luna smiles and nods. "Glad to see you know when to be honest."

Spectra smiles.

Luna walks up to the doors and opens them.

"See you tonight, Spectra?"

Spectra grins. "Sure, Luna."

Luna turns her head and smiles. She turns back and walks inside.

Twilight comes bouncing out of the castle.

"I passed!"

Everypony cheered and got onto the train home. Spectra sits next to Rainbow and gives her a quick kiss.

"Were getting married soon, ya know?"

Rainbow nodded and smiles.

"I can't wait to be Mrs.Rainbow Speed."

Spectra smiles and rested his head in Rainbow's shoulder.

They would soon be husband and wife. And they couldn't be happier.