Whispers spread throughout the Crystal Ponies in the days that passed. Every new law that was past, the Prince insisted was for their safety but things like curfews and laws regulating leaving the country were grating on the nerves of many ponies. Talk of a forceful takeover used to be a thing that only the conspiracy nuts would talk about, but soon even the most reasonable ponies were starting to consider it.

“But Equestria has only ever helped us” Crystal Petal, one of the local shop ponies pointed out to her friend.

“Yeah, sure, but right now they’re helping us right into another dictatorship.” Amber Swirls was a stubborn mare. Crystal suspected that some of her friends, or perhaps their former teacher whom Amber had a crush on had influenced her. For the rest of the day Crystal heard her customers buzzing about the Princess and Prince and Equestria. She had to ask a very charismatic, but also very persistent stallion who was pushing flyers for some Royal Resistance meeting.

“You’ll be one of the first to bow down to the new Sombra.” He told her coldly.

“Do I have to get someone to escort you ou-…” but he was gone in a blink. Odd.

Very few crystal ponies were capable of teleportation magic, due to many of the remaining Crystal Ponies being earth ponies. Few liked to talk about it, but during Sombra’s rule, many crystal unicorns and pegasi were driven out or put to death. Sombra had been threatened by them and he had kept the unicorns close by him and executed the ones he couldn’t control, while making many rules against the crystal pegasi and drove many of them out.

The Crystal Empire had been a bit behind the times on racial tolerance and still had problems with tension between unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies. Sombra exploited that when he took over. He believed that Earth Ponies were most useful for working, while unicorns like him were better, and he believed that pegasi with their cloud cities were disloyal by nature. However, his favoritism of his own race could only be rivaled with his paranoid need to be the strongest unicorn in existence. Many of the Crystal Empire’s civilian unicorns would disappear into the night and were never seen again. The crystal unicorns in his circle were not spared either, as Sombra would often get it in his head that one of them was out to get him, and of course that unfortunate pony would be gone in a week.

Many crystal ponies didn’t talk about crystal pegasi; part of their reason for avoidance was guilt, because Sombra had used the populace and their prejudices to drive the crystal pegasi away from their kingdom.

Crystal Petal went on with her day trying not to think about that strange stallion. At closing time she started on her way home. As she went on her way, she noticed another pony; a mare was passing out fliers and shouting about the ‘Equestrian takeover’.

“This kind of safety laws are the beginning of a tyrants rise to power…first they say it’s for your own good…then “for your own good” slowly becomes for MY good” she called out. As Crystal Petal passed the castle she looked up to it, to the Balcony where Prince Shining Armor had stood when they were fighting Sombra.

“I want to believe in you” she thought, “Please …please don’t make me a liar.”

*****

Shining Armor had not been this nervous since preparing for his wedding to Cadence. Of course the wedding had been more of a good king of apprehension, because deep down, he knew that Cadence loved him. Right now he couldn’t be sure what the Crystal Ponies thought of him. From what he had seen in the papers a lot lately, it was starting to feel more and more like they hated him. Everything he did was turned into an act of oppression. Not to mention there was Cadences nightmares to worry about. He had to make sure she ate enough and got sleep. Not even the time that she had to stay up for days casting a protection spell was as bad as this.

“Maybe” he thought, “if I tell them that it’s temporary they’ll calm down”

‘But then,’ a voice in the back of his head said, ‘they’ll think that getting angry and making demands works. You can’t let your own subjects control you.’ He shook his head. “That was nonsense” he told it, “the ponies of the Crystal Empire are reasonable.” He tried to remember what Princess Luna had told him. She had faith in him and he wasn’t going to let her down.

One of the Royal Attendants poked in his room.

“Your majesty, the Opal Missionary Cen-….. sir ,is everything all right?” Shining Armor looked up from the floor he had been mindlessly staring at as he paced.

“Y-yes. I am fine.” He said, “What about the Opal Missionary Center want?” he said.

“You look ill….sir.”the attendant asked.

“I’m fine. The Missionary Center?”

“O-oh, they were requesting permission for the border guard to allow them out?” Shining sighed. The entire country had been on heavy guard since a suspicious sighting weeks ago. Royal Gaurds had come to him swearing they saw a dark stallion outside the kingdom, in possession of Sombra’s horn. At first he was ready to dismiss such a ludicrous claim. There had been a lot of drinking when celebrating the announcement that the Crystal Empire would host the Games. But Cadence had been advised by the Princesses to at least look into it. So they started looking for proof that the horn had shattered.

Celestia had warned them that the horn of Sombra could still be used by a pony with ill intent. It boggled Shining Armor to think about. How desperate-and sick-would a pony have to be to use the disembodied horn of a unicorn, especially one who had done so many terrible things with it?

“…Can you ask them to wait a little? I’m sure witnessing to the Griffins can wait until we find what we’re looking for.” He said. He hoped they would find the shards soon so he could let down all the precautionary rules.

“I will. “ The stallion nodded and began to leave. Before he could turn away Shining called out.

“Wait…! One more message I need you to send. Tell the Committee that I’ll be holding a press conference tomorrow to address …er concerns that the Crystal Ponies have.”

And that was how he got himself into that mess. Now he stood before his citizens faced with many members of the press waiting to hear what he had to say. Candence’s warning the previous night rung in his mind.

“They’re scared, Shining. Sombra did a lot of horrible things to them. It’s not that they’re ungrateful to Equestria, but they’re paranoid about having a ruler again now that they’re free from the curse Sombra put on them. Try to remember that”

He noticed a bit of muttering, and whispers throughout the crowd. He cleared his throat and with a deep breath started the conference. It went well at the beginning, as he explained that the increased guards, curfew and restrictions on wandering outside the borders were a precautionary and temporary measure.

“I know it seems harsh but, it won’t last forever, just until we’re finished following up on a …er…” How to phrase this without worrying them, “security concern.” That brought on a barrage of questions about what it was. “I-it’s just a precaution.” He didn’t want to make them feel like Sombra was a threat if he wasn’t certain.

That was when things went south. While a few members of the press tried to ask him more about the threat some others in the crowd started muttering.

“If it’s just a precaution, surely there wouldn’t be any harm in telling us what it is.” Snapflash, a tabloid reporter spoke up. “Or…maybe that’s because there isn’t a threat at all.” He was a scrawny stallion although looked as if he took care of his appearance very well. He wore a wide brimmed hat that went well with ‘snappy’ outfits clashing with his khaki pocketed vest, which proudly bore a few pins proclaiming his cynical opinions about everything from history to the Princesses’s rule. Snap was known for being obnoxiously outspoken and mouthy, and having some very anti Equestria sentiments. He had been rather unpopular only months before during Twilight and her friends fighting Sombra.

“There is” Shining Armor said, “I mean…there is a reason for us to be investigating.” A wide grin spread across the reporter’s face, and Shining started to get a bad feeling. He didn’t doubt that Snap was itching for an ‘I told you so’ against all the ponies who mocked his beliefs and dismissed him as being prejudiced against Equestria.

“Oh is that so…..then…you mind telling us what it is, your royal highness?” Shining Armor shuffled through his papers as a few ponies scoffed.

“Give it a rest, Snap” one mare said, “This is a serious press conference, not a place to talk about your conspiracy theories.”

“So you don’t care about what our leaders are spending so much time trying to protect us from” Snap asked feigning innocence. The reporter mare balked, stammering a quick retort.

“I’m interested in the answer to this actually.”

“As am I” There were mutters throughout the crowd and Shining Armor was sweating now. At the beginning of this investigation he had been warned against letting the citizens know about the suspicions regarding Sombra’s horn. He gulped and looked through his papers again trying to think of a good answer.

“Well….there’s just been a sighting of a possible threat” he started. Snap snorted loudly.

“A possible threat! Right!” he said. “And have you seen this mysterious threat? Or is it just a shadow to distract us while you set up your own empire, Prince Shining Armor?” This was getting bad. Before Shining Armor could say something Snap continued, while many others watched in shock. “Clearly the Equestrian government thinks we’re idiots who can be distracted by shiny objects. Put up a fake warning of a threat and give the illusion of doing something while you put up a bunch of rules to control us.”

“That’s not true” Shining Armor said. “The Royal Guard identified a possible threat to the country, and we’ve been investigating to get to the bottom of it!”

“Really?” Snap asked. “And can the guard confirm this?” Shining Armor felt his throat go dry. The Royal Guards were under strict orders to keep the suspicions quiet. Shining couldn’t ask them to go against their orders just to save his own face. This meant he would have to do this himself. He was starting to get the feeling he couldn’t do this. “They can’t can they? “

“Well…” he started, “That is a difficult-“

“Difficult? I see. Maybe I’m being too hard on you, Prince. You’re just following orders from above. A loyal little puppet for the oh-so-good Princesses of your country to take over ours.”

“Need I remind you that if it weren’t for Equestria your country would still be imprisoned by Sombra!” Shining Armor snapped. As soon as he said those words, he regretted them. There was an audible gasp from the crowd and whispers started spreading like wildfire. Snapflash had goaded him into losing his temper. The stallion had huge “I told you so” smirk on his face.

Shining Armor tried to apologize, to say that didn’t come out right, but it was too late.

He was done for in the eyes of the Crystal Ponies.

*****

Chrysalis watched from a distance as the Press Conference went down. She had a few spies there posing as reporters or civilians. Shining Armor gave his speech and Chrysalis didn’t need to see him closely to tell how nervous he was. She had spent a good month and a half with him and had started to get an understanding of the noble but humble ex-Captain of the Guard. There was a part of her who had enjoyed her brief pseudo-romance with him (she had an upper hand over him, that always helped). He was an interesting pony, very full of delicious emotions. She was surprised that he never found out that she wasn’t his love, not because of stupidity; no Shining Armor had a very bright, strategic mind when he wanted to, but faith in Cadence. Faith that came of his love for her. Love had a funny way of making ponies very foolish. Chrysalis could have sucked him dry before he started to suspect had the real Cadence not come along.

That had caused a puzzle that had nagged at the back of the Queen’s mind. What was it about love that made ponies so willing to give up their wits and put themselves in the way of hurt? Contrary to what people believed Chrysalis wasn’t a loveless heartless creature, she did have love, for her subjects and for herself. But she was cynical enough to not let love get in the way of things. She had been hurt far too many times in the past for that.

As she watched she noticed that it wasn’t one of her changelings that managed to goad Shining Armor into snapping, but one of the Crystal Ponies. He managed to play on Shining’s loyalty to his Princesses Very impressive. She made a mental note of that particular stallion. Perhaps he could be useful. She heard a couple of her children approach.

“Switch…….I have a job for you.”

“Yes, your highness?”

“Pose yourself as a royal attendant and keep an eye on Prince Shiny and his wife, would you? Report to me only when the coast is clear. I need you to stay there and be trusted until you get other orders.”

“Yes ma’am!” The changeling nodded, saluted her and took off. Chrysalis watched him as he took his disguise and slipped in and then she returned to the hive. Now all she had to do is wait.

*****

“There are children missing, you idiot! Children!” Marina Finn was starting to wish that she could just throttle the blustering man and be done with it. She had come to him after her nephew left with his friends to go looking for his brother and hadn’t come back after two hours. Banquo County wasn’t that big and she couldn’t imagine where they might be. Timmy was probably the only one who knew his way around some of the back woods of the area. He would sometimes retreat to the woods when he was overloaded or couldn’t deal with some strange thing that had seemed to plague him since he was old enough to start kindergarten.

When Skye returned to her three months ago , he had given her an unexpected explanation of what it was. Empathy, as in actual “feel your tears, feel your pain” empathy. Marina had learned that Skye was a telekinetic shortly after Melanie and Elliott Stryke’s death. It shocked her a bit, but in the long run it made a lot of sense. Timmy, he said, had been plague by empathy apparently since he was about four, but had not told anyone because once in their childhood the boys had been introduced to some of the Psi community at a meet up in New York. Some of them had said unkind things about empaths. While the two boys were in England, they had learned more about the Psi community’s attitude towards strange powers like telepathy and empathy and none of it was any more pleasant.

“They haven’t even been gone for a full 24 hours. They aren’t missin’ yet.” Chief Ipisky said, “and It’s Chief to you, ma’am”

“Don’t talk down to me, Jack. “ Marina said, “You know, I whipped your ass in high school.” She had known the man growing up, and he hasn’t seemed to have changed since then. Jack always treated her with chauvinistic condescension, which motivated her to try and show him up at anything she could whether it be sports, track or shooting. She had even tried to go into law enforcement herself before finding out that he got the position as chief, set to set back this town a good fifty years. Jack Ipisky and his son were the sort of people you’d expect to be living in the boondocks proudly displaying a Confederate flag. They probably would have if Jack didn’t have such a shining reputation.

“If you don’t watch your mouth, you’ll be in trouble with the county.” Marina rolled her eyes.

“if you don’t do your job you might be too.”

“Are you aware, Miss Finn, what your nephew has been pullin’ since he was in grade school? He’s been tellin’ tall tales and shooting off his mouth to any one he wants. He got kicked out of VBS for freaking out other kids, and kicked off the soccer team-”

“Skye quit the soccer team. It was your son who got kicked off ,if I remember correctly ,for hangin’ around with punks and beating a kid up.” Ipisky had nothing he could say to that.

“How do you know the little one didn’t just run away?” he said. He had something of a point there. When the boys returned from living in the UK with their grandparents after some incident neither would talk about much, Marina’s parents had taken the younger son, while refusing to take Skye. They were convinced that whatever happened in England had to be Skye’s fault, and thought he was becoming a bad influence on his younger and milder brother. It was difficult for both of the kids, but her parents, stubborn as they were would never listen to her. She was the disappointment. They were still fonder of Melanie, even though she had married a man they hated.

“If Timmy ran away he would have come to me and his brother first” Marina said. “So, because of a fight your kid had with Skye, you’re not going to lift a finger. Is that it?” Ipisky just sighed and went back to his desk.

“Come back to me when he they can be officially classed as missing. They’ll probably come back by tonight. “Marina sighed and shook her head. She didn’t bother saying anything more to the man. As she left one of the other police officers nodded to her.

“I’m sorry ‘bout your boys, miss” he said. She managed a small half-smile in spite of her anger and disappointment.

“They were hers first,” It went without saying how much it meant to her.”It’s my job to look out for ‘em. But thanks, though. Glad someone cares.” For once in her life, Marina hoped that Jack Ipisky was right, that they would come home this afternoon, with Skye’s little brother in tow, like nothing happened. When she left the police station she was met by Theresa and Duane. Had they heard and come to help or…

“We haven’t heard from either Russell or Gem for hours.” Damn. Marina took a deep breath to calm herself. So, Skye brought his friends along, great.

“They’re probably with him.” She said. She saw her father’s care driving up to the station and groaned inwardly as they got out. She didn’t look forward to facing their ire. Before they could say anything, Duane Tekton spoke up.

“We’re starting a search party to find your grandson.” He said. Sure enough her father still had to take her aside to voice their displeasure.

“You do realize that after this is all sorted out, Timothy will be going to private school.”

“Yeah, you don’t think that will push him away more?” Marina said, “He’ll hate it. He already gets picked on at school-“

“We know what is best for him!”

“Well, I know him” she said. More than they knew. She feared what they would do when they learned that Timmy wasn’t as ‘normal’ as they thought he was. Skye had also told her that. While they were with their father’s parents Timmy’s actual power had developed. She left them and went to start organizing a community search with the Tektons, and maybe try and call up Caleb Tekton and Felix Stryke. The Tektons promised to spread the word as much as they could.

They were good on their word. By two-o clock that afternoon a sizable group of people had gathered together at the Tekton’s house. Marina noticed Caleb and Felix there with a brown haired girl in a long coat. Felix had come home with Skye, apparently having been given instructions by his late paternal grandfather to keep an eye on Skye. Felix had been hunting for a job since he got here. Marina hadn’t exactly understood what Felix and Skye tried to explain about their grandfather being the head of the entire family or how that worked. All she knew was that sometime last December she got a call from the last person she expected, the estranged son of her brother in law. He said they would be coming back and they would be in a lot of danger and needed her. After hearing the boys’ story she started to understand. She was furious to learn that the new head of household disinherited the three, and had half a mind to call the man up and demand an explanation. The disinheritance was why Felix and Caleb had been searching for a job. Because somebody at the police station had brushed them away with an excuse not to hire.

Marina hurried over to Felix, mouthing “where have you been” as she heard him say “who’s all this about.”

“Your cousin!” she said, “You know the boy you were told to look out for?” Honestly, she thought, sometimes he could be sharp but other times…’What an IDIOT’. He stared at her looking stricken.

“…he didn’t tell me anything” Felix said. Marina found herself slowing down at that news. For a moment she felt guilty throwing those words in Felix’s face.

“Wait….he didn’t?”

“No….I would have been over right away.”

“Timmy has been missing since yesterday. “She said. “Skye went to find him yesterday, now he and his friends missing.” The parents of the missing kids went around and showed everyone what the kids looked like and what they answered to. Marina’s annoyance was now shifted to Skye. Once she found him she would be having words with him. Skye was a very solitary type of person, and tended to want to do everything alone. He had only recently gotten close to his best friends. She didn’t know how close he was to Felix, but was shocked he didn’t tell him. She, along with many other adults, took off in various directions as the sky began to darken.

“Please be safe…please be okay.” She joined in the echo of many voices calling out names. “Timmy! Skye! Rusty! Gem…Shout if you can hear me!” No voices shouted back…nor would they for any of the searchers.

Author's Note

A/N: Heya…I’d like to make a note that one crazy awesome (but very, very dark) crossover fic gave me inspiration to continue this and add a subplot. Also with the crystal thing, It’s my hedcanon that Crystal Ponies have more races than Earth Ponies because it just seems weird that a whole race only looks like earth ponies, and the canon does say the Sombra did horrible things. So it isn’t a stretch to me to assume that ‘horrible things’ involved partial genocide.