I’ve heard travelers say that it’s a tough life out there in the Crystal Wastes. That it was hard scrounging up their next meal, fighting off the wasteland pests. I heard these things behind the bars of my cage, as they bartered with my owner, Rex Gold, on the prices of my fellow slaves. I heard these things and scoffed.
Ten years ago, I was born into slavery, my earliest memory being that of the cold white snow against the confining walls of the pen. My mother, Winter Haze, used to be one of Rex’s favorites. Rex was a sleazebag of a slaver, a strong, angry looking stallion with a light brown coat, a golden mane, and a jagged scar down the side of his face. He charged travelers fifty caps for a night in bed with her, and made a fortune, a fortune that ran dry when I came along. My mom named me Undying Hope. The slavers didn’t like that name and said it was too long. To them, I’m known as Mouthful.
I can’t help but think that Rex blamed me for his loss of potential caps. He didn’t provide me with any food, forcing my mother to share her meager rations to keep me alive. I don’t remember much about my mother, except that she loved me very much and she had beautiful blue eyes. One day, Rex took her out on one of his slaving runs. I assumed that she was either sold or killed, having never seen her since. I’ve survived since then on donations from other slaves. Some did it out of pity. Some had ties to my mother. For others, it was a method of silent rebellion against Rex.
I suppose I was lucky, in a sense. Not old enough yet to be a mare, I didn’t have to worry about Rex bedding me with a random traveler. I looked too weak to be useful for anything, and was rarely considered for purchase, despite Rex’s insistence that I would be a “healthy investment”. Nopony wanted to buy a blank flank filly.
A short while ago, something changed. When Rex was distributing the foul slop that we were allotted, he stopped at my resting spot, wearing a false smile in place of the usual eyes full of scorn I had attributed to his face. “Hey there, Mouthful. You look hungry,” he said. I bit back the sarcastic insult that formed in my mouth, nodding and staring at his food bucket.
“Why don’t you have a full meal this time?” he asked, dumping some slop into a shallow dish and sliding it towards me. I looked up at him in confusion as he walked away. Was it poison? No, it couldn’t be. He had used the same bucket to feed the others. I sniffed at the food and ate hungrily. Not a minute later, I had finished.
“Y’all better watch out,” a voice came from behind me. It belonged to Rusty Picket, an old, crippled stallion with a gray coat and white hair. He was one of the older slaves who had been here longer than I remembered, one of the kind souls who would occasionally sneak me some food, and my main source of information. The lines in his face grew deeper as he talked. “I’ve been here a while, as you may know. I’ve seen them come, and I’ve seen them go. Rex and I may not get along, but I know his patterns. He’s got plans for you, kid. And they’re not pretty.”
At the time I couldn’t have cared less. It was the first time in my life that I remembered not feeling hungry. Every day I stupidly looked forward to my next meal, and Rex’s visit, figuring that whatever plans he had for me would be far off in the future, and my life couldn’t get much worse as an underfed slave. I couldn’t have been more naive.
One morning, when Rex visited the pens, I looked up happily from my bed in the dirt, and then directed my gaze away, pretending not to notice. He didn’t like it when slaves got their hopes up, sometimes skipping their meal entirely. I could feel my stomach rumble as his footsteps grew closer, his hooves treading lightly on the dry, cold dirt. It looked as if I would be fed first this time.
But when I looked up expectantly, instead of the rusted bucket of food that hung from his mouth, I saw a sinister metal collar and a tattered leather coat. He pinned me down, clamping the cold, heavy collar on my neck, tugging on my mane, forcing me to face him. “Hey there, Mouthful. We’re going on a little trip,” he whispered, his smelly breath hot against my ear. My eyes darted past him, staring at Picket, a silent beg for help. He shook his head sadly and turned away.
And so here I was, outside the pen for the first time in my life, walking across the frozen wasteland in mere rags against the bitter cold, unsure of what would come next. A sharp, jagged knife that Rex had given me dangled from my mouth. “Before you get any big ideas about using that on me,” he had warned, “remember that collar can pop your head with the press of a button. That knife’s for apprehending slaves only.”
As our group of four slavers and five slaves trudged on through the cold, my legs grew tired. I had never felt so cold, never walked so far in my life. “Are we going to die?” I asked the slave beside me.
“Never heard of any slave coming back from a slaving run,” the pony said, and the others nodded in agreement. I knew them from my time in the pen. They all had one thing in common: Somewhere down the line, they had gotten on Rex’s bad side. “Best we can hope for is we run into a caravan. I used to roll with one back in the day. We sometimes bought slaves from the groups we met. Had them carry inventory, loot the dead, things that nopony else wanted to do. Things that I didn’t want to do at the time… but a life I’d kill to have right now.”
“Hey, no talking back there!” one of the slavers in front called back angrily. We walked in silence for what seemed like hours until a row of tents appeared in the distance, triangles of black against the snow.
“Alright, this is it,” Rex said, readying his shotgun. “Get them on the ground and we’ll collar as many as we can. Try to go for the stronger ones first; they tend to sell for more. Do it right and you just might live to see another day.”
We snuck forward, weapons drawn, entering the camp with caution. Rex opened the flap of the nearest tent with the barrel of his gun. It was empty, containing nothing but an abandoned bedroll. He checked two more in a similar manner. “Deserted,” he spat.
I lagged behind the group as they systematically searched each tent, warming my hooves by the crackling fire. “Find something, Mouthful?” Rex asked, approaching me. I stared at him silently as the gears turned in his calculating mind.
“A fire, still burning. This camp was recently abandoned,” Rex said thoughtfully. “Not a damn pony in the whole place.” He sat down next to me, hogging the fire.
“Hey boss! I think they’re back!” one of the slavers called, pointing with his revolver at some silhouettes in the distance approaching the camp with great speed.
“Ready your weapons,” Rex shouted, picking up his shotgun with his teeth. “Remember, get them on the ground, injure if you must, but don’t kill. We don’t want any damaged goods.”
As the crowd grew closer, some troubling information became apparent: We were outnumbered at a factor of roughly three to one, there were far too many of them for the number of tents in this camp, and they were all armed to the teeth, decked out in tough looking bloodstained armor, with every one of them wielding guns.
“Shit! Raiders! Put your weapons down, you’ll get us all killed!” Rex hissed, dropping his weapon. This was the first time I had seen him so unnerved. I set my knife down by the fire.
“We warned you what would happen if you stopped paying! Where’s our money? You’re two payments behind!” one of the raiders shouted, firing his weapon into the air. The group of raiders surrounded the camp and Rex walked forward, hooves raised.
“Look, gentlemen…” Rex began.
“Hey! You’re not them!” the raider said, examining Rex. He took a look around the camp. “Looks to me like they split. No worries, we’ll find them. Nopony escapes the Crystal Hoof.” The other raiders cheered. “Now then, what do we have here?”
“Look, gentlemen,” Rex continued. “There’s obviously been some sort of a misunderstanding, and we’re not the ponies you’re angry at. How about you just let us go?”
“Let you go?” the raider said. I had guessed by now that he was the one in charge. “Now why would we ever do that? I came down here with a band full of raiders, ready to collect two thousand caps of payment or take a lot of lives. You wouldn’t happen to have two thousand caps on hoof, would you?” The raiders jeered, stomping their hooves on the ground.
“Let’s not be too hasty here,” Rex said. “I don’t have any caps on me at the moment, but I do believe we got off on the wrong hoof. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Rex. Rex Gold, perhaps you’ve heard of me. I run a slaving operation just a ways north of here. I could get you gentlemen your pay if you let us run, maybe even set you up with a slave or two. I’ve got a real pretty mare in the pen I’m sure your party would enjoy.”
The lead raider looked surprised, just seeming to notice the collar on my neck. “So… ya’ll are slavers, hmm? It’s a shame that you had to let that slip. You see, I had a sister once. She didn’t like what I did, and chose to become a trader. Drove a caravan around these parts until she was killed in a slaving run. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?” He leveled his gun at Rex’s head.
“Hold on now,” Rex said, “Let’s be civil. I have caps, a lot of caps back at the slave pen. You wanted two thousand? I could get you ten, twenty thousand. These slaves right here? They’re yours! Just let me go, and I’ll get you what you want.”
“I think you damn well know what I want!” the raider shouted, firing his gun. I flinched as Rex’s lifeless body fell beside me, a puddle of red slowly spreading across the snow beneath his head.
“As for the rest of you…” the raider said, “Why don’t you take those collars off, nice and easy?” He gestured with his gun. One of the slavers walked slowly over with a key ring, removing my collar. The terrible thing fell in the snow with a light clinking noise. Not long after, the other slaves were also freed.
“Are you going to let us go?” one of the slaves asked.
The raider laughed, cackling horribly. “Let you go? Like it or not, the fact of the matter is, you were going to help him kill and enslave innocent ponies. The way I see it, you’re as bad as he is!”
“But if we didn’t help, he’d kill us!” another slave protested.
“I’m what you call a… stallion with principles,” the raider said. “I don’t discriminate, you see. Whatever the reason behind your actions… those actions are still your own. Slaves, slavers… as long as you’re part of a slaving group, you’re all equal scum. Hoof it, scum. We’re going on a trip.”
We were led at gunpoint on another long walk through the cold. I thought back to the slave pen and how terrible my life was back there and how I would give anything to be there now.
As we marched forward, a massive white dome of snow came into view on the horizon. “Alright, take a breather, scum,” the lead raider said, stopping. “I’m gonna tell you a story, and you better enjoy it, because it’ll be the last one you hear. A long while back, some fellas and I were on our home from a raid when we saw something that took our breath away: a perfect dome of pure white snow, the same one you see in the distance. Curiosity got the best of us and we went closer, trying to find out what could have caused this. We went right up to the edge and set up camp for the night. It was my shift to keep watch, and we all felt a little uneasy, being so close to this dome. Then Leatherboot threw up blood, and I was struck by a wave of nausea. I remember one of us babbling nonsense, shouting at a voice that wasn’t there. I backed out, far away from that dome, galloping as fast as I can. The rest of us weren’t so lucky. Locals say that a long time ago, back in the war, thousands of dead ponies from all around were piled together and covered in snow, and their souls haunt the mound full of dead. Me? I say it’s a radioactive hotspot. And I’m rarely wrong.”
“What does this have to do with us?” one of the slavers asked.
“Boy, you just earned yourself a demonstration,” the raider replied. “Go ahead and face that dome. Go on, face it.” The slaver obliged as the raider approached him with his gun pointed at the sky. “Now run,” he said.
“That’s ridiculous! We’ll die out there!” the slaver protested.
“I said RUN!” the raider shouted, discharging his gun. The slaver ran forward, stumbling across the snow as the raider turned to address the rest of us. “I’m sure you’re smart enough to see where this is going.” He leveled his gun towards us.
“Alright fellas, it’s hunting time!” he shouted, as the raiders next to him cheered. I sprinted away with all of my might as bullets whizzed past me.
“Little one’s hard to hit!” I heard one of them shout. I turned back. Two of the slaves had fallen immediately, leaving me with one former slave and one former slaver. I turned back forward and kept running.
I dashed across the frozen wastes, avoiding the bullets by sheer luck. The other slaver wasn’t so lucky and took one in the leg, falling down. His stomach was shot open a few moments later, and I heard cheering in the distance.
The dome was a lot closer now, much larger than I could imagine. The first slaver was waiting at the edge. The other slave was nowhere to be seen.
I approached the slaver cautiously, and he stared at me with a face full of pain. There were dark rings beneath his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept for a while. He looked to me as if he was about to say something, then threw up and collapsed.
And there I was, all alone, a freed slave with a radioactive dome in front of me and a band of bloodthirsty raiders behind me. I turned to the dome, stepping forward with my hoof. It sank through the snow slowly, blemishing the pure snow of the dome with an ugly indentation. I felt a deep sadness welling up within my chest. “Well, mom… I don’t know what you were thinking when you named me Undying Hope…” I said, tears dripping down my face. “Being born into slavery, taken out of the pen to capture or kill others… And now here I am, with two choices. I can turn back and be shot by raiders, or I can wait here and die by radiation.” I took a step deeper into the dome, feeling an odd warmth at the base of my hooves. I could feel myself growing weaker as I trudged still deeper into the dome. The bottom half of my hooves now felt completely dry and warm. The radiation was probably getting to me. “I guess… I’ll see you soon, mom,” I whispered as I succumbed to the tiredness overcoming my body. The world turned dark.
“Wha?” I groggily opened my eyes, looking around. I was in a clean looking room, lying on a soft bed. A vase full of flowers and a mirror rested on a stand beside me. A window on the right wall told me it was night. My body was covered in bandages, and I wore a clean white gown. I picked up the mirror gingerly, seeing my own face for the first time in my life, and marveled at my mint-colored coat and snow white mane. “My eyes are blue,” I whispered. “My eyes are blue like my mom’s…”
“Oh! You’re awake!” A mare said, approaching me. Her coat was a brilliant red, and her mane a light purple. They sparkled as if made from crystal. I had never seen anypony as beautiful as her before.
“Am I… dead?” I asked, looking at her in disbelief.
“No, you’re not dead, but you would be if we hadn’t found you sooner,” the mare said, smiling. “I’m nurse Vincy Shine. Doctor Lanco will be so happy to know that you’re doing well. But first, let’s get you some food. You must be starved.” My stomach rumbled as if on cue.
“Yes please,” I said as she rushed outside. Another brilliantly sparkling pony, this one a light blue stallion with a gray mane, entered, wearing a stethoscope.
“Hey there, little filly,” he said warmly. “I’m Doctor Lanco. You certainly gave us quite a scare out there. Frostbite, cuts and scrapes, on top of all this malnourishment. How did you let this happen to yourself? Where’s your mommy and daddy?”
“I’m a slave. Was… a slave,” I said solemnly. “My mom’s… gone. I don’t know who my dad is. I was led on a march to my death, passed out, and ended up here. My name is Mouthf… My name is Hope.”
Doctor Lanco’s smile faded a little. “I’m… sorry to hear that. But you’re safe now.” I had never expected to hear those words in my life. Nurse Vincy Shine came in carrying a covered tray.
“Eat up! You’ll need some food in that tummy if you want to recover!” she said, setting the tray beside me. “I’m sorry it’s just hospital food, dear, but I did manage to sneak a cookie in.”
I uncovered the tray and gasped. This was nothing like the foul-smelling slop I was brought up on. There was a small tub of sweet-smelling oats, a bowl full of sparkling gelatin, and an odd circular thing that I assumed to be the cookie. “Thank you…” I whispered with tears in my eyes. I ate hungrily, careful not to leave behind a single drop of oatmeal, a single crumb of cookie. Everything tasted sublime.
“My, you’re a big eater, aren’t you? I’ll go get some more,” Nurse Vincy left the room.
“I’ll leave you to it then. Don’t be afraid to call for me if there’s any trouble,” Doctor Lanco said. Not long after he left, I finished my meal, licking every bit of the tray clean. I felt like the luckiest slave in the world as I stretched my tired hooves, relaxing in the soft bed, slowly drifting into a relaxed, natural sleep.
“I love you. Please stay,” an odd, echoing voice whispered directly into my ear, snapping me out of my daze. Nurse Vincy had returned with another tray and was in the middle of setting it down beside me.
“Huh?” I said, looking around.
“I’m sorry, dear, did I wake you? Here’s your food, I’ll be going now. Make sure to eat up and get some rest,” Nurse Vincy said, patting me on the head.
“Wait! Did you say anything to me before that?” I asked her. She looked confused.
“No, not at all. You looked so peaceful there I didn’t want to disturb you,” she said, turning to leave. “You should get some sleep, it’s pretty late.”
“Must’ve been a dream,” I muttered, turning my attention to the tray full of food. I helped myself to another serving of hospital food and fell asleep.
I woke up to a tantalizing smell coming from a tray directly beside me. “Crystal berry pancakes,” Nurse Vincy said, setting them down in front of me, “I’m sure you’ll love them.” I dug in hungrily as Doctor Lanco walked in, looking at my clipboard.
“Well, good news, you seem to be well enough to check out!” he said. “Why don’t you head out to the front desk when you’re ready?”
“I don’t have anything to pay you,” I said worriedly with my mouth full of pancake. Doctor Lanco laughed heartily as Nurse Vincy covered her smile with a hoof.
“Don’t worry about that, we just want to take care of you,” he said, patting my mane with one of his marvelous crystal hooves. I nodded and enjoyed the rest of my amazing meal. When I finished, Nurse Vincy helped me out of bed.
“Stretch those legs dear, you don’t want to get a cramp,” she said. “Oh right, you were unconscious when they brought you in. Why don’t you take a look at the city?” She walked over to the window, opening the blinds. I followed her, peering outside. It was a breathtaking view.
Before me lay a marvelous city with buildings made of crystal. It was completely clean, untouched by the corruption of the wasteland. A magnificent palace stood in the distance. The entire city was encompassed by a glowing pink force field covered by a layer of snow thin enough to let in light. The same layer of snow I assumed that I had fallen through. “The Crystal Empire,” Nurse Vincy said proudly.
“Wow…” I said. It was a scene beyond my wildest imagination.
“You’re free to live here, if you like. We could find you a home,” Vincy said. I nodded enthusiastically. “Well, maybe not immediately,” she smiled. “Why don’t you take a day to explore the city while we get things sorted? You can check out at the front desk when you’re ready.” She left the room.
I stared out the window for a good five minutes before discarding my hospital gown and proceeding down the hallway, finding Vincy Shine at a desk. She beamed as I approached “Hi there, little filly. I’m Vincy Shine. You must be the new patient. Are you here to check out?”
“You already met me…” I said, puzzled. She raised an eyebrow. “I mean, yes, I’m here to check out.” Huh. Déjà vu.
She scribbled something down in a clipboard and set it aside. “Alright, you’re good to go!” I left through the front doors of the hospital, stepping out onto the street, heading into a field of grass.
It was an otherworldly feeling, being in the midst of all this brilliance, not feeling any pain or hunger. I felt a strong wave of pure happiness surging up from deep within me, prompting me to jump kicking my legs in the air.
Warm and happy, lying down in the grass, I rolled over to see a crystal berry bush. I picked some berries, placing them into my mouth, feeling their sweet juice drip down my chin, a blissful smile upon my face. “You like it here. Are you going to stay?” an echoing voice whispered into my ear.
I froze. I was nowhere near asleep that time, and there that voice was again. “Is anypony there?” I called. A shadow passed over me as Doctor Lanco approached. He was missing his stethoscope and had a pencil tucked behind an ear.
“Ah, to be young again… I remember when I was your age… I got into all sorts of trouble and I loved the taste of crystal berries. Still do, in fact,” he said, picking a berry and crushing it between his teeth. “I’m Mr. Lanco. I teach school over at the schoolhouse near the middle of town. Pleased to meet you.”
“What? But I thought you were a doctor…” I said nervously, doing a double take. He was definitely the same pony. He must be pulling a prank on me.
“Oh, you must have me confused for Doctor Lanco, who works in the hospital. No, no dear, I’m Mr. Lanco. I teach in the schoolhouse.” Mr. Lanco said. Something fishy was going on here.
“All right then,” I said, feeling smart. “If that’s true, then you won’t mind following me into the hospital just to check on something.”
Mr. Lanco shrugged. “Sure, I guess. I don’t have much to do right now, school doesn’t start for a couple hours.” I led him into the hospital.
“Hi there,” Nurse Vincy was waiting for me at the entrance. “What brings you back so soon? Nothing serious, I hope. Oh hi, Mr. Lanco.”
“I’m here to see Dr. Lanco,” I said smugly, keeping an eye on Mr. Lanco the entire time. Nurse Vincy walked off, returning with Dr. Lanco.
“You wanted to see me, Hope?” he asked. Now I was really confused. The two Lancos stood next to each other, both looking at me expectantly.
“Are you two twins?” I asked, staring back.
“No, we’re not related,” Dr. Lanco said. “Now was there something you needed?”
“It’s nothing, nevermind…” I said, running out the hospital. This was way beyond weird. I ran to the center of town, spying a couple on a bench. It was Lanco and Vincy.
“I just wanted to let you know that you’re the most beautiful mare I’ve ever laid eyes on. Vincy Shine, will you marry me?” the Lanco on the bench said, holding out a ring. I kept running. Maybe, just maybe the rulers of the Crystal Empire would have an answer.
I reached the town square, where posters of wanted criminals Lanco and Vincy Shine were plastered on the wall next to Lanco’s berry stand, Vincy Shine’s boutique, and a train station. A quick glance through the entrance of the train station revealed that every single pony in there was either a Lanco or a Vincy Shine. As I watched, five Lancos and three Vincies boarded a train as it left. Not long afterwards, the same train stopped, and five Lancos and three Vincies got off.
Maybe I really was dead. Maybe this is all a dream, and I’m lying facefirst in the snow, hallucinating about it all. Maybe this was the madness of the radiation poisoning. “Do you like them? I made them myself,” that same echoing voice whispered in my ear.
“Who are you?” I shouted, causing heads to turn in my direction. I blushed, continuing my journey towards the palace.
“Hey, you there! Yes you with the mint coat! Get over here!” A voice whispered from an alleyway. “Don’t worry; I’m not one of them. I mean… they’re not me. I mean… just get over here.”
I stopped, looking around. There was nopony out of the ordinary (the ordinary being, in this case, Lanco and Vincy Shine). I ducked into the alley and a pair of blue crystalline hooves emerged from the side door, dragging me into a building. Standing before me was (guess who?) Lanco and Vincy Shine, in a room lit by a single candle.
“I’m…” Lanco started.
“You’re Lanco and she’s Vincy Shine. I get it. My name is Hope. What’s up?” I asked angrily. “Why is everypony the same in here? Am I dead? Is this some sort of hallucination?”
“No, you’re not dead, just let me explain. We’re not like the rest. We’re the original Lanco and Vincy Shine, and we’re over three hundred years old,” he said. That raised more questions than it answered, but I kept quiet for now.
“A long time ago, when the war started, the Crystal Empire was exactly as you see it now, except… well, everypony was different. We looked to our Crystal Heart for protection from the bombs, and it raised a powerful force field that allowed nothing through. Or so we thought,” Vincy said. “We were archaeologists. Our job was to examine the ancient crystal ruins that lie in the caves beneath the city. We were in these caves when… that bomb struck.”
“It was a special kind of bomb, one that didn’t harm the environment. The spell that fueled it was either malfunctioning or designed by a sadist. For even though it passed through our buildings unharmed, the resulting shockwave cut clean through our force field, wiping out all animal life above ground level. Down there at the time, all we could hear was a loud explosion, and we assumed the worst,” Lanco said, eyes downcast.
“The shockwave wasn’t completely clean. It caused a cave-in, trapping us in the dark in these ruins with no food, a single torch, and a small amount of water. We thought we were done for, and then came… the screech,” Vincy said, a shadow passing over her face as she recounted her experience.
“It was a horrible screeching noise that seemed like it was ringing directly into my ears, only Vincy heard it too. It almost sounded like…” Lanco said.
“A wailing child,” Vincy finished. They stood in silence for a while.
“Not long after, the screech faded, and miraculously, the cave-in just fell apart like it was never there. We felt lucky at the time. Little did we know…” Lanco trailed off. Vincy placed a hoof on his shoulder.
“When we came outside, there that voice was again. I thought I was going crazy, only Lanco heard it too. It sounded like a child in a pit of darkness, crying. ‘I’m so lonely, there’s nopony left’, I remember hearing it say,” Vincy said.
Lanco had a distant look on his face, “I shouted at the voice, asking if it was the one that rescued us. There was no response. We found the city deserted, and had no idea who was talking to us. We went to bed, and woke up to what you see here: The Crystal Empire, ruled by Prince Lanco and Princess Vincy Shine.”
“Why are you telling me this? How can you have lived for three hundred years?” I asked frantically.
“You’re the first pony to set foot in here for three hundred years. Maybe you can help us… put an end to it all,” Vincy Shine said.
“What, you want me to kill you?” I said. “I’m not doing anything like that.”
“No, you couldn’t, even if you wanted to. Believe me, we’ve tried,” Lanco said. “Within the dome of this city, nothing ever changes: we’re immortal, and we cannot leave. The force field won’t let us. We want you to talk to it.”
“Talk to what?” I asked, puzzled.
“The Crystal Heart,” Vincy Shine put her forelegs on my shoulders, staring straight into my eyes. “It’s the only thing capable of such an act of magic. You’re the only pony who’s come in from the outside since the incident. It can’t be a coincidence. The Heart let you in. Could you please talk to it?”
“I think I’ve been hearing it too…” I said, thinking back to that echoing, whispering voice. “Okay, where is this Crystal Heart?”
Lanco and Vincy looked at each other worriedly. “We don’t know,” Vincy said. “Or we would have destroyed it years ago. It used to rest at the base of the palace, from where it generated the force field. The force field’s still standing, but the heart isn’t there anymore. We searched high and low for this heart ever since the incident but we never found it.”
A look of anger spread over Lanco’s face. “The thing stopped talking after it made the clones. Just shut up and disappeared or something, hiding like a coward. If I ever find it, I’m going to smash it into a thousand tiny shards.”
“Alright, I’ll go search for it,” I said, turning to leave. “But if it’s gone, won’t you disappear too? Nopony lives for three hundred years.”
“That’s what we’re hoping for. We’ve been on this world for far too long,” Lanco said. He had eyes similar to Rusty Picket’s… the tired eyes of an old pony who had given up on the world long ago.
I left through the side door and was immediately greeted by one of the Lancos outside. “Hi there, little filly. What’re you doing in a place like this?” he asked.
“Oh nothing, I was just on my way to the… schoolhouse,” I said, thinking back to Mr. Lanco. “Do you happen to know where the Crystal Heart is?” I asked him.
“The Crystal Heart? Isn’t that it at the base of the palace?” He gestured over to the palace.
“Umm… yeah, thanks. I think I’ll go now,” I said nervously, galloping towards the palace. As I approached, I heard that voice whisper in my ear again.
“Why are you looking for me? Are you unhappy here?” it said.
“I just want to talk with you!” I shouted back. “Can we please just talk?” Of course there was no response. I reached the empty spot where the Crystal Heart once rested. There was definitely nothing there.
“Excuse me, miss, can I help you?” another Lanco approached, wearing armor and carrying a crystal halberd. This one looked like an outdated guard.
“I’m just admiring the Heart,” I said, indicating the empty space. The guard nodded.
“Sure is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?” he said, walking away.
“Liar,” the voice whispered in my ear. “You lied.” It sounded… sad.
I walked over, standing directly on the spot the heart used to be. “I’m sorry for lying,” I whispered. “Can we please just meet and talk? Face to face? I really want to see you.” There was a long silence.
“Okay,” the voice said. The ground shook as a crevice opened up, forming a set of rudimentary stairs. For some reason, the Lancos and Vincys around me didn’t seem to notice. I stepped down gingerly, hoping that the opening wouldn’t close behind me.
I was in a cave made of blue tinted stone, with crystal on all sides. Embedded in the far wall was a heart of pure pink crystal. As I approached, a pony rose from the shadows and confronted me.
He was a young buck, about my age, with a clear white sparkling coat and dark black mane. His cutie mark of a crystalline heart caught my eye. “Are you… the Crystal Heart?” I asked him. He nodded.
“I was in charge of protecting them,” he said, gesturing to the world above. “And I stopped lots of bad things from coming in, even before I woke up. But one day, something weird got through. A bad thing that felt different, so I didn’t stop it in time.” I remembered the spell that wiped out the crystal ponies and nodded. “The bad thing woke me up. I felt so excited, when I woke up, because in my dreams there were hundreds of ponies just like me, sparkly and happy. I could have a mommy and daddy. I could have friends. But when I finally woke up, everypony was gone.” His tail drooped.
“I’m sorry,” I said, comforting him with a hoof. He seemed surprised, but continued.
“Well… not everypony. I found two of them left. So I… fixed it,” he said. “I had friends again, but the two didn’t like it. They hid away and didn’t want to talk to me anymore. So I’m glad I have you.”
“Why me? Why did you let me in and nopony else?” I asked, remembering the raiders.
“You were good, so I helped you. They were bad, so I hurt them,” he said simply, his mane seeming to turn a darker shade of black. “I remember a bad stallion that kidnapped me and locked me away, far away from my friends. A good pony saved me. But that’s not the only reason.” His body lit up with a bright glow as he clasped my hoof with his.
“I… love you,” he said. I was unsure of what to think of this. “You’re the most beautiful pony I’ve ever seen,” he continued. “Please stay here with me in my world. I can make it into anything you want. You can be a princess. We can have so many adventures together. You’ll never have to grow old. You’ll never have to feel pain or hunger ever again. I…” He stopped, staring over my shoulder.
I turned around. Lanco and Vincy Shine, the originals, I assumed, had entered the chamber. “You’ve got to stop this now, Hope!” Lanco shouted. “Smash the heart!”
A loud, angry screeching noise resounded throughout the air, and I instinctively covered my ears with my hooves. It didn’t help. “Stop it!” I shouted at the small crystal pony. “Please, stop!” Lanco and Vincy stumbled as the cavern shook.
“You betrayed me. You led them here!” the Heart accused. I shook my head, grabbing the small pony in an embrace.
“Please, calm down!” I said, pressing my head against his chest, surprised to feel a heartbeat. The noise felt like it was splitting my head open. “They followed me, I didn’t lead them here, I swear!” The screaming stopped. The body I was hugging felt incredibly stiff all of a sudden as the heartbeat stopped.
“You were bad this whole time,” the Crystal Heart whispered. His face wore a faraway look, and his mane faded to a pure white that matched his coat. It was then that I noticed Lanco at the far end of the room, beating at the Crystal Heart with a rock.
“No! Stop it! You’re killing him!” I shouted at him, but he turned to me sadly and shook his head.
“Three hundred years is long enough! I should have known it would be too big of a job for you. At least you found it for us,” he shouted, winding back to take a final swing.
“NO!” I screamed again, lunging towards him, but I was too late. With a loud, heavy grunt, Lanco crushed the Crystal Heart.
The small pony beside me faded and disappeared as Lanco stared at his hooves in disbelief. “It’s over,” he said, crying as Vincy comforted him. “It’s finally… over.” They, too, began to fade. I felt the rumbling of an earthquake as the ceiling started closing up.
“Go!” Lanco shouted, picking me up and throwing me towards the opening. He was almost entirely transparent now. I caught the edge of the crevice with my hooves, pulling myself out into the light.
The city was completely empty, and the force field had a large crack in it. As I stared, the crack grew, splitting the force field into smaller and smaller sections. Some snow began to fall in.
“Gotta get to safety,” I thought to myself. “Gotta find a place to hide.” But there was nowhere to turn, not when I was completely surrounded by an avalanche of impending doom.
“Over here,” I heard a weak whisper, and caught a glimpse of the crystal buck’s tail around a corner. I galloped towards it, finding a small overhang jutting out from a building, just large enough to shield me from the avalanche. The crystal buck was nowhere to be seen.
I looked up to see a wall of snow coming down on me, and then… darkness.
“Hope?” I heard a familiar voice, one that I hadn’t heard in years. “Hope, is that you?”
“Mom?” I asked, turning to see her. It was my mother. I hugged her, crying, nuzzling my face into her neck as she returned the embrace. The feelings that I had locked away to survive in the pens all came pouring out, leaving my mind a whirlwind of anger, loss, and love.
“Hope, I’m so proud of you…” she said. “You’ve grown so big now. But mommy has go now, and you can’t go with her. We’ll meet again later, I promise.” She faded away in my hooves.
“No! NO!” I screamed, sobbing into my empty forelegs. A hoof gently pressed against my back. I turned around to see Lanco and Vincy.
“It’s all thanks to you that we’re free now. You have no idea what this means to us,” Vincy said.
“I came in here from a nightmare. The world I destroyed felt like a wonderful dream,” I said in regret. “Why did it have to end? Why did you have to break the heart?”
“Trapped in a dome with a hundred copies of yourself for the rest of eternity… Now that’s a nightmare,” Lanco said, ruffling my mane. They, too, faded, leaving me in the darkness.
I spied a small spark in the distance and galloped towards it. It was the glint of Crystal Heart’s tail. He lay on the floor, barely moving. It looked like he was in a lot of pain. “That’s twice you’ve saved my life now… thank you.” I said, picking his face up with my hooves and kissing him. He gave me a weak smile.
“I still love you. I wish we could be together,” he said, fading away. “But it’s not time for you to go yet.”
The darkness around me was growing brighter. I spun around, seeing the faces of the ponies in the slaving party, all of whom disappeared before I could talk to them. “Wait! I think she’s moving! Are you okay, little filly?” My eyes fluttered open.
“Thirsty," I whispered. I felt warm again, too warm this time. A quick look around revealed that I was wrapped in a blanket next to a hearty fire. I squirmed a little, struggling to get out.
“Easy there, little lady. We found you lying in a ditch of snow. Best you get warmed up,” a tall, lanky brown stallion with a black mane tended to the fire. He brought a tin bowl of liquid to my lips. “It’s soup,” he said. “Drink up.” I drank, grimacing at the foul taste. “I know it’s bitter, but you’ll just have to make do. Not much to eat out here in the Crystal Wastes...”
“Where did you say you found me again?” I asked him, drinking gratefully. It still beat slaver slop.
“In a ditch in the snow. Strangest thing, too. We were out leading the caravan when we saw something glistening out there. It looked like a short little pony made of pure crystal. We followed it to the ditch and found you on the brink of death. You are one lucky filly,” he said. The fire crackled merrily. “Do you have any parents?”
“No…” I said, thinking back to my dream as tears welled up in my eyes. “Not anymore…”
“I won’t ask what happened to them… just… the wastes can be a cold, hard place without a family. Would you like to travel with us? We could take care of you. None of us are related, but you’ll find we’re a family of our own, in a way,” he said, extending a hoof. “Oh silly me, I forgot to introduce myself. The name’s Copper. Copper Dust, Caravan guard.”
“I’m Hope. Undying Hope, former slave,” I extended a hoof from beneath the blanket and shook it. “I’d love to stay with you.”
“Can’t imagine what you’ve been through,” Copper said, throwing some fuel onto the fire. “I’ll be outside, going to check with the others, let them know we have another body on board. You stay in here and rest up.”
I discarded my blankets and followed him out. There was something that I needed to check on. A cold breeze blew past me, chilling me to the bone as I lifted the tent flap. Copper was talking to some of the traders outside and didn’t notice me. I snuck around the back of the tent, where I saw what I needed to.
The dome was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a massive, snow-covered city, glistening against the sun, jutted out from the landscape. I thought back to my memories of the place, short lived, but happy.
“You ever listen to anything I say?” Copper asked, walking up next to me. He sounded a little angry, but wore a smile on his face. “The others are fine with it. You’ve got a new family now. Well damn,” he said, looking at the city. “You’ll never believe it, but that used to be…”
“A dome of pure white snow where raiders marched their enemies to their deaths,” I finished for him. He nodded, surprised.
“There’s a lot more to you than meets the eye,” he said, leading me back to the tent, where I hopped back into my blanket and warmed up. “I think you’ll fit right in.”
