Sonic: Friendship is Eternal Ch. 60

The Crystal Empire part 3

“I just…I don’t even…there are no words” Twilight said with the biggest smile on her face as they entered the library. Books lined the multitude of shelves throughout the building.

“Ahem” an elderly crystal mare cleared her throat, directing their attention toward her. “May I help you?”

“Yes, we’re looking for a book” Twilight said.

“We have plenty of those” the mare said, using a hoof to gesture toward the many shelves.

“You do. You really do” Twilight said dreamily with stars in her eyes as she slowly spun in place.

“We’re looking for a history book” Applejack said. “Something that might tell us how the empire protected itself from danger back in the day”

“Yes, of course. History…History…” the mare began to think, rubbing her chin with a hoof in thought. “Ah yes”

At the mention of that telltale sign that she remembered everyone perked up, waiting to hear where the book was. However, they were only met with silence and a smile from that mare.

“Which is where, exactly?” Twilight asked

“I…I can’t seem to remember, I’m not sure I actually work here.” The mare answered, causing Dash to face hoof and drag her face downwards in frustration.

“Stop that” Sonic said earning a raspberry from her.

“Let’s just take a look around, I’m sure we can find it on our own” Twilight suggested before they all began to head toward the center of the library to search for it.

“Let me know if you find anything!” the mare said before leaving. Pinkie smiled brightly before turning to head off with her friends.

“I like her” she said happily.

For the next hour or so, our heroes searched for that one book. Though they kept coming up empty, no matter how unique their approach was to finding it.

“Anyone else starting to think this is a lost cause?” Applejack asked after tossing several books aside.

“No. No. No. No. No. No.” Twilight said as a trail of books she was levitating into a pile floated by her eyes, suddenly her face lit up as she spotted the tome of which they were after.

“Yes!” she said happily as she took the book into her hooves. At the hearing of this everyone gathered around her as she set the book down for all to see.

“History of The Crystal Empire” Twilight said with a smile as she began to use her magic to open it. “I just hope it has the answers we need” she said glancing at the pages before a gasp escaped her.

“What’s up?” Shadow asked.

“We need to tell Shining Armor and Cadance right away” she said urgently. Shadow nodded taking out his green emerald and using Chaos Control to warp them all to the throne room.

“You’re back…with a flashy entrance” Shining said.

“We have the answer!” Twilight said happily before using Spike as a book stand as she read from it to her brother and Sister in law.

“A Crystal Faire. According to this book it was established by their first Queen and became their most important tradition. The faire was held every year to” she paused, using a hoof to guide her eyes as she read the text word for word at this part, “renew the spirit of love and unity in the empire so they could protect it from harm” she finished reading, looking up at Shining and Cadance.

“My friends and I can put it together. Everything we need to know is in the book” she said.

“That sounds pretty promising” Shining said, looking over at his wife, who was more worse for wear. Her posture was slouched, her eyes were closed. Every fiber of her body ached and begged for sleep and rejuvenation. Her magic humming softly from her horn as she maintained the barrier.

“We’ll get started right away” Twilight said. “Come on Spike” she said before the little dragon closed the book and followed her with uneasiness in his steps due to the heavy book and back pain from holding it up.

Twilight gathered with her friends in a meeting hall and just as Shadow was about to welcome her back she began to sing. Once again Shadow found himself in disbelief and annoyance from the singing. Which these escalated as everyone else began to join in. About halfway through he did the only sensible thing, leave the room.

“Sheesh…what’s with him?” Rainbow asked.

“He’s not a fan of random singing” Twilight said before going after him to explain the plan without the singing.

“I never knew he was a fan of singing to begin with” Sonic said.

Outside of the palace

Our heroes began to set up the faire with everything necessary from food to games and colorful decorations.

“Everything looks amazing!” Twilight said, using her magic to carry the book as she looked at the now completed setup. “I don’t know how I could’ve done this without all of you” she said, earning smiles from everyone

“Subject Twilight is happy, Crystal Faire Setup objective complete” Omega said.

“Yes Omega, good work” she said.

“Subject Twilight slightly irritated by my statement, permission to retract and revise original statement?” he asked

“Not necessary Omega, but thank you” Twilight said.

“You are welcome”

“One last check to make sure everything is in place and then the festivities can begin” Twilight said, resuming her observation of the fairgrounds.

“What’s this thing for?” Applejack asked, poking at a stand with a heart on top of it.

“The last page of the book mentioned a Crystal Heart as the faire centerpiece. So I used my magic to cut one out of a crystal block.”

“Nice work Twi. I think we’re ready to get this faire up and running!” Applejack said, eager to see the Crystal Ponies happy.

Up on a Palace Balcony a few minutes later

Pinkie took a deep breath before blowing into the Crystal Flugelhorn, making a less than pleasing sound erupt from the instrument as Twilight, Cadance, and Shining Armor made their way to the edge of the balcony.

“Hear ye hear ye” Twilight began, loud enough for the ponies below to hear. Though before she could continue, Pinkie took a deep breath and blew the horn again. Earning confused looks from the others on the balcony.

“My bad” Pinkie said with a nervous chuckle, putting the horn away.

“Ahe-hem.” Twilight cleared her throat before continuing. “Hear ye hear ye! Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor do cordially invite you to attend the Crystal Faire!”
At the mention of that, all the crystal ponies perked up and their coats and manes regained color and life. Though they weren’t fully crystalline again, they were much more upbeat and happy as they made their way to the faire.

“Come on in ya’ll.” Applejack welcomed the ponies as she lead them through the faire. “Games are that a-way. Crafts are that a-way” she said, pointing in their respective directions with her snout. “Crystal heart is in the back near the princess” she said, earning murmurs from the crowd as hope began to fill them.

Rainbow Dash spotted a lone mare and tried her best to get her to try some faire stuff, but only managed to scare her off. “What is with these ponies?” she wondered out loud before she began to eat a Crystal corn on the cob. Sonic just shook his head and smiled, chuckling to himself at Dash’s behavior.

“Seeing all of this…makes me feel like I’m starting to remember things before the King” a mare said to her friend, both of whom were still gloomy. Suddenly they both gasped, regaining their color and smiles.

“The Crystal Heart!” they said in unity. “Do you think they really have it?” one asked with hope lacing every fiber of her being.

“Of course we have it” Dash said as she swooped in and draped a fore leg around the mare. “Can’t have a Crystal Faire without the Crystal Heart right?” she asked

“Of course you can’t” The librarian from before chimed in. “The purpose of the Crystal Faire is to lift the spirits of the crystal ponies so the light within them can power the crystal heart so that the empire can be protected” she said, earning a bigger smile with every word. At that she gasped as her coat regained its color. “I do work at the library!” she said happily.

“What’s that about powering the heart?” Dash asked as Applejack moved closer, having heard all that. Both of them had worried looks, knowing this can’t be good.

“I just can’t believe you found it! King Sombra said he’d hidden it away and we’d never see it again” the librarian said. “I only hope it will still be as powerful after all these years” she said before noticing a food stand.

“Oooh funnel cake” she said before going off to have some. Dash and Applejack looked at each other, they never said a word for both of them knew how bad this was. Dash shot up into the air and grabbed a flag before flying straight to the fake heart and draping it over it and Twilight.

“Why’d you-“ Twilight couldn’t finish before Dash chimed in.

“I think we may have a problem” Dash said before taking Twilight to talk to her brother and Cadance.

“I didn’t know the Crystal Heart was an actual relic” Twilight said, knowing this was getting worse by the minute. “The book didn’t mention anything about the Crystal Ponies powering the heart” she flipped through the pages, reaching the end of the book where she could clearly see that a page was torn out.

“There was a page missing” she said in realization of the error, “How did I not notice?” she wondered. Cadance began to bob back and forth as she tried to keep her balance.
“It’s alright Twilight” she said before finally collapsing. Shining caught her and the last ounce of her magic slowly flickered out.

“Twily” Shining said to his sister, knowing things just went from bad to worse. They could only watch as the barrier slowly faded and a dark cloud began to make its way into the empire. No longer held back by the barrier, Sombra invaded the defenseless city, his eyes glowing bright as a face began to form from the haze, revealing a triumphant smile as he closed in on the palace.

“The empire is under attack” Shining said before going to Cadance who at this point looked a hell of a lot better and less drained. Having recovered enough from the collapse she began to reform the barrier.

Sombra tried to snake his way through, but ended up with the tip of his horn being cut off as the barrier rose up higher and higher until a dome formed. The tip of his horn landed on the ground and sank in, sparking with his magic.

Cadance struggled to even hold the barrier after it finished forming, though she managed. Once again she had that drained look, the task of making the barrier simple, but maintaining it was excruciating.

“I have to find the Crystal Heart!” Shining said.

“No Shining Armor, you need to stay here with Cadance. She needs you right now” she said before Shining wrapped a foreleg around his wife and held her close.

“I’ll retrieve the heart” Twilight said

“Let’s do this!” Dash said both of them leaving to inform their friends of the situation.

Griffon Kingdom

“Wow” The Babylon Rogues said in unison as they gazed upon the village. Everywhere they looked they could see Griffons flying, standing, and doing whatever. They could also see young ones running around and playing.

“Wow indeed” Wulok said, “Welcome to my home, my tribe” he said happily.

“Thank you very much” Wave said.

“All these griffons look so happy…” Jet said as he remembered the history of his people. Wave and Storm both looked at him with concern before he shook his head. “I’m fine” he said to them.

“I wish I could brag to other tribe leaders saying that all of my griffons are happy” he said softly. “Sadly about a year or so ago I lost that chance”

“What happened?” Storm asked.

“Gilda happened” he said softly.

“Who’s Gilda?” Jet asked.

“One of my tribe’s best fliers. She even got to attend Flight School at Cloudsdale. Which would make her an even better flier.” He said a hint of sadness creeping in his voice. “Then one day…she came home and said that she witnessed a legend, The Sonic Rainboom”

“Sonic Rainboom?” Wave asked

“It’s where you break the sound barrier and produce a vibrant rainbow as you fly” he clarified, “she witnessed her friend, who was but a filly, perform this. Years later she returned to Equestria to visit her friend. When she returned…” he paused, hanging his head low as a frown formed.

“She wasn’t the same…she was bitter, hateful…” he said softly. “She attended the Best Young Fliers Competition, hoping to see her friend lose after she learned that Rainbow Dash was participating. She said her smile was wide as she watched Rainbow Dash make mistake after mistake. Then…her hatred multiplied when I saw her after she got home.”

“Let me guess Rainbow Dash did another Rainboom thing?” Jet asked.

“Exactly” Wulok said.

“So this Gilda is clearly jealous, but is that a reason to destroy a friendship?” Wave asked.

“She told me that her friend was the one who pushed her away after finding new friends” Wulok said, “but you are correct Wave, even then petty revenge won’t make anyone happy” he said before a strange sound filled the air. Wulok directed his attention upwards, seeing three silhouetted figures come in for a landing.

Gilda landed softly, her paws and talons making distinct sounds as they met the stone of the mountain. Mephiles hovered down, no sound coming from him. Metal Sonic landed with a metallic crash.

“Metal Sonic!” Jet shouted, recognizing the metallic creature from the time he tried to ruin the 3rd EX-World Grand Prix.

“Well well well, if it isn’t the Three Stooges.” Metal Sonic said.

“You know those three?” Gilda asked.

“Of course, I’d recognize those two-bit thieves anywhere” he said.

“Thieves?” Wulok asked, turning to face the Rogues.

“Oh yes, though they aren’t the best at it, they still commit it” Metal said earning angry expressions from the Rogues.

“Is this true?” Wulok asked. Wave sighed, knowing they’d been caught. Jet opened his beak to say something before Metal stopped him.

“If you even try to deny it, I have video evidence that I can play on Holographic display for all to see.” Metal warned.

“Yes…it’s true” Jet said sadly, knowing he was beaten.

“I see” Wulok said “then leave this place. If I ever see the three of you again, I’ll have you roasted on an open fire” Wulok warned.

“What?!” Wave asked, scared out of her mind.

“If it’s one thing we Griffons are, it’s honorable. Thieves such as you are not welcome here!” he said angrily.

“Come on Wave” Jet said, leading his team away from there. “This isn’t over tin grin” Jet growled angrily at Metal as they passed.

“Likewise bird brain” he said to them as they walked onward.

“I must thank you for exposing those thieves, who knows what they could’ve taken” Wulok said.

“No problem Elder” Gilda said.

“Now why have you brought these two with you?” he asked her.

“They’d like to take the initiation. Metal Sonic and Mephiles both” she said, indicating who was who with her arm.

“Very well, they certainly have a positive vote from me after that whole incident” Wulok said. “I shall have your initiations ready within the hour” he said leaving to get preparations underway.

“Soon Sonic, I will have all the emeralds and you will be begging for mercy. Maybe, just maybe I’ll be in a merciful mood when I beat you” Metal said to himself, clenching his metallic fist.