Crystal Empire Part 2: Hot on the Trail

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By the time the Library team arrived at the Crystal Castle, the book had yielded more of its secrets. Perhaps because of the close proximity to the crystals that were discovered earlier, 5 more pages were now filled with text, each describing a new adventure of the mysterious Unicorn. As it was their only clue, several groups were chosen to head expeditions to the locations noted in the newly revealed stories to see if anything could be gleaned in relation to this book or the crystals that floated in their own, separate chamber.

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The Unicorn panted and swallowed, stopping only for a moment to retrieve some water from her wagon. It was heavier this way, and she hadn’t wanted to carry anything else in it besides her treasure, but the water was a necessity. She had made sure to stock up on a lot of it before she entered this wasteland, but she couldn’t have begun to understand how much this desert would drain her energy. Just ahead of her was a cliff face and, if she wasn’t hallucinating, she saw a hole nestled in the bottom of it, a short distance away. She made for it immediately, the promise of lasting shade being too tempting to pass by. Upon arriving, she collapsed, breath heaving out of her mouth as she released the strap holding her cart to her. It was still warm in the cave, but as far as The Unicorn was concerned it was the arctic north. A welcome escape from the blazing heat. She found a rock and sat herself on it, allowing herself some more water to replenish what she had lost. She looked out of the entrance again, and took her bearings. The two twin rock formations she had passed between to arrive here rose in the distance, and she realized how far she’d come. And looking around her temporary stop, she realized something else. Someone else had stopped there. A fire pit lay just in front of her, and by the look of it, it was no more than a few days old. It was his, she told herself. They had found this same cave and spent the night. Right here.

The sun blazed high in the sky as the train steamed into its resting position at the Appleloosan station. On the other side of the town, a large cliff face loomed high, though it never gave any shade to the residents, thanks to the path of the sun. They'd become accustomed to it, though, and had formed their own ways of beating the heat. Behind the train station, quite some distance away, two nearly identical rock formations seemed to grow out of the ground and reach towards the sky, and if the group followed the path that led beyond the town long enough, they would find a mine that had been built into a cave that had existed there since long before the settlers arrived.

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Sweetheart looked up from the pages she'd copied with a soft, somewhat melancholy sigh, and tucked them away again for the tenth time. The story distressed her personally, as though she were the unicorn herself, looking for her lost love. It didn't help that she already knew the ending, or at least, she thought she did. All those trials, all that suffering, all for nothing. The white mare leaned her head against the glass of the train window.

Somehow, however, she couldn't feel quite as bad as she thought she ought to. Perhaps it was the warmth of the desert heat, already radiating through the glass. Perhaps it was the sight of the landscape, so familiar to her now, rolling past. More likely, it was the knowledge that she was going home to the place... and pony... that she belonged. Not like the unicorn in the story.

As the train began to slow, pulling into the station of Appleoosa, Sweetheart glanced at her two companions of the last couple days, and for the remainder of this adventure. A stranger group of heroes she could not have imagined, she had to admit, (if she were honest.) A hotel manager, a traveling Salespony, and a Baby Dragon were not usually the first ponies that sprang to mind when you thought about the heroic types. Yet, the mare thought that she liked them. Flim, thin and reedy, had a kind of clever charm about him, as far as she'd been able to tell from the train ride. And Spike, the baby dragon, was a good deal more intelligent and far, far cuter than she'd ever expected a dragon to be.

The mare got to her feet, smiling now, glad to be home. "We can probably get a stagecoach to take us right to the cave and the mine," Sweetheart suggested, looking back over her shoulder at her companions as she opened the door to the train car, "But I suppose we'll need supplies for inside the cave. Ropes and lights and... oh, I don't know what else."

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Flim was having some fixed feelings about this particular task. On the one hoof, it was Appleloosa, and his brother and him had already had a cordial welcome the last time they were there. On the other hoof there was that dragon that was pals with those mares from the competition in Ponyville. Still, nothing seemed to occur on the ride, so maybe he would be able to get through all this without much of an incidence. More importantly, of course, was getting through this and keeping a good reputation with the Appleloosans so they could keep an apple supply for their machine.

To that end, then, he made a note to make a particular effort to keep in the graces of Sweetheart here. What he recalled from his last visit was she was the significant other of the local member of the Apple family, Braeburn. Some good words from her, and the Flim-Flam Bros. would hopefully find themselves in possession of a rather lucrative contract.

With the stopping of the train, he quickly joined Sweetheart in heading for the exit of the train. The mentioning of the destination did recall to Flim of the other major part of his last trip. One that would hopefully make the future task much easier.

”Well, my dear, depending on the mine, your basic supplies would include rope, lights, helmets, harnesses, belts and bags to hold all the supplies, ascenders and descenders, and etc etc.”

Realizing that this rather large knowledge of caving equipment would bring some weird looks, he figured he would go ahead and reveal the reason. No point keeping it a secret anyway.

”All of which I have packed away and brought with us. During my last visit to Appleloosa, my brother and I took a look in the mine on the off chance that there would be…you know…some gold that had been missed. Not that there is anything wrong with the Flim-Flam Bros. business, of course, but we had hoped the extra capital could be useful for expansion.”

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Motley. Adjective. "Incongruously varied in appearance or character; disparate." That about summed the group Spike had joined up with to help save the Crystal Empire.

It took a little bit of convincing of Twilight Sparkle to let him go off with some other group, but he was able to do it. Plus, it wasn't like he hadn't traveled Equestria by himself before. The little dragon wasn't so sure why he'd decided to go with the Appleloosa Search Party. It honestly sounded like the best possible option. Especially compared to digging around in the sewers of Manehattan, wandering in the labyrinthine caverns under Canterlot and the freaking Everfree Forest, looking for caves in a desert seemed alright to him. Plus, the one time Spike had been here before, he didn't exactly have the time to look around. What with the whole 'being "kidnapped"' thing.

Still, he wasn't here to site-see. Spike was here to find an ancient crystal to help save the Crystal Empire from the looming evil of Sombra. Just thinking of what he'd heard about the tyrant unicorn put him in a bad mood. How was it that a dragon, a creature that stole whatever it wanted and ate everything else, like him could exist alongside ponies that were so different from him...and Sombra couldn't manage the same thing with creatures that were just like him, save for a lack of horn and having a crystalline body? It baffled and angered Spike to no end.

And if a dragon thinks you're a monster, well, then you know you've gone off the deep end.

But it wasn't all angry thoughts in Spike's little head as the ragtag group made their way to the Wild West of Equest(ria). He was busy getting to know his teammates better. Initially, he was more than a little wary of this Flim FlimFlam guy. The two had crossed paths before, and while traveling salespony was far from the worst thing to come into Ponyville in the time since Spike had lived there, having someone who could potentially be called a con artist responsible for saving an entire country made him uneasy. But Flim had been more than civil and kind on the way here. Maybe Applejack was a bit harsh on the guy. But to be fair, she kind of had more than enough reason to be harsh.

And then there was Sweetheart. Oh dear heavens, there was Sweetheart. It was as if someone had somehow taken Applejack's hospitality, Fluttershy's kindheartedness and Pinkie Pie's unending enthusiasm and mashed them into one pony. She was just so damned...well, Sweet! Plus, Spike had been able to catch her looking at him a few times on the train ride and he could already tell she thought he was adorable. He already really liked this pony.

Two cool ponies, a familiar locale and a nice hot summer day? For once, this whole Crystal Empire Situation was finally starting to look up! How could anything possibly go wrong?

Well, it could start by going into the mine unprepared. Fortunately, Sweetheart knew what was up and Flim was prepared. A little TOO prepared, actually.

"Riiiiiight," said Spike to Flim as he gave a hasty explanation on the platform. "Well, if that's the case, I think we're pretty well stocked. We don't need to worry about lights all that much, since...y'know. Dragon? Fire? I got us covered. Just need some torches or lamps. Anything else major we might need?"

If life in Ponyville taught him anything, it was better to be prepared and safe than to be sorry.

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Braeburn had wanted to go to the Crystal Empire when Sweetheart had gone, he really did wish he could be right there by her side to keep her company, but life isn't that easy sometimes. It had been too short notice for the apple farmer to just get up and go. With so much of the town relying on his apple orchard to survive, he couldn't risk leaving without first making sure things would be taken care of properly. That meant sending out a letter, waiting for the reply, and then making sure his temporary replacement knew everything that had to be done. That last part had taken some time due to the Apple Family stubbornness.

There also had to be time spent on catching up because the ponies replacing him were his parents. The one thing he couldn't show off to them was his marefriend Sweetheart, but he knew she'd be by his side soon enough! It was only a train ride away.

Not knowing what to expect of the Crystal Empire, Braeburn had packed pretty heavily for the trip, with most of it being food. The stallion didn't know what sort of food the Crystal Empire would have, but he did know that there would be a LOT of ponies going there to help. Those ponies would need food, and Braeburn just happened to be in the business of growing food! He also suspected much of the apple family were doing the same.

Braeburn stood on the train platform alone as he waited for the train. His barrels of apples were already checked to be loaded onto the train, and he was left with a heavily loaded backpack, his vest, his hat, and a duster. It was too hot to wear it in the sun, but it was bearable in the shade. It also wouldn't fit in his backpack with everything else! Also the frozen north where the Crystal Empire was located it was supposed to be cold right? There's not many other reasons to call something frozen if it's not cold.

Looking ready for adventure the stallion watched as the train rolled into the station and came to a stop. He waited as ponies inside shuffled around to get their belongings before they disembarked. When the doors opened his green eyes locked onto the first pony there in surprise. "Sweetheart?! A grin spread across his face and the stallion quickly pulled the mare close to him in a hug.

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Sweetheart was more than a little impressed at Flim's foresight, even if the motivation behind it was just a teensy bit commercial, instead of heroic or altruistic. After all, it came in handy now, didn't it? Sweetheart gave the unicorn a warm, admiring smile. Having all the equipment ready would save them so much time!

"Anything else major we might need?" Spike asked.

"Food." Sweetheart replied, with firm certainty. "And Water. And Somepony to come looking for us if we don't come back by a certain time. I don't want to get trapped in a cave or a mine without those things. We could also use...Braeburn!!" This last remark was less of a list item and more of an exclamation of joy, even as the mare was swept off her feet and the train- and into the embrace of golden-yellow stallion. She hugged him back tightly. It had been too long. She'd missed him so much! She had a million things to tell him... and almost no time in which to do it!

"Braeburn..." Sweetheart began, and then hesitated. Where to start? "This is Flim, and Spike." she said at last, unaware that they might already be acquainted. It was a start, anyway! "They've come with me to investigate the old cave... mine... place. There might be some clue there as how to help the Crystal Empire within it. Would you... do you think... That you could help us?"

The white mare glanced pleadingly at her other two companions for approval. "Braeburn is an experienced desert traveler and is all-around capable and helpful in every situation," Sweetheart explained, almost apologetically. "If neither of you mind, I really think we should have him along... if you don't mind, that is."

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Well, it seemed that there would be no need to suck up to Sweetheart in order to get into Braeburn’s good graces indirectly; the Apple family farmer had decided to show up all on his own. This was absolutely positively stupendous timing it seemed. The four of them going on an adventure, digging through the mine in search of lost secrets to saving an Empire. If this kind of publicity and networking wouldn’t cause resurgence in the Flim Flam Bros. reputation, he doubted that anything would.

”Why I have no problems at all with him joining us on this expedition my dear,” Flim replied the moment his opinion was asked. He then quickly went up to shake Braeburn’s hoof, for a more formal introduction. Flim noticed the stallion already looked like he was packed and ready to go as well.

”Flim Flimflam my good sir, and might I agree 100% that it would be quite useful have a strong looking and from the looks of it well prepared lad like yourself around on this spelunking adventure.”

Letting go, Flim stood back a bit and surveyed the situation at hand. They would be unloading passenger’s stuff by now, so his own supplies (and the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, which had to be pulled along on a carriage all of its own) would be available soon.

So then, if you happen to have any of what I heard are your absolutely delectable apples in there and water as well, then I believe we are all set then.”

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Spike had gotten an answer to his "supplies" question from Sweetheart. Y'know, for a pony who was a hotel owner skilled mainly in housekeeping, she seemed to have more than enough knowledge of the great outdoors to help their little crew get by on their mission. He figured that was because she lived in Appleloosa, which was basically smack dab in the middle of said great outdoors.

Or maybe someone taught her? Maybe a certain, familiar looking vest wearing earth pony. Apparently the two knew each other quite well and Braeburn wanted to join their party.

"I'm totally fine with Braeburn coming along," Spike said. "We've met before, he's pretty cool and having another pony who knows the area would help a lot!"

Most of Applejack's family seemed pretty cool to Spike, to be honest. Nice bunch of folks, the lot of them. He hadn't been able to talk too much to Braeburn, but his enthusiasm and willingness to help was a good sign.

Things were definitely looking up for this motley crew...even if their true journey hadn't yet begun.

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Braeburn and Sweetheart knew how easy it was for one of them to miss the other. Either one didn't need to say it, it was obvious to each other that they were happy to be back together. Braeburn could feel it in her hug. Then she began to introduce her traveling companions. The stallion was so confident in his relationship with Sweetheart that he didn't even feel a pang of jealousy toward Flim, unlike how he felt about Neon Lights which had caused them to get together in the first place.

"Howdy Flim. Howdy Spike, glad to see you back here in A-A-A-PPLELOOOSA!" Braeburn would have reared, but he had Sweetheart to hold onto. The stallion was happy to see Spike again, and Flim seemed like such a nice new fellow to meet! He had yet to put this Flim as the same Flim AJ had written to him about, but she had written to him about Trixie and she was a nice mare!

"Ah helped scout an' settle this here territory. Ah know this area better than the Buffalo do. 'Course I live here year round." The stallion stroked his chin for a second as he thought of the place they had mentioned. He knew the place, and if Sweetheart was going there, there was no way he wasn't going with her. This was a very serious place they were talking about. "Y'all want to head to Calamity Cave. It was here long before Appleloosa was founded. Near as Ah can figure, it used to be a silver mine way way WAY back in the day. It's tapped out though."

"Officially only a few of us have been in it. Ah personally only know about the first four or five branches. After that it gets to lookin' too dangerous for me to be goin' down without a good reason. Unofficially every now an' then somepony goes up to the mine an' comes back with some tall tale. Odd lights, sounds, an' shadow figures. Aint nothin' more than ghost stories. Structurally speakin' it aint too safe, there's a reason why we boarded it up."

"As for supplies, Ah got water an' food for myself along with some rope an' campin' supplies. Most of the cargo Ah'm sendin' on the train is food. Second best apple orchard in Equestria. If y'all need anythin' in town, Ah'm the pony who can get it quick. Everypony here knows me, an' if Ah need somethin' quick, everypony knows it's important."

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Braeburn's acceptance as a member of their group, while not quite matching Sweetheart's personal enthusiasm at having him along (and really, how could it?) was still more than enough to make Sweetheart break into a happy grin. She loved Braeburn, of course, but she also valued him, and she liked it when other ponies did too. He was not just a generous, pure-hearted, loyal, dependable, honest, hardworking, and kind apple farmer. He was a sturdy, knowledgeable pony who knew the desert and even some of the mine they would be going into. Far more valuable than, for instance... herself.

Not that she was ragging on herself. She had some really great qualities. ...They just weren't ones that would be useful on this adventure. Unless cleaning the mine would help them find this crystal. Not very likely. With Braeburn, she was sure they could succeed.

Talk of the cave being unsafe gave Sweetheart a momentary ominous chill, and she pressed a little closer to Braeburn for the warm reassurance his presence had. Sweetheart wasn't really afraid of ghosts... She didn't know if she believed in them or not... but she did believe in cave-ins and had no wish to see one of those. The possibility of being injured however, did bring up one other thing they probably needed.

"If you've got food and water and things, and Flim's got mining equipment with him, then I think we have everything we need. But I'd like to carry a first aid kit, Just in case. Once we get that, I think we can head out."Sweetheart said, solemnly.

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Flim had to rub his ear a little after Braeburn’s large outburst. And here the FlimFlam brother thought that him and his brother had the best lungs in the business. He only just barely recovered enough to hear the parts about Braeburn having been one of the original settlers of the area as well as all the stuff about the cave. From the sounds of it, it sounded pretty similar to the mine that his brother and him had been messing around before they headed to the Crystal Empire.

A silver mine, eh? No wonder we didn’t find any gold there. Ah well, it still worked out for the best. he though, smiling a little at the memory of the other little piece of jackpot his brother and him had found.

Flim’s ears perked up a little at the mention of the apple orchard. His brother and him had gotten a good look at it during their last visit, and he knew that Braeburn sure wasn’t lying about its size. Him joining along on this spelunking adventure would be the perfect time to work out a deal between them; the FlimFlam Bros. provide the machine and magic for cider, and he’d provide the apples. Based on the last dealings with an Apple family member, however, they’d probably have to up the split a little bit; 60-40 would probably work right.

”And my brother and I were admittedly poking around the cave in our last visit, so I still have some caving supplies,” Flim added in to Sweetheart’s statement,”But before heading out, may I suggest we get something to eat? The train ride was quite tiring, and what better way to start things off than getting to know each other, right?”

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Braeburn hadn't changed a bit. Still just as talkative and full of energy as he'd been since they'd last met. That talkativeness was proving pretty useful, since Braeburn seemed to know quite a bit about this mine the group'd be exploring. Apparently, it was fairly dangerous and more than a little spooky. That was...good to know. Even if it did make Spike more than a little nervous. As if going into a structurally unsound cave wasn't bad enough, there might be GHOSTS in there?! Spike wasn't exactly a superstitious guy...but spending most of his time with a mage made him more than a bit wary of the supernatural. These "ghost stories" tended to be true more often than Spike would have preferred.

Flim chimed in, saying that rest and food would be a good idea before heading on out.

"I'm with Flim," he said. "Going into the mine tired and on an empty stomach wont get us very far. And this break will give us time to go over things some more. Make plans and stuff."

Truth be told, Spike only half agreed with Flim. He said that mostly because he was more than a little scared of going into the mine right now and wanted a little bit to collect himself and work up the guts to go for it.

...okay, and he WAS a little hungry, too.

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Braeburn took his hat off and set it down on Sweetheart's head to comfort her a little. He didn't have to read her thoughts to come to the same worries she had accumulated. The thought of bringing some sort of medical kit was a great one! "Ah sure am glad you thought of that darlin'. Ah'll go ask Doc for one of his, an' let him know where we'll be. The Sheriff should also be told just in case." The stallion didn't wan't to think of the worse, but it was also good to have a safety net of some sort.

Speaking of thinking of the worse, Braeburn wasn't too thrilled to hear about Flim and his brother having been there before. "What part of all the warnin' signs didn't you an' your brother understand when you went pokin' around? That there place is dangerous. This is about the only reason out there where Ah'd think ponies, and a baby dragon, would be allowed there without a mess of engineers makin' sure the place was safe and sound. What if somethin' woulda happened to you two?"

The farmer was concered for the Unicorn, not angry. He still had to rub the spot between his eyes though. At least getting food was a good idea. "Sorry to disappoint you Spike, but I don't think there's any turquoise around here for you to much on. Ah know a growin' dragons gotta eat though, an' Ah'm sure Sweetheart an' Ah can round somethin' up to fill that belly of yours." Braeburn gave his marefriend a nuzzle and a gentle nudge to get her moving with him to start heading into town.

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The comforting feeling of Braeburn's familiar, soft hat being plopped onto her head brought a genuine smile to Sweetheart's face, even as it sank a bit low over her eyes. Gently, lovingly, she tipped it back ever so slightly, to see better. She supposed she looked a bit ridiculous, especially as the hat was rather too large for her, but she didn't care. It was his hat, and wearing it, especially when he put it on her head, made her feel as though she were protected by some lucky aura. She wouldn't have traded this hat or those feelings for the crown of a Princess!

Sweetheart also liked the idea of getting something to eat before they began. Not so much because she herself was hungry, but because it was a way that she could be useful to the group, even if it was a fairly small way. Food and rest? She was on it! And she was about to suggest they stop in at her hotel and she'd make whatever they wanted to eat, when she was distracted by Braeburn's demands to know why Flim hadn't heeded the warning signs not to go into the mine. There was something about that that bothered her too. Not just the reckless disregard for his own and his brother's safety. It was... something else.

A nagging little presentiment that Flim's having been there already was not only important, but was bad luck. Which didn't make sense. How could a pony with recent experience in the mine, not to mention all the mining equipment they were going to need, be a bad thing? The white and pink earth pony dismissed it as reflected negativity. Braeburn didn't like it, that was why it bothered her. She leaned ever-so-gently against the stallion to help soothe him, and was rewarded by a nudge and a gentle nuzzle, as Braeburn reassured Spike that even if she didn't have turquoise (which, sadly, she didn't) she would still be able to fill them up.

"That's right- this way." She agreed, happily. "I don't think we should take too long, but I'm sure we can spare the time for a meal and a quick rest. My hotel isn't far." Sweetheart was already trying to decide what to make. It was a far pleasanter prospect than daydreaming about wandering in dark, possibly haunted, probably unsafe holes in the ground!

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Seeing as the Apple pony was rather upset about the mentioning of going inside the mine, Flim took his hat off and held it in front of him (always a nice way to look apologetic).

”Why I’m sorry that my brother and I ignored those signs, but after some recent financial troubles we were looking for a way to get back on our hooves. Being the adventurous types, when we heard there was an old, abandoned mine we figured that maybe somepony missed something and that we could take a shot at it.”

He put his hat back on before making one last comment.

”If it’s any consolation, we didn’t get far before realizing that we needed to stop,” he added. He would just leave out the part that the reason his brother and him had stopped was because they did in fact find some precious stones that were going to make a pretty nice profit when they finally found some way to sell them.

”But in any case, I think we can leave that trouble behind and enjoy ourselves a delicious lunch at your apparently quite entrepreneurial Sweetheart’s hotel,” he finished, sincerely impressed that she apparently was the owner of a hotel. Sure, it probably wasn’t going to be anywhere near the ritzy hotels of Canterlot, but Flim was respectful of other business owners. Most of the time at least, and by that he meant when he wasn’t in direct competition with them.