Raven Rawne

@@Orange Sparks Crys was about to shrug but her armor made the gesture impossible. "Don't be silly, it's in the middle of the archipelago and very well protected. There are plenty of other targets on the outer islands. Not as rich but easier to ransack. Although it is alarming that apparently they have a vessel near Throne Island right now... He mentioned a ship waiting." The mare went to pick up her stuff, and once she had everything in its place, she said. "We better hurry back to camp then. I guess we ran out of surprises tor today but the sooner you'll send the letter to the capital the better. I'll write to Raven's Nest and tell them to keep watch on the strait for suspicious ships. Maybe they'll find some infiltrators, who knows."

@@Nightmare Season, As they walked and Nightmare Season continued his lecture, Crystal Clear just listened, but once he walked ahead and reached the other side, she felt like a failure. With her head low and a deep sigh, she said, still walking in place. "Yeah... that makes sense... Now that I know my... friend... is alive, I can't just keep waiting till she steps through my door and make some token attempts to find her. And now I can't even demolish my liver in her memory." The mare shed a single tear, but it sizzled and dissapeared on the crystal bridge, as if it landed on a hot frying pan. Another pillar collapsed behind her, and Crystal looked back at the place she left and couldn't go back to. With a sigh, she faced the nightmare pony waiting on the other side. "As for the future, well... Sometimes it's easier to be left in the dark rather than discover the unpleasant truth." A sudden gust of wind penetrated the boiling dark smoke, but it didn't reveal the mysterious figure. "So I stay here, unable to go back to my comfy ignorance, but too cowardly to face whatever fate has in store. Now you know who you followed into the unknown. quite a surprise, huh?" She smiled sadly... ...and stopped in place.

@@Orange Sparks, Crystal Clear searched the body rather quickly - the minotaur didn't have many pockets or pouches, and was generally lightly clad so there was no point looking for sewn-in secret hiding spots. She found some personal items and a small purse. She held it high as she got up, gauntlets red with blood as if she was looking in his insides. "Fillies and gentlecolts, my first blood money! Quite literally too..." The coin bag was dripping with the stuff. "Anyways, nothing in here." She noticed that Clare found something nearby, and went to see for herself. She stood over her shoulder as she read the letter aloud, mindful not to paint her armor red. "A liability? Me? I'll show him a liability alright..." Crys stopped herself mid rant, then dropped her ears flat and lowered her tail a bit apologetically. "Um, sorry? A-anyway, what do we do now? It looks official to me, so I guess Opal Hill must be notified immediately..." Since it wasn't her call, she awaited further instructions from her marefriend.

@@Orange Sparks, Crys shook her head to start thinking straight again. She killed a fair amout of game over the years, even up close, but slicing open a minotaur that wanted to kill her was a different story altogether. She thought for a moment, then joined the discussion. "But, why war? Maybe it won't be so bad... I-I mean, we don't even know if it wasn't just some crazy noble's idea or maybe that minotaur's for that matter... We can't just assume that two ice brained bulls were about to kidnap Clare to get ahead in a planned war, right? We need some kind of proof on what they wanted to achieve." She stood like that for a moment, looking either at Clare or the mage, then sighed. "Alright, I'll start looking myself..." The mare approached her assailant's corpse and started looking for clues, like letters or some sort of insignia, anything really. She looked rather disgusted as she got to the grim work, and did her best not to stain herself with even more blood.

@@Orange Sparks, Clare was rather surprised to hear a voice from behind, and rather awkwardly turned herself 180 degrees on her shield, nearly losing balance in the process. "Who... Wha... YOU?" She noticed the same robed figure that greeted them in the keep. Surprised, but not alarmed, she rose on her hooves, curious why he showed up again. "Did we take something we shouldn't? Or you changed your mind, perhaps?" She looked at him closely, but didn't raise her voice, nor weapon for that matter. It would be a futile attempt anyway.

@@Orange Sparks, The minotaur's head came off clean from his shoulders and landed a few steps further, while his corpse shivered and fell on it's belly, soaking the ground red. Crystal Clear was breathing hard, and decided to drop her sheild ant sit on it for a bit. She took off her helmet and her mane fixed itself again, as the ancient magic that made her look like a fine crystal still resided inside her. She looked at the corpses, hen at her companion who seemed to be searching the armoured minotaur's body. "I'll look through the other one just... give me a moment, okay?" The mare just sat and stared at the blood on her hammer and gauntlets.

@@Nightmare Season, Crystal heard a voice coming from behind her, and as she turned she saw the nightmare pony walking to her side. She was surprised and a bit spooked at first, until she saw who was with her. She was about to ask when he already answered her question - she was, in fact, dreaming. The mare kept walking, but smiled at her sudden company and said. "So, you finally decided to say hi rather than hide in my dreams, huh?" She waved a hoof at the scenery. "Not the most pleasant of my dreams, but still a recurring one. I heep walking this bridge for some reason, but never reach the far end. Meanwhile I get gurther away from where I came, with no way to come back. You better keep walking, unless you can fly." She winked at him as another chunk of the bridge collapsed. "So, what do you think lies on the other side? You're the expert, after all."

@@Orange Sparks, Since apparently Clare was handling the situation, Crys retrieved her war hammer from the other minotaur's skull, while keeping watch on the fight. The minotaur cadet in spiky armor tried his best to hit the mare with his sledgehammer gauntlets, but was too slow. He became increasingly frustrated and started yelling as the mare evaded his attacks, until finally, after taunting him for long enough, she counterattacked. The blade went deep, all the way to the spine in fact. The monotaur howled in pain as the huge opening in his armor started leaking blood like a broken jar. He clutched his midsection and fell on one knee, trying to stay concious from the bloodloss and pain. He didn't dare speak, it hurt too much. Crystal Clear saw the fight was done, and so she raised her visor and picked up her shield, now full of scratches. She already wiped her weapons in her foe's clothing to get rid on the blood, but her armor bore red spots. She waited to see how her marefriend will finish her own fight.

@@Nightmare Season A bridge, made entirely of grey, opaque crystal. At one end, was the Crystal Empire - basked in light, surrounded by green fields. The other was shrouded in shadow, with dark smoke obscuring the view. A lone pony was walking on the bridge towards the unknown... Crystal Clear slowly paced towards the far end of the bridge, her glow-crystal emitting a faint light. She seemed to be oblivious to the fact that the bridge behind her crumbled and disappeared in the boiling darkness below. As she walked, a figure seemed to emerge on the far end of the bridge, but who was it? Nopony could tell. She walked, but her objective remained out of reach. It seemed she was stuck in this state of affairs.

@@Nightmare Season Crystal Clear thought about the legendary daymare. If only the tales gave a pointer how he did it... She took interest in Nightmare's newest Tarot reading since he didn't ecmxplain what he asked the cards about. Once be gave the reading aloud, it became clear. She removed her hoof from his side as she took the cue to give him a break. Instead, she lied down right next to him and rested her head on her cannons. "Nah, I don't have any pressing concernes right now. I'll get some sleep and if you wish, the buffet is open. Least I can do for a friend, eh?" She looked up at him and smiled warmly, then closed her eyes and tried to sleep. The light from his name was too bright however, and she covered her eyes with a foreleg. "Goodnight Nightmare, wake me up once you'll need to take some rest yourself okay?" With these last words, she soon drifted off to sleep.

@@Nightmare Season It was so obvious, and yet she had to hear it out loud to actually get. Crystal chuckled at her own shortcoming in intuition and replied, keeping her warm smile. "Yeah, that makes sense. Strange how I thought that the very idea of feeding on a pony was unpleasant for you, but I feel your struggle. I felt like that when I was an apprentice, you know. I was being given a beautiful natural crystal, and I ruined it with my actions. I sometimes feel like that even today, when I take an order and the customer has an awful taste in aesthetics." She shook her head at some particularly vile creation that came from under her chisel, then continued. " But, in both our cases, we do what he have to. I need bits to pay the loan, and you need to eat dreams or you'll starve. The only way I know is to accept the reality, but try to put some resistance once in a while. You have dream roots, I can refuse the order. We lose something, but retain our dignity." Since she ate her ration, she decided to go va banque for once. The mare walked to the nightmare pony's side, and leaned on him while trying to hug his neck with a foreleg. She partially succeed, even if her hoof reached just to his spine. She kept close watch on his mane so she wouldn't get burned. "Could you tell me more about the daymare pony? I'd like to hear about them, if that's okay."

@@Nightmare Season Crystal listend to the nightmare pony as he mused over the chances of them being visited by unwanted guests. Well, it made sense. Anything that was outside already took shelter or died, and if anything was within the cave, the change in temperature would probably let it to them already. She smiled reassuringly to the stallion as he sat nearby. "Alright then. I'll chew something for supper and take the first turn to take a nap, so you'll get your meal too. Take as much energy as you need, okay? It's just a dream, after all." She held a knife in her foreleg and cut a slice of cheese she bought earlier and ate it. As expected, it was perfectly edible despite being transported in the freezing cold outside. She briefly thought about asking whether she could lean on him, since the cave floor was hard and uncomfortable, but decided against it. She wasn't sure if he would be okay with that. Instead, she decided to have a little conversation. The mare looked at her fiery companion and asked with a smile. "I wanted to ask you something... I'll understand if it's none of my business but, do you see eating dreams as... I don't know... evil? It's not that I'm somehow angry about you not eating my every dream but rather... I'd like to get to know you better, you see." She kept the pleasant smile she always had while having a chat, hoping the stallion wouldn't take offence...

@@Nightmare Season, Crystal Clear was a bit surprised by the question, but then, she figured that Nightmare might be unaware of some aspects of life in Equestria. "Well, it's somepony who's good with numbers and lends their help to other ponies for pay. Mainly making tax reports, keeping books in order in a business, things like that. They need to be savvy in law too, since they need to know when and how much to write off for tax and the like. Evie was always a beast in math, even back in school when we first met. We planned to open her accountancy office along my shop, so I made the space for her. With all those new laws and Equestrian ways, she'd have way more business that me in no time..." Her mind wandered and she stayed silent for some time, until she noticed that Nightmare checked on their drinking water. Truth be told, she could use something to drink. "So it's ready then? Good! Let's split it up, and I'll grab some more snow to melt." They drank what they had and Crystal dressed up and went for some more snow. When she returned, she was basically white from walking outside into the blizzard. She shook it off herself and declared "We're stuck in here, juuust great! Should've brought a snow shovel to dig ourselves out once it ends..." Seemingly out of habit, or maybe out of boredom, she put away the pot and collected various items strewn in the cave, mainly debris and junk left by other visitors, and tried to set them on fire to boil the water. She tried to start the fire with her kit several times, but apparently everything was too damp to light up. Must be because of all the melted snow and ice bacause of Nightmare's presence. She smiled shhepishly as she put her kit away. "Well, I tried at least. Told you I'd be done without you in here. Could you boil this batch too?" She got back to her previous resting place and took off excess clothing, then laid her head on her cannons and tried to stay awake. This storm was stalling them for so long... Her ears perked up as Nightmare mused about staying inside for the night, but she didn't raise her head. "Yeah, I guess we're not going anywhere in this dark. Seems it's time to eat, and then we can plan how to spend the night - I suggest we take turns and stand watch in case something creeps up, but then you won't get your fill out of my dreams... Got any other idea?" The mare got up, stretched to wake herself up some, and went to her saddlebag for something to eat.

@@Orange Sparks, As Clarissa finishd her lecture with a demonstration, and but the minotaur's battle axe in half, he yelled, enraged, and attempted to beat her with his giant gauntleted fists. Meanwhile the other one paused for a moment, shecked by the Dragon Sword's ability to cut another weapon with ease. Crys took this as an opportunity and pushed his hapberd aside to close the distance, slammed his chest with her shield and hit his side with her hammer's pointy end. The monotaur roared in pain, but was far from finished. He thew off his weapon, now useless in uch close contact, tore her shield from her grip and tosed aside, then atempted to choke her. Instead, he recieved a hammer in his forehead. Since the weapon got stuck in the skull, Crys switched to her saber and cut his torso sideways as he cluttched to his head. After quite a few devastating slashe, the minotaur finally fell on his back. The mare turned around to see how her friend was doing, ready to aid her.

@@Orange Sparks, The minotuar at the back bawked, but held his ground, albeit not so sure of himself anymore. The one in front wore a full helmet, so his features were unreadable. "Very well then... We will kill your friend here, take you to our kingdom and that cursed blade too!" He started his charge, axe high, readying for a splitting strike aimed at Crys. The mare managed to sidestep and bash his side with her shield, setting him off balance and crashing on the other minotaur, but it was just a momentary victory, as the halberd soon started poking it's way towards her armor's weakpoints. She blocked with her shield but lacked the range or strength to do much more than just keep him busy. Meanwhile, the other one decided to incapacitate Clare - it seemed they wanted her alive.

@@Orange Sparks, Crys looked up in the direstion Clare indicated, before she put her helmet on to hide her new crystalline form. "You're right! I can see the smoke even from the ground. You think it's on purpose? To help us find our way? Eh, why I'm even asking, the instructors are probaby all gey from stress, of course it's on purpose..." They walked towards the collums of smoke as Clarissa started singing to herself. Crystal Clear didn't interrupt her, however. For once her singing voice was realy nice, and second, the lurincs were... interesting. As the mare finished her song, they entered a narrow channel between two cliffs, around two adult ponies in height. There was nothing ususual about it, really. just a natural earth formation. Three ponies could walk side by side and still cross it without breaking formation. A tall figure emerged on the far side a they reached it's middle, clapping his hands and announcing in a deep, bass voice. "Bravo your Highnes! Such talent, who would have thought!" It was the spiky minotaur, and he wasn't alone - another one, this time not a member of the academy, blocked the other path. He was lightly armored and held a halberd, but it looked like a toothpick compared to him. The mares stopped to asses the situation, while the spiky head tried his hand at monologues. "I was expecting you sooner, princes, but it seems you fell for one of my companion's little traps, right? I guessed as much - you mares would spend a whole day to get moving after such grevious injury..." There was a hint of disguist in his voice. "No matter. Now that we're all here, let's get to business. You're coming with us, but you have a choice. See, I have no need for your companion in here, but if you yeld peacefully I'll let her go. I'm feeling generous today, you see. just think fast, we have a ship to catch." He made a menacing swing of his giant battleaxe for emphasis. Crys just lowered her visor and took a dfensive stance, switching for her war hammer and awaiting orders.

@@Nightmare Season Crystal noticed that her companion was approaching the pot I'm which she gathered snow to melt and drink. At first she thought he'd just sit by it or point his tail nearby, but instead, Nightmare lowered his horn and turned it red hot in mere seconds with his fiery magic. She didn't know he could do combat spells... The mare must've looked weird since he a tarted explaining his motives. "Okay... I just thought you'd melt it with your tail or something along these lines..." She rubbed her chin as she talked. What else can he do with that horn? Before she made up her mind whether to ask him or not, Nightmare sat down and asked a question himself. She thought for a moment for a suitable answer. "Well, try not to suffocate her when I hug her, that's a priority." She chuckled at the witty response. "Seriously though, I'll bring her home. Arranged my place to make sure she can crash there for as long as she wants. I even made a real office, since she's an accountant, you see. So she could open a business too. I guess she'll decide what comes after. She was always the bold one, you see." She stared at her hooves as she finished. The wind outside was still howling it's threats to anypony who dared cone outside.

@@Orange Sparks Crys nodded as her marefriend took off the heavy gear. "Well, I guess we should omit the part about exploring the ruins though. They will easily accept the version about clueless dames lost in the woods, but telling we went treasure hunting will just test their patience..." Seeing the other mare was ready to fly, the crystal mare loaded everything on her massive shield and slowly walked out. Sometime later the pegasus landed beside her. " You look so happy when you fly..." Crys said in a dreamy voice, then handed Clare her gear. "So which way was it again?"

@@Orange Sparks Cryst held the door for the other mare, then closed the treasury an gave her both keys. "You already have the key to my heart, so you might as well have these" She said with a radiant smile, then extend her arm to her marefriend. "Shall we?" Soon enough, the pair was in the courtyard, and Crys shone brightly in the sun, since she hasn't put her helmet back on just yet. "Sooo... now we walk back to the camp, right?" The mare asked with a swish of her tail. "I could use some rest in our tent, I admit. Preferably in something lighter too." She corrected the angle of one of her shoulder pads as she spoke. "Oh, and I still need to think of some believable story to explain my new look!" She giggled at the last remark, since no pony would be the wiser if she told them a lie. The sun was high, it was probably afternoon already. "So, would you close the gate and fly out? I'll take your gear outside."

@@Orange Sparks Crystal's ears stood on attention when Clarissa kissed her again. She always loved being around her, but taking it to the next level felt so special... She smiled reassuringly and replied. "It's temporary, I'm afraid. And as much as I'd love to stay like that, I guess the sensation would get tiresome after a while..." She took the glow-crystal out of her pocket, it's faint light illuminating her crystalline face. "You know, I have enough bits for myself from my arrangement with my father, so I don't need the money. And honestly, being with you and the thrill of adventure are enough of a reward for me. Stuff we found is just a bonus really, even if it's a priceless artifact from my long lost homeland..." She hid it again in her pocket. She knew that she had to keep the crystal hidden or she'd cause a treasure hunt in the academy. "Let's go back to camp then, and later on we'll write a letter to send somepony for our loot. And like I said, they should pick the armoury clean, cashing those things in will give you funds to help some more..." Crys stood up and stretched. "Time to go, I guess. Honestly Clare, I don't know anypony else who would decide to give the treasure to the citizenry. You'll be a good princess, love."

@@Orange Sparks Crystal Clear stopped crushing her marefriend's ribs and gave her a weird look. "I... what?" She knew the moment Clarissa pointed a mirror at her, but had little time to react as it was her turn to get her ribs put to the test and withstand a barrage of kisses. Truth be told, it was very pleasant. The last remark was enough to make her laugh uncontrollably. "Hahaha get a hold on yourself, you!" It took some time before they finally cooled down and sat on the chests, catching their breath. Crystal decided to take the opportunity to explain her new look. "So I bet you want to know what happened to me, right? Well, I thought it was just a legend but it turned out true! I mean, once a crystal pony reaches the peak of happiness and her heart is filled with love and joy... Ahem, yes, so once she reaches this state of spirit she "crystallises" and looks like I do now, while her positive feelings reinforce the magic of the Crystal Heart. Wherever it is now, I bet the ice and snow around it just melt." She took the mirror again and took a good look at herself. "This will be hard to hide from the rest of the Academy..."

@@Orange Sparks Crys was beyond herself with this find and to her, this little piece of shining crystal was worth more than everything in this keep combined. Once Clarissa said she can keep it... "Really? I can? Thank you thank you thank you!" Another attack hug, paired with a baggage of kisses. As she continued her love assault, ancient magic of her kind awoke within, fuelled by her joy, happiness and love. Her coat became somewhat transparent and gained shiny quality of a well polished crystal, and her mane restyled itself on it's own volition. Suddenly she became the largest gemstone in the kingdom - a crystal pony in their highest form. It was the first time in her life, actually, and she was so caught up in the moment she didn't notice.

@@Nightmare Season Crystal gave the marker a good look over. It was indeed a natural crystal, just moved in here and dug into the frozen ground. Well, currently defrosting since Nightmare was around but still. Dull red and around three ponies high, it was easily seen. She didn't waste any more time then necessary however, and they soon started walking again. Crystal was glad that her boots were somewhat waterproof, since Nightmare's flames carved a path of melted snow and ice wherever he went. The pair walked for a few hours, making good progress in favourable weather. As the landscape changed into high hills and narrow valleys, Nightmare stopped abruptly and started looking around. The crystal pony got a bit worried, and asked the stallion as she checked on her pickaxe with one hoof. "What is it? You saw something? " She was relieved to hear it was "just" bad weather, rather than some creature. Mindful of her own words about finding shelter every time they can, she trotted beside the nightmare pony who decided to speed up. Or rather, stop making baby steps for a change and walk normally. Soon enough they reached the cave and Crystal Clear scooped some snow into the pot do they could have something to drink once it melts and heats up. The cave was... cozy? For a place in the desolate Frozen North, at least. They moved a bit deeper in to find respite from the howling wind, but the mare felt... safe? Maybe it was because of her company. Now that they were in enclosed space and the temperature was rising into more acceptable levels, Crystal found a dry spot and decided to take off her heavy saddlebag and let her boots dry, so she took them off. Mindful not to get her socks dirty, she remained in one place. "So how do you like the Frozen North, huh? Such a scenic place. Some Equestrian ponies wanted to make an all year round winter resort in here. I heard they resigned however as one of their own got lost in a blizzard and never returned..." The temperature have risen enough so she could remove her cap and unbutton the jacket, and so she did.

@@Orange Sparks Crystal Clear was very satisfied with her marefriend's decision. "Yes! You're the best Clare!" She then hugged the other mare so hard, one could think that if not for the armor, she would break her ribs. Realising that, Crys let go and grinned sheepishly. "Sowwy... I couldn't resist, you know. I uhh... let's go to the treasury, shall we?" The mares left the armory and Crys closed the heavy door and took the key in order to prevent any surprises in their absence. The pair went up the stairs to follow the trail towards the treasury. It led them to the fourth floor and into the Lord's chambers. They didn't go inside the private rooms however, since the trail led them towards another pair of heavy doors, this time reachable from the corridor. As previously, they were slightly ajar and had had a key inside the lock. "Let's see if your subjects are in luck then. I like it how you actually care for them, you know. Most of my father's vassals are content with just collecting taxes and governing the towns and villages, but they wouldn't spend a dime on actually helping their people..." She opened the door just wide enough to enter, and for once led the other mare in first. The keep was safe it seemed. Unless you're allergic to dust that is. Once the princess was inside, the countess followed suit. The vault wasn't big, but rather... proportionate to the rest of the keep. Crys noticed with satisfaction that there were quite a few big chests inside, as well as things resting on the shelves, like a richly decorated dagger with a diamond in it's hilt, for example. But one thing quickly caught her attention. Something she would never, ever suspect to find here. "No. Way. This can't be..." Crystal Clear approached one of the shelves and took something off it, then shook it to remove all the dust. A faint, white light shone inside the vault. She was holding a crystal, long and narrow, about as long as the middle finger of an adult pony and as thick as one too. It was set into a golden cap on one end and fashioned like a necklace. What was unusual about it was that it shone on it's own, not just reflected the light. A glow-crystal from the long lost, ancient Crystal Empire. She turned around to show it to the other mare, grinning. "Look Clare! Look what I found! It's a real glow-crystal from the Empire! Well it's set in gold so it's an Equestrian export but still! I can't believe it! Can I keep it pleeeeeeease?"