ToH, FoF, Twilight Castle, Crystal Heart and Empire relation

[ManaMinori 4,146]

There's obviously connections between the Crystal Empire it's Heart, the EoH, and Twilight's crystal castle that the tree gave to her. I think that perhaps before the elements were discovered, the tree had created the Crystal Heart- an artifact that spread love and hope across the land. Within this artifact resided the fire of friendship, which also was shaped like a heart, and resonated with the hope given to it by the Crystal Ponies, to create its aura. It was far more effective than the elements that came after it, due to its wider range and not needing qualified bearers to power it. However, it fell into the wrong hooves, and thus the tree of harmony needed a backup to protect its crystal heart bestowed to the empire, and so it created the elements, which were written in lore, discovered by Starswirl, and weilded by the Royal Sisters, and later, the Mane6. (Especially with the empire and its heart vanished for 1000 years)

 

The 6 elements obviously work on a far smaller scale than the tree's heart, due to their needing bearers and being restricted to friendship by fieldwork through them, but it gets the job done. Twilight's castle, similarly, is crystal due to the Empire- which houses the tree's original means of defense- being crystal; making the origins of both artifacts and castles from the same source.

 

But what do you guys think? Is the Crystal Heart from the ToH, like the elements are?

Is the heart the tree's original defense?

Are the fire of friendship and the Crystal Heart related?

Is Twilight's castle a reflection of the Crystal Empire's castle due to the artifacts being from the same source, the tree?

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

No, I don't think they are related in that way. I think the EoH and the ToH are related to themselves, and the Crystal heart is an altogether different artifact of some type specific to the Crystal Empire. I think the Crystal Empire has it's own history, but the EoH as well as the Tree go much farther back into the very deep history of Equestria itself.

[Concerned Bystander 2,904]

The Heart and the Tree (or its Elements) seem to work on very different principles, the former on love and the latter on friendship.  Not only that but their mechanisms of operation bear no resemblance to each other.  The Heart gets charged up once a year and provides a static protection field of sorts, whereas the Elements provide their power to their bearer(s) as and when called upon.

 

It may not be of great relevance but in 'The Journal of the Two Sisters' the Heart was originally found in a cave deep beneath the Crystalline Mountains above the Crystal Empire.  The book itself may be of questionable canon but there doesn't seem to be anything to contradict it in this case, and there was no link stated nor even implied of a connection between the two.

 

In the absence of any link between the two I would imagine that they are two entirely separate artifacts drawing upon the different magics present in two very different parts of the world.

[EmeraldStar04 250]

It'd be so cool if they were all made by Celestia and Luna's mom and dad!