THE CRYSTALLING—PART TWO
Written by Josh Haber
Produced by Devon Cody
Story editing by Josh Haber
Supervising direction by Jim Miller
Directed by Denny Lu, Tim Stuby
Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)
Note: All mentions of Crystal Empire ponies other than previously established
characters refer to crystal ponies in their brightly colored, non-crystalline
Appearance (see note at beginning of Part One).
Prologue
(Opening shot: fade in to a “Previously on My Little Pony” title card, then cut to Starlight Glimmer in the library of the Castle of Friendship—Part One, prologue.)
Starlight: I still can’t believe you’re letting me stay here— (losing steam; Twilight Sparkle crosses to her) —as your pupil.
(The castle balcony, Act One: Twilight turns joyously to Spike, having received her invitation to the Crystalling ceremony for the new baby of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence.)
Twilight: Shining Armor’s a father! I’m an aunt! (She addresses Starlight.) Your first friendship lesson is going to be…
(Act Three: Starlight and Sunburst sit uneasily in his living room over a pot of tea. Zoom in slowly.)
Twilight: (voice over) …reuniting with Sunburst!
(Earlier in the act: he peeks nervously out from the front entrance.)
Sunburst: (stammering) Uh—uh, yes, that’s me, yep. (Chuckle.) Important wizard.
(Act Two: the newborn Flurry Heart coos happily in her bed, wings and horn fully exposed for the first time.)
Twilight: (voice over, incredulously) The baby is an alicorn?
(Act Three: Flurry tows Pinkie all over the nursery in midair, firing off random spells that Twilight has to shoot down on the fly.)
Pinkie: (voice over) So she could be a super-strong flyer and have crazy baby magic!
(On the second half of this line, cut to the square beneath the Crystal Castle as Flurry lets go with an epic tantrum that nearly overpowers Twilight, her friends, and the royals from both here and Canterlot. The Crystal Heart shatters to pieces.)
Twilight: (from o.s.) Without the Heart— (Cut to her at one of the arch curtains and zoom in as she magically opens it to show winter on the way.) —the Crystal Empire’s about to be buried under a mountain of ice and snow!
(Long overhead shot of the Crystal Empire on the end of this, the black storm clouds inexorably advancing from all sides. In the square, all gasp before the view snaps to black.)
OPENING THEME
Act One
(Opening shot: fade in to a close-up of the wrecked Heart and zoom out slowly.)
Rarity: (from o.s.) So…not only can we not take part in a fabulous ancient ceremony…
(The camera motion frames her and the rest of the group in a semicircle around the mess on the end of this.)
Rarity: …but we’re also about to be frozen solid!
Twilight: Without the Crystal Heart’s magical protection, the entire city’s about to become a winter wasteland.
Applejack: But…what about when King Sombra ruled the Crystal Empire and the Crystal Heart was missin’? The city wasn’t covered in snow then. (Rarity nods; Cadence moves closer, floating Flurry along and followed by Shining.)
Twilight: The Heart wasn’t missing. It was still in the castle. King Sombra had just hidden it.
Princess Celestia: I’m afraid Twilight is correct, and the storm clouds are already forming.
(Cut to a curtain being held open with her magic. Snow and black clouds are on their way through a threatening gray sky, and lightning starts to crackle among them. Rainbow Dash flies up into view.)
Rainbow: I can totally fly up there and bust those puppies, no problem!
(She readies for a fast takeoff, but gets only a faceful of fabric when the curtains close to block her off.)
Celestia: (from o.s.) I wouldn’t advise it, Rainbow Dash. (Cut to her and the others; Rainbow wings back to them.) Those storm clouds are not like the ones you know.
Princess Luna: This far north, the weather has a will of its own. And now it will only grow stronger, enveloping everything in its path.
Cadence: Including the Crystal Empire!
Twilight: (crossing to her) And us along with it!
(Her grimace is matched by the one on Pinkie’s face when the perky pink pony zips over to wrap both forelegs around her neck and shiver mightily. Terror begins to write itself across the faces of the other four from Ponyville. Wipe to Spike at a table in Sunburst’s house, running a concerned eye over the very long scroll that Twilight put together as a plan for Starlight’s first friendship lesson.)
Spike: There’s gotta be something!
(Pan from him to the long-estranged friends, Sunburst sitting on a stool before a book stand.)
Sunburst: I-I know Princess Twilight is keen on the two of us rekindling our friendship, but…i-it’s been so long. I don’t see how anything on that list is going to help.
Starlight: (smiling) I know, right? It’s not like there’s some spell that would magically compel us to pick up where we left off.
Sunburst: (smiling, adjusting glasses) Hm. Actually, there’s several. (climbing off stool, levitating/opening several books) Mistmane’s Material Amity, Rockhoof’s Rapport… (seeing Starlight unimpressed, losing steam) …Flash Prance’s Fellow…ship…
(Letting one book slam shut, he clears his throat softly.)
Sunburst: But I-I get the feeling the Princess isn’t looking for a spell.
Starlight: (giggling) Definitely not.
Spike: (from o.s.) Got it! (Cut to him, now wrapped up in the coils of Twilight’s parchment and reading from it.) “And if all else fails, ask them to share an embarrassing moment from their past, maybe even something they regret.”
(Wrong answer, judging from the looks on both unicorns’ faces.)
Sunburst: (stammering, sweating, adjusting glasses) I don’t see how that would help.
Starlight: Uh…y-yeah! (Weak laugh.) We should just get out of your mane. (walking past him toward front doors) It’s pretty obvious this isn’t going how Twilight hoped, and I’m sure you have plenty of important work to do.
(Her field opens the door on the end of this, while simultaneously towing a very puzzled Spike along. Sunburst turns toward them with a trace of bewilderment.)
Sunburst: What?…Oh! Right. Yes. (He floats and opens a book with a laugh.) No rest for the wizardly.
Starlight: (aside) Come on, Spike!
(She backs out, taking the groaning dragon with her, and shuts the door. A few trailing feet of parchment end up being yanked out through the gap between the bottom edge and the floor. Cut to a long overhead shot of the Empire, the foreboding black clouds continuing their advance, then to an extreme close-up of the bottom edge of one arch curtain. A frigid gust of wind stirs the heavy textile, sending a few snowflakes in for good measure; pan to Twilight cringing before the arctic blast.)
Twilight: There must be a spell that can restore the Crystal Heart!
Celestia: Perhaps.
Luna: But it isn’t something that either of us know.
Cadence: The library here at the castle is nearly as extensive as the one in Canterlot. (She uses her magic to pass Flurry over to Shining.) There’s a good chance we can find something there.
Twilight: (to Celestia, Luna) Can you hold off the storm?
Luna: Yes, for a time, but…even our magic will eventually succumb to the power of the frozen north. (Celestia rises into the air.)
Celestia: We will do what we can— (Luna ditto.) —but you must hurry.
[Continuity error: In “The Crystal Empire,” the library was in a separate building from the Crystal Castle.]
(Outside the curtains, the crowd that had gathered to hear Cadence’s remarks in Part One, Act Three has not dispersed—if anything, it has grown a bit despite the blowing snow. The stage she used is still in place, with its heart-shaped frame as backdrop. Pan/tilt up slightly to follow Celestia and Luna taking flight into the teeth of the oncoming blizzard, over the rooftops that are already accumulating drifts, then cut to the older sister as she shifts to a hover. A golden beam from her horn blasts away the nearest clouds, and Luna is quick to reach her side and kick in a blue beam of her own. The immediate vicinity is now clear, but as soon as they fly o.s., the clouds begin to move in again.)
(Cut to Twilight, who peeks out through the curtains for a moment before dropping to ground level to face the others.)
Twilight: I don’t know how long it will take to find the right spell, but you should probably tell the crowd outside to get somewhere warm.
Cadence: (walking up through them) And try not to mention the Crystal Heart. We don’t want to start a panic.
Applejack: Yes, ma’am. (to the others) Come on, girls!
(She and Fluttershy gallop for the exit, with Rainbow on the wing.)
Twilight: (crossing to the rest) I’m gonna need all of your help. The Crystal Library is enormous.
Shining: You can count on us, Twilie.
(He and Pinkie grin confidently, with Flurry adding a cheerful blabber of her own—and then her horn glows and she teleports out of sight. An instant later she reappears to clamp all four tiny hooves firmly onto the pink face; Pinkie rears up with a yell, instinctively yanks her off, and throws her aside. Both new parents’ brains seize up, and Shining goes into a diving catch with forelegs outstretched. It would be a perfect save, except for the fact that Flurry winks out just short of making contact with the two reaching hooves. He stands up, incredulously regarding the empty space where his daughter should have ended up.)
Shining: Where’d she go?!?
(He and Cadence look frantically around themselves; no luck until a distant squeal from the o.s. Flurry gets their attention. They, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity cast eyes in all directions, trying to get a fix on the source; Cadence is first to zero in on its general area, indicating a staircase.)
Cadence: This way!
(She leads a charge back into the Crystal Castle. Wipe to Spike and Starlight, trudging despondently along a snow-blown street; Spike has extricated himself from the overlong scroll and wound it up.)
Starlight: Well, Spike, looks like my biggest fears came true. I wouldn’t be surprised if Twilight decides to give up on me entirely.
Spike: Aw, it’s not your fault. I’m the one who said all we needed was this list.
(Shooting it the dirtiest look he can drum up on no notice, he blows a burst of fire and torches it to ash.)
Starlight: It’s not the list, Spike, or you, or Twilight. I’m the one Sunburst doesn’t want to be friends with.
Spike: I don’t remember him saying he didn’t want to be friends.
Starlight: He didn’t have to say it.
(Both stop and she lets her head dip even lower toward the crystalline street surface. Spike circles to face her straight on.)
Spike: Well, Twilight obviously thinks you’re worth being friends with— (winking, hugging her) —and I do too.
Starlight: (smiling) Oh, thanks, Spike. At least I have two friends, even if one of them has dragon breath.
(Her answering wink is met with a mildly puzzled look from the reptilian green eyes. Spike exhales a couple of times and sees the clouds of mist that form due to the plummeting air temperature.)
Spike: Uh, that’s not dragon breath. It’s freezing!
(Only now does the unicorn fully comprehend the big chill coming through the realm.)
Starlight: Oh. You’re right! But…I thought the Crystal Heart was supposed to keep the cold weather out.
Spike: It is—unless something’s happened! Come on!
(During the end of his line, a nearby mare who has been watering some flowers is more than a bit surprised to discover that the water pouring from her can has frozen solid. Starlight and Spike race off as the camera tilts up to frame the Crystal Castle nearby; the clouds have spread to the point that the patch of sky above it is the only clear area. As they continue to thicken, the camera cuts to the stage and its crowd of spectators. Applejack and Fluttershy stand on the street to address them, with Rainbow hovering above.)
Rainbow: (echoing slightly) We’re just saying that it might not be the best idea to stay outside. (A mare in a lawn chair speaks up.)
Lawnchair: (indignantly) I camped out all night for this spot. I’m not about to just give it up! (Others nod agreement.)
Fluttershy: Still, when you think about it, the view is just as good a little further back, like…inside your house?
(This sets off confused murmurs among the throng, at least until a stallion wearing a cap and shirt covered with souvenir patches leaps in.)
Patches: The Crystalling ceremony is one of our most sacred traditions. And when that foal is held before the Crystal Heart, I plan to be as close to the action as possible!
Applejack: Honestly, I don’t know if there’s gonna be a Crystallin’. (Long profile shot of the area; pan slowly toward the crowd.) The truth is, the baby’s an alicorn and her magic’s plumb crazy, so…y-you might not want to be that close after all. (Cut to Lawnchair.)
Lawnchair: (impressed) A baby alicorn? (Soft gasp.) Wow! I can’t wait to see that!
Patches: Oh, those little wings are probably so cute! (A stallion with a red cap and an ornate, doubled handlebar mustache pipes up.)
Mustache: I know, right?
Rainbow: (no echo) Look. I am a hundred percent sure the Crystalling isn’t happening.
(The glare from a not-too-distant blast washes over the scene, scaring the daylights out of the three out-of-towners. All yes turn upward; cut to their perspective of the Crystal Castle, which gets repeatedly perforated when bursts of Flurry’s magic punch out holes in the walls from within. At ground level, the crowd watches in awe at the impromptu light show.)
Mustache: (skeptically) No Crystalling, huh? Then why are they starting a fireworks show?
(Wild cheering breaks out, prompting Rainbow to clap a front hoof to her face in disgust and drop into a huddle with eyes covered. Fluttershy pats her head consolingly. Cut to within the massive Crystal Library; Twilight is going through books at a table on the ground floor, while Cadence hovers at a higher level and is floating others off the shelves.)
Shining: (from o.s., exasperated) Young filly… (galloping after Flurry as she flies across) …come back here!
(The wayward tyke emerges from an aisle several yards back for another pass, prompting Rarity to peek out after her and Pinkie to start a hopping pursuit.)
Pinkie: Come to your Auntie Pinkie Pie!
(Close-up of Twilight, magically opening/closing books in time with the following list and skimming their contents A few scrolls litter the table as well.)
Twilight: Bridle Buck’s Boat Chants… (Flurry flies past behind her.) …Hayhoof’s Intonements… (Shining gives chase.) …Mystic Maps and Mazes… (Groan; she addresses herself overhead.) …anything up there? (Flurry teleports up next to Cadence and flies off.)
Cadence: Not yet! (moving along one shelf) I’m not even sure how these are organized!
(Whatever system might once have been in place, “having one’s daughter suddenly materialize among the books” was surely never meant to be part of it. This, however, is exactly what happens before Cadence’s eyes; the worried mother reaches for the filly, only to see her sneeze off a blast that she barely ducks in time. The recoil drives Flurry back into the shelves, wiping out a decent chunk of them, and a pop of magic from within the hole marks her teleporting exit. She poofs back in, right behind Twilight, and starts flying circles around the beleaguered bookworm. After a couple of circuits, she peels out to stay ahead of the charging Shining.)
Cadence: Shining Armor? I thought you were taking care of the baby!
Shining: (skidding around a corner) I’m trying!
(Another sharp turn, another pair of arcane pops, and the rambunctious filly has transported herself back to the corner she just took. She veers gleefully along the aisle for several dozen yards; suddenly her face registers surprise, and a cut to her perspective picks out Rarity jumping into her path with a levitated butterfly net.)
Rarity: Gotcha!
(Back to Flurry, who continues her headlong flight toward the net and then pops out of being.)
Rarity: Oh! (Reappear behind her, get moving again.) Or not.
(Cut to just inside an open set of double doors, the camera pointing out into a corridor of the Crystal Castle. As Spike and Starlight walk in, a squealing Flurry zooms past with Pinkie galloping madly after her. After both have passed o.s., an errant magic blast lances across the screen and Shining peels out to keep ahead of the flying filly. The unicorn and dragon stare mutely at a scene of chaos that would make Discord very proud indeed: Cadence using her magic to sling book after book off the shelves, Twilight reading at top speed as the literature piles up on her table, Flurry doing the backstroke behind her and diving down a flight of stairs. Pinkie hurtles down after her, but loses traction with a yelp and skids into an o.s. crash. An instant later, the pink pony is upright and chasing Flurry all over again; now a runaway magic shot rips across, forcing Spike and Starlight to hit the deck so they can keep their heads on their necks.)
Starlight: What is going on? (Here comes Flurry, towing Pinkie by one hind leg.)
Pinkie: You want the long or the short version?
Starlight: (really puzzled) Short?
Pinkie: (rapid fire) The baby’s an alicorn and she accidentally destroyed the Crystal Heart, so Twilight and Cadence are looking for a spell to put it back together and save the Crystal Empire from turning into a giant wasteland of ice and snow. (Starlight shoots upright.)
Starlight: (floored) Oh.
(Spike stands up next, his mind equally tied in knots. Now Shining gets into position and leaps up to catch Flurry, but she gives him the slip and lets go of Pinkie so that all he gets is a couple of pink hind legs to the chin. The two adult ponies tumble senseless to the floor as the foal who made fools of them glides away. Up above, Cadence gasps softly and magically pulls a book from the shelves—gold accents on cover and spine, held shut with a locking clasp, cover depicting two unicorn horns crossed behind a shield marked with a horseshoe.)
Cadence: What about this? (She brings it down to Twilight.) Trotter’s Tome of Reliquary?
(Exerting her field to replace Cadence’s, the violet Princess effortlessly pops the clasp, opens the book, and flips pages. One particular passage brings a smile to her face, and she whirls it to face Cadence.)
Twilight: I think this is it!
Cadence: (reading) “Spell of Relic Reconstitution”! (Gasp.) I can’t believe we found it! (Twilight pulls it back and closes it.)
Twilight: It’s a good thing, too. Without this, I don’t know what we’d do.
(Flurry teleports onto the table, laughing merrily and scattering one stack of books everywhere. She clears out with barely any time to spare before Pinkie vaults across, both of them very nearly wiping out the venerable volume. The agile earth pony finally brings the flyer down, only for the latter to sneeze both of them backwards and shoot off a beam; cut to Rarity, a hand mirror in her magic grip. She shifts it just enough to reflect the spell…and then Shining throws up a quick shield to bounce it away again…and Starlight does the same to protect herself and Spike…and it scores a perfect bullseye on the crucial book. Twilight saves herself by diving under the table, but the beam bores through from front to back and singes the spine of one tome on the shelves behind her. She straightens up with a horrified gasp; cut to just behind the back cover, the camera pointing through the very new and very large hole. Pinkie has come up to a haunch-sitting position with Flurry gathered under one foreleg, and Cadence and Starlight move closer to deliver a pair of gobsmacked stares.)
Pinkie: Oops.
(Snap to black.)
Act Two
(Opening shot: fade in to an extreme close-up of the wrecked book, still floating in Twilight’s magic with her disbelieving face framed through the hole.)
Twilight: That spell was the only thing we found in the whole library that was even close to what we needed!
Starlight: (crossing to her) I’m so sorry, Twilight!
Twilight: It’s not your fault, Starlight. (flipping pages; ashes fall out) None of us were expecting any of this.
Cadence: Do you think you can remember the spell?
Twilight: I only read it through once! (Here come the others; Shining floats Flurry from Pinkie’s back to his own.)
Rarity: Well, if anypony can exactly remember something she read for the first time two minutes ago, it’s you, Twilight.
Twilight: I’ll try, but I’m not sure how long it’ll take.
(She has barely opened the trashed trove of magical know-how when a frigid gust blows through the area. It is coming in through a large hole in the wall—the one created by the recoil from Flurry’s sneeze near the end of Act One. Clouds start to blot out the visible patch of sky as Pinkie straightens up into view.)
Pinkie: Is “quickly” an option?
Cadence: I’ll help if I can, but we should evacuate the city just in case. (floating Flurry onto her back) You need to lead everypony to the train station before the tracks freeze over.
Shining: We will. But between you and Twilight— (lifting her chin) —I’m sure you’ll remember the spell.
(After a shared tender smile and crossing of horns, the view cuts to just outside the library’s closed doors. They burst open, a determined Shining charging toward the camera with an equally single-minded Pinkie and Rarity right behind. Just before the stallion’s form can completely fill the screen and black it out, cut to Twilight at her loaded table. She lets the book drop in favor of a scroll.)
Twilight: (unrolling it, floating up a quill) I only hope this spell is the one we need.
(As soon as the parchment touches the tabletop, she gets her quill in motion, thinking carefully over every word.)
Starlight: Is there anything I can do?
Twilight: I don’t think so. I’m just sorry about your lesson.
Starlight: (sighing) That doesn’t matter now. Sunburst and I don’t have anything in common anyway. He’s a big important wizard, and I’m re-learning everything I ever thought I knew.
(She ends this line with her head propped dejectedly on her front hooves at the edge of the table. Zoom out slightly as Cadence crosses to her.)
Cadence: (puzzled) Sunburst? I don’t recognize the name, but…if he’s an important wizard, you should bring him here. Maybe he’ll know what to do if the spell fails.
Starlight: (gasping, perking up) Of course! (She gallops off.)
Twilight: You better go with her, Spike.
(One quick nod later, the fired-up baby dragon is hustling out after Starlight. The sound of distant thunder causes Twilight, Cadence, and Flurry to cringe; through an upper-story window, Celestia and Luna can be seen still fighting off the encroaching storm clouds and slowly losing. A flash of lightning hides them from view for a moment; when it clears, the last sliver of visible sky is overrun, and them with it.)
(Wipe to just inside the front entrance of Sunburst’s house. One door flies open to admit Starlight, Spike, and quite a bit of snow, and they have to put real effort into forcing it shut against the relentless wind.)
Starlight: Sunburst! (He is levitating several books.) Haven’t you looked outside?
(He does so, the camera cutting to a window and panning slightly to frame him as the sound of tumbling reference works drifts up from the floor.)
Sunburst: Snow? Uh, that’s not right. (Celestia and Luna fly past.) Uh, the Crystal Heart—
Starlight: (from o.s.) —is gone! (Cut to frame all three.) The baby—Shining Armor and Cadence’s baby—it’s an alicorn!
(That throws him for about three loops and almost makes him disregard the glasses sliding down his nose.)
Sunburst: (pushing them up, smiling) Really?
Starlight: (freaking out) Really! And her magic is a little berserk and, well, I guess she destroyed the Heart! But Twilight thinks she can fix it and Princess Cadence thought you could help! (His eyes pop; he glances nervously around himself.)
Sunburst: Me?
Starlight: (smiling) Of course! (advancing on him) You’re an important wizard in the Crystal Empire! It just makes sense!
(He backs up before her steps until his rump hits a very full bookcase.)
Sunburst: (very unsure, shelving/rearranging books with magic) Right…right…right, right, right. You know, I’d like to help, I-I really would. I-I just have so much, um, important wizard work to do around here.
Starlight, Spike: Huh?
(Cut to a long shot of the stage and zoom in slowly. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow are still down in front and facing a crowd that has stubbornly refused to disperse. Zoom in slowly.)
Applejack: (voice raised, echoing slightly) You can’t stay here! (Front row.)
Mustache: (with increasing fervor) Did I mention this was a royal Crystalling? When the Crystaller holds the young one aloft, all of the Empire will share their joy and light— (Pan slowly toward Lawnchair and Patches.) —and the Crystal Heart will beat stronger than it ever has before!
Patches: (tearing up) It really is a moving ceremony. (He wipes his eyes dry; Rainbow shivers.)
Fluttershy: I really don’t think it’s going to happen.
Rainbow: Come on! It’s freezing out here!
Lawnchair: (irritated) Uh, this is the Crystal Empire. We’ve seen snow before. (Nods from Mustache and Patches.)
Shining: (from o.s.) Not like this!
(General alarm from the crowd. On the start of the next line, tilt up from the Ponyville trio to frame him stepping to center stage.)
Shining: We don’t have time to argue! Princess Cadence has decided to evacuate the city! (A round of gasps.)
Mustache: But—the Crystalling!
Shining: I don’t know if we’ll ever have another Crystalling again! The Crystal Heart…is shattered!
(Now they finally start to understand just how far from perfect this day is turning out, and shocked gasps and murmurs ripple from front row to back.)
Lawnchair: It’s not safe here!
Applejack: (sighing exasperatedly) That’s what we’ve been tryin’ to tell you!
(Shining leads the spectators in a full-speed bug-out, with Applejack/Fluttershy/Rainbow bringing up the rear. Wipe to a close-up of a rather irked Starlight.)
Starlight: Sunburst, I know you’re busy, but did you hear what I said? (He is still rearranging his books.)
Sunburst: (disdainfully) Oh, I heard you, but—but like I said, when you’re an important wizard, the work just piles up. (Several end up in one neat stack.)
Starlight: Sunburst!
(With a sigh, the stallion floats his glasses off and brings up a cloth to polish them, abandoning the high-handed tone of voice.)
Sunburst: Look, Starlight. I want to help, I do. But I can’t. (Glasses on.) I wish I could. (Starlight rests a front hoof on his shoulder.)
Starlight: What do you mean?
Sunburst: Fixing an ancient relic? I-I can’t even come close to doing something like that!
Starlight: But I-I thought you were an important wizard!
(The strain on his face gives away the pitched battle roaring through his mind, and the ragged outburst that is his next line tells the result all too clearly.)
Sunburst: Well, you were wrong, okay?!? I’m not an important wizard! (tears running from eyes) I’m not even a wizard at all!
(He gallops further into the house, seeing nothing of the world-class grimaces that weld themselves onto the faces of his two visitors. Snap to black.)
Act Three
(Opening shot: fade in to a long shot of the path leading to Sunburst’s house, now half-buried in snowdrifts. Zoom in slowly, then cut to Starlight and Spike peeking worriedly around a corner inside. A zoom out frames a very despondent Sunburst in the fore behind his table, his back turned to the pair.)
Sunburst: I know it’s hard for you to understand, but not all of us end up achieving greatness. (Starlight’s eyes pop.)
Starlight: What? (She and Spike step toward him.) Why wouldn’t I understand that? (She hops onto a stool to sit across from him.)
Sunburst: (bitterly) Really? (He turns to face her.) You’re the protégé of the Princess of Friendship! I don’t think she picks just anypony for that! (Cut to Starlight; Spike pops up next to her.)
Spike: Technically, she’s more of a student that a protégé.
(A slightly dirty sidewise look from the blue eyes makes him think better of any further wisecracks and duck away again.)
Sunburst: (from o.s., sighing) Whatever. (Cut to frame both ponies.) I’m sorry I’m not the big important wizard you were expecting.
Starlight: Sunburst, I-I don’t care if you’re a wizard or not, I’m just surprised. You always knew so much about magic. I mean, look at all these books!
(He spares them a glance, then turns a very jaundiced pair of eyes back toward her.)
Sunburst: Yeah, well, reading about magic is one thing, but you don’t know what it was like at magic school! (thumping table, jostling teapot) To know so much and not be able to do any of it!
(Now it is Starlight’s turn to fight a brief, fierce war in her own mind as the camera zooms in slowly. It too ends with a torrent of barely controlled words, this one tinged with irritation and anger.)
Starlight: (pointing) Well, you don’t know what it was like to be left behind, and then getting so bitter that you steal the cutie marks from an entire village, and then get defeated by Twilight and her friends! So you travel through time to get back at them, but they beat you again and teach you about friendship, but… (voice breaking, tears running freely) …you’re so terrified ponies will find out what you did that you can’t make any friends!
(A deafening silence takes hold as she wipes her eyes and Sunburst just stares, his power of speech completely wiped out by this confession. His glasses slide slowly down to the end of his nose; he takes his time getting them settled, then finally restarts his tongue.)
Sunburst: Did you really travel through time?
Spike: (to Starlight, elbowing her in the side) See? I told you he’d be impressed. (She grins hesitantly; Sunburst gets down off his stool.)
Sunburst: I’m sorry we lost touch. (She does likewise.) Maybe if I had reached out, you could’ve helped me at magic school and I could’ve helped you to…
Starlight: …not become totally evil?
(That bit of self-deprecation earns her a genuine grin from her old friend, coupled with yet another nudge at his glasses.)
Starlight: (sighing) Let’s just say I know what it’s like to have something you’re not exactly proud of.
Sunburst: When you showed up thinking I was some big wizard… (Close-up; he sighs.) …I’m sorry. (She steps closer.) I should’ve told you the truth.
Starlight: (smiling, touching his shoulder) It’s fine. At least we worked it all out. I think Twilight would be proud of us.
Spike: (from o.s.) Well… (Cut to him, looking out the window.) …if you ever want to tell her about it, we should probably leave now! (Starlight gasps sharply, panic setting in.)
Starlight: (to Sunburst) I forgot to tell you! They’re evacuating the city! (pushing him toward the door; Spike follows) You need to get to the train station, unless you’ve got a spell here that will drive back the frozen north and fix the Crystal Heart so the baby can have her Crystalling?
(A moment’s thought touches off a brainstorm under the messy red-orange mane.)
Sunburst: The Crystalling! (galloping back to bookshelves) Of course!
(It is the work of only a moment for him to levitate half a dozen books, open them, and get them floating around himself in a circle for a lightning-fast cram session. A skeptical Starlight and a flummoxed Spike watch from the doorway.)
(Wipe to a patch of whirling black clouds. A beam from Luna’s horn slashes the gloom to connect with one spot, but it has no visible effect; zoom out to show both her and Celestia pouring power into the blizzard. The elder sister is having just as much luck as the younger, and both are speckled with snow from head to tail and grunting with exertion.)
Celestia: Push them back, my sister!
(The Herculean effort is for naught, as the clouds swiftly expand to engulf them bodily. Tilt down to frame a long overhead shot of a street intersection; Applejack’s orange-tan speck and Shining’s white one head up a mad dash to get the heck out of Dodge. At street level, these two stop briefly amid the frantic exodus.)
Shining: (pointing ahead) THIS WAY!!
(They get their legs working again. Losing traction on the ice-slicked roadbed, one mare skids and slides across to go face-first into a snowbank. Fluttershy comes in for a landing to help her get upright, and both go straight into a full-tilt gallop. Up above, Rainbow is zipping here and there, knocking out every cloud she can lay a hoof on; the area is soon clear, but the ice building up on her coat/mane/wings is giving her bad trouble. Grunting and straining, she gives up on the whole flight thing and drops into a gallop with Applejack and Shining.)
Applejack: Just a little bit further, y’all! The station’s just ahead!
(Her eyes widen a bit in surprise as she looks ahead down the road; cut to her perspective. Three hazy figures are approaching along the frost-glazed street, which quickly resolve into Starlight, a saddlebag-toting Sunburst, and Spike. The trio, the royal sisters, and the fleeing equines meet in the middle of the road.)
Starlight: (voice raised) We have to go back!
Sunburst: (ditto) I know how to stop this!
(The camera cuts to Celestia and zooms in slowly as she smiles serenely and Luna throws her a quizzical sidewise glance. From here ,wipe to Twilight and Cadence standing over the shards of the Heart; the violet Princess has her quill and scroll floating at eye level and is scribbling notes, while the pink one paces fretfully. Zoom in slowly, then cut to a close-up of Twilight as she finishes writing and sends the quill away.)
Twilight: (very unsure) Uh…I think that’s everything? (Cadence’s magic takes hold and she skims the page.)
Cadence: It looks right to me, but… (She passes it back.) …there’s only one way to find out.
(A few quick steps, and she has backed off to a safe distance so that Twilight has room to crank up her horn and fire a beam into the crystal stalagmite that had supported the Heart from below. The glittering fragments rise slowly into the air, arranging themselves into its rough shape between the points of the stalagmite and the stalactite that extends down from above, and Cadence lets fly with a bolt of her own. The power of the combined spells slowly forces the pieces together; they are lost under a moment’s glare, which fades to leave the pieced-together Heart ringed in a two-layer aura. Zoom out to show both Princesses smiling up at the end product of their repair—which promptly flares out and goes to pieces again, running the happy mood. Twilight has put her scroll away.)
Twilight: The spell failed. (hanging head) I don’t know what else to do! (Sound of curtains opening.)
Celestia: (from o.s.) An old student of mine believes he does.
(On the end of this line, cut to her and Luna leading the rest of the gang in—the other five Ponyville mares, Spike, Shining, and Starlight and Sunburst just visible at the back. Both sisters and the flying Rainbow are still crusted with snow. Celestia has parted the curtains with her magic to admit the group, and lets them fall together afterward. She and Luna step aside so that Sunburst can approach the broken Heart and give it a good close look.)
Sunburst: (incredulously) The baby did this?
Twilight: (floating scroll up to show him) I’ve tried putting it back together with—
Sunburst: (floating it closer, now all business) —the Spell of Relic Reconstitution. (crumpling/tossing it) That won’t do it. (floating a book from his saddlebags) The Crystal Heart’s been around for millennia. (Open; flip pages.) Restoring a relic like this is magic way beyond one spell. You need to combine it with something else. (Pass to Twilight.) Something unique to the relic itself.
(He smiles; she gets her magic onto the book and reads closely.)
Sunburst: (encouragingly) Something that strengthens it and provides it with power?
(The gears under the striped dark blue mane spin at several hundred thousand RPM for a long moment, after which she eases the book down and puts on a beaming smile.)
Twilight: The Crystalling! (All gather closer; Rainbow, Celestia, and Luna are now thawed out.)
Sunburst: Combining that spell with the light and love of everypony gathered for the ceremony, together with… (stepping to Starlight/Spike with two scrolls, showing her the book) …Somnambula’s Weather Abjuration to clear away the snow…
(Her field takes the tome from him; now he pivots to Shining and Cadence, the latter cradling Flurry, and offers them one of the scrolls.)
Sunburst: …and a little Fledgling’s Forbearance for the parents…
(As he speaks, his field pops the seal and unrolls the scroll, and Shining takes hold so he and Cadence can read it over. Sunburst chuckles a bit and bends down to stroke Flurry’s cheek, eliciting a happy babble.)
Sunburst: …that should curb the little one’s power fluctuations. (She squeals and grabs his nose; pan to Cadence.)
Cadence: You must be Sunburst. Starlight said you were a powerful wizard.
Starlight: (backing off) Oh, I’m no wizard. (Adjust glasses.)
(Varied reactions of shock and puzzlement from the others, including more than a few jaws that suddenly go slack. Starlight even goes so far as to drop the book Sunburst passé to her.)
Starlight: But he’s studied magic his whole life! You should see his house! And since nopony has any better ideas— (smiling uneasily) —what do we have to lose?
(There follows a very long pause, during which Celestia nods and Cadence telekinetically trades Flurry for the re-rolled scroll Shining was given. The tension ends with his smile and nod.)
Shining: (to Sunburst) I had planned on asking Twilight to be our Crystaller, but since it seems like she’ll be busy…
(Flurry is floated over into the sock-marked forelegs.)
Sunburst: I’d be honored. (He enjoys having his glasses pulled on.)
Twilight: Well, what are we waiting for?
(With the exception of Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Starlight, all gallop/fly/run for the nearest set of curtains, which Cadence and Shining pull open with their fields to let them out into the snow. Sunburst has ditched his saddlebags. Once they are gone and the gap is closed, pan back to the other four at ground zero; Starlight has the book in her aura again. Once they have taken up positions around the Heart, Twilight lets a new spell surge into the stalagmite support and the pieces begin floating off the ground. Just as before, they assemble into a roughly correct shape between the upper and lower crystal points. She groans and sweats with the strain, sparks dropping from her horn, and two panels slide in from opposite sides to fill the screen. Celestia is on the right side, Luna on the left, and both let one rip; cut to a close-up of the Heart as their beams strike home with Twilight’s. It has drifted slightly out of position, but the triple whammy nudges it back and sets the entire area vibrating. After a final moment’s perusal of the pages, a very apprehensive Starlight lets the book drop and cuts loose with a blinding beam of her own, causing the tremors to intensify.)
(Cut to street level outside the arches. Despite the efforts to get the locals to safety, they have gathered right back in front of the stage. Tilt up slightly to frame it fully as the rest of the crew emerges up here, Sunburst carrying Flurry in his forelegs, then cut to a close-up of the filly. Her parents lean down into view from opposite sides to put a tender kiss on each cheek and touch their horns together over her head. A spark kindles at the points and grows into a brilliant yellow gleam that surrounds her form and causes her to float, giggling, out of Sunburst’s hold. She stops a few feet up as Rarity advances while levitating the case of crystal shards she presented for Shining’s inspection in Part One, Act Three. She opens it, and the glow of Sunburst’s horn lifts one free—the Crystal of Purity she had intended to have Shining select.)
Sunburst: Citizens! May I present the newest member of the Crystal Empire!
(Tilt up quickly to said citizen, who spreads her wings to full extension and laughs merrily, then zoom out quickly to a long shot of the stage and the crowd. Cheers and whoops from high and low alike. Lawnchair has done away with her seat and is standing upright.)
Mustache: (voice breaking) She’s beautiful! Oh, it’s just so moving!
(Spectators bow one after another, each sending a bright blue glow radiating out from his/her position across the crystalline pavement. Within seconds, the energy races through every main road and side street in the Empire; a grinning Sunburst floats the Crystal of Purity down and touches one end to the road. It slowly absorbs every last scrap of the new power, and the camera cuts to within the arches as he gallops in with it riding overhead. All four horned mares still have their spells going full blast and keep at it as he goes up for what must surely be the highest and longest jump of his life. He slam-dunks the supercharged shard into the indentation at the top of the Heart, causing it to blaze white, and the four on the ground cut their spells. When the radiance fades away, the Heart can be seen to be once again whole, unblemished, and spinning in its proper place. Gleaming with a renewed light, it sends out a pulse that washes over all five ponies to bestow the translucent cut-crystal appearance manifested by the locals when they are in their highest spirits. It does the same to the group on the stage, then Flurry hovering above it—the yellow glow having faded from her body—and finally the crowd in the street, now standing up again. The snow, ice, and storm clouds are instantly swept away, and the citizens cheer and cavort in celebration.)
(Cut to a screenful of clouds. A multicolored beam flashes upward through the miasma, causing it to retreat and evaporate so that a long overhead shot of the fully restored Empire is visible. At stage level, Flurry descends slowly into the waiting hooves of her parents, who nuzzle her joyfully.)
Lawnchair: Best Crystalling ever!
(Mustache and Patches nod. Cut to within the arches; the onstage delegation comes down off the stage and is met by Twilight as Spike holds the curtains open. Pan from them to Starlight and Sunburst, watching from a short distance.)
Starlight: For a pony who isn’t great at magic— (turning to him) —you did pretty well.
Celestia: (from o.s.) Indeed. (Cut to her and Luna. The Heart’s glow has faded out.) I’m glad to see you found a way to share your unique gift, Sunburst. You may be more of a wizard than you think.
(He and Starlight share a silent laugh. Dissolve to a long shot of the Empire’s train station under a sunlit blue sky and zoom in slowly on the platform. The Ponyville contingent is here, as are Cadence, Shining holding Flurry, Starlight, and Sunburst; all have reverted to their normal appearances. A train has just pulled in, and two new arrivals are crossing the platform—the parents of Twilight and Shining.)
Mr. Sparkle: You would not believe the crazy weather that delayed our train. (Close-up of the couple; he chuckles.) Came out of nowhere.
Mrs. Sparkle: (crossing to Cadence) But it was all worth it to see this peaceful little angel. (peering at a napping Flurry) Aww, so sweet. (reaching toward her) Come to your grand-mare.
(The angel in question cracks one eye opens and copies the gesture with a giggle. Cut to Twilight and her five friends.)
Applejack: (knowingly) Yeah. Peaceful now, anyway.
Twilight: I suppose that spell really did the trick.
(Their reverie is cut off by the sound of Flurry winding up for a sneeze; cut to her, then back to the six as they cry out and dive for cover. The sneeze is a lulu—except unlike the one that touched off the whole mess in Part One, Act Three, this one does nothing worse than make a lot of noise and cause Flurry’s wings to flare. She immediately tucks them back in and settles down again, and the panicked mares pull themselves back together with some disbelief. Even Cadence and Shining have winced away in expectation of a catastrophe, but they relax upon figuring out that it has not come.)
Shining: We have Sunburst to thank for that.
Cadence: I hope he takes his role as Crystaller seriously. Something tells me the baby will need a pony like him to look to for magical advice.
Mrs. Sparkle: (floating Flurry to her foreleg) Cadence, darling, aren’t we gonna name the poor little dear, or are we gonna spend the entire visit just calling her “the baby”?
Cadence: We were thinking…Flurry Heart.
Shining: (glancing toward others) You know, to remember the occasion.
Rarity: (giggling) Goodness! How could anypony forget? (Twilight leans close to Flurry.)
Twilight: I think it’s lovely.
(Kiss on the cheek, bringing a gurgle. Cut to a longer shot of the platform and zoom in on Starlight and Sunburst, who hang back on the far corner as the others gather around the filly. The mare rests a front hoof on her old friend’s shoulder.)
Starlight: Well, I think you’re the Crystal Empire’s big important wizard— (removing hoof) —whether you like it or not.
Sunburst: Well, I don’t know if I’ll have time for any wizarding. I’m a Crystaller now. That’s a big responsibility.
Starlight: I can’t think of anypony more qualified. Just promise you’ll stay in touch?
Sunburst: Hmph. Like I’d ever lose touch with my oldest friend.
(They embrace, the camera zooming out to frame the train’s first few cars. Twilight has already boarded and is looking on from a window. She pulls her head in quickly, a disquieting thought having occurred to her; cut to a close-up of her on a seat.)
Spike: (from o.s.) What’s wrong, Twilight? (Longer shot; he sits across from her.)
Twilight: (hanging head) I don’t know, Spike. I think I have a lot to learn about being a teacher.
Spike: What are you talking about? Your lesson went perfectly! (Close-up; he counts on his fingers.) Starlight and Sunburst got over their past and rekindled their friendship.
Twilight: (from o.s.) No thanks to me. (Both again.) I know a lot happened. I just wish I could’ve given my pupil the attention she deserves.
(On the end of this line, the sound of a door opening is heard and the camera pans to the end of the car, where Starlight has just come in through its entrance. She takes a seat facing Fluttershy.)
Spike: Well…I know she needed to be put on the right path. (Whistle sounds; engine revs up.) But giving her the space to make her own decisions worked pretty well. (smirking) Isn’t that how Celestia taught you? (Twilight mulls this over a bit.)
Twilight: You know… (smiling, laughing a bit) …I never thought about it. But I guess it is. (The train starts to roll.)
Spike: Maybe you’re a better teacher than you thought.
(Both glance in Starlight’s direction; cut to her. She sees Sunburst waving to her from the platform and responds in kind, and she, Twilight, and Fluttershy trade warm smiles at the thought of this long, strange trip having come to a successful conclusion on multiple levels. Cut to a long shot of the Empire, the Heart’s variegated beam of good vibes still shooting skyward as the train rolls away, and fade to black.)
(The usual closing theme does not accompany the credits. In its place is a portion of the background score, beginning with the presentation of Flurry to the crowd and ending with Sunburst’ use of the Crystal of Purity to absorb their light. However, it has been transposed down one half-step. Majestic orchestral feel, strings/brass/light percussion, brisk 4; starting in D flat major and modulating to B major, with the final chord in A major.)