//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: Ark 2 
// Story: Mana is Magic 
// by Alex1108 
//------------------------------//

“Log 8. I’m currently on the train to the Crystal Empire to start the project to give Crystal City a backup heating system. As for my health, my furr started to grow back but I still have nerve damage in my neck where the amulet was and now and forever forward my neck will be num. As for my friends, they're fine but Luna was kind of sad that I went because I was her first friend in a long time. She even had that puppy eyed look on her when I got on the train.  Vera and her sister are doing fine and wished me well when they left. Celestia is also fine. In fact, if the gala didn't go as far as it did in the chaos she would have said it was good. Blueblood is now a statue in the sisters' garden. I figured after the whole gala thing that I would be in the news but Celestia covered it up to where the Elements of Harmony stopped Blueblood and saved the day. The table is broken, so no more human items and no more communications to home by dream walking but most of the table we still have is just a head full of pieces that seem to be stolen.

You're probably wondering why I'm going to the Crystal Empire. Well I'm going to the Crystal Empire to oversee the construction of the heating towers. Why? Because I'm from the species that made the toaster which they reverse engineered it to the towers. When I get there I am supposed to meet Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor. Prince Armor is the former captain of the royal guard. He retired when he married Cadence. I'm also getting paid for all of this. That's it for today Sam out.” I put the tape back in the box.

I sat back and looked out the window, mostly green grass outside but compared to Canterlot their winters are rough as all hell and their summers are cool from what I heard. After a while I saw Crystal City, the capital of the Empire. As the train got closer and closer I saw a magical bubble surrounding the city, keeping it at a standard temperature. But there was no physical shell around it, only what I could tell was the different train compared to the outside and the inside. When the train stopped I got my luggage which contained only my book and the bathrobe and my box of tapes. When I walked out of the train I saw Cadence, a pink alicorn and a bunch of soldiers in this crystal themed armor.

“Hello you must be Sam.” Cadence greeted me.
“You must be Princess Cadence.” I greeted her.
“Umm where's the parts?”
“You mean the parts for the project?”
“Yes.”
“They'll be coming tomorrow.”
“Well then let's get moving.”

We started to walk out of the station and walked into the city. The city seemed more gothic in architecture and looked like a place with few factories and power plants. It stuck out like a sore thumb. I also noticed the citizens. Their eyes seemed different. Instead of perfectly round pupils, they were octagon shaped and their bodies were more clear and if I look at them where the sun shines through them I can barely see their origins. They are the same species as ponies. It's just that I never saw ponies that had weird looking eyes. I didn't ask about it since it seemed rude at the time. As we got closer to the center of the city I saw the source of power for the bubble. A massive palace that looked like the Eiffel Tower but instead of being made out of metal it seemed to be made out of the same stuff as most of the other buildings and it had two spiers on its side. It also had a blue laser coming out the top. 

“Ok this is the heart of the city.” Cadence told me.
“You know what it reminds me of.” I told her.
“What?”
“The Eiffel Tower. It's a piece of art that follows this kind of design. It has 4 legs and it goes up like the palace does.”
“Is it one of your ‘Human’ things?”
“Yes yes it is.”
“Hey Honey.” We heard from the tower.
“Hey shining.” Cadence said to a unicorn with a blue mane coming towards us.
“You must be Shining Armor.” I greeted him.
He gave a good look at me then he said. “I figured that you would look… different.”
“Why thank you.”

After we greeted each other we went into the palace. It had maids and guards just like back in Celestia’s place, but the guards were wearing different kind of armor than Canterlot. They also showed me the long hall of portraits of the previous kings and queens and I noted a trend. Further the generations have become more and more deformed. Odds are that it was from all of the inbreeding. The only two that seemed to be spared from it all was Princess Cadence because she wasn't related to the bloodline that ruled the empire and King Sombra. But it looks like King Sombra has a carved horn so he's probably a product of inbreeding. They continued to show me their palace. I honestly don’t blame them, especially Shining Armor. If I get to co-rule with a goddess that is also my wife, I would show off all my stuff. They also explained how their advisers and the local nobles live in the palace with them. Which is convenient but I wouldn't be living in the palace. I'll be living in a freshly built apartment building but I'm free to go to the palace if I want to see them or any other reason that might come up. So they handed me some keys to the place and the address. 

“Here are your keys  and you can be on your merry way.” Cadence told me.
“Thank you, I'm quite sure that I'll be needing these.” I told her.
“It’s nice meeting you Sam.”
“Thank you. It's nice meeting both of you.”
“Stay safe.”
“You too.”

Then I went to find my new apartment. The address was 276 West Frost Street. After a while of searching for the apartment, I finally got to the building. It stuck out like a sore thumb, same with some of the buildings in Crystal City. Across the street was the local library so if I ever need something to read it's right there. I went up the stairs and found my room. Room 15. I unlocked the door and went in. The apartment was bigger than the dorms from Ohio. In Ohio, you would have a 6x5 foot bedroom and that's it, but here I got a bedroom with a bed, a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room! I dropped my things off and put them up. Of course this place is only temporary until the project is finished which will only take a couple of months. After putting all my things in my closet, I went out and locked the door and visited the library.

When I got close to the library,I noticed something on the ground near the entrance. An old looking book, the cover was black with a purple crystal in the middle and around the edges of the pages seemed burnt. I made sure no pony was watching and took the book. I walked back to my home but didn’t rush to avoid looking suspicious. I went into my apartment and put the book under the bed.

I walked out of my home and went to the library to see what they had. When I got in, there was an old mare sitting at a desk. “Hello, what can I help thou with?” she asked. I paused for a moment then I realized that most ponies were trapped in the city and frozen in time for a thousand years. “Oh just looking ma’am.” I told her. I went in and walked around the library. It was massive and a thousand years old! Luna would love this place. After a while of  walking around I saw a massive gray door and some pony and I knew that face. Twilight Sparkle.

“Oh hey Sam what are you doing all the way here?” she asked.
“I'm here to oversee the project. Why are you here?” I asked
“Oh i'm here because my BBBFF wanted me to come here to Catalog the books of the Crystal city! Doesn’t that sound great!”
“Ok? What-”
“Hey can you get me some more books?  Some paper as well!” 
“Ca-”
“Oh some more ink too!”
“Bu-”
“Oh my Celestia did you know that there minei-”
“SHUT THE HELL UP!” I shouted at her. “I am not your servant, I'm not your slave. I came here to oversee the construction of the towers and that's it.”
“Oh uhh ok sorry I… I-”
“Can you please not? I'm just going to leave.”

I turned around and every pony was staring at me in shock. I left the library and went back home. I layed in bed and thought about what just happened. “I did not handle that well.” I told myself. After a while of rethinking my life choices I decided to go out for a walk. While I walked I realized something. Ever since I came to this world I actually felt stuff inside of me. Not like organs moving but feelings. For most of my life I was dead inside. I really didn't know what to do about it. Should I keep them inside or embrace them? I no longer have to worry about when I get paid for my next meal. Holy shit I don't have to worry about my boss firing me because I didn't make my life all about the job. In this world I was… happier. I felt emotions and a lot of… Love. After a while of walking, I saw a couple guards and Shining Armor. 

“Hey Sam I am so sorry about Twilly.” He told me.
“Oh what happened?” I said while breaking my weird trancething.
“At the library she kept interrupting you and kept giving you orders.”
“Oh that. Are you friends with her?”
“Yes and I'm her older brother.”
“I'm sorry that I yelled  at her.”
“Oh it's not a big deal, there's plenty of other times that I had to yell at her because she wasn't listening.”
“So she has some social issues.”
“Yes, mainly because she thinks grades are more important than anything else.”
“Ho.” I told him. 
Before I started to go back home he asked. “Do you want to go out for a drink?”
“Ya sure.” I told him.

After a couple of hours at the local bar.

“Ok ok let me get this straight so you guys are taller than Celestia, walk on two legs and have fleshy claws things?'’ Shining Armor concluded.
“Yes we are odd looking aren't we.” I told him.
“So how many of you guys are there?”
“Around 8 million.”
“Oh damn that a lot of people.”
“Hey you didn't say it weirdly.”
“What?”
“People.”
“Really?”
“Ya most ponies say it weirdly like instead of saying people they say it like poople or pople.”
“Well now I can tell my wife how to pronounce people.”
“Let me guess you like to mess with your wife?”

We both started to laugh but I saw some pony in dark robes started to pull out a crossbow and aimed at us. I used the beer from Shining’s mug to ignite a star. A bright light blinded every pony in the tavern and I grabbed his hoof and ran out. He screamed as I dragged him out of the bar. 

“What is that for!?” he yielded to me while we ran.
“Some pony was trying to kill you!” I shouted back.
“Wear they in a robe!?”
“Yes!”
“Dame a cultist!”

We started to slow down and eventually stopped. We started to take a breather. “I was thanking that I would be. saving you but Instead you saved me.” Shining thanked me. “Same.” I replied. After a while then we saw sum guards dragging the same pony but tied up. The guards put them on the ground in front of the Shining. “Well, well, well, looks like another one of those cultists.” Shining told them. The guards removed the hooded figure and it was a mare. 

“Thouis not the real king and when King Sombra comes back he will save the Empire from your tyranny.” she told Shining.
“Just Put her in jail until we get stuff sorted.” Shining told the guards.
“When king Sombra comes back he will save us all! He will stop Them! THEM!” she shouted as the guards dragged her off to the distance.
“So why is there a cult problem?” I asked Shining.
“Well those ponies sport the tyrannical king Sombra and somehow there's a lot of them.”
“Oh those that basically worship some pony to an extreme.”
“Yes.”
“Well where I'm from there's a saying for cults.”
“What is it?”
“Don't drink the kool aid.”
“Well have a nice night Sam.”
“You too Shining.”

As I layed in bed I had difficulty sleeping even though I had a big day for tomorrow. I went under my bed to get that random book I found. I grabbed the book and looked through it. It seemed to be over 3/4ths filled with words and the last page seemed to be ripped out. Corosaty filled my mind. So I decided to start reading.

Over a 1000 years ago in the Crystal Empire.

A dark unicorn named Sombra sitting in his home enjoying his home drinking his tea. He sat on his chair and looked out the window. Something bothered him. Something about the recent news but his wife, a pregnant light blue unicorn named Hope came in getting him. 

“Gertings husband, how are thous doing?” She asked.
“I'm just worried.” Sombra said.
“About what?”
“The recent news. I'm worried about the foal.”
“Oh dont worry im sure those warlords won't come to the Empire anytime soon.”
“Hopfly.”
“By the way, what are thou going to do with that dead chanling? It's been sitting out for a few days now.”
“Well I'm going to figure out its secrets.” Sombra joyfully said. “I'm gonna figure out how it changes its form.”
“Well, that's my Sombra always trying to figure out thangs.”
“I love you Honey.”
“I love you too swe-” Hope started to cough.
“Are you ok?”
“I'm fine, it's just a chough.”
“Remember last time.”
“I know.”
“Let's get thou to bed.”
“Thanks hunny.”

Sombra took Hope to bed and tucked her in. when Sombra went back to his tea he found his general underneath the table. It was black and had a purple crystal in the middle. He grabbed ink and quill and began to write. “Dear diary. Update on my wife: she seems to be getting better from her illness but I still worry for her. Update on my projects: my mana cadlag is almost complete an enchantment that can behave like a machine but sadly just using mana feed isn't enuff. But if I figure out a way to make the machine harnist the crystals then it would work. Hmm, maybe I'll try that lader. And another update I've gotten my hoofs on a changeling corpse. If I could figure out its secrets it could be a game catcher. But it will be difficult and hard. Update on my job: the shoulders seem to thank that the king isn't taking his role sirius. All he does is sit around all day and he complains that the citizens are not grateful to have him. Maybe I should take him down? Maybe. If those warlords start coming to the Empire, I will send my soldiers to save it. I am the Captain of the royal guard after all. But hopefully my family is safe and sound once the warlords die off from old age or in war. All that is known is that they're old.” 

Present day.

“Holy Shit” I said after closing the book. “This was the diary for the tyrant!” I put it under the bed. I know there's a cult problem so I put it under my bed for now.