The Crystal Empire - Part 2

The Crystal Empire - Part 2
Season №:	3
Season episode №:	2
Overall episode №:	54
Original airdate:	November 10, 2012
Written by:	Meghan McCarthy
Storyboard:	Raven Molisee and Nicole Wang
Song:	The Success Song
See also
credits • transcript • gallery • allusions animation errors • statistics • speculation
Episode guide
Previous The Crystal Empire - Part 1	Next Too Many Pinkie Pies

The Crystal Empire - Part 2 is an episode of the third season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. It is the second episode of the third season, and the fifty-fourth episode overall. It is the second episode of a two-parter which begins the season.

In this episode, Twilight and Spike attemp to search for the real Crystal heart while her friends try to protect the Crystal fair from King Sombra.

Summary

Searching for the real Crystal Heart

File:Twilight runs down the stairs S3E02.png

Twilight telling Rainbow Dash to keep the Crystal Faire going.

 The episode starts with a short recap of Part 1 and then continues after Princess Cadance faints, causing the magical shield to vanish. King Sombra prepares to charge into the city, but Cadance recovers and repowers the shield. The shield slices off a small piece of his horn, becoming a dark crystal. Twilight Sparkle tells her friends to keep the Crystal Ponies interested in the Faire while she searches for the real Crystal Heart. At first, Twilight refuses to let Spike accompany her, but she relents when he promises to not "lift a single claw" to help her. Meanwhile, the friends are coming up with ways to distract the Crystal Ponies. Rainbow Dash addresses Fluttershy as "Knight Fluttershy", announcing that it's showtime. Applejack, who is guarding the covered fake Crystal Heart, diverts the attention of curious carnival-goers who want to see the Heart before the ceremony because they have not seen the Crystal Heart for 1,000 years.

Twilight deduces that King Sombra hid the Crystal Heart in the castle, since nopony would be brave enough to set foot in there during his rule. In the throne room, she finds nothing special save a large crystal at the peak of the throne's backrest, reminding her of the one that Princess Celestia worked her magic upon in the previous episode. Remembering how her mentor replicated King Sombra's magic, Twilight does the same and the crystal's black light reveals a spiraling staircase in the middle of the room. Twilight begins her descent down the long, dark staircase, telling Spike to keep an eye on the situation outside. Wanting to check to see how far down it is as she can't see the bottom, Twilight breaks off a small piece of crystal from the side and drops it down the shaft.  After hearing nothing, she checks that her hearing is working; she becomes dismayed when the crystal strikes botttom only after a very long moment.  Meanwhile, Cadance's magic shield is beginning to crumble once again, prompting Twilight to overcome her fears and race down the staircase.

The door that leads to your worst fear.

When she reaches the very end, she uses King Sombra's magic again to locate a door. She opens it and rushes through it, only to end up in the throne room in Canterlot. Celestia sternly tells her to go, and informs her that not only has she failed her test, she will also no longer be her student because of her not studying. Dismayed, Twilight begins to cry as Sombra laughs. The camera zooms out to show her sitting before a stretch of wall. Spike joins her and concernedly asks her if she is all right. The whites of Twilight's eyes, which have turned green, become normal as she snaps out of her vision. She steps out of the way and lets Spike approach the threshold. His eyes immediately turn green as well and he talks as if he is being abandoned, crying, "Please, Twilight, don't leave me!" Twilight slams the door shut, telling him that King Sombra has bewitched the door to make it lead to your worst fears. She reassures Spike that she will never send him away, and uses her own magic to materialize the real door.

Upon opening the real door, they see a light blue staircase snaking up the exterior of a tower. Like the dark staircase, this one seems to have no end, and they begin climbing it. The scene changes to show Princess Cadance, whose magic is faltering. King Sombra cackles and his magic rapidly penetrates the kingdom, leaving two black trails. At the Faire, Crystal Ponies cheer as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, dressed in armor, prepare to joust with long pinnacles attached to their chests. Pinkie Pie, seeing an ominous thunderclap, loudly blows on her flugelhorn, signaling the two ponies to charge at each other. Fluttershy panics at the last second and is launched in the air. Dash exhorts her friend to continue, saying that the fate of an empire rests on showing the ponies a good time. Even as they trot back to the arena, some crystals behind them turn black.

The camera cuts to Twilight and Spike wearily trekking up the blue staircase. Twilight looks up and is inspired to perform an anti-gravity spell, allowing her and Spike to effortlessly slide down the smooth underside of the staircase on her hooves. Whooping with glee, Twilight explains that she had studied gravity spells, thinking that it might be on her test.

The Crystal Ponies notice that the Crystal Heart is a fake.

The camera cuts again to the Faire. As the sky blackens, Rarity frantically crafts traditional baskets and hands them to the crystal ponies, but runs out of materials. The ponies, aware that King Sombra has returned, anxiously surround what they think is the Crystal Heart, the centerpiece of the whole Faire. Rarity and Applejack look up at the castle balcony, where Princess Cadance has collapsed in Shining Armor's forelegs. Pinkie Pie is juggling flugelhorns on a bouncy ball but slips. The ball knocks over the cloth covering the fake Crystal Heart, which clatters to the ground at the hooves of the shocked citizens. Rarity is about to say something, but is interrupted by Applejack, stating that the real Crystal Heart was on its way. But Rarity then whispers to Applejack that she was going to say that the Crystal Heart was being polished to buy time. The citizens scatter, crying, "It's him!"

Twilight and Spike reach the very top of the tower to see the resplendent, light blue Crystal Heart suspended above a wide circular disc. When Twilight eagerly steps onto the disc, which begins flashing like an alarm, King Sombra is alerted and he angrily throws up a wall of black crystals around the perimeter of the disc, trapping Twilight inside. She knocks the Heart out of the prison just in time and it lands a short distance from Spike.

Delivering the Crystal Heart

Cadance saving Spike and the real Crystal Heart.

An outside shot of the tower reveals it to actually be the center tower of the castle, the highest point of the building. Twilight teleports out of the trap, but it responds with Sombra's signature magic to teleport her back in. She berates herself for not being more careful due to her eagerness to retrieve the Heart. Although Spike reminds her that she is the one Princess Celestia assigned to return the Crystal Heart for her test and must therefore escape the trap right away, she realises that she can't be sure that there is enough time for her to figure it out. After considering her options, she tells Spike that he is the one who must deliver the Heart: he protests, but she shouts for him to go. Spike grabs it and jumps off the tower just as black crystals pierce the floor. The camera pans to Applejack and Rarity nervously reassuring the ponies from the royal balcony. The last few wisps of magic vanish from Cadance's horn and the last vestiges of the barrier disappear. A Crystal Pony then panics and tries to run for it, only for her to bump into a black crystal, where King Sombra is so delighted of seeing his Crystal Pony Slaves again. While this is happening, Spike is dodging the black crystals from outside the tower, jumping to a convenient black crystal spiral to make his way down. He calls down to the others that he has the Crystal Heart, which makes King Sombra furious, saying That is Mine. Diving into the ground, he then charges to the castle as a shadow, then upward as a giant black crystal towards Spike as he runs down the spiral.

Just then, Spike trips and the Crystal Heart falls out of his grasp as he falls along with it. His friends become alarmed, and Shining Armor, seeing the situation, scoops up Cadance onto his back. She opens her exhausted eyes and seeing the Heart causes a bright blue light to twinkle from them; the Heart responds by shining with bright blue light and she opens her wings. As Sombra gets nearer to the Crystal Heart, his shadow form reverts back to his original physical form. He licks his lips as if ready for an odd snack of Crystal and Dragon, whilst Spike tries constantly to grab the Crystal Heart even as he falls toward Sombra. Just before Sombra reaches them both, Shining Armor launches his wife into the air like a glider with all his strength, fast enough for her to rescue the Heart with her telekinesis and Spike on her back. Flying over the astonished Crystal Ponies, a pony cries, "Behold! The Crystal Princess!" She lands among them, the fake heart smashing underneath her hooves. She firmly says, "The Crystal Heart has returned. Use the light and love within you to ensure that King Sombra does not."  She tosses the Heart under the castle, the snowflake pattern in the center immediately reacting with bright blue light to the Heart's presence as it passes over it: a long crystal spire from the castle above and a short one from the center of the pattern below instantly come together to catch and 'grab' the Heart in a magnetic-like hold.

The Crystal Ponies regain their vivid colors, this time crystally, and bow before their princess. To Sombra's shock and growing horror, the same bright blue light emanates from beneath the hooves of every crystal pony, covering the roads and spreads throughout the streets of the Empire, surrounding the circle underneath the castle. It becomes clear that the roads themselves act as energy pathways for the centralized castle. The light suddenly retracts inward and becomes concentrated inside the Crystal Heart, repowering it, and it begins to spin rapidly, generating a blinding sphere of light that engulfs the empire. Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, the main six, and Spike become colored like the Crystal Ponies. Twilight is freed from her prison and watches as another, more prolonged, concentrated blast from the Crystal Heart destroys Sombra, his black crystals, drives back his black clouds, and returning the castle and regular crystal back to their beautiful appearance. Lastly, the top crystal of the castle begins to shine with blue light with a growing thrum of power. The castle itself becomes an antenna as white light shoots up from the base to power the top crystal, and it fires a ribbon of energy into the sky which results in one final, ground-shaking blast of blue light above the empire that disperses the black clouds. Immediately behind the blast the ribbon radiates out from a central point into many separate ribbons of pink, blue and yellow that are somewhat similar to the Northern Lights. The ribbons of light shine across the sky and are visible from Ponyville and Canterlot. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna see that the ponies have won the battle, and they gladly touch their horns together.

The Crystal Ponies cheer as their new monarchs wave from the balcony, and the citizens joyfully resume their normal activities. As the royal couple accompany the friends to the train station, Shining Armor jokingly tells his sister that she has to stop "saving his rump like this", but she reminds him that it was Spike. Carefree, Shining tells her that it was just a test and maybe Princess Celestia will just let her retake it, but Cadance, knowing it's more serious than that, touches him with her wing in a 'don't say that!' manner. In response to Shining, Twilight says she doesn't think she's going to get a new test, and is sadly pessimistic about her meeting with Celestia.

Passing the test

Princess Luna's book. (Later shown in season three Episode 13

Back in Canterlot, the friends anxiously wait outside the castle as Twilight goes inside to talk to Princess Celestia. In front of a new stained-glass window that commemorates Spike bringing the Crystal Heart to Cadance so she could inspire the Crystal Ponies, Twilight admits that she wasn't the one who saved the day. Her mentor tells her that by choosing to remain in the prison instead of potentially wasting time on an escape and having Spike deliver the Crystal Heart, she put the safety of the Crystal Ponies before her own future. Celestia explains that she prefers to have a student that understands self-sacrifice then one that would put their own self interests first.  Twilight announces to her friends, "I passed!" and they celebrate by singing The Success Song. The Ponyville friends leave Canterlot on the Friendship Express. In the final shot, the camera zooms out, eventually settling to show one of the palace balconies. As Celestia and Luna silently watch the train, the younger sister magically materializes a spiral-bound book. The princesses look at it, and nod to each other. The book has a dark cover which shows two stars and a swirly pattern. Spike then said that he knew everything was going to be okay, but he faints.

Quotes

For more quotes, see the episode's transcript.

Rarity: [gasps loudly] [pause] I... just found out they're offering face painting for the little ones. [laughs nervously] [whispers]

Spike: [under his breath] Uhuh. We can do that. Twilight's doing what?! [sound of a car driving off at speed]

Rarity: He... really... loves getting his face painted. Haha.

Rainbow Dash: Who wants a flugelhorn?

Pinkie Pie: I wanna flugelhorn!

Rainbow Dash: Who else wants a flugelhorn?

Pinkie Pie: I wanna flugelhorn!!

Spike: Twilight, wait! I'm coming with you!

Twilight Sparkle: You can't. I have to retrieve the Crystal Heart by myself.

Spike: I know. I promise I won't lift a claw to help you.

Twilight Sparkle: [sighs] Not a claw, Spike.

Rainbow Dash: Come on, Knight Fluttershy.

Fluttershy: Huh?

Rainbow Dash: It's showtime.

Princess Celestia: What are you doing here?

Twilight Sparkle: I don't know! I opened the door and-

Princess Celestia: And now you must go.

Twilight Sparkle: Go where?

Princess Celestia: Doesn't matter to me. You failed the test, Twilight.

Spike: What's in there?

Twilight Sparkle: [sighs] Stairs. Lots and lots of stairs.

Fluttershy: [nervous exhale] [catching breath] Isn't there... somepony else who could... take over the jousting demonstration with you?

Rainbow Dash: Tchah! The fate of an entire empire rests on us showing these ponies a good time. But, y'know, if that isn't important to you...

Fluttershy: [cries]

Rainbow Dash: Okay, okay, I'll take it easy on you next time. But not too easy. I've got a reputation to maintain!

Rarity: Hehe, excuse me- pardon me! (whispers) I am running out of weaving materials for the traditional crafts booth! I just made a hat out of three pieces of hay and a drinking straw! I made it work, though, but still!

Rarity: [gasps] Spikey-Wikey!

Rarity: I do so wish it was permanent. Did you see how my mane just absolutely sparkled?

Applejack: But... good things are better when they're a rarity.

Rarity: Aww. [laughs]

Gallery

The Crystal Empire - Part 2 image gallery

References

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