MLP: S3E1+2, “The Crystal Empire”

SPOILERS INCOMING

This was kinda supposed to go up last night at around midnight but uh, yeah. Let’s pretend it did. I lost my draft so no links right this moment, but I’ll spruce it up with them after . As usual, if you haven’t seen the new episodes, don’t continue reading. Turn back now, ye who wish to avoid discussion of it!



The Crystal Empire



Ok, first thing’s first, the titular Empire, which is more of a city. How would this affect Fallout: Equestria? Well, probably not at all, actually. The nation was sealed away by a curse along with King Sombra, so it seems like it stayed that way in FO:E’s timeline, or at least up until the point when the megaspells struck. If Sombra WAS freed by his prison being vaporized, that would have led to a very unpleasant end for the residents of the Empire, as subsequent fallout (or even more of the balefire and megaspells themselves) struck right after they returned to the normal plane of existence.



So that leaves it’s place in FO:E canon in one of two possible states. It simply doesn’t exist as it never returned, or it came back at the worst possible time thanks to the global war and was annihilated. The first answer is the simplest, but the second lends itself better to storytelling, as the resulting destuction may have left any survivors becoming the equivalent of Necropolis or even the City of Shade. Crystal ghouls or some other sort of horribly mutated ponies spawned by the curse being lifted and bathed in radiation simultaneously..

(If you read the article about Shade there’s a LOT in there which has parallels to the episode; it was a dimensionally displaced city of an empire which no longer exists, it’s leader and subsequently subjects are made of shadows, and so on. Even more so when you consider D&D’s connection to Hasbro.)



King Sombra



We’ve yet to discover who or what it was that corrupted Luna; the only thing we know is that it was an outside force. Sombra cursed the Crystal Empire as he was being sealed in his icy can, and might have done the same to Luna. No definite answer on that front, but it shows that with enough skill and determination ponies can cast complex spells even while under extreme duress.



It’s extremely unlikely that Sombra survived, as he literally shattered into pieces “merely” from being struck with positive energy, and didn’t have the benefit of being a physical God like Nightmare Moon or Discord. Even contact with a magic barrier was enough to sever his horn instead of just pushing him back, so, while extremely cruel and with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, he seemed to be more of a glass cannon than anything else. If the second scenario in the section above occurred and he became a ghoul or mutant, it seems odd that he wouldn’t have acted in two hundred years to take over the rest of the land. Those with power and ambition are never satisfied with what they have, at least not for long. Which brings us to the next part..



Dark Magic

(Vector by Brisineo)



It exists in canon, and it is not pretty. Beyond the expected black and purple swirls, there’s also a strong fel green every time it’s cast. Sombra’s eyes have green retinas with red pupils, so this seems an intrinsic part of it’s shadowy nature. The opposite of the usage of powerful light magic in the setting, which makes it’s casters’ eyes glow white, seen when used by Celestia, Luna, Twilight Sparkle, and all her friends when wielding the Elements of Harmony.



Do note in this case I’m speaking of dark/black magic and light/white magic not in the sense that one is offensive and the other defensive. No, rather, I’m comparing it to sorcery which carries some sort of cost for it, and not the kind of price which would be reasonable. Sombra growled and roared like a feral beast most of the time, so he likely slipped a bit in sanity due to such heavy use of it..



The Black Book



And then there’s this one, emerging in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment at the end, where Luna summons forth a dark tome covered in mysterious symbols. it was eerie enough seeing a pink sphere around Canterlot last season, but this is even more unnerving with it’s paralells to FO:E. Sure, lots of series have had their own equivalent to the Necronomicon, even kids’ shows (like Ghostbusters!), but this takes the creepy cake. If it turns out that a mad equine wrote the book in question, well, the ponies might want to pray to be eaten first!



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So, what do we know? Black magic is a thing, and it’s just as bad as it is in many other worlds. Ponies also have as great a potential for cruelty as they do for kindness, but so far, positive feelings and spells don’t just rival negative ones, they overwhelm them. Friendship is Magic, after all.



I can’t make any further canon statements about the other topics just yet, because we’ll need to see how these things play out in the months to come. Celestia and Luna are aware of something greater than they are letting on, and even the commercials hint that Twilight will discover her ‘true destiny’ this year. Twilight ascending to an alicorn? Becoming the heir to the Equestrian throne? We might just be seeing the beginnings of a season-wide story arc here, which would also explain why there’s fewer episodes this time. Or maybe not. It could happen!