After flying through the night for some time, the carriage comes down at the borders of the Crystal Empire. There is a relentless snowstorm raging in the area, making it impossible to fly directly into the Empire. Because of that, Spike needs to continue on to the Crystal Tower on foot.
The player starts this part in the arctic wastes and needs to make his way through the storm. Because of the blizzard, he must constantly carry his lamp and keep it burning hotter than usual so as not to freeze to death. However, this costs mana. In this harsh environment, if his Mana becomes depleted and the lantern goes out, he will constantly lose health. There are a lot of small animal-like creatures in the area that drop Mana flasks to help replenish his reserves.
The player will find a way through the storm by following the signs sticking out of the snow at several points.

After a short while Spike will find the Capital of the Crystal Empire, completely unaffected by the blizzard. In contrast with the harsh weather conditions outside, the sun shines its beautiful rays, keeping the City warm, as if in late spring. Surprisingly, there are no signs of it’s inhabitants, just a lot of stone statues lining the road. The statues are masterfully manufactured, with wide open eyes and mouths looking like they are trying to scream. They seem a bit too good to be mere sculptures…

The player advances into the city, towards the Crystal Tower, a castle complex standing in the centre of the City on three supporting legs. It appears that the City is possessed by an evil presence, manifesting in form of crystals growing in the streets and on the buildings, spreading like parasitic fungus. However, nothing prevents Spike from entering the Tower.

Dungeon 3 – The Crystal Tower

Within the Tower, the evil presence felt outside is even stronger. Increasingly large numbers of dark crystals grow on the walls while ominous shadows lurk on the ceiling and the floor, slithering forth to attack Spike if he comes close.
In addition to that, former guards of the Tower, possessed and warped by the dark crystals, are waiting for Spike.
The player will also notice that many crystals can be destroyed by bombs. They will shatter into rubies, the currency of the game that can be then collected by Spike.
Most of the time in the dungeon is spent moving up through the many levels of the Tower.
The player encounters mirror puzzles, to solve which the light that the crystals emit must be reflected onto certain points to progress to the next floor.
After Spike defeats a particularly tough knight in the armory, he will find the
„Ruby Bow“, hidden in a chest, which, in addition to the normal arrows, is capable of firing ruby-arrows. Every shot made using these special arrows costs 10 rubies and creates a crystal block that render enemies defenceless or acts as part of a solution to a puzzle.
Once the player makes his way through a few more floors, he enters a large area in the center of the Tower. It contains a great spiral staircase with nothing but a white void around it. As soon as the player tries to climb the stairs, the steps disappear and he slides all the way back down. Back at the bottom, there is nothing except an ornately decorated door that brings him to another room, in which he will face a mini-boss..
This sub-boss is essentially an evil doppelganger of Spike, although it closely resembles a Lizardman.
He will mimic Spike’s attacks, and the player will need to figure out how to overcome his counterpart.
After Dark-Spike is defeated, the player obtains the Unicorn Key and is free to leave the room. The steps of the spiral staircase will have returned to normal. When the player starts climbing them, they begin to move like an escalator and help him ascend much more quickly.
When he reaches the top, he can use the key to enter the boss room. This is once again a throne room, shrouded in dark fog. As the player takes a few steps inside, he will hear a dull stomping from afar, and the boss will emerge from the fog.

Possessed Crystal Warlock – King Sombra
King Sombra appears as a giant knight with a sinister aura around him and a huge sword carved out of a crystal that he drags behind him. He does not do much more than wheeze and stomp trying to hit the player with brutish attacks. They are easy to avoid due to their slowness. Should Spike nevertheless be hit, he will sustain major damage.
There is no simple way to damage the king, since none of the sword attacks seem to affect him. He punishes attempts to attack him that way with kicks that send Spike across the room. If he manages to grab Spike, he will strangle him, draining all of his Mana and throwing him aside afterwards.
Bringing Sombra down requires a complex strategy utilizing all items collected so far.
First, the player has to throw the boomerang, aiming for the king’s head, which will briefly make the armored warlock confused. Then, Spike needs to rush up to the dazed boss and set his cloak on fire with the lantern, forcing Sombra to stamp out the flames. While he is thus distracted, the player has to shoot a ruby-arrow at his crown, making the resulting crystal connect with Sombra’s crystal horn. The king is stunned again. Finally, a bomb needs to be thrown at the horn to weaken the crystal. Sombra will then fall to his knees, becoming vulnerable to Spike’s sword attacks.
If the player is short on resources while fighting the mighty king, he can destroy crystals in the area to refill his supplies. If the sequence is interrupted, Sombra will become furious and will start wreaking havoc with his crystal greatsword or spawn shadow tentacles, which emerge from the ground, flail around wildly and then crystallize. Once crystallized, they can be easily destroyed with nearly any weapon in Spike’s arsenal.
The less health the boss has remaining, the faster he becomes. This applies to movement speed as well as trying to grab the player and aiming deadly strikes on him.
Once the boss is defeated, he drops his sword and screams in pain.
Slowly, the horn on Sombra’s head will crumble, followed by his entire body and armor falling to pieces until he is nothing but a cloud of dark fog, which finally dissolves into thin air.

After the fog is gone, Sombra’s sword shatters into pieces, leaving only a heart shapped crystal behind, the “Relic of Love” which Spike then collects.
Furthermore, the fog reveals the sleeping Princess Cadance sitting on the throne, who slowly comes to her senses.
After she awakens, she thanks Spike for saving the entire city.
Spike then explains what happened in the other places, which makes her worried.
She is convinced that Princess Celestia should hear about what happened and offers Spike to teleport him back to Canterlot Castle when he is ready.
In the meantime, all the citizens of the Crystal Empire are freed from their stone prisons and acknowledge Spike as their savior.
Cadance insists that Spike keeps the Relic, as she believes it will be of use to him.
When Spike says he is ready to be teleported, Cadance uses a powerful spell to transport Spike back to Canterlot.