Princess Celestia was nothing if not a patient pony. She sat, she listened to ponies and their problems, their concerns, their troubles, and she did a good job alleviating said concerns. In her own honest opinion.
She'd managed a kingdom for over two thousand years, the entirety of Equestria for stars sakes! So why was it that there was always somepony crawling out of the woodwork to insinuate that she didn't know what she was doing? Somepony who hadn't even reached the hundred year mark, coming up to her and thinking they knew better?
It was important for her litte ponies to make mistakes, true. They had to grow throughout their lives and they simply wouldn't if she excercised her authority every time and told them exactly how they were wrong. But in this situation, she wished her friend would just listen to reason...
"No."
"Please Cadence, I must insist that you reconsider-"
"Auntie, you can insist until you're blue in the face. In this instance, my answer will remain the same," the Princess of Love, Crystal, and the Empire to the North stated resolutely. She deferred to her mentor on many occasion, but her gut and instincts were telling her she was in the right in this instance.
"Again, I truly think it would be better for her if she were relocated to a town, closer to the Tree of Harmony to aid in her recovery..."
"And I'll tell you again, this is her home. I can't even fathom the depths of torment that Sombra put her through, what she needs is to be in a familliar environment, not to be carted off like a sack of potatoes simply because you want her closer to keep an eye on."
Celestia schooled her features, putting on a hurt expression. She was distressed that her fellow princess didn't trust her in this matter, but even more distressing was that she had hit the proverbial nail on the head. Of course she wanted The Peridot to be stationed in Ponyville, to recover in the care of her treasured student. It would have proven a worthy challenge for the up and coming princess. She didn't even have a country to run yet, so she was a prime candidate with too much time on her hooves.
Twilight would of course pick the elderly gems mind on ancient history (Celestia wasn't sure of their exact lifespan, but she was fairly certain they were of a respectable age.) during her ministrations, sending the ailing pony on her way to reminiscing about better times, which could only serve to help her in the long run!
That being said, Celestia also wanted her based on her rumored intelligence. The legends had given her the moniker of 'the innovator', almost all the stories told of her outstanding understanding of technical know-how. The Crystal Empire had elevators, and they had been stuck outside of time for the past thousand years! Just thinking about the wonderous and bountiful 'crops' she could offer her ponies...
"Cadence..."
"No. I won't shift on my decision, Auntie. And that is final."
Celestia let out an irritated sigh,before calming herself with a measured breath. That was fine. It wasn't ideal, but situations rarely were. The thing her fellow princess didn't fully understand was the underlying and horrifying implications of time. Most ponies lived day to day.
A short, but meaningful and enjoyed life. Celestia, on the other hoof, lived through each day, while awaiting the next... few thousand or so.
She had once stumbled upon a board game titled 'life'. It was entertaining, and her ponies seemed to like it well enough. But it was simply so... shortsighted. For one who had lived for thousands of years, the contemplation of certain things were elementary, simple whereas for her little ponies they were these huge, insurmountable ideas.
She more than once jokingly reffered to her favorite set of chess pieces as 'Life'. That was because life could be planned out, thinking several thousand moves ahead of the first. You simply had to know how the pieces moved, and how the person sitting behind them thought.
Cadence was a headstrong sort who would follow through with her plans, but had a slight problem with the day to day minutia. There were many times Celestia had found her missing out on certain things, simply because she had overworked herself to near exhastion, forgetting that while she was now an alicorn... she was only a pony.
No one pony can be everywhere, do everything at once, and perfectly to the letter described and desired. Celestia had long since mastered the art of delegation, but her niece... She was still green.
She made mistakes. She forgot things.
And for a normal pony (or one as of yet still unused to the burdon of the crown), the progression of time makes one slip up worse than any other element.
Mannerisms change and shift every day, what may have once been a solid stance like that of bedrock can go from one day to the next, ending up flimsier than a pile of sand.
She would let the matter go for now. But Cadence would eventually see Celestia's point, she would realize the sense of it in time.
Time was something she had a lot of.
"Very well, I shall press no further," Celestia stated, seeing a glimpse of tangible relief pass her nieces face.
"Thank you, Auntie. Onto other regards, as stated at the last summit the Empire has need of Earth ponies to immigrate and settle, so as to help the surrounding area usable for crops..."
The meeting continued, rather cordial on topics of goods and services their respective lands needed or could otherwise use. It was at the point that Celestia got fully into swing propositioning her to 'encourage' a few of her citizens to travel, to better advertise the return of the Crystal Empire to the ponies of Equestria that a rather distraught pony stepped into the room. Nervously twitching, eyes shifting frantically from side as his tail dragged on the floor behind him.
"...Yes?" Cadence prodded verbally, watching as the pony jerked in place.
"I... er, that is, we have some bad news?" the pony continued.
"...Such as?" Cadence once again broke the silence that the pony seemed keen in letting persist.
"Uh... well, that is... the hospital-"
"Have there been complications? What of the Peridot?" Cadence surged to her hooves, all pretenses of her prior meeting behind her.
"Well... she's... missing."
Celestia refused to let the slight grin touch her muzzle, leaving her face placid. Even from minute to minute could a situation change, and shift dangerously to the far side of the scales. It was almost like clockwork.
Cadence stood stock still for a second, before whipping her head (and outjutted hoof) to the side to point squarely at her personal... 'guard'.
She had originally wanted to remain without an escort, but the crystal ponies had insisted. Tradition or what have you. She had been powerless to resist when the puppy-dog-eyes had been brought out. Wouldn't you, if faced with fifty different ponies all doing it at once? So that was it. Either suffer a chaperone, or make her ponies sad.
Easy choice.
"Heartbeat," she belted out, the Pony in question snapping to attention. "Inform the rest of the guard of the current situation. Have... an alert passed out, that a pony has gone missing from the local hospital and may still be injured. Please let ponies know to keep an eye out, and to render assistance if possible. Under no circumstances is there to be any incidents of strong arming her back to the hospital, just... try to help?" She finished, unsure of how to properly word what she was trying to get across.
For her credit, it appeared her loyal and trusty sword holder understood her concerns, snapping her a salute before turning around to make his way out.
Cadence turned back to Celestia, all signs of worry erased. "They'll... be fine. Maybe they'll even find her wandering around the hospital?" she joked, "It's not like she could have just gotten up and walked out the front door, after all."
I got up and just walked out the front door.
It's not like I had anypony guarding me, after all.
After freeing myself from my restraints (one probably wouldn't normally refer to bedsheets as such, but with the frightening ferocity they had shown as I tried to remove them firmly put the label of 'restraints' on them in my mind) and vacating the premises, I did what was expected of me. I tried to return to my room.
I hadn't been given permission to leave, after all.
Unfortunately I managed to discover something that put somewhat of a damper on my course of action. I hadn't the faintest smidgen of a clue where the heck the information hub was. It wasn't my fault, I swear! If these lazy ponies simply had just put up a few helpful signs, I wouldn't be in this stupid mess.
I had hoped I would just be able to head out, then beeline it for my room and put this whole mess behind me. It seems however that although I had been hooked up to this stupid city for the last few centuries, actually finding my way around it analogue was a completely different ballgame than following information lines and trading routes. The three transporter pads I had found were completely inoperable, about as much use as trying to use a paperweight as actual paper.
All the crystal systems I could lay eyes on were in some sort of disrepair, falling apart due to lack of use or more sinisterly from accute application of bludgeoning force. I didn't remember the city being attacked by a large army in recent memory, but the evidence of violence since passing was plain to see.
The only piece of gem tech I had come across that didn't seem to be damaged was a luminosity beacon. I didn't really feel like testing if it still worked, and bringing the attention of every pony to me for no reason. What if they told the king?
Frustrated and tired of walking around (even though I hadn't used my legs for a while, it wasn't like I was rusty in their use. Like riding a bike, really.) I decided to get out of the sun. And air.
Even disconnected from the information hub, I could remember that most ponies still required this little thing called 'oxygen'. Required for prolonged life, and such forth.
I wasn't most, as the master liked to frequently recount.
While I would mimic the requirement for air when the master wanted, I wasn't bound by such a shackle as needing to breathe. Which was why the bottom of a shallow pond afforded me a decent respite from the noon suns blindingly hot rays. Cool water and whatnot.
I had to get back to the information hub. That was plain enough. If the master found me out and about wandering around, his temper might fray to dangerous limits. Dangerous for myself, that is. So my goal was obvious, but that was about all I had working for me at this point in time. I couldn't recall any of the detailed city maps I had access to previously, and it seemed my sense of direction suffered heavily from my limited exposure to the city outside my room.
I had been outside twice. Both times were not pleasant. Much safer to just stay inside.
I would have to think about this logically. I couldn't remember the exact schematics, but I did remember previous sections of my own internal musing. When that group had intruded, I remember thinking that I was about twenty minutes from the city wall. That in itself wasn't all that helpful, seeing as I could have been referring to any of the outside walls. Still, that narrowed my starting area disregarding the fact that I still didn't know where I was in reference to anything else, I could tell where the main citadel was simply by raising my head and looking. I was about ten minutes walk from it, which meant I was about seven to thirteen miles from the outside walls.
I'd have to carefully begin a search grid, marking my progress from a specified point after I had calculated the distance from the walls in a compact radius. After I got that started, I could progressively-
I flinched, a jabbing pain jutting into my side and disappearing just as quickly as it had appeared. Weird. I continued my line of thought, putting the pain out of mind. After that was sorted out, I could progressively cut down my search area grid by grid. It was really only a matter of time until I found what I was looking for, how hard could my room be to find?
I'd have to hook myself back in, hopefully King Sombra wouldn't find out about my little... 'excursion'. I'd send for some muscle to apprehend the group of ponies that had take. Me, and everything would be right in the worl-
I thrashed away as the thrusting pain blossomed in my side again. Whipping my head around to stare at the offending side, I beheld an odd sight. I had been poked in the side. With a stick. A long, willowy branch tinged through with red. A bloodvine, apparently. They grew in the horticultural section, and were of fairly little use outside of their ability to burn hotter and longer than most other woods. Odd how it came to be in this pond though, it wasn't like they-
It stabbed into my side once more, forcing me to make an awkward swipe at it. It surprisingly retreated, tantalizingly out of reach. Reaching out to grab it once more led to it again darting out of my reach. It was then I managed to put the proverbial ‘two and two’ together. Someone was watching me, from above the waters surface.
How perfectly ‘King Sombra’ of them.
I slowly made my way back topside -if it was anyone important trying to gain my attention they wouldn’t have bothered with a stick and simply electrified the standing water. Dragged my twitching body ashore and yelled out their questions and demands once I regained a semblance of coherency.-, pausing before I broke the surface of the water. A wavy, blurred outline of a pony stood above me, stick at the ready in case I-
The stick slowly inched forward once more, jabbing me once in the center of my barrel. I glared at the brown outline, wondering if I could possibly set them on fire if I willed myself hard enough.
Never worked on Master, he had it down to an art form though.
Cheating unicorns.
On a whim, I tried to charge magic to my gem in an attempt to yank whatever jerk had the gall to interrupt my musing forward into the water. I flinched as a searing shard of flowing lava burrowed its way under the skin, jutting out as it split my skull asunder.
I took a second to compose myself, allowing the slip of energy to return to its previous course as the stick once more scored a hit in my soft flesh. It had been a foolish endeavor to start with, I knew fair well that I wasn't allowed to practice magic anymore.
With the crack running through my gem, all my magia was good for was stimulating data flow. And seeing as I no longer had the control stem jutting from my forehead... I was damaged goods.
I got to my hooves, compensating for the lack of proper bouyency. Gravity didn't like to work right for me, especially under water. I trundled my way out of the shallow pond, evading another thrust from the dratted branch. I broke the surface of the water, glaring at my dreaded foe with as much vitriol as could be summoned forth.
"Hi!" The small, brown colt greeted. Apparently my glare was lacking. It would need a heavy rework. "Were you sleeping down there?"
I let him simmer in his discomfort, waiting as I formed my perfect response. The colt tilted his head to the side, his goofy smile refusing to falter.
"If you thought I was sleeping, then why would you poke me?" I finally replied.
"I tried breathing under water once," the little clod replied, ignoring my question. "It really hurt, and then I sicked up the water and my mom was super worried!" He took a second to regain his spent breath, barreling straight back into his childish prattling. "So when I saw you laying under there I thought maybe you would wanna come up because you hadn't realized you couldn't breathe the water?"
"... I didn't breathe in any water."
"So you held your breath? I can hold my breath super long, my mom says it was almost a whole minute! Say, what's your name?"
I stared at the young one, trying to parse his nonstop babble.
"I am Peridot."
"Cool, like the innovator?" He fired off. "One of my moms friends is going to name her filly Peridot too. I think she should name her Tornado, but mom said I should 'keep such thoughts to myself' and not be rude. My names Dipstick!"
I continued to stare at the young foal, almost amazed by his unorthodox sentence structure. Was this what a normal kid was like? I wasn't sure I liked it.
"Hey, I'm done here, the radio thingy is toast," He waved behind himself, directing my attention towards a relay station. As he had stated, it was 'toast'. I could see from here that it had sustained severe damage. It seems like someone had flung a bevy of hefty objects at the top, splintering the crystal and rupturing the dish. I might be able to fix it with a hefty dose of bioplasm, but as was it was a lost cause. "Wanna see my house?"
"... Sure."