//------------------------------//
// The Crystal Fair 
// Story: Flurry Heart 
// by Buttery Biscuit 
//------------------------------//

Cadence woke up excited. Today was the Crystal Fair and for the first time. Sombra and Discord were going to be around. For some reason, Sombra always avoided the Crystal Fair, even during his reformation. Today would be different, today they would finally get to see it in its full glory. So when Discord and Sombra came into the kitchen with some of Flurry's things. She was confused. "Hello, boys."

"Hey there Cadence. See you after the fair," Sombra stated as Discord appeared behind him. Of course, Discord was holding Flurry in his arms. They were ready to go.

"Why are you leaving? Why can't you stay?" Cadence panicked, she had no idea that they were leaving.

"Cadence I told you yesterday. I can't go to the fair." Sombra explained, "and neither can Discord."

"But I thought you meant you had too much work. Shining and I were planning to help. So you could go, we can even bring Flurry. We could have so much fun together." Cadence explained, she had not expected this.

"No, we can't be here Cadence." Discord stated next, he rather not be around when that thing went off. See he and Sombra had beef with anything harmonic. Its powers could affect them both, from just nauseous to downright painful. In theory, it could kill them. In fact, he knew for sure, as the heart was the reason Sombra died the first time, then the elements, after getting out of ice, and then put back in. And all the other times. The stallion was a stubborn one, Discord would give him that.

"Why what's wrong?" Cadence asked "maybe I could help. I'm sure we can think of a solution."

"Cadence, it's harmonic. Harmony hates us. I rather not die again." Sombra explained as he looked to Discord for help. They needed to convince Cadence they couldn't be around for this.

"And because of that, I need to go too. It...I don't know what it'll do to me. What it'll do to us. We don't have the best relationship with harmony. It might come after us again." Discord was already starting to feel nervous. Who knew what the heart was truly capable of. Was it stronger than the elements? That was a question that Discord was more than happy to never find out.

"How do you know for sure that it will hurt you?" Cadence asked. She desperately wanted them to stay. This was a beloved national holiday. She wanted them to be a part of this. If this was supposed to be their home, then they shouldn't have to fear it. That must be the reason why it felt like they didn't seem at home. They were scared, scared of the Kingdom, and its power. The power of harmony.

Sombra took one look at Discord before taking a breath. He would beat around the bush while giving Cadence a valid reason they could not stay. "Cadence, before either of us turned evil. We ran into harmonic things all the time. Sometimes it made us sick, sometimes it was very painful. When I was living here before I took over. I often came into town for food at night. If I got too close to the heart it would attack me, make me sick. There was a reason I went after it first when I ruled."

Cadence frowned before asking, "Why?"

Discord frowned, he could actually be honest about his past this time. "I don't know. Even if you view us as friends, harmony definitely doesn't. We can't take the risk, it could hurt us. Worse it could corrupt us and all the hard work every creature put into our reformation would go to waste."

"But!" Cadence started to protest before she was interrupted.

"Look we don't have much time. We can't be here. We will stay for a couple more hours than we have to go. Before this thing starts." Sombra offered, he was trying his best to compromise, but he really wanted to leave.

Cadence watched them both leave the room. She thought about the heart and what they told him. Why would harmony magic harm them, before they were evil too? She needed to see the heart, so that is what she did. The heart was kept in the courtyard of the Crystal Castle for all to see. So it wasn't too hard to find. "Why?" She asked it, her heart thumping, but she got no answer. This angered her, why would the heart do this? "If I didn't share your magic would you hurt me too?" She dared to ask it, question its judgment. She hadn't before, she thought its judgment was absolute and pure, but not anymore. For the first time she questioned was harmony always in the right? Or is that what she thought? For the first time, she was wary of the heart.

She thought back to her first experience with dark magic. When Sombra cast it on her, it wasn't all that bad for all its hype. She was sure it was much worse for the ponies whose minds were manipulated. She just had her magic blocked, which made her feel nauseous. Which in retrospect, wasn't all that terrible. And while she felt a foreboding sense of dread around King Sombra's magic she did not with Sombra. It was the same magic he was casting, she was sure of it. It wasn't the same colt. Now she no longer felt skittish around dark magic or chaos magic. She was starting to suspect those magics weren't initially evil, that it was dependent on the user. Twilight led her to that conclusion as she remembered that she once used dark magic. Cadence looked at the castle and back at the heart, she had to do something. Then a thought crossed her mind, just as insane as her previous ideas, but she would need her ponies approval. She got up and trotted away from the heart cautiously. Suspicious of its intent.

Cadence approached the castle where Spear was posted. He guarded the outside of the castle so it was easier to ask him to do what she needed to do. Plus she did not want to take her eyes off of the heart. "Spear," She whispered to him, afraid the heart might hear her. "Go get the staff. I want Sombra and Discord to partake in the festival. That means we have to remove the heart from the stand. For their comfort. We will put it back and bow to it when they leave, but they can spend most of the day with us."

Spear just looked at his princess, was she crazy? "But the storm, the storm will come and bury us in snow." He started to protest, "and I'm sure it won't hurt them now. They are on our side."

"Discord and Sombra can help protect us, I'm not sure for how long. But it should give us enough time to let them have some fun. Then we will put it back and bow. Everything will be fine, like last time. Remember when Twilight found the missing heart and put it back? It'll be just like that except it won't be missing. Also, I just learned that the heart hurt Sombra before he was evil. That they are both badly affected by harmony, before being evil."

Spear sat on that thought and looked over to the heart. If that was true, then why, "and you need the staff because?"

"I need help making an argument to the Kingdom. This decision should be made by all of us." Cadence said this was not a time to leave the Kingdom in the dark. While she made many decisions without their knowledge or approval, she was their ruler. This was one that she wouldn't do that for. So she sat and staired the heart down as Spear gathered what she would need. Soon enough the entire Kingdom gathered, soon she would have to make her speech. She turned to Spear "watch the heart. If anything happens, even a small glimmer. Let me know."

Spear saluted her and turned his gaze onto the heart. Discord and Sombra were indeed trustworthy. Which means he trusted them, which means he could trust what they said. If the heart attacked Sombra while he was good that meant one of two things. One: the heart knew of future events. Two: the heart wasn't as pure and absolute in its judgment as Spear thought. He stared it down some more. If his sister had the potential for darkness. Would it hurt her too? Would it hurt him? He stared at it some more, carefully observing it for the slightest of change.

Cadence approached her ponies and began her speech.

"Hello, my ponies, I come here today to speak to you. I am sure that you have notice Discord and Sombra running around doing errands for us. I am sure many of you have wondered why. Shining and I found it hard to rule with such little staff. While we did not have the biggest staff, to begin with, we had to let even more of them go. Sometimes it was because they did a poor job, sometimes it was for...other reasons. We soon regretted that decision, so we asked some friends to help us. Discord and Sombra. They did more than help, they are the reason why Shining and I are so well-rested. They have been taking a lot off our hooves. So much so, I have offered to have them stay, permanently. Some of you may think they would leave eventually but that is not my intention. I intend to make a home for them here. Among us.

Sombra has been acting as Royal Advisor keeping us on track and making sure we get done what we needed to. We only had one before this and it went so poorly that we have done it since. This time it's different. Life is easier. Discord has been Flurry's nanny. He watches over her and unlike all the other nannies he refuses to quit." Cadence could hear the mutters and whispers.

"I know you are concerned but rest assured I know what I am doing. I have always protected you, put your best interest forward. I need you to trust me. Trust I know what I am doing. Please. I know you are worried that it might go poorly but I have brought three ponies that will affirm that they have changed. They even volunteered." She moved out of the way to reveal Moon, Spear, and Ivy. While they took to the stand one at a time explaining their experiences, they also made sure one pony kept their eye on the heart. They went over how Sombra and Discord were more than reformed they were trustworthy. Just like their monarch. When all was said and done Cadence took to the stand once more.

"I tell you this because I hate lying to you, I hate keeping secrets that I don't have to keep. Today I want you all to think about what I am saying, what they said. I want to include Discord and Sombra in everything. I want them to feel like they have a home, a place to go. That it is here. I want to do the Crystal Fair without the heart. I want to take it out of its place holder. We can put it back and fill it with love when they leave. I want them to experience the fair. In 5 minutes I expect your decision." She stated as the mutters of the crowd got louder and louder.

Cadence turned away to stare down the heart. She frowned at it, how could it hurt him like that? He hadn't even done anything. It just did it because there was a chance, it reminded her of Flurry. Would the heart hurt her too,? She did shatter it and it was fine. But maybe it waa because she didn't have a chance to be evil. At least not yet, but if she one day did. Would the heart come after her? Just for the sheer potential? How many others did it go after just because there was a chance they could be evil? She feared the power of the heart. Something she thought she always understood, realizing, she didn't understand it at all. Is this how Discord and Sombra felt? Soon the time passed, and she turned back to the crowd.

"Show of hooves." She was surprised to see the entire Kingdom on her side. Little did she know the Kingdom had already warmed up to them. She had every reason to worry, she remembered waking up to her Kingdom covered in information about the ATA. It hurt her to see that they were being mistreated. 

Silver made quick work of that, unknown to her. His little stunt helped. It gave rise to other creatures to be brave and stand up for Discord and Sombra. To no longer fear liking them for fear of social suicide.

They got so popular that they started their own little fan group, unknown to them. The group consisted of many creatures of many sexes arguing over who was best. Team Sombra liked Sombra because he was a bad colt, but like the sexy kind of bad. He was also super mysterious, charismatic, responsible, and good with babies. Team Discord liked DIscord because he represented freedom of oneself and chaotic whims. The good kind of chaotic like freeze tag where you get frozen, or turning flowers to lollipops, or making it rain chocolate milk. He usually caused days off, and he was much better with children in their opinion. So they had already wormed their way into the Kingdom's hearts. Those that still held reverence believed in Cadence enough to let it go and move on.

The complete acceptance and trust made Cadence feel guilty for lying to them about Flurry, at least it was only one lie. A lie that she had to keep, to protect Flurry. Though that was still bad. Cross that bridge, she thought to herself. She took her win for the day. She approached the heart and gave it a shove, but it wouldn't move. So she tried harder, "a little help!"

Spear joined her next, followed by the rest of the guards, followed by the army. Then Ivy joined, followed by the maids, followed by every mare there. Then every stallion joined as they all pushed, and pushed, and pushed. Until they were out of breath.

"How the Tartarus did Sombra get the Crystal heart out of there?" She panted, the thing was stuck there.

"On three we will give it one big push." Spear suggested as he lined himself to spring his entire body up so that when he jumped all his weight would be pushed onto the heart. "ONE!" He yelled as his fellow ponies followed his lead. Lining up to make sure they hit the heart or pushed the pony in front of them. "TWO!" He said as he crouched down, his ponies following him. "THREE!!" He yelled as he pushed all his weight into the heart, so did every pony else as they threw everything they had at the heart.

The heart stopped spinning and jolted from its place, skidding across the floor. There it lay, on the ground. They did it, the heart was out. Cadence picked it up, and she tucked it away, behind a bush. "Oh noooooooo where did the heart go? Guess we gotta ask Discord and Sombra to help us. Could be anywhere in the fair. Which means they should do and try everything."

"That's a shame. I'm sure they will find it." Spear added, knowing full well where Cadence was going with this.

Cadence ran off, excited as all get out, to Discord and Sombra. She burst through the door as they were about to leave with Flurry. "The heart is missing come and see." She said with a smile.

Discord and Sombra stopped what they were doing to follow Cadence out to the courtyard. To find that the heart was indeed missing. "Where did it go?" Sombra panicked, no heart meant a harsh winter storm. One that was near impossible to control.

Cadence looked over their worried faces. "You'll never believe it. It grew legs, got up. It told me 'princess I don't want to be a heart anymore'  then it turned into a liver and ran away. It was crazy, we have to find it, convince it to be a heart again. But it could be anywhere, so we have to check every vendor, play every game, and eat everything we can."

This caused Sombra and Discord to stop and realize. She was kidding, the heart didn't do that but it was missing. Sombra spoke first "that gives me the impression that you know where the heart is. Cadence put it back before this place is covered in snow."

"I can't, we have to find it. You could help us put up a shield. Protect us from the snow. At least until the shields start breaking. Then we will miraculously find it." Cadence explained.

Discord was on the fence about this. He liked his chaos but this seemed very risky. Though Cadence was the one who did it, so it couldn't be that bad. "Okay, let's go look for it. I have had an eye on those caramel apples. The heart could be in one of them." Cadence knew what she was doing if this was as dangerous as Sombra thought, she wouldn't be doing it.

Sombra gave in, "ok," He said as he activated his horn to put up a shield that covered the town. Discord, Shining, and Cadence followed him, the shield now four layers of very powerful magic. It would be awhile before it was truly a problem. Though it wouldn't stay up forever, that storm was magical. Sombra followed Cadence and Discord, Flurry in tow. They did and ate everything. Playing games, bean bag toss, winning stuffed animals, trying to get hoops on sticks. Then they went on rides, temporary roller coasters, a haunted house, a room full of funhouse mirrors. Then they ate through every sweet vender they could at Sombra's request. His desire for sugar only grew the longer he was out. It was all fun and games until a huge cracking sound could be heard from above them.

"Alright it's time, the shield lasted as long as it was going to," Sombra said as he looked up at it. No longer could you see the sky, just the white of snow. It made him very nervous. "Discord and I should leave now."

Cadence sat and thought about it "No." She said as she turned to them. "I know you said that you don't have a good relationship with harmony magic. I think this might be your chance to settle things." Cadence said as she lifted the heart out of the bush. She held the heart out to them first.

Discord had been close to harmony before. The Elements. He always felt uncomfortable and sometimes in pain around them. Especially around the tree. This was the first time he was around something that contained harmony and it wasn't causing him some kind of ill will. So he felt confident enough to at least touch it, he lifted his claw and paw to it.

Sombra just looked at him and whispered "don't." There was no way this was going to go well.

Discord poked the crystal and nothing happened. He poked it more, nothing. He held it in his paw and claw, nothing. "Huh." He said as he turned it over to look at it. It still had scars from Flurry and he smiled. Nothing happened, it truly surprised him. But what surprised him the most was that he didn't feel that much power coming from it. Harmony or otherwise.

Sombra's jaw dropped as he stared at Discord holding the heart. His friend turned to him with a smile on his face, but while he was smiling. Sombra noticed he also looked a little confused. Shrugging that off, it was his turn now. Sombra oh so carefully put his hoof to the heart "please don't kill me." He said as his hoof made contact, nothing.

"Huh." He said as he expected to die that very instant. He grabbed it out of Discord's paw and claw, holding it in his own hooves, nothing. Then he did something way crazy, he lifted it with his magic. Nothing. How odd, there was quite literally nothing coming from it.

The citizens of the Crystal Empire watched as Discord and Sombra acted like two children who discovered something they had never seen before. Which would be pretty cute if they weren't all concerned that they would be vaporized at any second. Every creature was on edge until they were sure the heart by itself did no harm. Now they needed to put it back as large cracks were spreading over the shields and fast. It wouldn't be long before it shattered.

Cadence just smiled as she picked up the heart in her magic and approached its home. The moment of truth, how angry was the heart going to be? Technically the ponies it protected dethroned it for the day. She took a breath as she hovered it into its home.

"We are going to die!" Sombra panicked as he clung to Discord and closed his eyes. Forgetting about the oddness of the heart at that moment. More afraid than anything else.

This was it, it was over. Discord had been too distracted by Sombra, he forgot to snap them away. He clung back, his eyes closed shut. Holding onto Sombra for dear life. He wasn't the only one the entire kingdom bowed their heads, closed their eyes, and poured their love out, like they always did. But they too were terrified. They had challenged the heart too, they had no idea if it would hurt them. All except Cadence who didn't look away. She was scared of course, but she refused to let it hurt any pony here. They needed it for the storm, but that didn't mean she was going to let it do whatever it pleased. Though she had no backup plan, she was sure she would think of something.

Soon the heart was spinning in place, the shield spell shattered. The snow was gone. Cadence looked around to see every creature was crystal. Including Discord and Sombra. "Open your eyes." She said in a calm voice. Her ponies did so and rejoiced as the heart was not mad at them, it hadn't attacked Discord and Sombra. Everything was fine. The ponies hooted and hollered all except for Discord and Sombra who were still clinging to each other. "It's ok you're fine," Cadence called out to them, and they finally opened their eyes. They were made out of crystal. They smiled at one another.

"Oh thank Celestia. I did not want to bring myself back from the dead again. That really sucks." Sombra breathed as he watched the heart spin. He felt odd, filled with....something. For sure not love but something else. Respect? How strange. He very carefully approached it once more. It just sat there and spun at him. "Huh." He said once more as he just stared at it.

"What's wrong?" Cadence asked Sombra, noticing he hadn't taken his eyes off it. Plus he and Discord were so quiet. Not unusual for Sombra but it was for Discord.

"I was expecting to die, or a big dramatic thing to happen," Sombra said honestly as he just watched it some more. He placed his hoof on the spinning heart. It stopped, he moved his hoof and it started spinning again like he was never there. "Huh."

Discord soon joined him, this was very strange. Even by his standards, harmony always hated him. So what changed? It wasn't them, they were good when it hurt them, then they were bad and it hurt them too. So what exactly changed? If it wasn't them, and it wasn't the heart. Then who or what was it? He picked the heart off the stand with ease as he fiddled it in his claw and paw. Eventually passing it over to Sombra who fiddled with it in his hooves. Eventually putting it back as snow gently started falling. It blasted it away once more. Once more they were crystal.

This was the first time Sombra closely inspected the heart. When he was evil he took it out, but he got rid of it immediately. He didn't want it to be anywhere near him. He held it for maybe a couple of seconds while taking over the empire. "Hey, has Twilight ever studied this thing?" Sombra asked there was something that bothered him about it, but he couldn't be right. He just couldn't be right that would be insane.

"Uh no. We can't give it to her to study since it has to be in the pedestal. This is uh the second time it's been removed. You removed it the first time. She did take a look at it and said that it was filled with harmony. I took a look at it, it's filled with love. We assume it absorbs the harmony, love, and hope of the ponies to protect them." Cadence explained. "But that is all we know."

Sombra picked up the heart again, it would be a few seconds till it started snowing lightly. Enough time to have Cadence look at it. He handed it to Cadence with his magic. "Take a look at it. I mean really look at it."

Cadence held the heart in her hooves, she only touched it once and for not that long. Then every other time she passed it, it was spinning. So she never got a close look at it powerless. Even when she tucked it behind the bush, she only held it for a brief moment. Now she was holding it for longer, feeling in her hooves. She felt, crystal, she looked up at Sombra.

"Don't feel anything?" Sombra asked her.

"No." Cadence looked at the heart. She expected more, she thought it would be an entity. Like Discord.

"Well, I guess we know how the heart works now." Sombra said as he noticed confused faces among the empire, "it's a conduit. Meaning that it wasn't only absorbing your love, it absorbs everything else too. That includes your greatest wishes and desires. Like your feelings and intents about that storm, or me. Every time you bow to it you refill it with those said intentions, so when the feelings of the ponies change. So does the heart's purpose. In theory, you could make another one and there would be no difference." Sombra explained to the surprise of every creature there. Did that mean the kingdom no longer fear them? Well that was a relief and good news.

"Huh, I expected something more," Cadence said honestly.

"Me too." Discord and Sombra said at the same time. It made them wonder. What about the elements? There were ponies that represented those ideals. So was it the same thing? Or was the heart different from the elements? What did that make the tree? Was it as alive as every creature assumed? If it was. What was it thinking right now?





Gold Rumple was upset, very upset. He had a good grip on the business in town. The ATA was one of his best scams, and he didn't even have to try that hard. See, when you became a member and overcharged the evil living among them, you gave him 4% of that. Not only that but any business who wanted to bail would be blackmailed and charged 8% of the 10% they were getting from the evil ones.

It made him wealthy and happy. He grumbled to himself, all the money he could be getting. Gone. You think the briefcases filled with bits would satisfy him. No, it wasn't enough, he needed more. He couldn't even start a new scam, every creature knew who he was thanks to Silver. The whole town knew. Silver's stupidy spread like the plague, business were chewed out, and he ran. He knew he would be next, maybe even put in prison. Or worse, lose the bits he just made.

Which left Gold out on the hills with some of his stuff. He frowned at the quiet town, in the dead of night. Somehow this was their fault, it was their fault he was out here and not down there. Scamming the daylights out of every creature. He needed to think. He knew that they are evil, if not now then later. With their name dirtied, he could clear his, saying that Discord and Sombra made him do it. That they blackmailed him. 

Then he could go back to the hold he had on this kingdom. Who would believe him though? It would have to be some pony who still disliked them, some pony he could make the argument too, and some pony who would believe him. He smiled cruelly as an idea popped into his head, but first, he would need a crystal ball. Then he could go back, back to his scams. This empire was always the easiest to do that in, and he would hate to lose such a valuable property.