“Don’t wander too far, Twily!”
“Kay, B.B.B.F.F!”
Shining Armor had his doubts on whether the “Bring Your Sibling to Work Day” was the best idea to boost troop morale. After all, most of his squadmates were only children (probably the reason they had the energy to attend boot camp, anyhow). But Twilight had been bugging him to see the Crystal Wing ever since he’d first described it to his sister.
Granted, the wing was more like a small garden filled with geodes and crystals, true to its namesake, but Shining could see its appeal, despite no one having any idea what the under-used wing was truly for. It was a pity to let it go, for sure, and it taking up a relatively small amount of space meant no one was willing to demolish it, so it stayed as it was.
To the young filly, though, the Wing was the most impressive thing ever since she saw Celestia raise the sun for the first time. She was sure her cutie mark lay somewhere in the Wing – after all, it was rumored this was the nexus of Starswirl the Bearded’s research – so logically, the Wing would have plenty of magic to rub off onto her.
Not that Twilight had any idea what exactly she was looking for. She circled around the Wing looking for points of interest when she noticed a crack on a floor. She tapped the crack as if expecting a crystal cache, but instead the floor gave way to a small hole. The filly took a close look at the crystal floor when she suddenly she saw a strange form in it.
A gemstone? No, they can’t be that big. Titling her head in an attempt to identify the object, she then realized the object was something that should not have belonged in the floor.
“Shiny? You won’t believe what I found in the Wing…”
---
“What the hay? A pony? IN the crystal?”
Shining’s squad mates were filled with shock and disbelief as they peered through the floor in an attempt to disprove they own eyes.
“Maybe it’s a crystal pony?”
The whole squad broke into sardonic laughter, much to Shining’s disapproval. “Or a body that needs to be identified.” He spoke grimly. “The poor soul must have been trapped for who knows how long…”
“What’s this about a crystal pony?” A loud voice boomed
“Princess Celestia!” The squad immediately bowed in respect, as the monarch entered the Wing.
“Twilight says she found a body.” Shining Armor wasted no time in explaining the situation. “She spotted it buried inside the floor of this very Wing.”
The young filly grimaced at the thought of her gristly find.
“Excavate the remains now." The princess ordered, sending waves of discomfort amongst the ranks. "We need to identify them as soon as possible.”
“Don’t we need a permit for that?” A voice chimed.
Celestia turned to face the voice, her face betraying a hint of disgust.
“A permit to lay this pony into proper peace?”
The squad fell silent.
Shining examined the floor again. “There should be fault lines near the crystal where the body is. I’ll use telekinesis to extract it.” He closed his eyes and muttered a prayer for the war dead – a prayer no pony had reason to utter for a long time. Twilight knew very well that her brother was just as disturbed on the find as she was, despite him being trained to maintain calm under such situations.
“Commencing extraction.” His horn glowed as he attempted to control the rate of extraction. Carefully, he carved a small cut into the crystal floor and led it to the fault line.
The sound of crystal cracking echoed though the wing's wall, reverberating through the ponies as they kept a silent vigil, all trying to ignore the nagging thought of property damage to retrieve a body.
“Removing debris.” A chunk of crystal, once blocking access to the body, floated gently to Celestia’s side.
“Extracting remains…” The body was slowly lifted out into the Wing’s surface as Shining tried hard not to think of the discomfort the process much have surely brought to his sister.
“That can’t be… right.” Shining let the body down onto the floor but his magic still surrounded it.
Twilight tentatively approached the body, fully expecting to be gripped by horror. Instead, all she felt was a sense of tranquility emanating from it.
“Big brother?” The young filly asked in curiosity rather than in fear. “It looks like she’s just sleeping…”
“Starswirl’s beard… could it be a stasis spell?” Shining exclaimed. “I heard of it being used as a last-ditch preservation spell… but…”
Celestia nodded slightly. “All of you, please come with me to the throne room.”
Shining was taken aback by her sudden declaration. "Do you know this pony?"
The monarch nodded again. "I hope so."
---
“Just as I suspected.”
Celestia gave the frozen pony another look over before turning to face the crowd. “This pony is very much alive – but stuck in time.” The audience erupted into excited chatter, everyone speculating on the incredulous implications of her statement. “She is, in fact, the princess of the Crystal Kingdom, once thought lost to a curse.”
“A... crystal Kingdom?” Shining Armor asked.
“An area once thought lost to the frozen North,” came the reply. “She is proof that the Kingdom may one day yet be saved.”
“Well, you can wake her up, can’t you, Princess?” Twilight pleaded.
“Why, yes, I can,” she assured. “But we must make sure she doesn’t get a shock when she wakes up. After all, it has been about a thousand years.”
“Woah, that’s a long time!” Twilight's eyes grew big at the thought of a pony sleeping for a thousand years/"
“It is.” She looked up to face the rest. “She will wake up to a different reality then the one she was locked into.” Celestia faced the frozen pony one last time as her horn began to glow with magic.
“Shining Armor.”
“Yes, your Highness?” The stallion replied in confusion.
“Take good care of her.”
"Wha-"
The last thing the group saw was a flash of white.
---
“Shiny? You won’t believe what I found in the Wing…”
“Twily, back so soon?”
“Shiny, look, a real princess!”
Shining Armor looked up to see a pink ailcorn with a crystal heart cutie mark. He'd heard rumors of the royal family, but never a relative of the princess up close... until now. Her tall stature and regal form was proof enough of her bloodline... and yet, the look in her eyes were that of a down-to-earth pony, her build not much different from a regular unicorn, save the wings...
“Mi Amore Cadanceza.” She offered her hoof to Shining, breaking his stunned trace. “But you can call me Cadence. Nice to meet you.” She broke into a smile.
“L-likewise.” Shining stammered, unsure of how to reply. “Shining Armor.” His face turned beet red, embarrassed that a member of royalty would talk so causally to a commoner like himself.
“Your sister is quite the filly!” Cadence exclaimed proudly, as Twilight grinned from ear to ear. “She wasted no time on insisting I meet you.”
“Oh, really?” Shining blushed again. “She wanted me to see a princess this badly?”
"She told me you were quite the stallion." She explained. "Tell me more about yourself..."
--
“Celestia blocked our memories with your… future daughter.” Twilight explained. “She fully intended not to tell us about the stasis spell until the Crystal Kingdom came back... and even then..." The mare trailed, her face pained with concern.
“Sombra feeds off fear.” Hooves explained. “She would have reason to believe prematurely breaking the curse would only doom the crystal ponies to another age of slavery..." He shook his head and sighed. "Undoing the stasis for one pony was risky enough… in fact Celestia think that Discord’s return was linked to Cadence...”
“Discord came back?”
“Oh, horsefeathers. I forgot that isn’t supposed to happen yet.” Hooves exclaimed.
“No need to be concerned.” Consonance assured. “What is meant to happen will happen.”
“I hope so for my sake.” Twilight added. “But was I meant to exist, or did my future self decide that for me?”
"All answers in time." Hooves gave a glancing smirk. "But let us continue on how we manage to free Consonance in this time period."