Life couldn't be sweeter in the Chrystal Empire for Princess Bella Diamante, a new foal, her upcoming wedding, and coronation to become Queen, but when tragedy strikes, the young princess becomes different kind of queen. Told from three different perspectives, this tale tells of Princess Diamante's decent to become a very familiar face...
"Tell me more about my mother, please Zia*," the young alicorn pleaded.
The older alicorn looked down on her with affection, she was so young, so innocent. The little pink pony that gazed up at her with those big, hopeful eyes could never understand her origins.
Celestia sighed, "Very well Cadence, very well..." and began her story.
Cadence was always asking her aunt questions about life before Celestia was alone, and Celestia would tell her; About Luna, about the ponies of Equestria, about anything she wanted to know. Cadence's favorite stories were about the magic place called the Chrystal Empire, with it shimmering streets and unique powers, she loved hearing them as often as she could. Celestia said that Cadence came for the Empire, but was living with Celestia and Luna when it was lost.
"Why did mother go away?" The little alicorn asked.
Celestia would not, nay, could not tell her. It would only break her heart.
"Your mother left because..." Celestia was looking for the right lie. "...because, she had to."
Cadence looked up at Celestia, obviously wanting to know more, but Celestia refused to tell her anything else, and sent the young one to bed.
After Cadence had gone to sleep, Celestia looked out the northern window.
I stood on the balcony of the Chrystal Palace, despite the cold winter wind, staring up at Luna's stars. Lovely, as always. It was late, but I didn't care. I loved watching the stars. Oh how they sparkled, like thousands of diamonds floating in the night sky. I felt at peace when I star-gazed.
The silence of the stars was broken by a soft cry. I turned to see movement in the cradle beside my bed, the movement of a foal. I stepped into my chamber and closed the balcony doors as gently as I could. My foal cried softly again, wondering where her mother was. I gently scooped her up into my arms and began rocking her slowly. She yawned sleepily, and I began to sing a soft lullaby to her.
Once she was asleep again, I kissed her head, and lay her back down. My beautiful foal, she took mostly after her father, with her violet eyes, and pink coat. Her father was red in color, and my coat was white, which had mixed to give her a lovely light pink. Her mane curled softly in strand of pink, violet and gold. She was the perfect child.
"Goodnight, Mi Amore Cadenza." I then laid down in my own bed, and went to sleep.
I've recently had trouble relaxing, what with stress of my upcoming wedding and coronation. I was crown princess only because I was not yet "old enough" to rule as the sovereign queen, my brother, however, was of ruling age, but he was far too self absorbed to be a good king.
"Bella," a familiar voice called in my dream.
I suddenly found myself face-to-face with my old friend, Princess Luna.
"Dream walking again, I see..."
Luna had a frighteningly serious face, "Bella, we need to talk."
We sat looking over the ethereal plane, watching decades pass but as mere minutes.
"Luna, I understand that these times are hard, what with Discord's imprisonment. Rebuilding Equestria will not be easy, are you sure our politics is what we should be focusing on?"
The night princess sighed, "Rebuilding is our top priority, this motion will show our subjects that."
"But to marry my brother, what will that prove?"
"It will unite our kingdoms. The Empire has the wealth and Equestria the horse-power to restore what that cur hath destroyed." She stamped her hoof in anger. After a deep breath, she continued, "I'm sorry, Discord was once Celestia's fiance, and my friend. That he turned traitor on us..."
"I know, it was shocking to us all."
"Bella... I am some two-thousand years old, Celestia is even older than myself, and ne'er before had we met anyone outside the royal families who could live even a fraction of our full lives. Even thy brother, Sombra, who is older than thee, ages more rapidly than thyself. Celestia became engaged to Discord because he, being an avatar like her or me, could live her full life. Avatars for the forces of nature, like myself, live some ten-thousand years, hosts for the fundamental forces, like thyself with the Chrystal Heart, live some five thousand years. You know how lonely those long centuries get."
I did, in fact, know how lonely the life of a host could be. It wasn't fair, I was the princess of love, but I could not find a love to last my life. I was hoping my wedding might make some of my remaining years bearable.
"He was a dear friend to us all, and poor Celestia..."
"His imprisonment tore her to pieces. If he ever escapes, so help me, Faust, I will make him pay for what he did to her."
"Luna, calm down."
"Yes, yes, I'm sorry. Anyway, with the Empire's great wealth, and Equestria's workforce, we would not only rebuild Equestria, but even expand the Empire further north. Both our kingdoms would thrive furiously with the new found assets."
"I understand, but Sombra? I know he's of royal birth, and therefor would live much longer than any noble in the Empire, but he's so...stoic. I can't even recall that last time he smiled. Would you truly be happy with him as your husband for who knows how long?"
Luna's gaze softened. "The Sombra you know must be vastly different then the stallion I chose to marry."
A soft cry, so far away from this plane of dreams, pierced my mind.
"She calls for you."
"I know, she probably needs to be fed again."
And with that, the Princess of the night left my dream, and I awoke to my crying foal.
"Oh, Celestia, your sunrise is so lovely, only your own radiance outshines it." The draconequus pulled my face closer to his with his eagle talon.
My eyes got wide, "Discord..."
"Shush, don't speak, just..." he pulled me even closer and-
"TIA!" Luna called.
I bolted upright in my bed, my hooves sweaty.
Luna looked on me with concern, "You were dreaming about him again, weren't you?"
I realized there were tears in my sleepy eyes. I wiped them away and said, "You say that like you don't know."
"I just want to make sure you're alright. Ever since... well, ever since that happened you've been getting more and more obsessive about your duties."
"It's just that...I loved him, when he betrayed us, betrayed me, that hurt, and when we had to imprison him, that hurt even more. Now Equestria is in ruins, and I can't bear to lose anything else I care about. Not the kingdom, not the ponies, nothing."
"Tia..."
I got out of bed and began dressing myself in my regalia. "We cannot concern ourselves with this at the moment, there is work to be done."
The day went on normally, I rose the sun, signed proclamations, discussed the rebuilding of Equestria, and other various duties, all while hiding my sadness under an air of royal detachment. My kingdom was dying, and the one creature in it that understood me aside from own sister was now trapped within stone for eternity. I couldn't cope, I just immersed myself in my work to try and forget.
Late in the afternoon, I took tea with some architects and gardeners to discuss the construction of a labyrinth to house Discord's statue. The maze would be made of stone at the entrance and center, while having corridors comprised of tall shrubbery, so they could change and prevent anyone from reaching Discord. Something he would love.
I hadn't even realized how distracted I'd become thinking about him, it was only until one of my servants called me.
"Your Majesty!" He said.
I turned, shocked, I hadn't seen the pegasus messenger approach, "We hope this is important, we were in deep thought and thou hast interrupted us." I glared at him sideways, irritated with him for disrupting my fond memories.
His brow began to sweat, he was clearly intimidated by my distaste for his irksome ways. "News, f-from the Chrystal Empire, an ambassador has arrived to speak with thee."
Bella...her wedding, her coronation, they were less than fortnight away. I had completely forgotten.
I became less irritated with him. "Thank you..."
"Fleetwing, your highness."
"Thank you, Fleetwing. You are dismissed."
He promptly ran out of the room.
I turned to my architects, "Ensure that the centre structure is completed by week's end to the specifications we gave thee. Sixty hands* in diameter and thirty-six* in height."
"Yes, your Radiance," the head architect responded.
I stood, and walked out. As I walked to the throne room, where the ambassador was waiting for me, my mind again strayed into thoughts of Discord.
Why? I thought, We were so happy together, we were to be married. So, why did he betray me? Break my heart? Thoughts ran through my mind like frightened rabbits, reasons as to why he turned on me. Was he tricked? Did something happen between us? Did his position as the Avatar of Chaos finally get to him? I shook my head. No answer that came made sense.
"Oh, what fun is there in making sense?' I mused to myself. He had always said that when I said something didn't make sense. Fond memories played back in my head; us watching the sunrise, pink cotton candy clouds drifting overhead, the chocolate milk rain he made for my birthday. A smile briefly passed over my lips, but fled as quickly as it had come when I saw where I was.
The double doors to the Solar Throne Room. The guards flanking the entrance parted them for me and I walk in, attempting to keep a regal gait. I scanned the room, and saw a white unicorn pony sitting on a plush couch under one of the stained glass windows.
She saw me and stood. Her turquoise mane, which was bound with golden bands inlaid with blue diamonds (a common style in the Crystal Empire), fell gracefully over her shoulders. She brushed stray curl out of her face, and addressed me.
"Your Radiance, 'tis a pleasure." Her voice was melodious and sweet, as an angel's.
"Arise, what wishes thee with our presence?"
"Was Your Brilliance not made aware of the purpose of this visit?"
"We were informed, but we wish to receive our formal invitation to her highness Princess Bella Diamante's coronation from Her Majesty, not a servant."
"Very well, then." The mare retrieved a bag from under the couch, and pulled a scroll from it's depths. "Her Royal Highness, Princess Diamante would like too-"
"We said we would like our invitation from Her Majesty, now drop the illusion Bella."
"You always could tell when somepony was wearing a disguise," she sighed. Her horn lit an emerald green, and her true form was reveled. Snow white wings unfurled from her back, golden shoes fastened with deep blue ribbons and drop diamonds donned her hooves, her hair bindings were replaced with a tri-peeked crown inlaid with more blue diamonds.
"That's better, now you know I wish for you not to address me as your political equal when we are in private, but rather as your friend. Castle life is so full of ponies being intimidated by me that nopony addresses me as a mare, only a princess."
"Such is the burden of the crown, Celestia. Finding a consort that was interested in me and not my crown was difficult."
It was true, ponies that attempted to become involved with Bella, Luna, myself, or anypony with major political influence were often after their power, not their hearts. That's why I was drawn to Discord. He saw past the crown and the wings, he saw me. Discord had seen my love of jokes, the part of me I could never show in front of my family or the royal court. I took the scroll from her, unbinding it and quickly reading it's contents.
You are cordially invited to the wedding of Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess Bella Diamante of The Chrystal Empire and Sir Golden Wreath at the Chrystal Chapel on Xday, the Xth of Xuary**, 218 P.H.***, at X:00 a.m.
"Thank you Bella," my gratitude was sincere, but my mind was elsewhere, and it showed.
"Celeste, you cannot dwell on Discord. There's something else that demands your focus at the moment."
"The wedding?" I snapped at my friend.
"What? No, that's not-"
"I know that Equestria, my ponies, they need me. I have to be strong, for them, but aren't I allowed some selfish weakness? Even just this once?"
"Celeste, I'm not talking about tha-"
"You could never understand what this feels like, what looking at him while madness overtook weighed on my heart. When I had to... when Luna and I... I couldn't..." sobs filled my chest. My tears broke from my eyes like a flooding river. I sat there crying for Faust knows how long before I finally regained control over myself.
"Thank you, very much. Now if will excuse me, there is work to be done," I dismissed. Withholding more tears, I turned away from Bella.
"You are to far-sighted, Celestia. There's somepony who needs you now more than ever, and you forget them." There was a flash of emerald light, and I was alone.
