//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Persistent Legacy (Part 3: ???) // Story: The Great Dictator: Times of Swift Rise // by Time Reaper //------------------------------// The blinding light engulfed Cadence and everybody else for a long while, even though it was swarming everybody, they didn't felt burned or cold by the light, it actually only felt warm and comforting and, while they were surrounded by it, they felt as if something bigger was asking them to listen. When the light finally started to go down and they were able to watch, they all felt surprised at what they were looking, and hearing, at. They still were on the Crystal Empire, but rather than the buildings that Twilight and her friends found when they first arrived into the empire not too long ago, they found magnificent structures and great buildings. The ponies, of various kind - not only Crystal ponies were there -, were wearing clothes and looked happy. There streets were filled with various species, from griffons to changelings and diamond dogs. and they looked content with their livelihood. The lamps were shining brightly, but not with fire, with electricity and on top of them they had small boxes that were, for some reason, to speakers that were making music. And the more they heard it, the more they wanted to dance. Twilight and her friends were trying to make up what they were watching. Twilight was trying to choose between understanding how could this happen and enjoying her chance to see, firsthoof, a 1000 years old society at work. Rainbow Dash, at first, was trying to understand what was going on but, after getting the explanation by Twilight, she started to fly away to check out everything from above (although she would later get bored for her incapability to interact/prank with anybody) to see as far as she could and enjoy all the bright colors from above, she would later find the Pegasus Division army making flight maneuvers that she would end up trying later with the Wonderbolts. Rarity enjoyed the prism of glamour, grandiose and etiquette found in the city, even the poor had an air of education barely seen in cities like Canterlot, this felt like a mixture of the high class of Canterlot with the friendliness of Ponyville and the mystifying experience of Manehattan, the clothes the citizens wore would later inspire her to try her own versions back home. Applejack would be the one that would feel the most awkward for this remembered her of her time with her family back when she was a filly but she couldn't sense that mask on this citizens (perhaps because they weren't real, but she would never figure it out completely), she couldn't know if she should either try to see for herself or just go with her friends but, in the end, she would end up going to the slums to see how well did that people lived and be surprised to see that, not even in 1000 years, some things never changed for she would find families trying to do their best to survive but never let sadness and despair to take them over. Fluttershy felt completely out of place, even though she wasn't even a part of this group neither being noticed, she felt in the middle of a crowd that made her uncomfortable but, she would later admit that it all looked nice. Pinkie Pie would be, of all the ponies with the possible exception of Twilight Sparkle, the one that would enjoy the most this trip, she would constantly see and enjoy the many ways the citizens in the city were going to enjoy their life, some of them even looked like if they were in a constant party. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were feeling a wave of nostalgia as they were seeing the capital of the Crystal Empire just as they remembered it when they visited it a 1000 years ago. They could hear the music on the street, the life on the citizens, the energy and love flowing through every step made. It was undeniable, they were back on the city that once celebrated their visit back then and it didn't felt as if they were an illusion. As nostalgia was invading their hearts, they were also invaded by guilt over the fact that they couldn't save this city, they couldn't save their citizens, they couldn't save what they used to see as a model for them. To see this old capital and remembering where they were a few seconds ago made them wish to have the ability to change the past, they wished for a second chance as, perhaps, they could have made a better choice back then and save everybody for the catastrophe. In the end, they wished for a last moment to drink tea with their old friend, long time gone from life, they remembered that they had a new pink and purple friend they could share their life with and, hopefully, to share new moments that they could remember for the rest of their life. As Chrysalis and her changelings were looking at this, they were being drowned by the huge wave of emotion coming from everybody else. They weren't sure of how to react to all of it, these new emotions were taking them over and sending them into a weird feeling of sickness for the over saturation of them. It got worse as all the ponies were feeling multiple emotions at once and the mixture was nauseating. Eventually, Chrysalis managed to overcome it and used her magic to ease the situation for her changelings, as time went by, and the non-changelings started to get an easier time to gather their emotions, the changelings managed to focus on what they were seeing and started to get their own conclusions. At first, they were thinking that it was an illusion made by the princesses to distract them but the more they tried to question it, the more it looked like the illusion wasn't made by anyone. After a good piece of time passed, the changelings started to look at her queen and asked her what they were looking at: "This" -, she said - "is what I have always talked to you about". - She looked at the city and the street lights -. "This", - nostalgia started to fill her -, "is the great city I always envisioned and tried to remake for all of you". - The old memories started to resurface -. "This is where I grew up, where I learned everything that made me a queen and where I learned which was the best way to rule". - She started to remember the games she had and the friends she made -. "This". - The memories started to be replaced by a desire to come back to it that were reflected in the watery substance that started to accumulate in her eyes and, to her luck, nobody else would notice -. "Was my..." Her changelings saw her queen, a queen known never showing emotions and only being harsh on her subjects, tearing in front of her hive. This was something that they've never seen before and, for a moment, they wondered if their queen went mad but, as far as they could tell, they soon realized that their queen was tearing up because she was finally seeing that place they barely knew, but understood how powerful it was: A place to belong, a place where happiness was abundant and where you were always welcome. A place that Ponies knew too well and, some of them, always wanted to know for at least a moment. A place, called.... "Home". Chrysalis was now trying to explain her changelings what they were looking at, that they were looking at her long time goal. That this was what she always tried to create in all of her life but the nostalgia wasn't making it any easier to her, it was a big for her to just think and remember this moment of her life. She tried to explain how she wanted to create a Changeling Empire where they wouldn't be looked as monsters and everybody could be equals. Luckily for her, the skepticism among her subjects was quickly dwarfed as they saw changelings on the streets, some of the changelings got the bad eye from the ponies and other adult citizens, but the nymphs were playing very well with the other species and got along pretty well. Eventually, the changelings started to move around to see the dream that their queen always wanted to grant them and decide if whether or not they could give it a try with their queen's latest move. After her subjects started to explore the city, Chrysalis decided to let her emotions rest and started to go around the city and wonder what kind of illusion she was seeing right now, could this be just a representation of what she was seeing or was an actual event that she happened to forget about? As she crossed a street and saw a couple of griffons enjoying their privacy, she remembered that she always escaped from her home and wandered around the city when she was a nymph. In the middle of the night and in what she always saw as a great party, Chrysalis would always avoid the guards and play with the other younglings in the city (both rich and poor) as they could treat her as something different that weren't a princess and she could steam out the pressure of her school. Chrysalis looked at an old plaza she used to play around with the little colts and griffons, she remembered how they would constantly play games like tag, the story of the bald rooster, hide and seek and sing songs like . Chrysalis looked around at the plaza and noticed that it held a statue of Lady Love's father, now she felt as a fool for not notice that kind of detail, she tried to remember what she was thinking at the time and the answer to that question was quickly reminded when she saw a little nymph with green eyes and the appearance of a changeling queen walking around with a group of colts, fillies, griffons, a diamond dog and a minotaur while talking about a certain game Chrysalis remembered very well: "Do you want to hear the story of the bald rooster?" - Said the young nymph as she walk in front of the group, as if she was leading it, and not looking back -. "Yes, Lu wants to hear the story of the bald rooster" - then, the young version of Chrysalis turned around and said - "I didn't asked you to say 'Yes, Lu wants to hear the story of the bald rooster', I asked you if you want to hear the story of the bald rooster" - The pup tried to understand what the little bug tried to say and, after a big thinking, he responded: - "Yes" - and as the diamond pup thought that he had her now, the future queen simply smiled (along some of the colts) and responded -. "I didn't asked you to say 'yes', I asked you if you want to hear the story of the bald rooster" - By this time the young diamond dog was starting to get confused and frustrated but one of the fillies, a young unicorn, quickly intervened. "Chrysalis, just leave him alone, you just can't get enough with tricking everybody with the game of the bald rooster, don't you?". Chrysalis just puffed her cheeks and simply responded with a quick dismissal. "Don't be such a silly Clear Crystal, I was just playing with him" - she then smiled, looked back at the young filly and said -, "or, is it, did you want to play with him first?" - Clear Crystal turned her head to the right, wondering what Chrysalis meant with that, and, after dismissing that, she simply responded - "Chrysalis, just stop being a meanie for once and let's just play a normal game, like Hide and Seek". The young nymph gave this a thought and accepted the idea, and while the children were now starting to play Hide and Seek, the adult version of Chrysalis was trying to remember this moment on her life. She tried to remember this happy moment on her life, but she couldn't, all she could remember was the amount of times her mother would find her and nag her for running away from her house. Chrysalis tried to remember the young children she was seeing right now (probably the Crystal Ponies were still as young as they used to be back then), but she couldn't, all Chrysalis had now was a ghost of a memory and a lingering sentiment that she, in her long time of ambition and daydreaming, she ended up casting away the better moments of her life and now they were unreachable, lost from her mind and making her less of a changeling than she used to be. Cadence was now looking back at the city that used to be, the city that was now haunting her as "what she'll never reach" as she was now wondering if she could ever achieve all of this: Electric light, great buildings, a professional army capable of defending them under any circumstance, all the species having a great time and many more things that exploded her mind on all the achievements of this mystifying city. Cadence saw every place in the old empire and now wondered how long it would take her to achieve this, to recover this city from Sombra's curse and make it great again. She wondered how big it would be that shadow that she was going to face now, she wondered what kind of figure could be the tyrant that made this city and if he could be in this city. After a thinking about it for a while, Cadence decided to explore her city for a while, she started to walk around and see the citizen's faces and how they were going around. In her journey, Cadence decided to take a listen to the music, she realized how peaceful it was and how interesting it was to listen to it. The music was fast paced, you could dance to it (the lyrics hinted at that) and hearing it on the streets made it feel as if this was a great party. Everypony was enjoying their life and they could go however they wanted. Cadence wondered if, whether it was made by any of her ancestors, she could ever achieve it. Cadence saw a pink pony mare with a light blue coat, bright pink and purple mane and tail along with deep blue eyes walking with a purple black coated stallion with a silver mane and tail along violet eye (for he wore an eye patch where his left eye should be), she noticed that the couple was having a nice moment for themselves so she decided to not intrude (whether they were an illusion or not), so she quickly left and moved on. In her movements, she saw something she never thought possible: a young Chrysalis playing around with children of multiple species. The simple idea was a jaw opener, seeing it was mindblowing. The young queen was asking to a diamond pup if he wanted to "hear the story of the bald rooster", but Chrysalis was apparently just toying around with the pup to not say it. She saw the younglings going to a plaza and the scene made Cadence wonder on the possibility of what kind of changeling would have Chrysalis been if this could have stayed the way it was. After walking around a little bit, Cadece stood in front of her Crystal Palace and decided to take a look at it from the distance. Cadence couldn't noticed how nicer it looked now than in her own time and wondered what would her ancestors feel if they saw what their empire had become now, Cadence wondered how dissapointed would they feel if they saw her now and tell how unprepared she was to lead the shell of an empire they created. She saw her Crystal Palace and felt as if it was turning on her and, in the middle of her gazing at the Palace, she saw, in one of the windows, a pony. Cadence saw a brown maned pony, a brown maned pony with a white armor, a brown maned pony with a white armor with the companionship of a pink mare unicorn wearing a tiara and a royal regalia. Cadence realized who she was seeing right now and quickly flew to that window to see for herself those two figures she was thinking about right now. And, just as she was flying, the music ended and a voice could be heard. Well, that was Swing con Son from the Billos Crystal Colts, a very nice music for this time of the year and to have a nice dance with your couple. It's now very late, so we'll start to play a slower song for all of you little couples that, we know, must be feeling very close right now. From Billos Crystal Colts, Taboga, enjoy Shining Armor was now exploring the castle, as he was more interested on the differences between the current military in Equestria and the differences with the one displayed in this time period. The current system was created by the General Golden Strike, so why was modern Equestrian military so ineffective? The military lead by Swift Rise was strong enough to defend itself against multiple surprise attack, compared to that, Equestria wasn't capable of defending itself against the changelings. Perhaps seeing this Crystal Guard would help him out to figure out the difference and where did the change happened. As Shining Armor passed and examined each guard he encountered, he just couldn't find the difference. They were all stoic and didn't reacted to anything and the ones in private would talk around of their shifts and what would be the plan for tomorrow. As far as Shining Armor could see, there was no difference in the guard. He was going to resign when he found his sister wandering around the Palace. "Twily? What are you doing here? I thought that you would be going around the city to investigate every littel space you could find to take note of it" -. Twilight looked at her brother, she relaxed her wings, smiled, and simply said: - "Well, I was doing that and, in fact, I found a lot of interesting things about this time period "- In that moment Shining realized he opened a can of worms that should have stayed closed and, now, all that he had left was to listen until an opening could be found and change the topic. As Twilight talked about the clothes and how all the ponies wore clothes, including on their behind parts, how all the especies used clothes to cover their front parts, how the lamps worked on electricity through a very complex cable system wired through the whole city, how a sewage system was being implemented on that moment, how the schools and libraries were using very modern education (and even a bit advanced) on the children - "6th graders are learning functions, 3 languages at the same time, advanced physics and chemistry. That's amazing" -, Shining Armor found his opening when Twilight mentioned the Crystal Guard and how it was composed of multiple especies. "Wait, you researched the military?" - after seeing a nod from Twilight, he continued - "I came here to research them as well. I want to figure out how come this soldiers" - he pointed at two soldiers that were guarding a door that led to some room - "even though are the base of modern Equestrian military, they're far better than today Equestrian military." Twilight thought about it and, while they were keeping on their exploration, she simply thought: "Perhaps, the difference is the lack of problems". - Shining Armor didn't understood, after seeing his confused face, she decided to explain herself a bit more - "You see, this time period was know for the constant invasion attempts that Sombra was doing, that meant that this guards, not only, had to be prepared for an invasion but, also, had an experience that your guards never had." Shining Armor gave this a thought and, after reflecting on it, he denied it. "That's not possible, peaceful times doesn't mean an unprofessional army. This soldiers and our soldiers were just as prepared against an invasion and this ones managed to force the changelings into submission". - Twilight started to think on the possibilities, if this soldiers were so efficient, why today's weren't so prepared against the changelings. Then, a simple solution came to her mind: - "Maybe the Changelings were that good on the infiltration part and managed to take your troops by surprise?" Shining gave this a thought and had to admit that the Changelings did better than them, maybe it was needed a reformation of the military code for the Royal Guard? This was passing through his mind when he saw a very young General Golden Strike walking around with one of his subordinates. Both brother and sister had to quickly suppress their shock and quickly listen to what he was saying. "Look, Lt. Crimson, I'm aware that Sombra may return. But all we can do now is to just tighten the security in the borders, right now, nobody wants to join the military and we have enough soldiers to face 2 nations at the same time. and we're developing new items capable of detecting changelings, devices that will allow us to use electricity in our new weaponry and that's not even counting on the new equipment for our griffon, diamond dog, minotaur and dragon recruits". The Pegasus Lt. (wearing a green olive clothe with a series of yellow lines on his shoulders to signify his position among the guards) looked at his general, nodded and simply asked. "And do you think its a good idea to bring the General Swift Rise with us? He could-" General Golden Strike simply dismissed the thought and said that "he's coming with us because of his exile. He'll help on the construction of a new fortress on the cold north and that way, he'll keep on helping the army while staying outside of the Crystal Empire". The Tenant gave this a thought, nodded and moved on. Golden Strike looked back and simply said: "now I hope those two can enjoy their last night together". Twilight and Shining Armor quickly understood what it meant and decided to move to see if they could find him. After passing through many doors and rooms, they found him on a room that had a wide balcony that allowed him to see the whole city. By the time they found him, Cadence had just landed in there and the music was now starting. He was sitting on a chair while moving his torso into the barrier that stopped him from falling into the floor, he used his forelegs to hold his head over the barrier while looking at the city, he was using a military white clothe with all of his ranks being displayed on his shoulders. Even though the three royal ponies were seeing only his ghostly back, they could still feel the power and respect that came from him as they knew and understood (or, at least they thought to understand him) what kind of pony he was. As they were seeing him, each pony wondered what was going on in his mind. Twilight feared that he was thinking on ways to take back the empire, for he was smart enough to do it and he may have been very angry for losing his power; Shining Armor thought that he was thinking on ways to defend the city through his military command and influence; Cadence wished that he was only trying to enjoy the sight with the unicorn that was lying besides him. The pink unicorn queen looked just like her position demanded, she was wearing her royal regalia of platinum horseshoes, with a purple dress that covered her legs; she was using a tiara with 7 gems, each one with a specific color of the Rainbow and her horn had a silver spark that made her look pure; it all made her look dignified, proper and remarked her presence, both her political and magical power and her wisdom. As the scene with the royal couple enjoying the music was advancing, the spectators could see and feel how a couple, even if a royal couple, could still be a couple: enjoying their moment of happiness for the empire that was living in their own golden age. The royal couple, even if they weren't the real one, expelled an essence of authority and transcendence that could only be rivaled with both Celestia and Luna as their backstory lives acted as an aura of superiority that nopony could control. The royal couple was looking at a city that acted as a reflection of their status: the city shone through its own lights and still managed to use and reflect the light given by the moon, the mixtures of lights and colors showed the ever changing life of the crystal citizens, each one of them being a color themselves as they shone on the city as well. The citizens were happy, enjoying their moment, for they weren't sure how long it would last and, thus, they wanted to enjoy it as long as they could. The royal couple was enjoying their moment of peace the same way their citizens enjoyed their moment of happiness, the royal couple received the light and they reflected it on their citizens. As the music proceded, Cadence could feel the love in the couple she was seeing in front of her. As she looked at them, how they managed to stay together after having gone through so much, after surviving a social unrest, embezzlement and a couple fight that would have broken down any normal couple in Equestria, she wondered if Shining and herself could survive something like that. Cadence looked at Shining and realized how blessed she was of having a husband so loyal and righteous, a husband she could always trust and that would never lie nor hide anything to her. Shining Armor looked at her and gave her a look that simply said 'I love you', Cadence corresponded the look and decided to stay together and enjoy the music. As both royal couples were enjoying their moment, Twilight was looking at them and wondered if she could ever go through something like that. Could she find somebody that could love you, like Cadence and Shiny? And even if she did, could they survive something like what the ghost couple did? As she thought more on the idea of love, she wondered if she could ever find it, was she even ready for that? She wasn't sure. She only hoped that, one day, she would gain the knowledge to understand this kind of things and find somepony that could see her the same way these two couples saw each other. The music then, as much as everypony wanted it to last, started to fade and, once again, they heard a voice talking through the city. And that was Taboga, beautiful song. I hope you've been enjoying this moment with us but we're getting close to end our show through Crystal Radio 'Always with You', so before we put our next song. We'll talk about today and tomorrow. As for today we're celebrating the 8th anniversary since King Sombra is gone and how much has passed, to think that this day, 8 years ago, marked the first step for us to be free once again and, yet, the city we're living today is so unrecognizable from the one 8 years ago. It leaves you thinking of how many things can change in so little time. As for tomorrow, is the day the King Swift Rise will leave the Empire to start his sentence of exile for an undefined amount of time. A pony that not many know for sure, but we know that he helped to get us where we are and, although some disagree with the idea of us being free because his wife its still in charge, as I put this song now, I'll leave you thinking: How ca we not be free if we can now say whatever we want? Thank you for listening, enjoy Jewel Joy was trotting around the city as she wondered what she was looking into, this looked just like the city she grew up with but it was so vastly different that she could barely recognized it. As she crossed the streets and saw ponies she both did and didn't knew, she wondered why she couldn't remember any of this, she tried to search in her memories if any of this was familiar to her but all she could find was a great headache. Jewel Joy turned from one avenue to another and saw the multiple species living together and having a nice day, she saw how griffons making bets with changelings and minotaurs making wrestling matches with diamond dogs. The mixture and integration among the species was something that she never thought possible, but now she wondered if it was possible for it to become a reality (or to come back if it ever happened in the first place) and as she was about to go back to her house she found a couple of crystal ponies enjoying their moment together. What surprised Jewel Joy the most about this couple was that the mare looked a lot like her (she even had the same cutie mark) but she couldn't recognize the stallion, did she knew him? Who could he be? As Jewel Joy went further into the couple to see if she could remember well the stallion, she noticed that the stallion was looking directly at her right in front of her at the opposite side of her location. They both saw each other out and wondered if there was a chance for them to meet again: "Hi" - said a very shy mare - "My name is Jewel Joy, who are you?"-. The stallion looked at her with his only eye and tried to remember her (to only be met with a headache) and, finding the courage on himself, responded with a lot of fear over a rejection - "Hello, my name is Obsidian Edge". Princess Anastasia was quickly flying around the city trying to find her ancestor (if she was right about what was she seeing right now), she already had the evidence of her right as true heir and descendant of the founders of the Griffon Kingdom but, by this point, she wanted to see the two griffons that made the kingdom she loved so much, she wanted to see the two griffons that she descended from and were, considered now, legends. As she passed through the crystal city, she saw how many of the myths revolving the Crystal Empire were true: Technology beyond her wildest dreams, various species living together as equals, everybody wore clothes on their whole bodies, among other things. The Princess saw how the city was so different, and yet so similar to his home. She heard the music sounding from everywhere and saw so much light that darkness wasn't an issue, she saw how the security forces weren't causing fear, but rather, safety to the citizens. She wanted to bring that to her kingdom. But she also saw how some ponies, the "elite" as they would always call themselves but they never showed the qualities to deserve such term, would give a bad eye to the different especies (even to other ponies) and, while nobody could notice, she was so used to see that look on her kingdom (being used both on her family and the "lower classes") that it was an instant recognition when she saw it. She wanted to get rid of that, she wanted to make a city where all of its citizens were treated equally. Not equally as some of the "higher houses" would imply (who she always saw as populist who only wanted to have the kingdom on their back, but never cared to fulfill their promises) or force through laws and decrees. She wanted to bring true equality among classes by a long and careful planning: educating the children, making a new Civil Code, making laws that doesn't force the citizens to be "united" but rather helps them to be truly united, etc. While the economic classes could never be destroyed (for it would destroy the kingdom as a whole) she was sure that she could bring a kingdom where everybody could saw each other as brothers, she was sure of that. She wanted to bring the same kingdom as the pony that made it all possible. She was so into her dreams that she almost missed the two griffons she was searching for. They were talking on a restaurant about daily things, to her surprise, they weren't dreaming with forming an empire, they weren't dreaming with forming a clan, they were just thinking on how to end the night and what to do the next week. They were just a normal couple, having a normal life. While this wasn't what Princess Anastasia was thinking about, she didn't mind. This was her only chance to see the two griffons responsible for her current life and family and she would enjoy seeing them as the closest thing she could ever have to a family reunion with her past. She would stay all the time that would last the illusion seeing them. Back on the Terrace, Twilight, Cadence and Shining were now being taken by surprise for the new song being played. Its rhythm was so different from the previous song that it took them out of their current mindset of calm and were now talking to each other about opinions on what they were seeing now but, before they could say much, they were surprised by a 4th voice that came on the ghostly couple: "Alright Swift, the song is over. Now, can we please go back on topic?" The old king made a deep sight and turned back to his queen, when he spoke, his voice was just as Twilight, Shining Armor and Cadence remembered how it sound from the documentary. He looked annoyed but confident, but what surprised the three royal ponies was just how casual he sounded. "Dang, I was really enjoying the moment. Ok, what were we talking about?" - As the general finished talking, his wife gave him a look that told how she was about to nag him, the brown maned king realized this and prepared for what was to come: "Well, we were talking about what were you planning to do now while you were on the border?" - The queen then changed her face to a worried one - "We have a foal right now and I don't want her to wonder her whole life where's her father. Aren't you worried that you might never see your daughter again or you think that we'll visit you on that cold rock from time to time?" - The king saw her and decided to give it a thought. After 10 seconds of thinking, he shrugged off and responded -. "Well, yes, it worries me but what can I do? I was trialed, I followed the jury system and nobody is going to want me back on a long time. It really saddens me that I might never be able to come back, but I'm sure the jury may change of opinion later on." This resulted on Lady Love getting angry, for a moment Swift Rise thought that he was going to experience her volcanic outburst but she then took a deep breath, relaxed a bit, and continued: "Swift, I'll not be able to change, or renovate, the Supreme Court on at least 20 years. The best possible escenario would be if they decide to resign their position but you know very well that will not happen. After all, you chose them". - She then gave him another worried look -, "I know that you did what you thought was right, but why you chose exile on a rock instead of something like Equestria? The princesses doesn't know you and I'm sure they would like you, you have a very likable personality whenever you're not a cold, heartless stone in front of everybody", - she then frowned her face and remembered him -, "and do I need to remember you where did that overconfidence took you? You thought the same thing of Stray Stone and look at where it took you". - And in a very sarcastic tone, she quoted -, "don't worry about Stray Stone, he looks like a very trustworthy pony, he will do his job just fine. Does that sound familiar to you?" Swift Rise, somehow, managed to avoid blushing, but the embarrassment was very obvious on him. But he decided to take it all back and gave the reason to his wife, after that, he then smiled and gave a very confident smile and continued: "Now, to answer your question, I chose that piece of cold rock separated from any type of sentient life because it's the best place where I could run my own experiments" - his wife simply told him with a face that Twilight's parents used to give her whenever she tried to run away from some wrong she did -. "If by 'experiments', you mean wondering how to make an cloud of cotton candy with taste of chocolate, I'll tell you again: That's only possible with chaotic magic and you can't even use magic on the first place". - Swift Rise gave an offended face and simply responded on the hurtful accusation: "A) No, that's not the experiment I was planning. After the last attempt, I promised to not try again, but I'll assure you that I was really close to do it". Amor Candente was starting to give an angry face, so Swift quickly changed the topic. "B) Even if I plan to do it, which I won't, I'll first try to make a super cleaner that can fix you collection and anything that get damaged by any further experiment I try to do". Noticing how it wasn't helping on his case, he decided to say the big one (while closing his eyes, along Twilight, Cadence and Shining Armor). "C) My main experiment is trying to find a way home". Everypony was expecting an outbursts from the Queen of love, but nothing was heard. When everypony opened their eyes, they saw a hurt queen that was looking to the floor with sadness. Before Swift could try to explain himself, she said in a very blue tone: "So you haven't given up on that, huh?" - Swift looked at her. He was going to respond but, he knew that, the queen was going to continue, so he let her proceed -. "Swift, it has been years ever since you've come here. Why do you want to go back? Don't you like it here?" Swift turned down and looked away, but the Pink Queen took his face with her hoof and made him look at her. "Swift, please, look at me. Look at my eyes and tell me: What is it that your original homeland had that this land haven't brought you? You have an Empire, you are rich, you have an army loyal to you, you have a family that loves you. Why do you want to go back? Don't you realize that it hurts me every time you tell me that you want to go back home. You make me feel like if you hate living here, is it true? Please, tell me, why you're so invested on going back to your original world?" Everypony looked at him. Twilight was wondering what kind of world he lived on if he was invested on going back, maybe it was better than Equestria? Swift took a deep breath and, after expelling the air he was holding, he answered her: "I've told you of my home country, right?" - She nodded - "Then you must already know why. I want to go back, I have a family there, my country needs me" - Then Amor Candente exploded in rage at him, but he wasn't showing any fear, he was looking calm and understanding as he was losing his eardrums (meanwhile, Twilight, Shining Armor and Cadence were covering their ears although they could still hear the queen just fine) - "But you've told me how bad it is there! That place had tyrants like Sombra, that place has suffered an ice age, you cannot control the weather, your world has faced two WORLD WARS, a cold war (which doesn't even makes sense) and its getting close to face a third world war. That's not even talking about your own country, which is a living hellhole right now! Why do you want to go back to a place like that!?" Swift Rise looked at her, made sure he still had his capabilities to hear and responded as calmly as possible. "Yes, my country and world has problems but I still want to go back. Because it won't get fixed until I do something about it, what good is it there to complain if you don't do something about it? I used to live thinking that there was nothing I could do, I wanted to go back just to live in a miserable way complaining about everything and not doing anything but here I realized that if you can do something to stop evil and don't do anything, then you're doing just as wrong. I want to go back and help my country (and world) to fix itself." He then took another breathe, and continued. "The other reason I want to go back" - he then took his wife face and turned it to himself - "is because of you". - Twilight, Cadence and her ancestor started to blush at that -. "I want to show you, our daughter and my whole empire everything my world and country has to offer. The beauty in it, its nature, its development, its music, everything (with no exception) because I want you to love it as much as I do and the only way you can love it as much is by seeing it. I want to show you my world because I love you". He then took a moment to see at the colorful empire he has and then decided to simply tell her on a more casual mode: "I can imagine it in a few years: This Empire will remember me for my good work, once my name is fixed I'll have statues made on every city of the empire". - His wife simply laughed at that and responded - "Yeah, I can imagine it too: 'This was the tyrant Swift Rise'" - Swift Rise looked offended and counter argued -, "please, I would rather be called a dictator. Dictators at least try to keep society at work, Tyrants destroy freedom AND society. And, I'm still planning if I should have on those statues the name 'Swift Rise' or my actual name". - Everypony looked at him with various degrees of reactions. Twilight was feeling excited for she might know his actual name, Shining Armor and Cadence were curious too, but because they were planning to make sure he weren't forgotten, so they wanted to know his true name, Amor Candente was more on the curious side, for she wasn't sure if his name would be considered normal for pony standards. "Oh, really?" - Asked a very curious wife, his husband simply smiled and moved his hoof from side to side - "Of course, Vicente Gonzales López Blanco might be a bit long, but I would like for this world to know my name". - They both smiled and looked at each other. They started to feel once again that emotion that they had the day of their wedding, then, after the music was over, the voice was heard one last time. Well, that was our penultimate song. Now, to end, I'l put you a song so you can enjoy your moment: Frenzy Love, by Soft Voice. Enjoy. Swift Rise saw his wife and gave her a signal of invitation to dance, she accepted and both prepared to dance once the song started. Shining Armor and Cadence decided to repeat the moment, for they wanted to enjoy this moment for themselves. Twilight decided to leave the two couples alone and decided to move to reflect on what she just saw and heard. Flame Ruby was wondering what to do with her life, it was quite clear that she had a very important life that she couldn't remember now. Should she try to recover it or stay how she is right now? She wandered through the city as she wondered on this things. As she crossed the streets, she found professor Clearing Onyx right in front of her. Both of them didn't knew what to do, if what the documentary said was true, then she was a loyal pony to the royal family, she should remember all of that, but she couldn't remember anything (not even her past as an spy for the opposition against Sombra), it was very frustrating. Once both ponies decided to talk to each other, they realized that they had more in common than before (including they're forgetfulness of their past), as they started to form a previously forgotten bond they had, they started to hear music. As the music started to play, everybody started to feel the reality of what was this supposed to be, what was made before the shadow of destruction came to claim it all. The lyrics of the Soft voice reflected what the Crystal Empire should be like. Give your kiss to me kiss me the way that I kissed you A city filled with passion and love between each other. Give me Frenzy Love my madness got you Love among friends, family, and couples. Who except for me taught you love's way Love that filled each other and helped each other. Death my pride when it went to road at your hooves Love that could fix damages and ignore differences. I want you to live just for me and for you to go where I would go So my soul belongs just to you Give me your frenzy love A simple way of thinking. Give me the light residing in your sight And the anxiety that in your lips I saw That madness of live and love That's more than just frenzy love A simple concept. There in the kiss I gave to you Mercy soul to the heart And you know in your feels The same thing I have felt A simple way to unite a country. I want you to live just for me and for you to go where I would go So my soul belongs just to you Give me your frenzy love That was what Twilight thought on as she went back to her friends. While Swift Rise fixed the political, economic and social problems, he lacked of that element that was only brought by his wife (the same element that's as vital as friendship, for love and friendship must always come together for it to work). There in the kiss I gave to you Mercy soul to the heart And you know in your feels The same thing I have felt Twilight felt realized at this revelation. I want you to live just for me and for you to go where I would go So my soul belongs just to you Give me your frenzy love She knew how to help Equestria. Give me your frenzy love! And as the General and his wife looked at each other in her lovely dance, they got their faces close to each other and gave testament to their love as they kissed at each other's mouth, a true reflection at what they felt at each other. a sentiment that gave life and power to the Crystal Heart of the Crystal Empire.