//------------------------------//
// Corruption from Within 
// Story: The Bonds of Family 
// by KidatHeart5 
//------------------------------//

	Flurry Heart and Luna stood outside Skyla’s bedroom door in concern. 
The smaller alicorn knocked, “Hey, Skyla? Are you okay?”
Skyla’s distressed voice shouted though the door, “No! No, I’m not! I can’t take it anymore!”
Luna asked, “Granddaughter, whatever is the matter?”
Skyla exclaimed, “Grandmother’s with you?! Admit it, you did it on purpose!”
Flurry asked in confusion, “What?”
“You brought her here so she could see the real me, the bad me!” She then burst into tears.
Luna attempted to calm her down, “Skyla, please. Your emotions are clouding your judgment.”
Skyla shot off with resentment in her voice, “Oh, so you think being overly emotional is not queenly, huh? But Flurry is! Flurry is queenly enough to replace me!”
Flurry shook her head, “No, Skyla! It’s not like that!”
“Well, you’re the perfect candidate! Go ahead and take the throne when our parents step down! I could care less!”
Luna said more firmly, “Skyla, this must stop. You must calm down and listen.”
Flurry Heart pleaded, “Please hear us out.”
Skyla humphed, “I’ll listen to Grandma, but not to you.”
Flurry felt like her sadness would soon overwhelm her, so she asked, “Why not?”
“Just because.”
“Well, what can I do to make amends with you?” 
“I just wish…you weren’t loved at all!”
Flurry’s heart cracked in two when she heard that. She couldn’t hold the pain in, so she whimpered, “Grandma…I want to go to bed now.”
Her granddaughter sniffled as Luna comforted, “That would be wise. We should leave Skyla alone for a while until she calms down.”
Meanwhile, in her bedroom, Skyla clomped to her vanity when she knew her sister and grandmother left. She looked into the mirror and found anger and sadness still etched all over her face, not to mention the runny mascara underneath her tormented eyes. In fact, the mascara was the only thing she noticed, so she sought to rectify this. She poured makeup remover in a small basin and dabbed a handkerchief into it.
She muttered in a seething tone as she wiped the mascara off, “I, Princess Skyla, heir to the Crystal throne, heir to the Crystal throne!” When she wiped the mascara off, she proceeded to pull the gems out of her mane. “No one shall deny me my birthright, not even my sister! I will become the next queen of the Crystal Empire, so help me, Faust!”
Her lilac magic aura had become dark violet with shades of black by the time she pulled the last gem from her mane and threw it at the porcelain bowl containing the other jewels. The force of the throw caused the bowl to fall on the floor and shatter. Its glittering contents spilled all over the crystalline surface on which Skyla stood. She gasped when she realized what she had done. She looked down at the scattered gems and remembered the ruined Gala decorations not too long ago. She recalled how she had compared herself to them, and now she wondered if the jewels on the floor were symbolic of her shattered state. She climbed into her bed – dress and all – and wept herself to sleep.
No matter how hard Skyla wanted to rest peacefully, dreams did not come to her. Instead, they were replaced by memories of the Crystal Gala and Flurry’s magic burst. The alarm associated with these events robbed her of serene slumber until she woke up in the middle of the night. She couldn’t go on like this. She had to know. She had to know if she was still the rightful queen. She ran out of the bedroom and trotted towards the throne room. 
When Skyla reached the familiar double doors, she quietly opened them and walked inside the throne room. After she softly closed the doors, she turned her gaze towards the Crystal throne. She knew it was her destiny to preside over the Crystal Empire from this room, but would it be robbed from her? She stepped towards it and analyzed every detail of the throne. When her eyes fell on the large crystal sitting on top of the throne, she remembered an old legend. She read somewhere that whoever was worthy of ruling the Empire would be able to make the crystal flash rays of rainbow light. Skyla readied to activate her magic and take the shot, but suddenly, the doors opened and she turned to see –
“Baroness Gourmand!”
Zesty – now wearing a white, loose nightgown – cried in surprise, “Oh, forgive my intrusion, Your Highness! I seem to have lost my way around the castle looking for the bathroom. Can you tell me where it is?”
Skyla instructed, “Uh, sure. Go down the hall, turn left, and it’s the first one on your right.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Skyla turned towards the throne again and prepared to activate her magic.
Zesty came up to her and remarked, “That is a truly majestic throne, Your Highness.”
“Thank you. I’m going to sit there one day when I am queen.”
“If you are queen.”
Skyla faced her in confusion, “What? Of course I’ll be. See that crystal up there? If I can make it shine rainbow light, then it proves that I am worthy of taking the throne.”
Zesty challenged, “Let’s see it, then.” 
Skyla concentrated again and a lilac aura appeared on her horn.
Zesty said to her, “You know, I’ve heard ponies say that young Flurry Heart has more magic than you have.”
Skyla, trying to focus on hitting the crystal, couldn’t help but ask, “Yeah? What about it?”
“I’m just pointing out that with her abilities and raw talent, she could easily beat you in a magic duel.”
The spark of anger made her magic aura darken to a medium purple color. “What does that have to do with being queen?”
“Everything. Flurry Heart’s powers would enable her to protect the Crystal Empire and perhaps even Equestria.”
The fears Skyla had before she and her sister went to the Everfree Kingdom resurfaced anew. Her magic aura now darkened to the same color it had been when she accidentally broke the porcelain bowl.
Skyla scoffed, “Give me a break. She’s not strong enough to do that.”
“Yes, but she is more powerful than you. Ergo, she could be a more suitable –“
Skyla interrupted, “All right! All right! I get it! But she’s not the heir!” As she said that, her magic aura became a haze of green and purple. “I am!”
She shot a bolt of black magic at the crystal and darkness enshrouded the shiny piece of gem from the inside out. A shadow then sprouted from the crystal and made its way down the throne and across the floor. As the shadow creeped towards Skyla and Zesty, a secret stairway began to appear from a purple and green haze. 
Zesty gasped, “What did you do?!”
Skyla was alarmed by this as well. What happened? What did she do wrong? Was she wrong? 
She looked down the passageway and said, “I don’t know!”
“You didn’t create rainbow light, that’s for certain.”
“I don’t know what I did, but any new passage is worth exploring.” She lit up her horn and her lilac aura appeared as if she didn’t use dark magic to begin with. She asked Zesty, “Are you coming?”
She scoffed, “I wouldn’t set foot on those wretched stairs even if you gave me all the gold in the kingdom. We must inform somepony of this.”
Skyla pleaded, “Don’t tell anyone yet! It’s the middle of the night and my parents might freak out about this. Can we save it for after breakfast?”
Zesty looked at her like she wasn’t going to change her mind, but then she sighed, “All right. You have my word. But that is only because you are a hostess and I am a guest.” 
“Thank you.” 
Skyla traipsed down the long, winding stairs and seemed to be far from the bottom about a minute later.
Zesty called down in annoyance, “Are you even there yet, Your Highness?”
Skyla responded, “It’s a long way down! I’ll check to see how long.”
She pulled a dark crystal from the wall and threw it over the stairs. She kept listening for the sound it would make when it hit the bottom. About several seconds had passed before she heard the distant clink of the crystal. She realized that the stairs went farther down than she initially thought.
She called up to Zesty, “It might take me a while to get down there!”
Skyla began walking down the stairs again when a part of the step her hoof was on broke under her. She screamed as she fell over the stairs and into the hole the steps curved around. Just before she could hit the ground, she enveloped herself in her lilac-colored magic. She sighed in relief as she safely landed on her hooves. Suddenly, she heard the sound of clopping descending down the stairs.
Zesty panted as she reached Skyla, “Princess! I feared you might’ve gotten injured! If anypony knew that I just stood there while your life was in danger…” She shivered, “…I dare not to think of it!”
Skyla put her hoof on her shoulder to calm her, “But I’m all right, Baroness. On the bright side, we did reach the bottom.”
Zesty’s anxious face soon morphed into irritation. “Oh, the things you do to get me down here!” 
The princess turned to see a black door with a crystal on top of it. She used her magic to open the door, only for the portal to zip away from her!
Zesty remarked, “Well, that’s unexpected.”
Skyla tried to open the door again, but it moved again.
The princess uttered, “What in the…?” She tried again, but without success. She grunted, “Stop...moving!”
Zesty scoffed, “And you’re supposed to be the Crystal heir?”
That ticked Skyla off and her frustration darkened her magic again. She responded angrily as she tried to summon the door, “Yes, I am!”
Surprisingly, the door came to her when she used dark magic. Skyla was too angry to notice, however, and aimed a haze of green, black, and purple at the topmost crystal. As the crystal turned black, the door seemed to recoil from such powerful magic. It then opened for her as if conceding to Skyla. White light spilled from the open portal and Skyla looked at it in awe.
She softly said to herself, “I wonder what’s in there…”
She stepped towards the light and found herself facing her vanity mirror. She looked all around and saw that she was back in her bedroom. Was she dreaming the whole time? She rubbed her eyes in case she had been asleep.
At that moment, the door opened and her father leaned in, cheerfully saying, “Skyla, let’s go! The whole crowd’s waiting for you.” 
Skyla said in confusion, “But…my mane…”
She gasped as she looked in the mirror again. Her mane was lavishly styled to match the extravagance of her Crystal Gala gown.
She touched her mane as she breathed, “How did…?”
Cadance joined her father and requested with a smile, “Honey, everypony’s waiting for you! Can’t miss out on your grand debut as the new queen.”
Skyla was speechless. She was a queen now? All right, she was either dreaming or having a vision. If this was a vision, then maybe she could learn some things from this before she was actually coronated. She walked with her parents to the balcony and saw the cheering ponies below them. She had never felt so happy or appreciated in her life.
Shining Armor then whispered to her, “Wave to the crowds, honey.”
Skyla stepped towards the railing and was about to wave when – 
“Hey! Check me out!”
She looked up to see her sister flying in the sky and showing off her magic. The crowd oohed and ahhed at such impressive displays; even Cadance and Shining Armor joined the reverberation of awe. Skyla didn’t know what her sister was doing, but she knew that it couldn’t be good. Flurry then held out a crystal much like the one sitting atop the throne. 
The alicorn said, “Now, don’t blink! This is where it gets really cool!”
She threw the crystal into the air and used her magic to both levitate it and light it at the same time. Rays of rainbow light showered the kingdom and the ponies went wild with delight.
Cadance gasped in excitement as she asked her husband, “Shiny, do you know what this means?”
Shining Armor nodded, “I most certainly do!” He then announced to the crowd, “Fillies and gentlecolts, Flurry Heart’s display of magic proves without a doubt that she will be our new queen!”
Skyla’s heart dropped and her stomach formed a knot as she breathed, “What?”
After Flurry flew onto the balcony with pride, her parents placed the crown on her head. At that moment, a flash shone on her flank and gave way to a cutie mark of a golden crown with rays of yellow light emanating from it. 
Skyla fought through her shock and she asked, “But – but…what about me? I’m supposed to be the heir!”
Flurry Heart responded with an evil smile, “You are nothing if not the spare! Now bow before me, former heir!”
She used her magic to force Skyla to bow down. The elder sister strained her eyes upwards to see her family members laughing wickedly at her. 
Skyla whimpered, “No…No…This can’t be…This can’t be…”
“Your Highness! Your Highness!”
The desperate pleas of a distant voice made everything vanish before her eyes and she saw a blurred Zesty Gourmand over her.
Zesty’s muffled voice implored her in concern, “Your Highness, say something!” 
Skyla groaned as she put her hoof to her head, “What…What happened?”
Zesty said as the princess stood up, “You tell me. You were the one staring at that wall.”
She turned to see that the baroness was right – all the door led to was a wall. But what did she see? Perhaps it was a vision, although a pretty frightening one.
She said, “I think…I saw the future. I have my mother’s foresight, so it allows me to see what will happen a long time from now.”
Zesty asked, “What did you see?”
Skyla didn’t want to tell her in fear of being disbelieved, but since she brought up her inherited gift, she had no other choice but to explain.
She took a deep breath and elucidated rather shakily, “I saw…my sister…becoming a queen…and forcing to me bow down before her!” Just then, an awful thought crossed her mind. She gasped, “What if she becomes the shadow pony from my dreams?!”
Zesty asked, “The who?”
Skyla knew that it slipped out, so she explained, “I’ve been dreaming of a shadowed figure for some time now. It had a horn and bat wings and a long, flowing mane.”
“That sounds like your sister, all right.”
“But what if it’s an evil version of her? I have to stop it before it can happen!”
Zesty drew Skyla close to her and said, “Listen to me, Skyla. I think I know of a way to stop her. Only a pure heart like yours can nip her future tyranny in the bud.”