Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, Luxure took a deep exhale and prepared for what was surely to be a long conversation. “Well, if you want everything, I’ll start with the first thing I’m able to remember. Everything before this eludes me. Everything but the god-awful, unforgiving cold of the Frozen North,” she said with a somber look in her eyes as she stared down into the glass of alcohol before her.
The only color that occupied the Frozen North surrounding the Crystal Empire was white. Nothing else as far as the eye could see. Aside from the unending blizzard that occupied it, it was also for the most part motionless. If the sheer size and temperature of the area wasn’t enough to scare ponies away from it, the lack of another living soul until reaching the Crystal Empire sure was.
Nevertheless, this day there was someone present among the bitter snowstorm. Huddled inside a small hole made in a pile of snow, curled up in a desperate attempt to keep warm, was a small and pink crystal earth pony filly. Covering her head and providing only some semblance of warmth in the harsh weather was a dark purple mane, accompanied by a tail on her rump of the same color.
Even with her having said mane and tail though, they did little to shield the filly from the blisteringly cold snow. It was to the point where it nearly felt like it was burning her crystal body, causing her to shiver and eliciting quiet and pained whimpers from her mouth. She hesitated to cry from it, as she feared if she were to do so then the tears would freeze her eyes shut. It did not stop her from venting her frustrations in different ways, however.
“AAAAAH!” she wailed, making sure to keep herself from tearing up. She hoped against hope that maybe someone, anyone would hear her. She’d been in this unfamiliar place for what felt like hours, days even. That, and the pain accompanying being covered in snow terrified her. For all she knew there wasn’t a pony in sight that would come to her rescue, and she would surely die in that burrow.
As much pain she was in, and as afraid as she was, the little pink crystal filly refused to submit to the wrath of the blizzard.
It seemed that her persistence had paid off, as in the distance she could hear something. Someone. Voices. There was someone else out of her line of sight. “Over there! It’s coming from over there!” the voice made the filly’s ears perk up and she wailed even louder to get their attention.
“Help me! Please!” she shouted as loud as loud as her small lungs could manage. Her efforts were rewarded with the sound of several hooves hitting the snow-coated ground, and seconds afterwards the snow around her being melted by magic. She looked up to see the faces of her rescuers, only to find that their faces were covered by black masks to protect them from the blizzard. Among the party that had dug her out were what looked to be several crystal stallions of various races wearing crystalized armor in addition to their face masks. The only exception was the very tall, and clearly female crystal unicorn with a pale vermilion coat and a raspberry colored mane. When the filly managed to make out more details, she could see that the mare had some kind of regal attire emblazoned with hearts as well as a blue crystal crown.
The mare knelt down to the filly’s eye level so she would not be more afraid than she already was. “Little one, are you alright?” the mare asked.
Still shivering, the filly answered. “I-I’m f-freezing. Please, help. I d-don’t like it,” She whimpered, stuttering a little. She couldn’t tell, but she almost guessed that behind the mask she was wearing, the mare smiled at her.
The mare picked her up in one of her forelegs and cradled her close to her chest. “We need to get you warm immediately. Your whole body has gone cold,” the mare said, making sure to keep her close for warmth. “Back to the castle on the double soldiers.” The stallions all nodded in response to this and turned right back around, the mare following suit.
“W-Where are we going?” the filly asked quietly.
By the tone of her voice, the filly could only guess that the mare was a little confused by this question since she couldn’t see her face through the face protective mask. “You’re a crystal pony and you don’t know the Crystal Empire?” the mare asked. “That’s very unusual. May I ask where you come from then?”
The filly answered nothing but instead kept staring at her intently, a small frown coming onto her face. It didn’t take long for the mare to get the message. “Oh…I see. In that case, you will come home with me. I’ll make sure you’re nice and rested.”
This all sounded well and good to the filly. She’d actually get to stay somewhere warm for once, a castle no less. This pony seemed quite nice too. “U-Um…who are you?” the filly asked.
The mare giggled a little behind her mask. “Just call me Amore honey.”
“It sounds like you two met on really good terms,” Fluttershy said after Luxure explained her meeting with Princess Amore.
“That’s almost ALWAYS how these kinds of things start. Of course we didn’t start out as bitter enemies when we locked eyes or whatever. Shit didn’t hit the fan until much later,” Luxure replied, followed by her downing an entire shot.
A little disturbed by this, Fluttershy couldn’t help but cringe. “You’re REALLY dreading this aren’t you?”
“You don’t have a clue,” Luxure said, clearing her throat of the burning sensation. “But anyway, I didn’t have much to tell her about. No parents, no home, no cutie mark, not even a name. Knowing all of that, Amore gave me a name herself. I absolutely revile that name now, but I can’t deny it was a part of me once.”
“And that would beeee…?” Fluttershy asked.
After a few seconds of hesitance, Luxure groaned a little and gave her answer. “She named me Rosemary. A name I’d love to forget about altogether.”
Curled up by the fire in one of the many bedrooms of the Crystal Empire’s castle, Rosemary felt much better compared to earlier. The mug of hot chocolate in her hooves helped a lot as well. Whenever it graced her mouth, it felt a little bit painful from it being as hot as it was, but delicious all the same. It was a good trade off as opposed to being painfully cold. She was still sniffling a little bit, but she would live.
In addition to all of this, she’d been completely wrapped up in a blanket that was much too big for her. Not that she was complaining, it was the comfiest she’d ever been from what was available in her memories.
Amore stepped into the room, sans cold protecting mask, and laid down on her stomach next to Rosemary. “Are you feeling better Rosemary?” she asked with a warm and inviting smile.
Rosemary nodded in response with a wide smile. “Mmhm. I’ve still got the sniffles but I’ll be okay. Thank you very much princess,” she answered with cheerful glee as she took another sip of her hot chocolate.
“I’m glad to hear you’re recovering. You do look like you’re enjoying yourself here,” Amore said. “You don’t mind if I talk to you for a moment do you? I’d like to clear some things up with you.”
Rosemary tilted her head a little. “Huh? Like what?”
Amore cleared her throat. “Well for starters, do you know how my guards and myself managed to find you out there in the snow?”
Unsure of where Amore was going with this, Rosemary dug herself deeper into her blanket and contemplated this question. Putting on the most serious thinking face she could muster, she came to what should have been the obvious conclusion. “Ummmm…my crying right? I was crying pretty loud.”
Amore only patted Rosemary’s head. “Well, that certainly helped but not exactly what I mean. You see Rosemary, one of my scouts picked up a very strong magical energy coming from the Frozen North. It was unlike anything we’ve seen from any unicorn capable of magic thus far. It’s much more powerful and at the time was very unstable. Imagine how we felt when we set out and realized the magic was all coming right from you,” she answered, gently poking Rosemary’s nose with a hoof, causing her muzzle to scrunch up a little.
This baffled the young crystal filly to no end. “Huh? But I’m not a unicorn. I don’t have magic.”
Amore giggled a little. “That is where you are wrong Rosemary. All ponies have magic of some kind. It just manifests itself differently in Pegasi and Earth Ponies than it does with Unicorns. From the kind of magic that you give off though, you are a special case.”
Rosemary looked down at the ground, trying to comprehend this. “I-I’m sorry I really don’t understand th-…th-…o-oh gosh, here comes the sneezes,” she said stuttering a little in between breaths. “A-A-ACHOO!” Rosemary sneezed fiercly and loudly. After she opened her eyes from doing so however, she saw that the result of her sneezing wasn’t snot or boogers. Instead, her sneezing had caused small, purple crystals to grow out of the floor of the room and shine brilliantly in the light coming through the window.
To say the least, Rosemary was floored by this revelation. “W-Wha…b-but h-how did I-”
Amore giggled again, her theory having been confirmed. “Gesundheit,” she said.
For a moment, Rosemary could only sit there in her blanket and stare at the crystals she had created. Not even once for the next several minutes did she so much as blink. “I-I really am magic...but…how? This goes against nature!” Rosemary exclaimed.
“Well now you know what I was thinking when I found out about you. I’m not sure where you received your powers Rosemary, but I know it is the source of the strongest magic that I’ve ever seen in a pony. If you allow me to study you and help you learn to channel your magic, I’m positive you could do wondrous things with it,” Amore said, slightly petting the young filly’s head.
Rosemary’s ears twitched from the petting and she hummed a little in satisfaction. “Mmm…what kinds of things?” she asked.
“My dear filly, if an Earth Pony can control magic the way you can, I’m sure nothing is out of the realm of possibility,” Amore replied with that same kind smile.
“So, she taught me how to control my powers. By my teen years I’d already surpassed every documented unicorn magician at the time,” Luxure stated as she summoned an orb of magenta-colored fire in the middle of her hooves. She then proceeded to use it to light her alcohol aflame and chug it down as if it were nothing.
“O-Oh goodness that’s quite an accomplishment,” Fluttershy said in a shocked response to both Luxure’s magical feat, and the downing of a flaming shot. “Um…doesn’t that hurt your mouth?”
“The pain is unreal, yes,” Luxure said in an uncaring voice as flames were shown to still be present and dancing around in her mouth. “Anywho, things were looking up for me for a while. Little did naïve teenage Rosemary know, it was aaaaall downhill from there.”