The streets of the Crystal Empire were deserted. An eerie, forlorn atmosphere was hanging in the air. It gave both Flurry Heart and Radiant Hope shudders as they entered the seemingly forsaken city.
Standing still, they let their eyes wander over the houses and the street in front of them. It was silent, but, in the distance, they could hear faint shouting of many voices. It was indicating their destination, the Crystal Castle.
A dark awareness was in Radiant Hope's face as she looked into the direction the shouts came from. Her eyes didn't show a single shred of surprise. At her side, Flurry Heart clung a hoof to the mare's coat. She looked at Hope, fear and worry in her eyes.
Hope looked down at her. “It appears to be bad,” she said. “But I trust Sombra and you should too. His plan will work.” Flurry Heart was still unsure and kept staring at her guardian.
Hope put a hoof around her and pushed her carefully. “Let's go,” she said. Hesitantly, Flurry Heart gave in to the pressure and together, they moved into the direction of the sounds that kept ringing into their ears.
The buildings passed by them in a crawling tempo. With every step, the voices grew a little louder and the young alicorn's heart began to beat a little faster. She gulped and began to tremble. Flurry Heart clung stronger to Radiant Hope.
As they were in sight of the plaza in front of the castle and the first members of the mob came into view, Radiant Hope directed Flurry Heart behind a purple house, keeping them safe from any glances that the raging ponies might have cast into their direction. Flurry Heart moved a hoof over her left foreleg, her face now completely distorted in desperation and fear.
“I didn't know it's that bad already,” she whimpered. “It wasn't when I left!”
Radiant Hope moved past the little filly and peered out from behind the house. The color of her coat blended in perfectly with the house's color. She scanned the crowd that filled the plaza in front of the castle and even the free space under it. The Crystal Heart and the castle were surrounded by what seemed to be all of the Empire's citizens. Radiant Hope retracted again, then addressed Flurry Heart. “Is there another way to get inside than through the castle's gate?”
Flurry Heart shook her head. “There is a secret passage, but it can't be opened from the outside.”
Hope's brow got furrowed. “Then I need to teleport us into the castle from here. Hold on to me.”
Flurry Heart gulped, then nodded hesitantly. She did a step forward and clasped Radiant Hope's chest with her hooves. Hope's horn glowed in a light-blue color, then both of them disappeared in a flash.
The throne room of the Crystal Castle was imbued with an aura of hopelessness and despair. Shining Armor was sitting on the throne, holding a weeping Cadance tight against his chest. His face expressionless and cold, his eyes dull, he stared into the direction of the throne's room exit, while his wife drenched his coat with her steady stream of tears.
Through the closed doors of the throne room, he could hear the guards doing their best efforts to secure the castle gate. Occasionally, commands got shouted and there was loud banging against the gate, the manifestation of their subjects' anger and hatred they now feeled towards them. The voices of the guards were strained and tired and the hinges of the gate could be heard creaking, an indication that they wouldn't last long anymore. None of the sounds reached Shining Armor or Cadance. They had stopped doing so hours ago.
The thought to flee began to manifest in Shining Armor's head finally; to use the secret passage and get past their enraged subjects, search for their daughter and then travel to Canterlot, seeking guidance and advice from Equestria's more experienced rulers, who would hopefully be able to help. He looked down at his wife, bitterness in his face. Before he could say anything, though, a bright, blue light suddenly flashed up right in front of the throne, blinding him. He shielded his eyes.
As the light seemed to be gone, he removed his hoof from his eyes again. He squinted while his eyeballs recovered from the bright light. As his vision cleared, he found himself staring at a purple crystal pony mare with a horn. The vanishing aura around it fit the color of her mane. In front of the mare, he saw nopony else than his own daughter, clasping her hooves around the mare's chest.
Shining Armor gasped in surprise. “Cadance!” he shouted and shook his wife with his right hoof. “Look at this!”
Cadance stirred and looked in front of her, an expression on her face that made clear she feared the worst after her husband's bewildered reaction. Her from tears blurry eyes showed her nothing more than an unshapely blob of pink at the side of another, purple blob. Her heart did a leap, suddenly getting flooded with a certain hope, but her rationality curbed the feeling, telling her to not expect the impossible. She rubbed over her eyes with a hoof, clearing her vision. As she finally was able to recognize who the pink blob was, she rushed forward, a sob leaving her throat.
“Flurry Heart!” Quickly, she threw her hooves around her daughter and pressed her firm against her body. “Where have you been?!” she scolded her, her voice sounding tear-filled.
Flurry Heart broke out in tears. She put her own hooves around her mother. “I..... I.....” was all she managed to say.
“Who is this other pony?” Cadance asked. She felt alarmed now, but kept clinging to her daughter.
“She.....” Flurry Heart sniffed, trying to gather the strength to speak. “Her name is Radiant Hope. S-She says she can help.”
“Radiant Hope.....” Cadance breathed. She let go of Flurry Heart and looked at the mare to her left. Her mouth gaped open and disbelief was written all over her face. “How did you get here? And why are you here?” she uttered a few, confused questions.
The continuous banging on the castle gate, combined with the creaking hinges, let Radiant Hope come right to the point. “It's not me who is here to help. But Sombra is. We need you to be outside on the castle balcony!”
“Sombra?!” Shining Armor stood up from the throne and trotted over to her, his pace quick. “He is here too?”
Cadance's eyes narrowed. “King Sombra.....” she whispered. “What is his plan?”
Only for a short moment, a glare flashed up in Hope's eyes, before they returned to their focused expression. “He isn't a king anymore. And we don't have time to explain. You need to step out on the balcony, now!” Her voice was urgent.
All of them twitched as a loud crack sounded into their ears from behind. The guards' shouts became louder.
“Cadance!” Shining Armor looked at her. “Let's do what she says! It's the only chance we have!”
Cadance released the embrace with Flurry Heart completely and stepped up to her husband, but still draped a hoof over her daughter, dragging her along.
“It's King Sombra!” Cadance said, voice full of disagreement. “You know what he did, we can't trust him, Shining Armor!”
“We need to!” he insisted. “If anypony wants to help us, we have to take the chance! We messed this up, Cadance!” As his wife did not show any signs of listening to his advice, Shining Armor bit his lip in hesitation. “You messed this up, Cadance,” he then said. His body slumped slightly. There was regret in his eyes.
The appearing expression in Cadance's face was not much different than the one of a pony who just got punched unexpectedly. And there was guilt in it as well. She looked down, now biting her own lip.
“I am sorry, Cadance. But this is something we need to do. It's that or running away!” He made his voice sound as stern as possible.
“Fine.....” Cadance nodded, not looking up. She turned her head slightly into Radiant Hope's direction. “The balcony?” Her voice was a whisper.
“Yes and now!” The other mare commanded. Another crack could be heard, underlining her voice.
Cadance nodded again, then she dragged Flurry Heart with her. She moved into the direction of the small door that was just at the side of the throne room's massive entrance door. Shining Armor and Radiant Hope followed them.
“Stay behind me, Flurry Heart,” Cadance said weakly, then she pulled the door open. Immediately, they were greated with the loud volume of all the shouting under them. Wordlessly, all four of them stepped outside, Cadance at the top.
They had barely set hoof on the balcony as they got already spotted. A crystal mare looked up and shot their hoof at them. “They are there!” she shouted, voice ripe of the intention to let her fellow citizens know. Like it was a command, all of the ponies in front of the castle looked up now. The shouts went silent for a moment as they did so, drowned out by their surprise. Then they began again, now directly addressing Shining Armor and Cadance.
“Give us the royal foal!” an angry shout came from another mare in the front row of the crowd.
“Flurry Heart needs to be locked up! Keep her away from the Crystal Heart!” a stallion demanded.
Flurry Heart winced and cowered behind her mother's flank. Her eyes darted around frantically as she made sure that nopony could see her.
Cadance, Shining Armor and Radiant Hope were lined up right in front of the balcony's balustrade now, forming a protective wall in front of Flurry Heart. Down below, at the top of the raging mob, stood Austere Knowledge, looking up to them as well. His lip had stopped bleeding, but was slightly deformed by a thick crust of dried, brown blood. He grinned diabolically upon noticing them.
“The royal traitors show up!” he shouted at them. “Are you finally ready to face all the consequences by your subjects?” Loud cheers of agreement came from the crowd behind him. Austere Knowledge had grown into his role of the leader of the near-rebellion completely. He felt satisfied.
Shining Armor and Cadance didn't say anything, despite their hearts beating fast, and just looked down at the crowd, eyes filled with grief over the faces of the ponies that formerly loved them.
Radiant Hope did the same, but she was scanning the crowd, face stern. She looked over the surrounding buildings as she was finished, then up into the sky. Finally, her face cleared as she found what she had been looking for. A black thundercloud in the sky was nothing out of the ordinary. She smiled. It was perfect. The cloud floated over the ponies underneath it, then came to a halt right above Austere Knowledge. Radiant Hope gave it a subtle nod.
The crowd became impatient as Austere Knowledge's remark was not met with any reaction. “ANSWER!” a unicorn mare just behind him yelled up at them. Austere's grin deepened.
Cadance gave Radiant Hope a nervous glance. “What now?” Her lips formed the words very quietly.
“Nothing. Wait and see.” The response came in the same way.
Austere Knowledge fixated his much-hated rulers, a dark and twisted form of happiness spreading out in his chest. He eagerly waited to find out how they would respond to the angry masses, but, as he finally heard a voice, it did not come from them.
“They have power over you,” the voice whispered.
Austere Knowledge turned around and looked over his back, still wearing his grin. None of the other ponies was looking at him, they still faced the balcony and their rulers.
“You are about to lose,” the voice whispered again.
“Who is saying this?” Austere Knowledge's voice sounded pitiful coming out between his white teeth. He kept looking around. “You can give them as much support as you want, but just look around. The whole Empire is against them, your rulers need to give them what they want or they will get overthrown by us.”
“No. If you are not careful, you will get overthrown by them.”
Only now Austere Knowledge noticed something of vital importance about the voice. It did not come from the crowd, there was nopony whispering to him. The voice he heard was his own voice and it came from inside his head. It unsettled the stallion slightly. As he looked to the front again, he did not grin anymore. He looked up to the distraught faces of his rulers again.
“Now I'm so close to dispose of them and I become nervous and get told by my inner voice they could win in the last moment,” he thought. Austere Knowledge felt a tinge of embarrassment for himself and his unnecessary worries. “There is nothing they can do anymore. They have no allies, they have no support in the whole Empire anymore after the princess attacked me and nopony will believe their words, even if they should be so stupid and try to paint me black. I have won this game.” His grin returned.
“No, you fool,” the voice spoke again. “They still have a weapon against you.”
Austere Knowledge chuckled inwardly. “What can they do?” he answered his own voice. “They are on the ground already.”
“Do you not see the mare at their side? You never met her before. She has just arrived and she is their trump card. This mare will defeat you.”
And indeed, he hadn't noticed that mare so far, but now, he focused his attention on her. Austere surveyed her, but there was not any sense of threat he sensed from her. Yet somehow, a tiny feeling of insecurity rose in his chest.
“Nonsense!” he said out loud. The crowd did not hear it over their shouts. “It is just one mare, there is nothing she can do!” he then spoke the words in his mind again. “And even if she should be so utterly stupid to attack me, it will benefit my goal!”
The voice in his head laughed. “I thought you would be good at this, but now I see you are not able to eliminate the last risk for yourself. You are a weak usurper, Austere.”
The teacher's grin vanished and instead, he gritted his teeth in anger. “What do you know? You are just a product of my subconscious, trying to make me doubt myself in the moment of my triumph over this heinous monarchy!” Nothing in his voice indicated that he found it odd to essentially talk with himself.
The voice laughed again. “Your confidence is your biggest weakness.” It sounded demeaning. “Just look at them, can't you see it? Do you not wonder why they don't react to the crowd? They don't have to and they know it. They just wait for your fall.”
Austere Knowledge looked back at the two royals. Something tugged inside his chest. All of a sudden, they looked down at him with confident, determined expressions. He couldn't detect fear or nervousness in their faces anymore.
“Why are they looking like this? Do they not realize their own loss?” he thought in disbelief.
“As I said, they only wait for your fall, Austere. You have lost, you just don't know it yet,” the voice continued. “They will win and overthrow you, Austere. And once they did, they will control you. You will be blamed by everypony and they will dictate every part of your life.”
Austere Knowledge felt his heart getting constricted. He refused to admit it, but fear was rising in him now. He gulped. “They can't..... This is impossible! What is it they can still do now?”
“They know your secret, Austere,” the voice answered his question. “The one thing you're hiding from them, the only thing that can endanger your plan. The mare found it out and she told them. And they will let everypony in the Crystal Empire know, they just wait a little with it to relish in their victory.”
Austere Knowledge gritted his teeth stronger, now seeing his plan endangered. “I can still stop them. I can still win!”
“You can,” the voice answered. “There is a way. You need to leapfrog them.”
“How?” the teacher asked, now paying full attention to the voice in his head.
“You must tell them yourself, Austere. Tell all of them your secret before they can!”
Austere Knowledge shook his head over this suggestion. “This is madness! If I tell them everything, this is what will endanger my plan!”
“No, Austere, you don't understand. Look at the ponies around you. They are outraged, yes, but all they do is standing here and shout. They are not ready yet. They will just calm down after a while and go home. You need to give them something more, Austere. If you tell them now, tell them what despicable deed you committed because the rulers made you hate them so much with their actions, then they will join your side completely.”
A frown appeared on Austere Knowledge's forehead. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. If you tell them now, they will break into the castle, they will drag them out on the Crystal Dais and sentence them right now.” The voice sounded alluring.
The imagination of the event the voice had described let a smile play around Austere's lips.
“But if you don't.....” The voice became threatening. “Then they will expose you. They will win and then, they will have full power over you.”
Austere Knowledge's heart did a leap at those words.
“Maybe they will forgive you..... But even if they do, you will be at their mercy. They will observe you constantly. You won't be able to criticize them anymore. If you have an opinion different than their own, then they will pretend you want to overthrow them again. They will use this to lock you up in the dungeon. They will silence you. If you don't win now, they will have full control over your life..... You are afraid of this, Austere. It's your biggest fear and it will become true if you don't tell them your secret.”
“It is,” Austere Knowledge admitted unexpectedly. “But this fear is not a weakness, it's my strength. Because now I know what to do.....” He grinned up at the balcony again. “I will tell them what I know and then, all their subjects here will see how much they made me hate them with their actions. It will finally convince them.”
“Good,” the voice sounded satisfied. “Now tell them, Austere. Tell them and secure your victory.”
Austere Knowledge grinned up to the balcony for a moment longer, then he turned around to the masses of still shouting ponies. “Our rulers don't want to answer!” he began a speech and shot a hoof behind him and up at them. “Do you know why? Because they are afraid! They hold more secrets from you!”
Now he had the crowd's attention. All ponies behind him were looking at him, expectantly and grim-faced. On the castle balcony, Shining Armor, Cadance had returned to their nervous looks. Only Radiant Hope was showing a confident expression. She looked up to the cloud above her, that was slowly retreating from the anarchist teacher. Radiant Hope smiled.
Beneath them, Austere Knowledge continued. “And I know the secrets they're still holding. They have made me do something terrible, by their selfishness and by their treason against us!” Austere Knowledge paused for a moment, watching how the last words provoked reactions of the crowd and how they became even more attentive. As he was sure they were hanging on his lips enough, he continued.
“Our rulers,” he pointed up again. “Our rulers have driven me so far that I was inciting a young colt to attack the little princess!” The last two words were thick with disgust.
Murmurs went through the crowd. The sceptical and dumbfounded expressions on the ponies' faces showed this was not what they had expected from the announced reveal.
“I am the one who is responsible for it that Swift Hoof was attacking the princess when she was in solitude! I gave her a scroll containing a Diruptio Nervus Cerebrum spell, because I wanted that she kills him and gets blamed for it!”
The spectacular reveal turned more and more into a disastrous confession. The crowds' murmurs became stronger and ponies looked at each other and began to talk in bewilderment about what they had just heard.
“The princess did not use the scroll, but to my luck, she does not have her magic under control and is a danger for each one of you! My plan still worked, because she attacked him anyway. I wanted to make you all hate her even more. Unfortunately, most of you were instead siding with her, than condemning her..... But now, this is not important anymore.”
He stopped again and took the reactions of the crowd in. They wore worried expressions, some of them looked upset and like they just got struck by lightning. And most of them were furiously talking with each other. The reveal had not missed its effect. Austere Knowledge grinned.
“Now you know everything, how despicable the actions of your rulers really are!”
This statement made the crowd even more confused, their makeshift leader having just talked about an action of his own, after all. They all stared at him now, not sure how to react.
“Their irresponsible and reckless actions as our rulers made me do this. They made me hate them so much that I saw no choice than to turn the mood against them even more. They made me responsible for a foal getting hurt.....” His face was full of mock regret. “Now you can see the consequences of the hatred they cause in us!”
With this sentence, he was finished. Austere Knowledge was done. His eyes wandered over the crowd and he grinned. “And now I won,” he thought.
The whole crowd was silent. They just kept staring at him; confused, shocked and still unsure how to react to all of this. But their paralysis did not last long, because it was the silence before the storm. The first one to speak up was Swift Hoof's mom.
The mare was distraught, tears running over her face as her mind was struck with the realization that the attack on her youngest son had been a ruthless plan to overthrow their rulers. “You.....” Her face became distorted. “You attacked our little son and almost killed him!” she shouted at Austere Knowledge, her voice hysterical.
This reaction was finally triggering something in the crowd. Murmurs arose again and they got louder and louder by the second. Eventually, another pony pointed at Austere, accusation in its eyes. “So you played with us! You used us to get control of the Empire!”
Austere Knowledge was taken aback by the sudden hostility expressed towards him, but he remained calm. Not having fully grasped that the tides were turning against him yet, he still grinned.
“Yes,” he further admitted. “It was a nefarious deed, but it was for the best. Our rulers are violent in the use of their power and with this, they have caused more violence. Swift Hoof served as a necessary casualty to show the violence inherent in the system of the Crystal Empire!”
It stirred up the crowd even more. A stallion pointed at him now, disbelief and disgust in his face. “You are a monster!” he shouted.
The statement gave Austere Knowledge the first impression that things were getting out of control for him. He shot the stallion a glare.
“It was not Princess Flurry Heart's fault! You almost killed Swift Hoof!” another shout was aimed at him.
Austere Knowledge darted around to look at the pony, gritting his teeth again.
“Where is Silver Hoof?!” a mare far back in the crowd asked then. “Did you kill him?”
Austere Knowledge addressed the question, still intent on keeping the crowd on his side. “Silver Hoof was not my doing,” he said. “He was last seen at the castle, all of you know this! It was the monarchy of this empire that killed him because he knew too much!”
“Liar!” a stallion from the middle of the crowd shouted. After this, the crowd got into a frenzy and angry shouts were directed at Austere Knowledge from all sides.
“Usurper!”
“Murderer!”
“Foal abuser!”
On the balcony, the Crystal Empire's royalty stared down at the crowd speechlessly, their faces covered in disbelief and shock. Radiant Hope looked at the rulers.
“Now you have your chance. They expect you to do something now, Princess Cadance.”
The princess nodded. She did a step forward, looking down at Austere Knowledge now, who had broken out in sweat. He was still trying to calm down the crowd.
“But be careful still,” Radiant Hope added. “Choose your words wisely, princess.”
Cadance nodded again, then she sat up a stern face and spoke.
“Austere Knowledge!” she shouted, authority in her voice. Suddenly, the crowd became silent. They all looked up at her. Only Austere Knowledge did not pay attention to her. “By the confession you just made, you will be charged with assault of a citizen of our empire and with murder of another one!” Her eyes were drilling through him, now that she realized her moment of revenge had come. “Guards, please come and arrest Austere Knowledge!”
The gate of the castle got opened swiftly and five guards trotted outside before it got closed behind them again, Sharp Pitch among them. The crowd was stepping aside and formed a passage for them, all the way up to the ruthless teacher.
As Austere Knowledge heard the metallic steps of the guards approaching, he finally turned around. “PRINCESS!” he roared up to the balcony. His voice was pure anger. “I will return from the dungeons one day and once I do, I will take care of eradicating your monarchy!” Cadance did not bat an eye over the threat and she did not respond to it. Her face cold, she just stared down at Austere Knowledge. The crowd shunned him more.
“Bring him away,” Cadance said as the guards had reached him. “Do not resist, Austere Knowledge,” she adviced him. “It will worsen your situation.”
Austere Knowledge got surrounded by the guards and they pushed him forward. Unwillingly, he sat himself into motion in accordance with the guards. His face showed that he did not even remotely understand how it could have come so far. But he did not struggle, nor trying to flee. He was bombarded with shouts of jeer by the crowd until he had disappeared inside of the castle.
As Cadance and Shining Armor looked down at their subjects, while they looked up at them in return, they were still met with many faces full of confusion. One of the citizens addressed a question, in place of the rest of them.
“What about the destruction of the Crystal Heart by Princess Flurry Heart? Was this a ruse by Austere Knowledge as well?”
Now Cadance's face became strained again and so did the face of her husband.
Radiant Hope met Cadance with a stern glare and shook her head. “No more lies, princess.”
Gulping, Cadance nodded. Her voice shook as she answered the question. “I-It is true,” she confessed. Shining Armor put a hoof on her shoulder. “Princess Flurry Heart did destroy the Crystal Heart five years ago, but it was not on purpose!”
The ponies under them became unruly again. “So she could destroy it again?” another pony asked.
The question sent shivers down Cadance's spine. Her whole body trembled. “Y-Yes, t-technically she can. I-It cannot be r-ruled out.”
As the faces looking up at her became more concerned, Cadance felt like snapping almost. The ponies began to talk to each other and loud murmurs filled the place in front of the castle once more. Finally, one of them spoke again.
“So, what are you going to do about this?” The face of the pony was wary, but there was a glimmer of hope in its eyes, the expectation of the empire's princess making a decision that would keep it safe. The rest of the citizens looked the same.
As Cadance had struggled with finding an answer for a few seconds, another pony spoke to her. “What are you going to do, princess?”
“I-I,” Cadance began to stammer an answer. “P-Princess Flurry Heart will..... T-The solution is–”
From far back at the other end of the crowd, a voice interrupted her. “–here!” it finished her sentence.
The crowd turned around in surprise and so did Cadance turn into the direction of the voice. Behind the gathered ponies of the Empire, Spike and Sunburst had suddenly appeared. Both of them looked frazzled and exhausted, but stood upright, faces full with determination. It was Spike who had spoken and he addressed the crowd again now.
“The solution is here!” he shouted over the crowd. “My friend and Princess Flurry Heart's royal crystaller, Sunburst–” He stopped and looked at him demonstratively. “–has the solution for the problem!”
This was all it needed. With this one sentence spoken by their hero, the ponies of the Crystal Empire gave Sunburst their full attention. The stallion stepped forward, addressing the crowd himself now.
“Princess Flurry Heart's magic is not a threat for any of us!” he began, garnering more attention by the crowd. “The spell I cast on the princess to suppress her power is waning, but I was able to find out how!”
The mentioning of the waning spell had cast new concern on the faces of the citizens, but they were still hanging on his lips, listening attentively.
“It is fear!” he revealed. “The spell to curb the princess' magic only becomes ineffective if she feels great fear. As long as Princess Flurry Heart does not get afraid of something, she is no danger for the Crystal Heart!”
It only eased their worries partially. “But what if she does get afraid?” one of the ponies addressed a new concern.
“That's why we need your help!” Spike took the floor again now. “Since last week, Princess Flurry Heart is afraid of a lot of things, but she's especially afraid of all of you!” Spike pointed with a claw at the crowd and moved it over them slowly.
The reactions were split, some ponies showed understanding, others confusion. “What does this mean?” one of them asked.
“It means that she is afraid of losing your trust! It was not Princess Flurry Heart's intention to destroy the Crystal Heart, but once you found out, you began to lose trust in her and some of you even began to hate her! It's your distrust that makes the princess afraid and that could make it happen again!”
At Spike's side, Sunburst winced. He began to feel uncomfortable, over the young dragon addressing the matter so bluntly. But Spike looked like he had everything under control.
“Does this mean it is our fault if the Crystal Heart gets destroyed again?!” an angry shout came from one corner of the crowd.
“But the princess and the prince lied to us, they never told us what their daughter can do!” it came from another.
Spike still appeared confident. “And didn't they have a good reason to keep it a secret?” His voice sounded stern now. “You all used to love Princess Flurry Heart, but after you found out that she could be dangerous for the Crystal Heart, you suddenly started to despise and hate her, without asking any questions first! Some of you insulted her even!”
Now a wave of guilt washed over the faces of the ponies in front of Spike. A chubby stallion that stood right at the castle detracted his eyes from the dragon and looked to the ground in shame. Some foals in the crowd were crying, while simultaneously ripping apart the scrolls with their neutralization spells. Their faces showed regret, regret for seriously thinking to do the unspeakable to their schoolmate.
“None of you has given her any chance!” Spike scolded them now.
Spike's last sentence was like a cue. All of the ponies in the crowd turned around at once. They looked up to the balcony again, still guilt and regret in their eyes.
“But there is way for you to make up for this!” Spike continued, his voice softer again now. “Sunburst is busy with adjusting the spell to make it work again, but until then, all of you can help Princess Flurry Heart to not become afraid again. The safety of the Crystal Heart and the Empire is in all of your hooves now! We need your help to make Princess Flurry Heart feel comfortable and to prevent her from feeling fear! But you can't do this if you keep treating her like a threat that needs to get eliminated!”
Now the faces of the ponies were adorned with bitter understanding. More of them began to cry, while they silently gazed up to their rulers.
“Please forgive us, Princess Flurry Heart!” a mare finally broke the silence that was hanging over the place.
The ears of Flurry Heart, who still hid behind her parents, perked up, her face showing great surprise, as well as uncertainty if she had heard this right. But she did not have to wait long until more shouts called her name.
“I'm not hating you, Princess Flurry Heart, I was just afraid myself!”
“I was wrong, I should have helped you!”
“I still love you, Princess Flurry Heart!”
Shout after shout like this came from the crowd, easing the little princess more and more. She looked up to her mom, who answered her glance.
“Go outside, Flurry Heart,” Cadance said. “Go and look at them.”
Flurry Heart got up on all four hooves, then squeezed herself between her mom and her dad to get to the front of the balcony. Her mouth gaped open as she saw the crowd under her, their faces smiling at her, in a way that she hadn't seen in an eternity, so she felt.
Flurry Heart sniffed. Tears began to run over her face in thick streams as she witnessed how she was finally met with appreciation and love from her subjects again. She wanted to say something, but the overwhelming reactions under her made her speechless. So she just stood there, answering the many smiles with a bright smile of her own, occasionally waving at the ponies under her, while crying tears of joy. In this moment, it felt like a thousand rocks were falling off her heart. The young alicorn princess felt light and, for the first time in five days, truly happy again.
“We want to meet you, Princess Flurry Heart!” another shout rang up to her. It sounded yearning. The crowd began to push at the castle gate again, but for whole different reasons this time.
Shining Armor and Cadance smiled at each other. Then Cadance bent down to Flurry Heart. “Do you want to meet them?”
Flurry Heart turned around at her mom. Eagerly, she nodded, with sparkles in her eyes.
“I guess it is time to hold an audience then.” Cadance's voice sounded fresh and relieved now. She addressed the crowd of ponies under her. All of them were cheering Flurry Heart's name now. “Dear citizens,” she began. “For anypony who wants to meet Princess Flurry Heart, she will receive you in audience in thirty minutes.” The crowd began to cheer louder.
For all of them; Shining Armor, Cadance and Flurry Heart, the situation was breathtaking. The mood of their subjects had turned into the completely opposite direction now, in a matter of minutes. The royal family was baffled by the outcome. As they trotted back inside the castle, Flurry Heart was still speechless and still crying from joy.
“Shining Armor..... I can't believe it worked.” Cadance was the first to speak after they entered. Behind her, the door fell shut.
“Me neither,” Shining Armor replied simple. Both his and his wife's face were disconcerted on the way to their throne.
Only Radiant Hope wasn't surprised. “I knew it will work. If there is one pony you can rely on, then it is Sombra.”
“He was amazing,” Shining Armor said, now standing in front of the throne. He turned around to Hope. “I don't know what he did, but whatever it is, it solved all the problems we had!”
At his side, Cadance didn't quite share his enthusiasm. “I'm not sure if 'amazing' is the right way to describe it, Shining Armor..... He is the one who enslaved the whole Crystal Empire.”
Shining Armor looked at her, baffled once again. “Are you kidding? Cadance, he saved us all! He isn't the evil unicorn king we knew anymore!”
Hope spoke up, a new glare in her eyes. This time, it didn't disappear. “Sombra has changed. You have no idea about the trouble he went through with me to get a lot of the splinters of Princess Amore back!”
“Forget about it, Hope.” Sombra's voice suddenly sounded into their ears.
They turned around, just in time to see a mass of black smoke trickle in through the cracks of the balcony door. Flurry Heart gasped at the sight. She hastily rubbed the tears out of her eyes to see better and looked back at the door. Her eyes grew wide while she watched the black smoke coming in and then taking shape in form of the stallion she had met earlier. “Wow.....” She swallowed.
Sombra opened his eyes and approached them. “It is fine, Hope,” he addressed his friend again. “With my past here, Princess Cadance has any right to be sceptical.” Even though he wasn't happy about the hostility he was met with, his voice expressed respect. He bowed before Cadance.
Before more words could be exchanged between them, Flurry Heart spoke now. “How did you do this?” Her eyes were still fixated on Sombra. She trotted over to him, in a reverent manner.
Sombra smiled softly at the filly.
Flurry Heart stopped right in front of him, looking up at Sombra. Her mouth was open and her eyes expressed pure fascination. Slowly, she reared up and placed her forehooves on his chest. “Can you teach me how to do this?”
The stallion chuckled. This reaction, the complete opposite of the reaction her mother had shown, warmed his heart. He placed a hoof on Flurry Heart's head, gently. “I am not sure,” he said. “It was taking a lot of time and hard training to learn this spell.” Sombra knew, that, of course, Flurry Heart would not be able to learn it, since she wasn't a former Umbrum, but he spared her from this detail about him.
“Are there other cool spells you can do?” Flurry Heart asked then.
Before Sombra could answer, though, Flurry Heart got wrapped into her mother's magical aura and floated away from him. Cadance placed her daughter at her side. “You don't need this kind of magic, Flurry Heart.”
Flurry Heart pouted and looked at her mother, disappointed. “But, mommy, I want to cast spells like these too!”
Cadance answered her look and ruffled her mane slightly. “You can go and ask Sharp Pitch for this, Flurry Heart. He knows a lot of cool spells as well.” It was an answer that seemed to satisfy the young princess, since she was quiet now, but her eyes indicated something different. They were still glued on Sombra.
“What about the last problem?” Radiant Hope suddenly asked, in a reminding tone. She looked at Cadance's face intensely, then at Flurry Heart, then back at Cadance. “What are you going to do about him?”
Cadance and Shining Armor both understood the sign. “For now, we let them think what they think right now,” Cadance answered.
“It is for the best. We think about how to approach this problem later, when everything in the Crystal Empire has returned to normal,” Shining Armor agreed.
It was the most barebones way to talk about the matter without making Flurry Heart unstable again, but Radiant Hope had no trouble following. She nodded sternly. There was a warning expression in her eyes.
Shining Armor changed the subject. “Why did you and Sombra come here? Aren't you still busy with your journey?” His voice was ripe with curiosity.
Before either of them could answer, though, they got distracted by the door of the throne room getting opened. Sharp Pitch trotted in. Sunny Spirit was with him, her face tear-stained and her eyes puffy. Magnolia Sunshine and Starry Skies trotted alongside her.
Sharp Pitch bowed in front of his rulers, then he pointed at Sunny Spirit. “I'm sorry, but she was waiting at the castle gate and demanded to get in. Her friends followed her.”
Cadance nodded, eyes locked on Sunny. She smiled. “Seems like the audience is starting a little earlier. It is okay, Sharp Pitch. Sunny, go to Flurry Heart. I'm sure she wants to see you.”
It was nothing the filly needed to get told anyway. Cadance hadn't even finished her sentence as Sunny Spirit was rushing towards her best friend. She crushed Flurry Heart with a hug.
“I'm so glad you're okay, Flurry!” she sobbed. “I was searching for you everywhere after I saw that you weren't in the castle anymore!” She increased the tightness of the embrace, squeezing her friend now. “I was so worried when I couldn't find you.” Her voice deteriorated into a series of sobs and whimpers.
Flurry Heart answered the embrace, wrapping her hooves around her best friend. “I'm sorry, Sunny.....” Tears shot into her own eyes as well. “I wanted to leave, but now I'm staying here.”She began to sob, too. “I'm so happy everything is finally okay again.....” Flurry Heart rested her chin on Sunny Spirit's shoulder. Quietly, the two fillies cried into each other's embrace.
As they let go of each other after minutes, Magnolia Sunshine and Starry Skies approached them. Each of them showed contrasting emotions; concern in their eyes and grins on their faces. One after another, they exchanged a hug with their friend, too, although a little less emotionally.
After the exchange of hugs was over, Cadance put a hoof on Flurry Heart's shoulder, silently requesting the attention of her daughter. “Now that they are already here, do you want to see the rest of the citizens? Or do you want to spend some time with your friends, first?”
Flurry Heart did not think long. She nodded. “You can let them in, mommy.”
“Okay.” Cadance looked at Sharp Pitch. “Please open the gates. It is time to put everything behind us finally.”
Cadance, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart smiled at each other as the citizens of the Crystal Empire poured into the throne room. During the audience, they outdid each other in expressing their regrets towards their youngest princess. Many of them were bringing last-minute presents for Flurry Heart, which soon began to pile up at the side of the throne. And each citizen who came made a little more clear how things were different again now.
The nightmare that had begun last week was finally over. And both Shining Armor and Cadance were determined to prevent a new nightmare for their daughter from happening. Whatever the future might bring, they would not allow that Flurry Heart had to suffer again.....
It was a silent promise both of them made.