“Sunburst, can I ask you a question?” Flurry Heart shuffled her papers beneath her hooves, her eyes quickly scanning her answers before turning her attention to her teacher, who rose from his desk with a smile.
“Of course you can,” he said, his hooves clicking smartly along the stone as he moved to her desk. “What did you need help with?” He lifted a hoof and shifted through her papers, his expression slowly changing from supportive to confused as he saw the neatly scrawled answers all over them. “...all of your homework is done... again,” he said flatly. “Flurry, you were supposed to do this outside of class...”
“But I got it done here, so that's fine, right?” Flurry smiled sweetly up at him. “And anyway, my question really isn't about math or history or whatever.”
“Yes, I can see that,” muttered Sunburst with a sigh as he dropped his hoof back to the floor. “I'm going to have to ask Twilight what exactly she's been teaching you during the summer... but I'll worry about that later.” He gave his head a slight shake before turning his gaze back to Flurry, his smile returning. “What did you want to ask about, then?”
“Well... I wanted to ask you about family,” she said, and even though she kept her words nice and even, she felt her stomach do a flip as her hooves fidgeted with her papers again. Just be cool, Flurry. Sunburst will answer any question, as long as he thinks it's just for research.
“Family?” Sunburst's ears twitched and he arched an eyebrow at Flurry. “Well... okay, then. What about family?”
“Well... like, what makes a family, anyway? Like, I know that mommy and daddy and I are a family, but... why are we a family?” Sunburst watched her through the lenses of his glasses for several long seconds, and Flurry was about to sigh in exasperation and repeat herself when the light clicked on in his eyes and he nodded.
“Aaah! Okay, that's easy enough.” He sat down onto his rump, his blue cape pooling around him as he lifted his right hoof and coughed into it. “Family, by definition, is a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not. There are other definitions of it, to be sure, but that is the most commonly accepted one.” He smiled and adjusted his glasses. “Does that answer your question?”
Flurry felt her cheeks puffing out as she stared indignantly at the orange stallion. “I know that a family is parents and their kids, everypony knows that!” She frowned down at her desk and busied her hooves stacking her papers neatly. “But why does that make us a family? What's the reason?” She saw Sunburst shift on his rump out of the corner of her eye, but he remained silent as she stacked her papers. Finally, after she'd gotten them all perfectly arranged and placed them at the upper right corner of her desk, he cleared his throat again.
“Is this about Skyla?” he asked quietly. Flurry's wings stiffened against her body and she sat up straighter, a denial bouncing on her tongue faster than she would have thought possible. After a moment, however, she swallowed the denial and sighed, her shoulders relaxing.
“Yeah,” she said softly. Next to her desk, Sunburst made a soft noise in his throat that he always made when he found an answer to something and, while the small breath of air didn't usually bother Flurry, today it curled up against her coat and twisted like a bad tangle beneath a fancy dress saddle that she couldn't take off yet.
“Aaah, I see what you're talking about.” He cleared his throat again and Flurry turned her attention to him, knowing full well that she wasn't going to be able to take the anger out of her eyes. If Sunburst noticed, however, then he ignored it as he continued. “Family's an interesting subject, when you break it away from its base definition. Normally – and for the sake of this example, we'll say typically – a family is based on bloodline: the parents and their children. They all share blood, ergo they are related to one another, ergo they are a family.” He lifted his hoof and pointed to Flurry. “You are related by blood to Cadence and Shining Armor, therefore, by the typical definition, you are family.” Flurry's eyes narrowed as she processed this new information, and a moment later she nodded.
“Okay, so it's blood that makes ponies family?”
“In the most typical example, yes.”
“So Skyla is my family?” Flurry's ears perked up as she waited eagerly for the agreement she knew was coming, but, to her disappointment, Sunburst just scrunched up his face and inhaled sharply through his teeth.
“Well... that's, ah... a bit of a complex issue, I'm afraid.” He rubbed the back of his neck with his left hoof. “I mean, if you look at bloodline, I suppose that she is, but... it's not exactly right. Her mother and father were your mother and father, to be sure, but they were from a different world, and-,”
“But does that matter?” interjected Flurry, her hooves clunking against her desk as she sat forward to stare icicles at Sunburst. “You said that family is blood related and Skyla shares blood with mom and dad and they share blood with me, so we're sisters, right?” Sunburst sighed and dropped his hoof back to the floor.
“Flurry, I think that's a bit of an unfair characterization of the facts-,”
“You're an unclare flarification of the cracks!” blurted Flurry, her face burning with anger. Silence fell over the room as she stared at the stallion, her eyes simmering with tears. “You just said that family is family because of blood, and Skyla has the same blood as me, so we're family!” Sunburst watched her closely for several long seconds, his blue eyes unreadable behind his glasses as Flurry fumed. Stupid Sunburst and his making up rules and then breaking them...
“As I said before, that's just the typical definition of family,” he said softly, his right hoof rising to his long, thin beard and stroking it once. “There are lots of other ways to classify family, Flurry Heart. I'm sorry if I made you think that blood was the only way.” He stroked his beard again before placing his hoof back to the floor. “Truthfully, Flurry Heart, I'm going to have to defer to something that a very good friend of mine told me not too long ago: that the relationships between ponies are really what makes you family or not.”
Flurry's ears perked up as she tilted her head a little to the right, her bangs falling into her eyes as she did so. “So blood doesn't matter?” she asked, unable to keep the hope from surging into her voice. Sunburst made a noncommittal noise in his throat and bobbed his head back and forth.
“Eeeh, I wouldn't say that it doesn't matter at all, but there's certainly a lot more to it than just blood.” He bit his lip and glanced up at the ceiling, something that he did when was digging deep inside himself for an answer to Flurry's questions. “Let's see... Oh! I've got it!” He dropped his eyes back to Flurry, his smile spreading across his face. “Your mother, Princess Cadence, calls Princess Celestia 'aunt', doesn't she? Well, we all know that Cadence is not actually related to Celestia by blood, but Cadence uses that particular name – aunt – for Celestia despite not being a blood relative. Why do you think that is?”
Flurry's expression darkened and she let out a heavy sigh. “If I knew the answer to that question, I wouldn't be asking you!” she grumbled.
“But why do you think that is?” He gestured towards her with his hoof. “Go on. Think about it a little, and tell me what you come up with.”
With a grumble and another, even heavier sigh, Flurry Heart folded her front legs across her chest and sat back in her chair, her wings bunching against her as she put her weight on them. Why does mommy call Aunt Celestia aunt? Well... it's because she's Aunt Celestia, duh... Her lips curved into a frown. But he's right – that's something you'd call somepony related to you by blood... but she's NOT related to Aunt Celestia. So why..? She glanced back up at Sunburst, who nodded at her expectantly.
“Well? What do you think?”
Flurry squeezed herself tightly with her hooves, but instead of asking him to just tell her the answer, as she had done in the past, she turned back to her desk and frowned in determination down at her papers.
“Mom said that Princess Celestia was always very nice to her once she'd moved to Canterlot,” muttered Flurry. “That Celestia took mom under her wing, helped her get used to the city and being a Princess, and really helped to raise her into the Princess that she is today.” Flurry's eyes widened. “And it was because Celestia adopted her as her niece! Celestia made the decision that mom was going to be part of her family, and that's why mom calls her aunt!” She jerked her gaze back to Sunburst, her heart hammering in her ears. “So ponies can become your family, even if you're not blood related! And not just saying that you're family, but really, officially becoming your family!”
Sunburst nodded proudly. “Yes, they can. But what did Celestia and Cadence have before they were family?” Flurry's expression dimmed slightly, but only for a moment.
“They had lots of time together, and had a relationship that was already like family?” she half stated, half asked the stallion. To her relief, Sunburst nodded again.
“That's right. Celestia and your mother had a very tight bond and a strong relationship as mentor figure and ward, and it got to be so strong that they became family through it.” He lifted his left hoof and placed it onto Flurry's desk, his expression softening into a gentle smile. “So, it stands to reason that if you and Skyla grow close enough and depend on each other enough, you'll be sisters just as real as Celestia and Luna.” Flurry felt a warm, happy wave wash over her that made her shoulders relax, and a smile exploded onto her face.
“Really?!” she whispered.
“Yes, really... but,” Sunburst lifted his hoof off her desk and held it upright, his expression growing distant and a little less friendly, “you also have to remember that both of you have to choose that. You can't simply decide that you're her sister, any more than a unicorn could suddenly decide they were a pegasus, and if you try to force that on her...” He trailed off, his muzzle scrunching like he'd bitten into something sour, but Flurry couldn't stop herself from turning towards him, her wings rustling behind her.
“And what will happen if I do?” she blurted, her eyes wide.
“Well... you might lose your chance to be her sister at all.” He shrugged slightly, but Flurry could see that it was jerky and unnatural looking. “That's just speculation, of course,” he said quickly. “She might not have any problems with you saying you're her sister... but in case she does, you should probably play it a little safer.”
The possibility that Skyla may never want to be her sister struck Flurry deep inside, and it was all she could do to give Sunburst the most serious nod she could muster without bursting into tears. Skyla might not want me to be her sister if I bother her too much? It was something that hadn't really crossed Flurry's mind, but now that it had she couldn't stop herself from thinking about their conversation a few days ago, when she had insisted that they were sisters... and now more than ever, she realized that she probably shouldn't make those kinds of one-sided statements again.
“I... I see,” she said quietly. “Well... I guess I'll just have to be there for Skyla no matter what,” she said, determination filling her eyes. “And when she needs me, I'll be right there to help her!”
Sunburst nodded happily. “That sounds like the best thing you could possibly do, Flurry.”
The filly gave her teacher a smile before turning her gaze to the bright blue sky out the window. Skyla and mommy are out there in the city somewhere, she thought as Sunburst rose and moved back to his desk. They said they wanted a little time to talk, just the two of them, and that they'd be back in a few hours. The white filly sat forward, placed her elbows onto her desk, and settled her head onto her hooves as she watched the world outside the castle. I guess mommy already knows what Sunburst said about family...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The day was about as perfect as a summer day could have been, and the effect that the brilliant sunshine and bright blue sky had on ponies was certainly not lost on Skyla. Ponies laughed and spoke to one another seemingly without a care in the world as they went about their business, and the market that surrounded her was full of a warmth that she knew had nothing to do with the sun.
She had heard, what seemed like an eternity ago, that the way the Crystal Empire kept the cold winter winds at bay – as well as keeping various enemies out of the city itself – was via a magical artifact called the Crystal Heart, and that it somehow harnessed the magic of the citizens of the Empire and created a barrier that would protect them from almost anything. It had been a story that she could hardly believe, considering what she had seen in her own kingdom her whole life; after seeing the Heart firsthand, however, and after learning a bit more about the kingdom in which she found herself, she had begun to believe that the information she'd been given was more than a little inaccurate.
The Heart is a focus point, but it doesn't focus magic in the same way that unicorns think of it. She glanced around at the smiling faces of ponies selling everything from carrots to cornmeal, her hooves clopping on the smooth cobblestones beneath her as she tried to watch everything at once. I think that it must focus the spirit of the Crystal Ponies, and the warmth in each of their hearts is what keeps us all safe. Her blue gaze flitted over a booth selling small trinkets that were clearly meant to dangle in your windows and reflect the light, and she couldn't help but smile a little bit. There are some times when I forget it, but there's no doubt that I'm really in an alternate universe... I can't imagine anything like that ever happening in the Crystal Empire.
She moved passed the booth and turned her gaze to her right, where the pink form of Princess Cadence kept pace with her. The other alicorn was smiling and chatting amiably with the citizens, who all paused in their business to greet and speak to her as if they would like nothing more than to spend time talking with their ruler. Cadence's smile was almost as brilliant as the sun overhead, and it was clear that there was nothing in the world that she would rather be doing than being among her subjects.
Skyla smiled wryly. Another thing that reminds me of exactly where I am... my mother would never have received such a warm welcome in the streets of our city. In fact, the only time Skyla could remember ever going out into the market was when Queen Cadence had been trying to show her how destitute the empire had become, so that Skyla would be motivated to save it. And it worked... for a little while. Skyla winced. Of course, it wasn't too long before I realized that any problems the empire had could be pointed directly back to Mother... that kinda put a damper on the lesson.
“What's the matter, Skyla? Is something wrong?” Princess Cadence's voice was gentle and full of concern, and her words caused Skyla to blink and give her head a small shake as she was pulled away from her thoughts.
“O-oh, no – nothing really,” she said, giving the taller alicorn a lopsided smile. “I was just thinking about how different this place is than where I grew up.” She flicked her tail against her right side as she fell back into step with Cadence. “I haven't really thought much about my home since I got here, but after talking to Shining Armor the other day...” she shrugged. “I don't know, I guess that I've been reminiscing a little.”
Cadence's wings fidgeted against her sides, but her eyes remained warm and her smile didn't falter. “I can't say I blame you,” she said. “I can hardly imagine what it must be like for you, growing up the way you did. That kind of thing would probably be hard to forget.” Her violet eyes darted back and forth to the ponies around them, and Skyla couldn't help but smile. She's being careful not to air out too many of my secrets out here in the market, she realized. This might not be the Crystal Empire, but royal secrets are still secrets, after all.
The market hummed around the pair as they made their way through the broad avenue filled with booths and towards a large area at the end of the street that ballooned out into a large circle, its cobblestone reaches filled almost to the brim with stalls, vendors, and ponies browsing at their wares. Skyla watched Cadence as she guided them gracefully through the shifting crowds, her mind and her heart swirling inside of her. It had been Cadence's idea to visit the Crystal Kingdom's market today, and Skyla had agreed to go before she'd even taken a moment to consider it – something that she wasn't used to doing. It's been a long time since I let my guard down enough to just answer a question immediately and honestly, without worrying about it for a while first... It had helped that Cadence had explained that going to the market was something she regularly did with Flurry Heart, because the last thing Skyla wanted to do was cause Cadence to go out of her way for her.
But that's what she's doing, thought Skyla as Cadence paused to chat with a mare at a stall. The mare had glasses and her hair tied up in a tight bun, but her warm smile betrayed her stern style. She's not just doing it in the smaller, everyday things, but she and Shining Armor both have gone out of their way for me... in everything they do. She felt her chest tighten as she watched Cadence and the mare share a laugh before waving and parting ways, the Princess's eyes full of life and happiness. It's so much more than Mother ever did for me... and she's so much more than Mother ever could hope to be...
The thought hit Skyla hard enough that she winced, but she couldn't bring herself to feel bad for what she'd thought. Comparing her mother to Princess Cadence was something that she had gone out of her way to avoid doing in her month in the Kingdom, just as she had done with her father and Shining Armor, but somehow the blatant comparison didn't make her feel as guilty as she'd expected it to. Quite to the contrary, admitting to herself that Princess Cadence was so much more than Queen Cadence – as a pony, a mare, and a ruler – only made her feel lighter, somehow.
“I don't think I want to forget about where I came from,” she said, and the surprise she felt at her own words was echoed in Cadence's eyes as the Princess turned towards her again. Skyla shook her head briskly and cleared her throat before offering Cadence a smile. “I mean, that's kind of what I decided when I was talking to Shining Armor the day we sparred.”
“Is that so?” Cadence took a step closer to her, and Skyla was surprised at how much larger the Princess actually was than her. I can remember Mother looming over me like a thundercloud as she gave me orders... but this feels different. She felt her smile grow just a little as Cadence fell into step with her. “And what brought you to that decision, if you don't mind me asking? You seemed pretty determined to leave everything about your home behind you.”
“Well... it's kind of complicated.” She glanced at a stall selling turnips as she passed it, her wings shuffling at her sides as her tail swished back and forth. “Shining and I talked for a while about my past, and about the future, and what I might need to do to get to the future that I want... and when I told him that I wanted to get rid of everything my parents had ever given me, he said that I shouldn't get rid of things that had been given in love.” The line of stalls on her left suddenly fell away and opened up into a long, clear street that led out into the city. Skyla felt her heart leap at the empty street, and she couldn't keep herself from biting her lip as she whipped her gaze back to Cadence. Before she could say a word, however, the Princess let out a chuckle and gestured down the street with her hoof.
“Go on, lead the way. We'll take a walk away from all this hustle and bustle so we can have a little more of a talk.”
Skyla nodded emphatically and turned to exit the market, but before they could get out of the line of stalls she heard a chaotic, frantic clattering of small hooves that quickly grew louder and louder over the hum of the bazaar. Skyla's ears stood straight up out of her mane as she frantically glanced up and down the rows of stalls, but when her eyes came to rest on Cadence once again she felt her anxiety disappear. The Princess's smile became even softer than before and, as she turned around to face the way they'd come, four foals leaped out of the tangle of adult legs and stopped directly in front of the alicorn, their eyes bright and their smiles broad.
“Princess Cadence, Princess Cadence!” exclaimed a filly with a brilliant white coat and an icy blue mane. “Is Flurry Heart with you today? Can she come play with us?”
“My mom is baking oatmeal cookies, and she said we could give them to all our friends!” said a pale yellow colt, his dusty orange mane disheveled from his run. “So is Flurry with you today? We want to play with her!” Cadence laughed lightly and dropped to her front knees so that she could meet the gaze of the four young ponies on their own level.
“Aww, that's so sweet of you – but I'm afraid that Flurry Heart's not with me today, Amber Waves.” She gestured to Skyla with her right hoof, and the eyes of all four small ponies shifted to her as one. “I'm with Skyla today. I'm sure that Flurry Heart has talked about her.” The eyes of the white filly widened and she gasped so loudly that Skyla thought she was going to fall over backwards.
“You're Flurry Heart's sister?!” she blurted, her hooves dancing eagerly on the stones. “Oh WOW! Flurry talks about you all the time, but we've never even seen you before!!” The filly darted up to Skyla, her honey brown eyes brimming with excitement. “How long have you been Flurry's sister? Why didn't we hear about you before? How are you older than her? What does-,”
“All right, Ivory Rose, I think that might be enough questions for Skyla for now.” Cadence rose to her hooves and stepped up next to Skyla, her wing extending over Skyla's back. “I promise that you'll see Skyla again, and she'll answer all your questions then. Okay?” The filly called Ivory Rose looked disheartened, but her ears perked back up as she bounced back to her friends.
“Is it okay if we go ask if Flurry Heart can come out?” she called over her shoulder to Cadence.
“As long as she's done with her schoolwork!” Cadence called back, and all four of the small ponies cheered as they vanished into the crowd again. The Princess lifted a hoof and waved goodbye to the small ponies even after they had vanished, and it wasn't until their hoofsteps had faded that she let out a sigh and put her hoof down. “Aah, they're so energetic,” she said softly, her eyes lifting to the castle in the distance. “I hope for Flurry's sake that she's done with her assignments – I don't know how long those little ponies will be able to wait for her if she's not!” She laughed under her breath and withdrew her wing from Skyla's back, the feathers gently caressing her coat. “They might invade the castle at this rate...” Skyla smiled as she looked up at the taller alicorn, standing straight and tall in all her regal glory.
“Why are you so nice to them?” she muttered. Cadence blinked in surprise and dropped her gaze back to Skyla, her forehead wrinkling as she gave Skyla a confused smile.
“I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're asking. Why am I so nice to who?”
“To those ponies, Flurry Heart's friends.” Skyla turned and started walking down the empty street again, her voluminous tail swishing behind her as she moved away from the market. “They just ran up to you, without permission or warning, and started assaulting you with questions, and you just... were really nice to them.” She shook her head and couldn't stop her ears from folding back against her mane. “That's not how I'm used to royalty dealing with commoners...” The echoes of Cadence's hoofsteps joined Skyla's in the alley, and in a few moments the other alicorn was walking next to her, Cadence's form visible out of the corner of Skyla's right eye.
“Well... how are you used to treating other ponies?” she asked. “How would...” she hesitated, and Skyla could all but feel the conflict going on inside of her as silence fell between them. Finally, Cadence sighed and bit the bridle. “How would your mother have handled that?” she said, her words careful but without hesitation. Skyla half laughed, half groaned as memories once again rose in the back of her mind, just as they had with Shining Armor.
“Oh ho boy, she would not have been nice about it at all. In fact, I don't think anypony would ever have approached her the way they did with you.” She kicked at a loose stone in the street and sent it skittering away as the pair approached the end of the street, the bustle of the bazaar fading to a muffled murmur behind them. “I didn't go out with her to the city very often, but the one time I can really remember doing it, I remember ponies moving out of her way and bowing low as she passed.” She shook her head slowly. “There was no laughter or conversations with ponies as we passed... just silence, and the sighing of the winter wind as she moved through. She would take a moment and nod to a particular pony if they were worthy of note – like a noble, or a craftspony who had done work for her – but it was seen as a sign of favor, and it was just as often a bad thing as it was a good thing for that pony.” Cadence's hoofsteps didn't falter, but Skyla saw her draw a little nearer out of her peripheral vision.
“And why is that?”
“Because other ponies would literally kill for a place of favor in my mother's court,” Skyla said with a sigh, her ears pinning themselves all the way down to her mane as she spoke. She hadn't actually talked about her mother in any capacity since the interview with Twilight three weeks ago, and allowing herself to do so made her feel immediately uncomfortable, like she'd just been caught in a lie. “They would sell each other out for a chance to kiss her hooves, and she liked it that way. It kept the nobles occupied and loyal, she said.” Skyla snorted and turned to offer Cadence a quivering smile. “So I guess that's why it feels so weird to see you, the ruler of the Kingdom, being so nice to the peasantry.” The taller alicorn's brow smoothed, but Skyla could see turmoil deep in her eyes as she took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders.
“I can see why you might feel that way, but let's start at square one: they're not 'the peasantry', or 'the commoners',” corrected Cadence. “They're my subjects, of course, but I am beholden to them. Their happiness is my happiness: that's a sentiment that is at the core of being Crystal royalty.” Skyla and Cadence passed the last house in the row and emerged into a square, at the center of which sat a moderately sized fountain. The water cascaded down its tiered sides with a continuous pleasant splash, and Cadence steered them towards it as she took the lead. “I am their leader, but I am not their ruler. I am their Princess, but I am not their Empress. A position of power does not define us – rather, it magnifies us, turning us into exaggerated, larger-than-life caricatures of our innermost being.” The Princess stopped in front of the fountain and Skyla stopped on her left. “In other words, being a Princess doesn't define you: who you are defines what kind of Princess you will be.”
Skyla sat in silence for several long moments, the splashing of the fountain and the feeling of cool water droplets landing on her coat the only indication she had that time had not simply stopped. Who you are defines what kind of ruler you will be, she thought as she watched the rippling of the water before her. I guess that makes sense... but...
“So what does that say about my parents?” she asked, her words so soft that she wasn't sure that Cadence would hear her over the fountain. After a moment, however, she saw Cadence shift and heard her sigh.
“I can't tell you what your parents were like, Skyla,” she said, her words coming in a very purposeful fashion, “and I don't want to be the one to tell you how to think about them... but Shining told me a little about the conversation you had after your practice match and, if I may be so bold, I would say that your mother and father...” She sighed again, heavier than the first. “If you don't have the Elements of Harmony in your world, it's possible that they just... are not good ponies.” She reached out and touched the water with her right hoof, the surface rippling gently against it. “Your mother came to power and allowed it to bring out the darkness that she'd held inside her. Your father, though it sounds as though he lasted longer, succumbed to the same. It's... something that we've seen here in Equestria, as well, but in a world without Harmony... there's just no telling how far a pony could fall.” Skyla's head throbbed and her stomach flipped, but she bit her lip and said nothing. A world without Harmony... I guess that does accurately describe the Empire, she thought.
“And what does that say about you?” she asked. “Why are you so different from my mother? What did you do that she didn't?” Skyla turned and faced Cadence squarely, her chest clenching as she stared daggers up at the other alicorn. “Why do you care, and she didn't? Why do you love your subjects, and she didn't?!” She felt tears fill the corners of her eyes as Cadence turned towards her, and they redoubled their efforts to spill down Skyla's cheeks when she saw the look of compassion and understanding in the Princess's eyes.
“Skyla... I was raised with love. I was brought up believing that love conquered all, that peace was always the right answer, that everypony could live in harmony with one another if we all tried... but your mother was raised in a world in which, according to you, had to struggle for survival. That kind of struggle changes a pony... perhaps that's what hardened her heart against everypony.” She lifted her hoof and reached out to Skyla, hesitating only for a moment before pressing the pad of her hoof against Skyla's cheek and wiping away one of the tears that had made its escape. “Perhaps that's why she shut you out, and could only think about herself.”
Without even thinking about it, Skyla leaned against Cadence's touch, her heart swelling in her chest until she thought it would burst. The touch brought more tears, and a sob burst out of Skyla's throat before she could even hope to stop it.
“I... I just wanted her to be proud of me,” she gasped, her mind breaking into a whirlwind. “I... I just wanted her to say that she loved me... to tell me anything that would mean she cared... but sh-she insisted that the war was her way of showing it...” She sniffled before reaching up quickly and grasping Cadence's leg with both of her own, holding the other alicorn's hoof against her as if Skyla might blow away in the wind if she let go. “And then I come here, and you're wearing her face... a-and you care about me more than she ever did, and I just... I don't know how to feel..!”
Suddenly, Cadence's front legs were wrapped around Skyla, and the warmth of the Princess's body pressed firmly against her as she pulled Skyla into a tight hug, her chin coming to rest atop Skyla's head. Skyla hesitated for a moment, her whole body going rigid with shock... but the moment quickly passed, and Skyla threw her front legs around Cadence's form before burying her face against the larger pony's chest.
Skyla couldn't remember crying like that before, and she didn't think that she would ever cry like that again. She cried and sobbed against the warm, inviting softness of Cadence as if every ounce of anger, fear, and frustration inside of her were warring to get out at the same time; she cried until her throat began to ache and her breath was coming in short, ragged gasps, but the tears still came – so many tears that she was certain she could fill the fountain next to her with them – and through it all, Cadence just held her tightly in her arms, her hoof occasionally stroking the back of Skyla's head as she made shushing noises and whispered gentle, soothing nothings.
Finally, after what seemed to Skyla like an eternity of tears, she sniffled sharply and sat back, her eyes aching and her throat ragged and raw. Cadence let her front legs slip down around Skyla's shoulders, and as their eyes met she offered Skyla a warm, reassuring smile.
“Of course I care about you,” she said. “I do, and I know that Shining Armor does, too. And Flurry Heart, as well – we all care about and love you, Skyla.” She touched Skyla's cheek with her hoof once more, again wiping away her tears. “I can't tell you how to feel about us, of course... but I want you to know that we love you... and...” The older alicorn bit her lip for a moment as a look of uncertainty passed across her face, but it was gone as quickly as it had come and she gave her head a quick shake before smiling again. “And I can't say for certain, but I'd like to think that your mother did love you, too – it's possible that she just didn't have a way to show it because she was never taught how to.”
Skyla sniffled again and wiped a hoof across her eyes. “You... you have to be taught how to love another pony?”
“Well of course,” said Cadence with a wink. “Love is complicated. You might know you love a pony, like your parents or your children, but you won't necessarily know exactly how to show it.” She sat back a little and extended her left wing, her pinion feathers brushing at Skyla's mane as she spoke. “You have to learn how to show a pony that you love them. Sometimes it's through words, sometimes through actions, or honesty, or gifts... it's a very complicated thing, and you'll only succeed at it if you focus on it and try hard.” She patted Skyla on the head with her wing before returning it to her side, her smile as gentle as a wisp of whipped cream. “I don't want to speak for her, but if she felt about you even a fraction of how I feel about Flurry Heart...” she sniffled, “or about you, Skyla... then I have to believe that she just couldn't find the right way to show it.”
Skyla nodded slowly, her eyes sweeping Cadence as if she were seeing her for the very first time... and, as she did, the aura that she'd tried so hard not to see began to emerge. The brilliant, sparkling pink aura, like bubbling champagne, slowly filled in around Cadence and threatened to overwhelm Skyla with it's splendor as she accepted Cadence's feelings for her. The aura washed over her and made her feel warm and cool at the same time, as if she were being touched by the sun and moon's light all at once, and within that aura she felt truly safe for the first time in years.
Maybe my mother really didn't know how to show that she loved me, she thought as she smiled up at Cadence. Maybe... maybe she really DID feel this way about me... maybe she really loved me after all...
She leaned against Cadence's shoulder again, and as the older alicorn put her wing around her she felt the door in her heart open wider and wider, letting that sparkling aura wash over her and spill through it. I never thought I'd get to feel this way, she admitted silently as she savored the quiet moment with Cadence. Loved, accepted, cared for and about... it's hard to believe that this is real... She shifted to sit a little closer to Cadence, Skyla's rump bumping against hers. It was a feeling that she never wanted to forget, and she knew that no matter what happened in the future, she would always treasure this moment of peace with a pony she was beginning to wish was her mother.