//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Crystal Cotillion // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// It was snowing and Flurry was pretty certain that she had nothing to do with it. At least, she hoped that she had nothing to do with it. Given the state of her emotions, it was hard to tell. A hard snow at the end of summer was uncommon, but not impossible. Looking out the window of her father’s study, she heard Trixie clearing her throat and wondered what dreadful punishment awaited. “This outcome was unexpected,” her father said in a low voice and Flurry turned away from the narrow arched window to pay attention to him. “Twinkleshine and I had to do a fair bit of cleanup last night to try and straighten out this mess, but this… this is unexpected.” “I’m a little confused about it myself.” Sumac—who sat in a high backed chair in the corner, the same chair that Flurry herself usually sat in—fidgeted and was unable to sit still. “I mean, I woke up this morning and there was over a dozen of them and I just don’t understand.” Hunched over in his own chair, Shining Armor tapped his front hooves together while letting out a thoughtful sigh. Without realising that she was doing so, Flurry mimicked her father, and she too, began tapping her front hooves together. It made her look serious and grown up, but she was unaware of this. “The Nervous and Distressed Trixie is unaware of the required etiquette to turn down a marriage proposal.” After drawing in a hesitant, shuddering breath, she continued, “After what her son did, Trixie is at a loss to understand the reasoning behind these proposals.” “Sis, is it really so hard to grasp?” Shining Armor asked as he leaned up against his desk. “Such are the vagaries of politics… almost all of these proposals come from mares… mothers, Trixie, mothers who want the best, safest possible marriage for their daughter. Once I made the situation clear last night, once ponies understood that Sumac did what he did in a misguided attempt to protect his best friend—” Sumac’s breathy adolescent sigh was enough to make Shining Armor pause and Flurry’s head turned to look at her fellow insurrectionist. He looked miserable and his glasses were crooked. Even worse, he didn’t seem to notice and he did nothing to fix them. Yep, things had to be pretty bad. “Anyhow, once I did all I could to clear things up, those still in attendance were quite understanding. Sumac proved himself to be a good catch, no doubt in part due to all of your hard work. He showed immense courage and was willing to do something immensely idiotic for the sake of his friend… a filly. Let’s face it, that’s a romantic gesture in the most classical sense, a knight in service of his lady fair, and that is something that these ponies understand.” Extending a foreleg, Shining Armor allowed it to come to rest atop a sheaf of papers. “Flurry, you have no shortage of admirers yourself. These are formal requests for vassalisation… ponies who wish to swear fealty to you and bear your standard.” Unable to respond, Flurry stared down at the floor. She didn’t feel like she deserved followers, not after what she had done. The events of last night proved that she lacked maturity and that she was in no position to take on any sort of responsibility. Her eyes burned and a single, stinging teardrop collected in the corner of her left eye, making it twitch. “No political capital is wasted,” Shining Armor said in a calm voice. “Last night, there was a major debacle, but I am convinced that some good can come out of it. Cadance on the other hoof, she’s a bit too upset to see clearly at the moment, which is why she isn’t here with us. She is utterly incapable of being objective this morning, now that everything has settled in. She’s taking this hard.” Unable to blink it away, Flurry’s tear rolled halfway down her cheek before being absorbed into her pelt. “As for myself, I see opportunity. This act of monumental stupidity dragged some uncomfortable subjects out into the light of day, the most important of which is the treatment of mares in the Crystal Empire. The attitudes here are woefully out of date… my wife is Empress of the Empire, but many of the male aristocrats make demands of her and expect her to just obey. This is frustrating to her, and she doesn’t have the luxury of having a temper tantrum or lashing out. She has to bite her tongue and work to make progress. She has to make headway with effort and diplomacy.” Sighing, Flurry knew those last words were directed at her. “Already, I can see the enemy that my daughter will have to fight, and as a father, it terrifies me. There is a dangerous lurking enemy that is just as evil and insidious as Sombra at his most wicked. There is a shadowy, intangible disease that infects our great empire.” Shining paused for a moment, and Flurry became aware of the fact that her father was staring at her. Feeling his eyes upon her, she somehow managed to lift her heavy head up to look at him. In his eyes, she saw pride, weariness, exhaustion, and a bit of amusement. She could feel sweat trickling from her wingpits and wondered at which point did such sweatiness become a problem, because she couldn’t remember it being an issue when she was little. “The first fight went poorly,” Shining Armor continued, “as first fights often go. Flurry, you failed to understand your enemy and the right way to engage it. Now, the stallions of this empire will have an excuse for more mare bashing. They’ll be able to use your little outburst as an example, as an excuse for why mares are unfit to wield power, or rule, or do anything. They’ll be able to use your emotional temper tantrum to support their arguments and convince others of their cause. Last night, you made everything worse for every mare and filly in the Empire.” “Daddy… I…” Flurry’s words became a squeak and at that moment, she understood the dreadful truth of what her father had said. She had committed one of the classical blunders: giving aid to the enemy, and the most famous of which was to never get involved in a land war in Windia. “Sorry Flurry, no more soft language, no more padding my words. I’m done with that. You want to play rough? You want to take your lumps? Fine. You will. I want you to win, Flurry. You… you are going to accept these offers of vassalisation and you are going to accept these oaths of fealty. This is your punishment. You are going to learn how your every waking action has an effect upon those around you.” Flurry started to protest, but her mouth betrayed her, much to her own shock and surprise. “Daddy… that seems fair.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she sat in stunned silence, unable to comprehend the utterance that had sprung from her lips. What had caused this? Would it ever be safe to speak again? Was this an alicorn problem? It was dreadful, whatever it was. In her mind, Flurry began to pick apart the situation and realised that she had exactly what she wanted. It was not the fight that she had imagined or had daydreamed about, but it was a fight, and she had her father’s support. It was a fight she did not understand though, with difficult, nebulous concepts and a vague, ill-defined enemy that was more shadow or spectre. Saying nothing, she resolved to undo the damage that she had done and that somehow, she would take this fight to the enemy. But only after she understood what she was fighting, as she didn’t want to commit further blunders. “Flurry, as Heir of Lulamoon Hollow, I pledge my support and I offer my fiefdom as sanctuary for any of your subjects in need of asylum—” “Sumac, what are you doing? Do you understand what you are saying? What you are offering?” Before Sumac could respond, Shining Armor cut in with a smooth, well-practiced interjection: “Trixie, let them take their first steps. Let us see what they will do. Sumac, do continue, if you please.” Turning to look at Sumac, Flurry felt her heart in her throat. “As I was saying, Flurry, should any of your subjects need a place of refuge, I offer sanctuary in Lulamoon Hollow.” Squirming in his seat, Sumac wasn’t sure if he was sticking his hoof into his mouth. After the events of last night, his confidence was shaken and his usual faith in himself felt lacking. He could see what was going on, the punishment was being made to fit the crime. They wanted to act like adults? Well, they were now being treated as adults. It was every bit as awful as he expected. “Well, don’t just sit there, Fluffalump, say something,” Shining Armor commanded. At this, Flurry turned a much brighter hue of pink and she seemed to be at a loss for words. Sumac understood; the power of parental embarrassment was mighty. Fluffalump? He stored that tidbit away for use at a later time when he needed the upper hoof against Flurry. The wings against his sides felt heavy, hot, and itchy. As Sumac sat in the silence that Flurry could not break, he thought about the marriage proposals that had been delivered to his room this morning. It seemed that no time was ever wasted and even in the dead of the night, political maneuverings took place. He had read them, each and every one of them, and the outpouring of emotion contained in them had touched him. Many of the proposals pledged support even if he turned down the offer, which surprised him. Perhaps the proposals were just a veiled excuse to offer support, a means for a mare to contact him that her husband might approve of. Upon thinking of this, his imagination went into overdrive. “Thank you, Sumac, for everything.” Flurry’s voice was squeaky, but endearing. Distracted from his musings, Sumac nodded but failed to reply. “Mistakes aren’t the end of the world,” Shining Armor said in a voice that Sumac could only register as ‘fatherly.’ It was the same sort of voice that Big Mac might use, or Tarnish, or Igneous, or any of the other males in his life. “From the ashes of this unmitigated disaster will come change. This wasn’t the catalyst I was hoping for, but it is just the opportunity I need. Ponies are so disgusted by what Sumac said and the utter callousness that he drew from that book—” Trixie began giggling and Shining Armor had to stop talking. The stern looking stallion sat behind his desk, his mouth hanging open, and Sumac watched as his mother was overcome with the most terrible outbreak of the giggles that he had seen in a long time. The giggles progressed into full-blown laughter and his mother threw her head back to let everything out. Nopony else in the room laughed, and Sumac wondered what could possibly be so funny. “Dear sister, what is so funny?” Shining Armor asked. Trixie could not respond and she laughed so hard that she almost fell out of her chair. Her barrel rose and fell, heaving, and tears began leaking from from her eyes. Sitting in the corner, Sumac was too far away to touch his mother and he wondered if she was having one of her spells that she sometimes had when her anxiety was too much to bear. She had already been talking in the third-pony, so it was possible that she was having one of her fits. “My son”—these words came out a strained, near-wheeze in between barking coughs of laughter—“the precocious little malcontent that he is… he eviscerated a roomful of sexists with nothing but words, using their own literature against them! If only somepony had done the same for Trixie and Trixie’s Great and Powerful mom!” Sumac knew. He knew, and with the knowledge came pain, pain like nothing else, and he wrapped his forelegs around his middle in a self-hug as his guts suffered a powerful clench. He knew what the pressure had done to his grandmother, Dandelia, and how it had affected Trixie as well. He looked at Shining Armor, and when their eyes met, somehow Sumac knew that the both of them were thinking the same thing. The pressure, the stress, the grind… it had driven Dandelia to go to extraordinary lengths to satisfy the demand. In Shining Armor’s gleaming eyes, he saw the pain—he could sense it too—but there was no way that Sumac could put any of this into words. What might this pressure have done to Flurry over time? How might Flurry’s life now be different because of what they had done? As his stomach clenched once more, he understood his mother’s laughter: she had reached the point where one had to either laugh or cry, and she now laughed in defiance of the pain. Slipping out of his chair, he went to his mother’s side and then just stood there, unsure of what to do as his inner-anxieties manifested as physical pains in his guts. Just as Sumac was about to make an attempt to say something meaningful to his mother, the door banged open and a bright orange pegasus pony stumbled into the room, looking terrified and panicked. His sudden appearance caused Trixie’s laughter to cease. “I said I didn’t want to be disturbed!” Shining shouted. “Damnit, I don’t ask for much and I want some time to sort out my family! This had better be important, Captain Sentry!” “Sir!” Captain Sentry drew himself to attention and sucked in a gulp of air. “Sir, we are under attack—” “WHAT?” “Sir, we are under attack! The snowstorm! There are reports that some of the falling snowflakes have turned into ice orcs, Sir! There is already heavy fighting in the streets and the guards have engaged them!” Shining Armor lept over his desk in a fluid movement, landed on his hooves in front of Flash Sentry, and barked out some orders: “Marshal the defenses! Prepare the city for siege! There is snow everywhere which means the enemy is everywhere! Contact Canterlot! Evacuate the citizenry and get them into the palace at once!” Stunned, in shock, Sumac glanced over at Flurry Heart and knew by her expression that they were about to get into trouble once more…