//------------------------------// // Reveals // Story: My Little Mages: The Anointing // by Foxhelm //------------------------------// The train started to roll out of the station. Despite how quickly the three packed, they missed the train Twilight wanted to catch, but missing it allowed for them to collect a few things. Once on the following train Twilight sat down across from Starlight and Spike, with their bags in the overhead compartments. Starlight checked the time, “Looks like we’ll be arriving tomorrow morning.” it was then that she noticed a rustic crib was placed next to Twilight. Attached to the crib was a mobile made of rainbows, clouds, and lightning bolts and in the crib was a white bejeweled blanket that was themed to match the north and looked very pretty, there was also a stuffed parasprite with a little felt accordion sown to it, “What’s all that?” Twilight looked to the items, “Oh,” Twilight pointed the crib first, “you see one of the family traditions of the Apples is to hand craved a crib from apple trees for newborns in the family. I am an honorary Apple, so Applejack made this crib to give to the baby.” Twilight then pointed to the mobile, “Rainbow made this Cumula-themed mobile for the baby, just for a dash of ‘awesome’.” Twilight then pointed to the blanket, “And Rarity would never miss a chance to add make things a little more…” Twilight paused for a second, “fabulous.” Twilight then pointed to the parasprite, “This was Fluttershy’s idea, I know parasprites can be a problem, but they are so cute, and Pinkie Pie added the little accordion. They are some of the best instruments to drive them away.” Twilight then began to smile and could barely contain her excitement, “Uw! Shining and Cadance will love all these gifts for the baby!” Twilight then coughed as she focused back to Starlight and Spike, “But I think they're happier we'll be attending the baby's Crystalling.” “Too bad Pinkie can’t attend, she would have loved to see the all the light and love empower the heart,” Spike commented. “Too bad Magiville has her booked for the Summer Sun Celebration, in advance too.” “Speaking of empowering the heart, what does the Crystal Heart protect Krystalopolies from?” Starlight asked. “The Wendigo,” Twilight answered as she got her bag and got a book to read, it was in a rather slight dismiss of the matter. “Wendigo?” Starlight asked taken aback at that. Wendigos were a myth from like two thousand years ago, they couldn’t be real… could they? “I thought they were a myth.” Spike rolled his eyes at Starlight’s comment, “There is a literal dragon sitting right next to you, we have as our queen in all but name a solar demigod, with her co-ruler being a lunar demigod, there is a demigod sitting three feet in front of you. There is a werewolf psychotherapist back in Magiville. You were able to travel through time like we normally travel through space and alter it. Seriously, you accept all that but the idea of spirits of the cold that are drawn to people fighting each other and freezing them to death to feed on them is utterly outrageous?” Spike asked rhetorically. Starlight couldn’t counter that, “Fair enough, but if the story was true didn’t the Fire of Clover drive them off?” Starlight asked. “Well yes and no,” Twilight started as she projected a map of Mystica in front of the three, “Clover’s Fire stopped the Wendigo from going from what is now Borealton south, what most of us consider Mystica.” Twilight’s magic presented a flame in the shape of a heart that was in the area of Dream Valley and the light of the fire covered most of the map up to where Borealton was in the north. Twilight then moved the map to focus on Krystalopolies, “However, to the north, in the area of Krstalopolies, it was the finding of a crystal that absorbed and reflected the love and light of those around it and was shaped into a heart by the first monarch of Krystalopolies.” Starlight was impressed with the history of the Crystal Heart, and the myth of its finding, and if the myth of the Wendigo was true, then that explained the importance of the Crystal Heart, “Wow, this Crystalling sounds pretty important.” Starlight then took a second, if the Crystalling was such a critical thing, “I'd understand if you wanted to... you know... wait to do a different friendship lesson when we get back.” “Are you kidding?” Twilight asked almost jumping out of her seat in pure excitement. “This trip is perfect!” She then turned to her book, which was a notebook and began writing in it at lightning speed,“Not only do I get to see the baby and take part in the ceremony that helps maintain the magic of Krystalopolies, but I'm starting my new pupil off with the most amazing friendship lesson ever!”She stopped and looked at Starlight with massively dilated eyes with stars in her pupils. “I can't wait!” She shouted before she went back to her notebook. “Yeah”... Starlight nervously laughed. Spike went to the bags and took out three blankets and three pillows, “Well,” Spike then yawned “we better get some sleep. Big day tomorrow.” Twilight accepted the pillow and blanket, wrapped herself in the blanket, placed the notebook in the crib, rested her head on the pillow and fell to sleep. Spike also wrapped himself in his blanket and rest his head on his pillow. “Yeah…” Starlight wrapped herself in the blanket but she did not let herself rest, as she looked out the window, seeing the moon rise, “big day.” Reluctantly Starlight fell to a dreamless sleep. The next morning as the train was about to reach the Borealton Station after the three had freshened up and were waiting for the train to arrive. Just as they saw the station, Starlight knew she had to tell Twilight her concerns, “Um Twilight?” “Yeah Starlight?” Twilight asked as she seemed to finish writing something. Starlight rubbed her left arm nervously, as she looked at the floor of the car, “I am a little… maybe… kinda a lot...worried about meeting Sunburst again.” She slowly raised her head to see that Twilight had finished her writing. Twilight hugged her student, “Oh, trust me. I know what it's like to see old friends.” “Yeah, and you didn’t even remember their names at the time.” Spike chimed in as he walked back with a bagel from the dining car. Twilight glared at Spike before she continued, “But I'll be right there to help things along. I've broken the whole lesson down into a few easy steps to ensure this reunion goes off without a hitch!” It was then that she showed Starlight what she (Twilight) wrote, which was a step by step to do for the reunion with Sunburst. Starlight could only nervously laugh in response as the train came to a stop. As the three exited the train, Twilight began to read off her guide. “Step one, head to Sunburst's house and get you two started on the right foot. Step two, get to the castle with enough time to visit the ba—” Twilight was engrossed in her notebook until she bumped into someone. As she lost her footing she was helped back up. “We seriously got to stop bumping into each other than this,” came a very familiar voice, Twilight turned to see a man about her age with blue hair, blue eyes. He was dressed in a leather jacket over a white shirt with a blue heater shield on the front with a yellow lightning bolt on the shield. He also wore blue denim pants and a pair of sneakers. At his side was a sword in a scabbard, on the pommel of the sword was a rendering of Twilight’s Aura Mark, and on his back was a bronze colored figure-of-eight styled heater shield with a four-point star with stylized wings above an olive branch etched into it and a guitar. “Flash!” Twilight shouted and hugged the man. “What are you doing here?” “Well I was on leave and I thought I'd attend the Crystal Faire, Summer Sun Celebration, and the Crystalling.” Flash answered and then looked down, to the ground, “But your brother has been… well … from what I gathered it’s not easy being a first-time parent and Shining seems to be the worse-faring of the two, Cadance is a demigod and she has Celestia and Luna here as someone to guide her…” Flash stopped as he allowed Twilight to infer the situation. “My parents haven’t arrived yet?” Twilight asked in shock. Flash nodded in silence. She turned to Starlight, “I’m sorry, Starlight, but I guess combining your first lesson with this visit wasn't such a good idea. My big brother could really use…” Starlight brushed the concern aside as if it didn’t matter, in truth she was relieved, this was a welcomed reprise and escape from the reunion. “Oh, uh, don't be ridiculous! You're an aunt now! That's way more important than some friendship lesson.” Starlight stepped behind Twilight and began pushing her in the direction of the castle, or what Starlight assumed was the castle, Krystalopolies was a short walk from Borealton and was visible. Twilight looked to her book and then to Flash than to Spike and then to Starlight, “I just wish there was a way to do both.” She said with a sigh. Spike took the notebook from Twilight, noticing on the first page was Sunburst's current address. “Actually there is!” He did a quick read of the section that was the checklist of the steps that Twilight wrote, which covered most possible choices. “You've already done the legwork for Starlight's lesson with this list.” He then shut the book and took Starlight’s left hand, “All Starlight and I have to do is follow it!” A huge smile grew on Twilight’s face before she hugged the dragon, “Oh Spike, you're a lifesaver! That was absolutely genius!” Twilight then kissed Spike on the top of his head, “I am so proud of you!” She ended the hug to wipe a tear from her eye. “Yeah…” Starlight laughed nervously before she gritted her teeth and was about to scowl at Spike, “genius.” Twilight nobbed and then turned back to Flash as she handed to him her bag. “Then it's settled! Flash and I will head straight to the castle,” Twilight then turned to Spike and Starlight, “and you two can head straight to Sunburst's!” “Aye-aye, Princess!” Spike saluted with his right talon and started to the residence section of Krystalopolies. Starlight nervously agreed with an ‘Uh-huh.’ before she followed Spike. Twilight then turned back to Flash, “Alright, Flash, let's go see the baby!” Flash chuckled nervously but escorted Twilight to the castle. About half an hour later as Spike and Starlight were in the center of Krystalopolies. Around them were the residences of the city, mostly Earthborn, with the occasional Skyborn but no Magicborn that Starlight could see, all of whom had what appeared to have a crystalize over-skin, which gave them their moniker of Crystalborn. Spike could not help but notice that Starlight was looking at the ground forlorn. “I know you're a little worried about this reunion,” Spike broke Starlight’s stuper and got her to look at him, “but I'm sure Twilight's got everything covered.” He tapped the notebook. Starlight gave a sigh, “Yeah, she must have gotten everything.” Starlight then looked at the sky, “Everything except how I'd rather do absolutely anything else.” Spike chuckled at that. If he knew Twilight, Starlight didn’t, but Spike did factor that Starlight didn’t want to do this, but he wasn’t going to let Starlight know. “Oh, I bet she's taken that into account too. It's all part of the lesson.” He then pointed to the notebook, “Trust the lesson.” All the while the two had continued their walk towards Sunburst’s home they came across a large statue of Spike holding the Crystal Heart. Starlight reluctantly had to agree, “Right…” Starlight then trailed off as she looked around. It was then that Starlight saw the statue. “Hey, i-is that... you?” Starlight asked as she ran to the statue and walked around it. She had gathered that Spike made a big deal about the Crystal Heart but she seemed to have underestimated how big a deal it was. Spike saw the statue and leaned against it, as he looked at his claws and then rubbed them against his chest, not unlike any boy or young man who was both accepting the praise offered and trying to ‘play it cool’, Oh, yep, it sure is!” Spike started to leave the area, “Now, according to the list, Sunburst's house is—” “Why is there a statue of you in Krystalopolies?” Starlight asked as she remained at the statue, she both really wanted to know, but she hoped that if she could play to Spike’s ego then perhaps he would tell the story and be so wrapped up in it that he would forget about the lesson when it came time to attend the Crystalling and end up forgetting about the lesson and Starlight could avoid the whole thing. “Because Spike the Brave and Glorious saved all of us from King Sombra!” Starlight’s question was answered by a young woman about Starlight’s age. The woman in question was Crystalborn. “And then again during the Mystican Games!” Another young woman who was also a Crystalborn added rushing in. It took Starlight a second or two recovered from the sudden invasion of her personal space, by both women before she could question farther, “Really?” She could see the whole finding of the Crystal Heart was a big thing but was the Mystican Games all that big a thing? “Really!” A passing by man, again another Crystalborn said as he walked up the gathering, slowly joined by other residents of the city. He then turned to Spike, “Big fan.” and shock the dragon’s talon. “Um, when were you going to tell me about this?” Starlight asked as she walked up to Spike. Neither seemed to notice the ever-increasing attendance of the Crystalborn. Spike shrugged his shoulders, “Later, it's no big deal.” He said with sincere modesty. He had his gloat earlier and he had a mission to accomplish. “It most certainly is!” All the Crystalborn that surrounded the two cheered as they, more or less, formed a semicircle around Spike and Starlight. Starlight was first shocked at this but then realized what she could do, “That's it!” Starlight declared as she joined the others encircling Spike, she sat down along with the children, “We're not going anywhere until I get the whole story!” Everyone then sat down and looked at Spike, all wanting to hear the story. About the same time as Spike and Starlight reached the statue of Spike, Twilight and Flash had arrived at the castle. There to greet them were four people, one man, and three women. The man wore a set of gauntlets which looked akin to heater shields, depicted on them were a six-pointed star, similar to the one that part of Twilight's own mark. He also had white elbow guards with three blue stars, white castle turret themed pauldrons, brown boots with white and gold knee guards, blue pants, a purple open coat with blue padding, a rising sun like guard over the center of his chest and on his head was a unique helmet, which while exposed his hair and the top of his head, it kept his focus gem, a light purple gem cut like a pyramid, right in the center of his forehead. His hair was sapphire blue with two streaks of different shades of lighter blue, and his eyes were light blue. This was Twilight’s older brother, Shining Armor. The woman closest to him had hair that was tri-colored light yellow, dark pink and royal purple. Her eyes were light purple. From her back came a set of metallic wings from like Twilight, but while Twilight’s wings were a set large star and a few smaller ones, the woman's were half-heart with crystals. The main mark of her magical specialty was a large crystal heart that was mostly the front torso of her dress. This was Twilight’s sister-in-law, Cadance. Both she and Shining looked ragged and sleep deprived as their eyes could not remain open for long. The other two women both looked older than Cadance but also gave off an aura of agelessness. The taller had long hair that seemed to be a rainbow of two shades of light blue, a shade of light green and pink and it seemed to float even with no wind present. She had purple eyes and from her back, like Twilight and Cadance came two metallic wings, but hers were golden and white and had as the center of them a sun. She wore a long alabaster gown that even covered her feet. This was Princess (in name only, and Empress in all but) Celestia. Next to her was a slightly shorter woman, who was still taller than Cadance, with metallic wings as well, but they were black and dark blue with a crescent moon as in lue of the sun, heart, and stars. Like Celestia, her hair seemed to float but was like a starry night devoid of any terrestrial based light pollution, she also had cyran eyes. She wore a dark blue gothic dress that went just below her knees, a black choker with a silver crescent moon, and black and silver boots. This was Princess Luna and Celestia’s fellow diarch. “Twily, you made it,” Shining said as he greeted his sister, or so he thought as he rushed over to embrace his sister only to hug Flash Sentry. “Um, Shining-dear, to your left,” Cadance said as walked up to Twilight. “Moonbeam, Moonbeam, Fireflies awake, Clap your hands and do a …” Cadance tried to do the two’s meet and greet only to fall asleep standing up. Twilight turned to Celestia and Luna, “I figured that they were tired,” she said as she pointed to Shining and Cadance as the snored themselves awake. “ but…” Celestia turned to Luna, “Sister could you escort the new parents to their bedchambers, they need to get some sleep.” “Wait I still have to interview the honor guards, choose the purity crystal, and pick a crystaller!” Shining shouted as he started to panic and hyperventilate. “What am I going to do!” “Wait, didn’t I pick the guard?” Cadance asked confused. Cadance then looked to the sky, “Oh no the Crystalling is today!” She then started to hyperventilate as well. Before anyone could say anything Flash had his guitar and had started to play it. The music was a slow, meditative lullaby that Twilight had heard before, but always on Hearth’s Warming Eve, often as it came time for children to go to bed. “Silent Night?” Twilight asked as Flash continued to play the song until Cadance and Shining were leaning against each other. Once Flash finished, Luna held her hand out and wrapped the two in her magic and had them float as she left, taking them to their room. Flash shrugged his shoulders as he put the guitar back on his back, “Hey if it can get an army of the most excited kids to go to sleep on Hearth’s Warming Eve, then two sleep deprived adults are a drop in the bucket.” Flash then chuckled a little, “Seriously, I told you that you should hear me play ‘Silent Night’ on Hearth’s Warming Eve.” Flash then bowed to Celestia, “You’re Highness.” “Commendable effort in helping the Crystalling come together, Commander, even interviewing the honor guard and selecting the purity crystal, all the while on leave,” Celestia said with a nod. Celestia then turned to the castle and guide Twilight in, “Now I think we should see the child before the Crystalling.” As Twilight and Flash followed Celestia, Twilight turned to Flash “Commander? You were promoted. Again? Why didn’t you tell me?” Twilight asked as utterly confused. She assumed that this was something that Flash would have told her. Flash gave a nervous laugh, he then looked away from Twilight, “Well it’s been the better part of a year since we spoke, the whole Dazzling thing.” “Oh,” Twilight said as she looked down and away from Flash. “You both are aware that a Sentinel cannot defy whom or what he or she is devoted to, lest they lose their boons and with each boon a Sentinel received the more intuned they are to the wants, desires, and commands of whom or what they are devoted to,” Celestia said not looking at the two but caused Twilight and Flash to blush a near purple-red and looked at each other only to look away coughing nervously. Celestia could not help but smile, knowing what was going on between the two. “It’s a good thing that the Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow.” “What? I thought it was today!” Twilight asked utterly confused about the dates. Celestia couldn’t help but laugh, “My dear pupil, never change. But you should consider checking a calendar more often or get a new one more often.” Celestia then had another laugh as she led the two. After a few minutes, they arrived at the bedroom for the infant and were joined by Luna. Luna looked to Twilight, “Before we go in, We think that you should be advised that you are in for a shock.” Twilight opened the door, “I’ve seen plenty of babies, Princess Luna. There is no way that this precious wittle-wone is going going to shock me.” Twilight walked in and looked in the crib that was already set up, in it was a baby girl, closer to a toddler than a newborn, but still an infant. The baby’s hair was a gradient of light cerise to grayish violet with highlights of light arctic blue. It opened its eyes to reveal the irises were light opal Twilight then picked the baby up and gave it a kiss, “Good Morning, Wittle-Wone, I’m your Auntie Twilie, and I will be your Best Aunt Ever.” It was then that the baby stretches its arms and it’s … metallic... wings freeing itself from the blanket wrapped around it. The wings seemed too similar to Cadance’s, but they seemed to have no theme and no heart or star or moon like the four adult demigods. The baby was dressed in a purple and crystalline blue onesie. Twilight gasped at this revelation. The baby then cooed and giggled at Twilight. “Of course, I could be wrong.” Twilight had to admit as she came to grips with this fact as Flash joined her. The baby then babbled happily. As Flash took the baby, who started to play helicopter with it, Twilight turned to Celestia and Luna, “The baby is a demigod?!” Twilight asked in a near panic. Luna nodded, while Celestia actually answered, “Indeed she is the newest demigod. This is a momentous event as the birth of a demigod is something Mystica has never seen!” Celestia stated. She had a deal of emphasis on the end of that statement. “It is beyond even Our understanding,” Luna added. “The vagueness of those statements is not very reassuring, your graces,” Flash called out but didn’t turn his attention away from the baby. Luna looked to Twilight after she gave a cough, “Celestia was born before Mystica was founded, and We were born outside of what was Mystica at the time of its founding and Celestia was still a very young child at the time, the magnitude of Our birth was something she wouldn’t have understood at the time, beyond that she had a baby sister. Remember when We showed you and your friends when Clover the Clever found Our Sister and Us?” Luna asked. Twilight sighed, “Yeah, I remember it.” She then turned to Flash and the baby, “But even then, how can Cadance and Shining be so spent?” As if on cue the baby sneezed, which cause light yellow magic to project out of her nose and strike the wall, leaving a very profound scorch mark on it. This caused both Flash and Twilight to look at the wall, then the baby, each other and circled through that three times until the looked at the royal sisters. The baby then burbled happily. Celestia and Luna seemed to be unphased. Celestia took a breath before she addressed the shocked Twilight, “Yeah…naturally born demigods have similar outbursts of magic, like Magicborn and sporadic flight and fight-like abilities like Skyborn, but as you can tell…” “Okay, so should we call it off?” Flash asked before Twilight turned to glare at him, “What? We have a potential natural disaster here.” This earned glares from Celestia and Luna as well. Celestia shook her head, “For now we will proceed with the events as planned, do you mind looking after her while Luna and I inform the crowd currently gathered. Twilight smirked, “I had to look after a newly hatched dragon at ten. With Flash’s help, I got this covered.” Twilight then took the baby from Flash. “Who wants to play with Auntie Twilie?” she sing-sang and got the baby to babble happily. Luna then left with a nod, “We’ll have Shining and Cadance woken for the event in a couple of hours.” Celestia informed as she left after her sister. “Uh-huh, a couple of hours, got it,” Twilight said with her focus on her niece. Back at the statue of Spike holding the Crystal Heart, Spike had just finished the story of how King Sombra was defeated, “...and that's how we found the Crystal Heart, defeated King Sombra, and saved the city.” Everyone, even Starlight cheered, even she got caught up in the story, how Sombra was able to plan all that he did shock and impressed her. What also impressed her was how narrowly Cadance and by extension Twilight were able to almost literally snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. One of the Crystalborn shouted, “We love you, Spike!" Another than yelled, “Yeah. Tell the one about the Mystica Games!” After everyone calmed down after second, Spike chuckled, “Well, as much as I love reliving my heroic deeds,” He looked back to that statue and smiled. He then turned back to the audience, “But Starlight and I have an important lesson to do,” he taped the notebook that he had. He then stood at attention like a soldier, “ by order of the Princess of Friendship!” He declared. Everyone pouted, the children going “Awwww!” as they all looked to the ground sad that they could not hear the next story. Starlight panicked slightly, she had to find a way to get Spike to forget about the lesson, “Aw, come on, Spike!” Starlight exclaimed as she tried to make Spike sit on the base of the statue. “I want to hear about the Games too!”All the children’s eyes shot open and dilated in joy. Spike shook his head, “Sorry everyone. I can’t now. But I can after the Crystalling.” Everyone seemed to begrudgingly accept that and went able their way. Spike turned to Starlight, “I know you're nervous about seeing Sunburst, but it says right in step 3,” Spike opened the notebook to mind the step in question, “to, uh,” He found it after another second, “ ‘Deal with your fears by facing them, not by putting it off.’” Spike then headed to Sunburst’s house. It took about twenty minutes for the two to arrive at Sunburst’s house, which seemed to be out of place, looking not unlike a green mushroom. Starlight groaned before the two climbed the short flight of stairs to the front door. “Ugh. Let's go get this over with.” As Starlight climbed the stairs and was about to knock on the door, “Wait!” Spike exclaimed which caused Starlight to stop before she knocked the door. “Huh? What?!” Starlight asked as she turned to look at Spike as he climbed the stairs to “Knocking on the door isn't the next thing on the list!” Spike said as he pointed to the entry of the notebook in question. Starlight facepalmed herself and groaned, “Seriously?” she asked as she looked at the list and then to Spike. “I know Twilight can be a little nit-picky,” Spike said as he closed the notebook, “Seriously I lived with her for over thirteen years, I know her better than most.” Starlight rolled her eyes. Spike ignored that and continues, “but this is your first lesson as her pupil, and it's important that we do it right!” Starlight shook her head, “Fine. What's the next thing on the list?” she asked as she didn’t read the entry for step number four. Spike reopened the notebook, and cleared his throat before he read, “Before they see each other, be sure to highlight the importance of the meeting.” Spike then shut the notebook again. Starlight waved her hand dismissively, “ I'm pretty sure we can skip that.” Spike shook his head, “I don't know…” He then looked at Starlight, “I mean if we skip it, the whole lesson could go south!” Spike then grabbed Starlight by her shoulders and brought her face to be close to his, “And then you might end up taking a giant step backward instead of forwards!” He then let go and seemed to hyperventilate and panic, “Maybe you'll never be able to learn anything about friendship at all! It's almost like your whole future depends on this moment.” Starlight force in terror, as the gravity of the situation sank in, this was a pivotal moment in her life, she was going to face her past, what if she failed? Starlight started to hyperventilate and panic. “‘Step four, Highlight the importance of the meeting’” Spike read off as cool as a cucumber, “ – check!”, he made a check next to that step. He then knocked on the door before stepped down the steps, “And that’s for trying to derail the lesson by having me tell the story.” Starlight then recovered, “You knew! Why you litt-” she was about to lash out at Spike when she heard the door open. “Um, hello ma’am?” came a soft tenor voice. Starlight turned and saw a man about her age, he was slightly thinner than most, as to be expected of men that delve deep into text, be the text for the hidden knowledge of the fabric of the universe or the hallowed scriptures of the Divine’s teachings. He wore glasses which didn’t hide his eyes, which were a gradient of various shades of blue dark cornflower blue to moderate cyan. His hair was two shades of vermilion, both vivid and brilliant, with a matching goatee. He wore a bright gamboge shirt with his Aura Mark, an an orange sun bursting with four yellow rays of two different shades of yellow on the sun’s left side with six blue stars of two different shades of blues around the sun’s right side, a set of pants matching most of his shirt, on his hands were a set of white gloves on his hands. He wore over his shirt and pants a light blue cloak with a light green lining of the trim and a series of light green five-pointed stars, and clasping the cloak was his focus gem, which was a light green circle sun with white rays pointing to his right, with a small white four-pointed star in the sun’s double right corner. Starlight didn’t fully recognize the name, but she recalled him after a second, “Sunburst?” she asked just to be sure. “Yes, what can I do for you?” the recently identified Sunburst asked as he didn’t seem to recognize Starlight. “It's... It's me, Starlight.” Starlight as she tried to get Sunburst to recognize her, “We used to be friends.” Sunburst took a second to look at Starlight and tried to think back to his childhood, as he recalled who Starlight was,“Oh, of course! S-Starlight!” it was clear to both Starlight and Spike that Sunburst was nervous about this, clearly Twilight didn’t bother to give the poor guy a heads up. “My goodness, it-it's been a long time! What, uh, what have you been up to?” He asked as he looked at Starlight. “Me?” Starlight asked not fully wanting to answer the question, “Oh! You know, some of this, some of that, different... stuff.” She trailed off as she waved her hands left and right as spoke. “Right now, I'm sort of Twilight Sparkle's new pupil.” “The Princess of Friendship?” Sunburst asked surprised at what Starlight was currently engaged in and with whom. “Heh... yeah…” Starlight laughed nervously as she looked away, “that's actually kind of why I'm here. I mean, I know you're probably very busy.” She finished hoping that maybe Sunburst might not be able to help with the lesson. “What do you mean?” Sunburst askes legitimately confused at that. “Well, I figured after graduating Celestia’s School for The Gifted, you'd go on to do important wizard work, but…” Starlight trailed off as she held her right upper arm with her left hand, not sure what to do. “Oh. No.” Sunburst started but then stopped, Starlight didn’t notice that he was actually nervous about the subject of his status around Celestia’s School, “Y-Yes! Uh, y-yes, that's me, yup.” He trailed off to chuckle nervously. “ Important wizard! Really busy with lots of, uh, wi-wizarding... stuff.” There was a pause as he looked around, “Right. Uh, well... good to see you.” He then closed the door. “Huh.” Spike said with a shrug as he looked over the notebook and the list written therein, “Maybe we should have skipped highlighting the importance of the meeting after all.” Starlight then started to leave the front steps and head to the castle, “Well, I guess that's that!” Spike rolled his eyes as he grabbed Starlight by her should which prompt her to turn around, “Starlight, come on! We have to at least explain what Twilight wants!” Starlight groaned before she ascended the steps once more and knocked on the door again, which was opened by Sunburst, again. “Yes?” Sunburst asked. “Can we talk inside?” Starlight asked. At that moment from the stage set up to present the baby for the Crystalling, which also had the thrones Celestia and Luna would use for the Summer Sun Celebration the next day, Celestia spoke, “Thank you all, for coming on this special day, the first Crystalling since the banishment of the city. Not only those of you who have lived in Krystalopolies all your lives, those that have moved here since its return and then those from all over Mystica that have come here for the Crystalling.” Everyone in attendance cheered at that. Celestia raised her hand and everyone fell silent. “I am certain that you are all as thrilled as we and the happy parents, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and her consort Marshal Shining Armor are for this Crystalling, but please recall that the baby is a demigod as such we all must be alert.” Everyone seemed to cheer at that. Celestia turned to Luna, “We shall wake Shining and Cadance, We just hope Twilight and Flash are faring well with the baby.” Luna said and left to get the parents. At that moment, in the chambers where the baby, Twilight, and Flash were, the baby was flying around, dragging Flash who was trying to fly in the opposite direction while still holding the baby. The baby was burbling happily, “Well... at least one of us is having... fun!” Flash commented before the baby sent a magical blast which was intersected by Twilight. “Flash, hold her still!” Twilight ordered as the baby was dragging Flash around. “What do you think I’m doing? Baking a cake!” Flash all but shouted back. At that moment, Sunburst, Starlight, and Spike were inside Sunburst’s house and were seated at a coffee table. Sunburst just returned from the kitchen with teacups on saucers, a sugar jar, a small thing of milk, a set of teaspoons, and a kettle on a tray. Aside from the trio, the entire place was full of books. Some on bookshelves, some stacked on other tables. “So... the Princess of Friendship wants you and I to be friends again?” Sunburst asked as he placed the tray on the table. “Heh, I know. Weird, right?” Starlight asked as she helped Sunburst with passing the teacups. Sunburst shook his head as he prepared to pour the tea from the kettle, “Uh, I don't understand.” he first poured Spike’s tea then he poured Starlight’s, “Did something happen to you after I left for Celestia’s School?” He asked as he offered the sugar jar to Spike, who took two lumps before he passed it to Starlight who put it back on the tray. “What?” She asked as she accidentally hit the table with a thump almost knocking her teacup off the table. She narrow caught it, without spilling the tea, “No! I-I don't see what that has to do with anything.” She then drank all the tea in the cup, “W-Why would you even ask that?” Silently Sunburst refilled her cup and then poured his own cup. “I mean, did something happen to you after you left for Celestia’s School?” “What?” Sunburst asked as he all but jumped back almost pouring the tea all over the place. His hands shook as he placed the kettle back on the tray. “Um, no. L-Like you said, I'm a,” He cleared his throat as he began to stir the empty air with his teaspoon, “i-important wizard.” After a second he realized what he was doing and after giving a nervous laugh as he put his teaspoon down. Sunburst and Starlight looked away from each other and tried to avoid eye contact. All the while Spike was reading through the notebook, “I'm sure there's something on Twilight's list that can help here,” he muttered. About half an hour later, Shining Armor and Cadance each gave a stretch that the well-rested would as they greeted the waking world. They were standing next to Luna and Celestia right next to the Crystal Heart. “That was good,” Shining said with a blissful sigh, and thanks to Flash we got the honor guard and the purity crystal.” “And with Twilight here, we have our crystaller,” Cadance added as she smiled like she was able to sleep a thousand years. “All we need is Twilight and the baby.” There was a moment of silence as Shining and Cadance looked to Celestia and Luna, then to each other and then around. “WHERE’S OUR BABY?” the two parents screamed as they started to frankly search for their child. “She’s right here, with her Auntie Twilie!” Twilight called out as she arrived with a bubble of purple magic around the baby and Flash. The baby was flying around the bubble in all three dimensions as Flash could only hold on. “We're here!” all the while the baby was burbling happily. “She's a really strong flyer!” Flash informed before Cadance made a magic bubble crystalline blue in color to surround the baby inside the one Twilight that surrounded Flash and the baby, separating the baby from the Sentinel and bring the baby to her mother. Once the baby was separated from Flash, she began to sniffle as she tried to reach out to him. After a couple of seconds, she began to cry loudly. The cry caused a shockwave that burst the bubble she was in and continued to resonate as it struck the Crystal Heart. The Heart had been spinning since it was placed where it was. The Heart stopped for a second. Everyone watch terrified about what could happen, even the baby was scared at that as she floated into her mother’s arms. The Heart then cracked and shattered into eight million and one fragments. Everyone then gasped in horror. Flash walked over to where the Heart was and looked over the fragments of the Crystal Heart, “And she’s extremely powerful in magic.” Flash commented, earning him glares from the two parents and the two much older demigods. Flash gave a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head, “Well, that’s going to make it just a little harder to do the Crystalling.” “It's worse than that,” Twilight said as she ran over to a window and pulled open the blinds to show forming black clouds. “Without the Heart, Krystalopolies is about to be buried under a mountain of ice and snow!” The baby then buried her face in her mother’s bosom with a whimper, freighted about the big scary black clouds.