//------------------------------// // A Past Life // Story: Crystal Sunrise // by Lil Penpusher //------------------------------// A Day had passed. I opened my eyes and found myself inside my private chambers. I must have fallen asleep... perhaps staying up all day long wasn't such a good idea, in hindsight. I remember a slight, aching pain at the back of my head. Ugh... Lifting my head and looking around the room, I quickly remembered what I was doing before, well... passing out. The Dress... right... I glanced up to find myself staring into my closet. I was never too much into fashion or fancy dresses, unlike Rarity, and as such there was not much to be found inside, save for three dresses. And yet, those dresses were enough to tear my mind apart. One was an old, traditional dress of my past self. The Dress itself was mostly red, though the accompanying necklace with its bright purple star has always been the mane attraction. Or... so Rarity told me, not that I would really know. I could clearly see some stains and bits of dust which had gathered on it through the years. Thinking about it, last time I wore that thing was... during the Royal Wedding, I believe? Time really does fly... Regardless of the minor stains on the dress, I couldn't help but smile at the familiar image. Some imagery of my past life flew by for just a moment, the times where everything was calm and peaceful. That one day, that wedding day... I was so proud of both my brother and... and my now sister-in-law... I began to panic for a moment but reminded myself to stay calm. I took deep, controlled breaths. In and out. An image of me standing before Cadence entered my mind for just a moment, but I tried to block it out. Don't think about it. Not now. Shaking my head and shrugging those thoughts off, my eyes moved on to the middle dress. A mixture of purple and white made up the dress. It was a quite enchanting sight, I must admit, almost as if it was tailored by Rarity herself. Unlike the first one though, this one was brand new and practically glimmered in the early morning sunlight that entered the room through the window behind me. A beautiful dress for sure but... not much else about it. It was nothing 'special', so to say. As such, I looked over to the third and last dress over on the left. This was... not quite a dress, I would say. It was a mixture between uniform, armour and a dress, and was my official uniform as the Grand Inquisitor of the Empire. It was a mixture of black and red, with gray armour padding which would protect my sides and back. Similar to the first dress, I could feel that this one was... out of the ordinary, that it was unique and special to me in more ways than one. It wasn't just a uniform, nor a dress. It was something I could wear and which would practically speak for me. It would speak with a proud voice that I am a loyal, proud servant of the Empire and the Empress, and that I risk my life to defend and preserve Harmony. I finally got up from the ground where I had been sitting this entire time and rose to my hooves. "Horse apples..." I muttered under my breath, once again glancing over the three outfits. This wasn't going to be an easy choice. I reminded myself of the importance of my choice. If I would make the wrong choice, the Princess could very well reject me and my peace talks altogether, thus sealing the fate of her, my brother and most likely millions of other ponies who would perish in the war that followed the failed negotiations. I took a deep breath, yet again. Focus, Sunrise, focus! I knew I couldn't be spending yet another day to myself, locked away from everypony else. I was going tomorrow morning, already, and I still had a speech, or at the very least important arguments to write down before I left. Oh, and sleep. I needed that, too. It was time to get this decision over with. I walked up to the closet and levitated the dresses over onto my bed. I looked over them once more and began analysing them. I quickly realised that there were essentially two extremes to choose from. It was the old, traditional dress from Cadence's Wedding which would make me seem like her friend and ally, or my uniform which would intimidate her and ideally show her that the Empire is too strong for her to resist and put up a fight, else she'd risk the lives of millions. I knew Cadence. She could be a staunch defender of her opinion, but she wasn't blind nor stupid. She wouldn't want to see anypony die, especially not in her name. Or... at least that's how I remember her. Much has changed during these wartime years. However, the middle dress seemed to be somewhat of a 'neutral' party. It was a nice dress, without question, but failed any remarkable features. As such, it lacked the friendly and familiar look of the wedding dress but also lacked the intimidating effect of the uniform. On the other hoof, it didn't make me seem too soft or even disloyal to the Empire by wearing such an old dress, with which the Princess might not take me seriously. It also didn't make me look scary and, at least to the Princess, evil. And if there was one thing I didn't want her to think when she saw me again after all these many months, it was that I am evil. In the end, all I wanted and was tasked with was to ask her to submit to the Empress. A relationship between our two nations that was just like before the founding of the Empire. That shouldn't be too hard, right? It was an effective return to the status quo. Sure, things were a lot different here now, but why would Cadence or my brother be afraid of what is right? Why would they fight the Light? If anything, the fact that I step in front of them with such peaceful intentions should show them the way, and make them realise that the only way to true Harmony leads to the Empress. Although, something was telling me it wasn't gonna be as easy as that... Regardless, I regained focus. There was no more time to lose, and I needed to make a choice now. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then another one, as deep as I could. My horn lit up in its yellow aura, and I watched as my uniform and the white dress flew past me, back into the closet. With a bang, I closed it down and looked back onto the bed. The Wedding Dress. So many memories. Good Memories. Memories of a past life, an old self... I turned my back on it and wandered off to the door. I pushed back those memories in order to focus on the here and now. A big task was ahead, one that required focus, timing and a lot of luck. Or so it felt like. The old, wooden door creaked as I pulled it open with my magic. I stepped outside, looking around but unable to spot anypony. I let out a low sight, knowing what was ahead of me. This would be a long day and an even longer week. With a loud bang, the door was shut, and I made my way over to the library. Another loud bang briefly rang through the room as I shut the door.