“How are you feeling, my child?” Spectrum’s voice greeted me as I found myself in her embrace. I gave her a nuzzle as I got used to being a pony again. It was always a bit jarring, going from human in the waking world to pony in the dream realm.
“Nervous,” I answered. “The Gala is tomorrow and with that the last few hours of peace I have. Are you certain something will happen?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” she answered. “It might not be immediately, but I felt the seal weaken a few hours ago. Something is about to break free, my child. I can’t tell you which champion of my brother managed to get out again. All I can tell you is to prepare accordingly for that. I will do my best to buy you more time, although I fear it won’t last for long. I can’t risk destroying my own seal, dear.”
“Okay...” I mumbled. My heart was doing flips in my chest and I couldn’t stop my legs from fidgeting.
“Have fun at the Gala while you can, okay?” my mom told me, laying a hoof on my withers and placing a loving kiss on my forehead. “I don’t want you to be distracted at it. It is your last chance to relax before you and your friends need to stand ready to fight.”
“Do you think we will succeed?” I asked her.
“Of course,” she simply said. “I have no doubts about that.”
Her faith in me was greatly appreciated, but even I could tell she harbored some nervousness of her own. While she could make accurate guesses at what might happen at which point in time, she wasn’t that omniscient to know what exactly would happen. It was more a feeling for her that a storm was approaching.
At that time, I had absolutely no idea just what kind of storm it would turn out to be, in the end. I had no idea what it would cost me, Twilight. We all had no idea what kind of price we would have to pay.
As the night made way for the day, I found myself in front of Rarity’s boutique together with Spike, Twilight, and the woman that lived there. Also, Pinkie Pie was here jumping on the trampoline she had dragged all the way over here for whatever reason. Lux was currently finishing up with her own project, so it was only Sol with whom I kept the girls (and Spike) company.
Twilight was currently working on a new spell to give our group a way to arrive in style at the Grand Galloping Gala. Well, most of our group, as I had a little surprise waiting with Lux.
So, as Applejack, Rainbow, and Fluttershy arrived at our gathering, Twilight was finally ready to do her thing. Spike produced an apple from his bag and put it on the ground a small distance away from us. The final result was something right out of the Cinderella story, just without the pumpkin look. Can’t have everything, I suppose.
And as Twilight tried to transform some mice into horses to pull the carriage, Rarity’s cat was already on them, chasing them away. Maybe she should have thought that through a bit more...
Good thing I finished my project in time, then.
The girls were a bit stumped on what to do and my cryptic reply on why Lux wasn’t here yet didn’t help the mood all that much. They were about to find out, though.
“What is that noise?” Rainbow asked, trying to listen harder. I could barely contain my glee as all of them tried not to make any sound to discern what it was Rainbow heard.
My grin became only wider as the roar of the magi-tech engine became discernible over the corner of the street. The incredulous faces the girls made was satisfaction enough as Lux came into view, riding on the black painted motorcycle.
Oh, yeah, I did it, boys! I meticulously redesigned the magnificence that was the Ducati here in Equestria. Imagine the difficulty of keeping the fact secret from Twilight that I slowly gathered every part to craft the engine we had been working the blueprints for. Or how hard it was to get all the parts manufactured in the first place.
Man, I loved the thing already. It purred like a satisfied kitten, having been woken up for the very first time since I began building it. The matte black paint job with the red accents was just perfect for my little baby. On the side of it, I had painted the little heart symbol of my original shirt, and hugging it was the little pony version of myself in a cartoony look.
It was my pride and joy. And tonight, it would have its first mission! To bring my friends to the Gala. While looking awesome doing it, of course.
“Dude, that is the coolest thing ever!” Rainbow practically already began to salivate over it. “How did you manage that?”
“Quite right, darling,” Rarity said, also looking it over with an appraising eye. “The design is a bit too sporty for me, but it is a piece of art nonetheless. However, what I want to know, though... how did you build this without anyone noticing?”
“Oh, believe me, it wasn’t easy. If it weren’t for Twilight working with me on redesigning blueprints of the engine so it would fit on this baby just right, I wouldn’t have been able to get this far,” I said, putting the helmet in my lap as I turned the engine off. “I had to get myself a private mailbox to hide all the packages from Twilight and Spike. Then I had to rent a little shack where I could work on it in private. The end result you can see here. So... was it a great surprise?”
“The bestestest best surprise!” Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully, hugging me in her death grip. “So... are we ready to get this thing started, or what?!”
“Pinkie, dear, while I appreciate your enthusiasm, we still have to get to the spa first. It isn’t even evening yet, so be a bit patient, yes?” Rarity pulled her away from me, talking in a berating tone.
“You girls go on ahead, Spike and I will see to hooking this up to the carriage in the meantime,” I said, shooing my female side playfully along to the rest of the group. “Come on, Snakeboy.”
“We will see you later!” Twilight said to us as they left us here alone.
“Finally, they’re gone,” I said, a smile stretching across my face. “You up for a little tour on this baby?”
“Shouldn’t you ask your sis first?” Spike commented doubtfully. I snorted at that, picking him up and putting him behind me.
“Do you actually think she would mind?” I asked him, being fully aware that I would indeed mind if a stranger were to ride on it. It wasn’t like I had to give myself permission to ride my own bike, though.
“Yeah, that’s true. You guys share, like, everything. Besides make-up and clothing. I mean, that would be weird,” he commented.
“Why would that be weird?” I asked, grinning. “Don’t you know it’s rude to judge people based on their choice of how they want to live their life?”
“Sheesh, don’t take things so literally,” Spike grumbled. “Are you going to start this thing, or not?”
“Yeah, yeah, hold your ponies,” I laughed.
“Funny,” he deadpanned.
“Yeah, well... shut up,” I shot back and revved up the engine. A loud roar sounded from my baby and then I had us traveling through the street towards the outskirts of town at breakneck speeds.
Spike desperately clung onto me around my waist, but soon enough he was starting to cheer at the exhilarating feeling of the wind whipping through our hair. We did a few rounds on the recently paved roads that slowly started to replace the old ones all over Equestria, nay, the whole world.
With cars came the need for better infrastructure and there were already the first freeways planned out. Those would take a bit longer to become accessible to everyone, but once they were I’m so gonna be the first one to be on them.
Now that cars, and in the near future motorcycles (of course I’m gonna make money off of that, why wouldn’t I?), were more available to everyone and not the toys for the rich that they previously were, those rich guys started to invest in the luxury cars that were so coveted on Earth. There were already the first brands popping up that made supercars. And boy, were those expensive. Way more expensive if you were to exchange the currencies of Earth and Equis, to be honest.
You could probably buy two of them on Earth for the one you would get here. Maybe three if you had the connections.
After our little cruise, we returned back to the apple coach carriage thingy to do as I had said. I had seen a few of the kids from school as they watched in awe as we rode around, so it was no surprise some of them came to inspect what we were doing.
One little Pegasus-Blessed girl, in particular, wanted to sit on it while Spike and I tried to figure out how to attach the damn carriage to it. I didn’t mind that much, it was an excellent reward for the good grade she got in the last class test. Let’s just hope she continues the trend.
In the end, we managed to rig something up with some ropes and steel bars. We tested it out thoroughly, to make sure nothing would happen on the ride over to Canterlot. We would have to see if it works out or not. You can never be too cautious with those types of things, after all.
In the meantime, the girls were all helping each other with their hair and make-up. I wasn’t exempt from that with Lux. Having lived half a year with two genders, even if they were on separate bodies, left anyone completely unfazed with being in touch with their girly side. Rainbow might try to argue that she was anything but that, but deep down, we all knew she had it in her to be just as girly as the rest of us.
I might have embraced the female part in me after just a few days living here in Equestria, but that was partly due to the fact that my head was stuffed full with iconic female protagonists and such in games, books, films, and whatnot. Lara Croft was a perfect example of what I strived to emulate with Lux, she wasn’t exactly the girliest girl, but she represented everything I thought a woman could be.
Badass, intelligent, resourceful, willing to sacrifice her own wellbeing, and so much more. How could I not want to imitate just a tiny fraction of what she was?
Anyway, I was getting side-tracked by my own thoughts on feminity, we didn’t even notice that Spike had come over to look how we were doing. We would have to leave in a few hours if we wanted to get there in time and not risk the carriage being ripped apart because I panicked and drove too fast.
During the ride over later that day, we had a chat about this and that while Spike and Sol were up at the front making sure we arrived safely. Twilight was talking about how she wanted to spend the night at Celestia’s side and... let’s just say I didn’t have such a great feeling about how that would turn out.
I generally had a bad feeling none of the girls were going to find what they hoped to find at the event tonight. My plans for tonight weren’t that big, to begin with, so I wouldn’t be disappointed if they failed. The same could not be said for the others. Even Spike’s plan of sticking with all of us through the whole night would be dashed as soon as we were about to enter the castle.
Poor guy. If there was one person in our group that deserved having a great night, it would be him. He was young and I didn’t want him to remember this night as a failure for the rest of his life.
As we arrived, I groaned as that thing happened again. Music. Not the music you would get from playing instruments, but the random thing that just suddenly happened in this land. It would start from absolutely nowhere and the worst thing about it was that you couldn’t resist the pull it had on you as soon as you entered its range. A heart song was really annoying when you had other people there with you pouring out stuff like finding their Prince Charming.
Maybe I was still a bit sore about that.
I tried to resist it, but even my willpower couldn’t fight something that might as well be considered God-level magic. Spectrum assured me that she had nothing to do with that ridiculous thing when I had asked her, thus I sadly had to suck it up. Didn’t mean I liked it.
So, I sang about what I thought the Gala had in store for me.
“At the Gala,” I began with my part. “There are only a few that I want to impress, give my friends the time they deserve in the process.”
“At the Gala,” I sang with the choir. Sol twirled Lux around, singing the next part somberly. “I want to make them see that I am not the monster they fear I can be, to prove to them that I want to be as virtuous as they are to me.”
“I’ll show them,” I continued, dipping down low with Lux in Sol’s arms. “That my heart glows just as bright as an ember, and then I’d round it out with a dance to remember, right here at the Gala!”
Good gracious, that was way too much information revealed to the people around me. I hated how it forced those words out of me like that. The people around us continued on as if nothing was amiss with what I just sang. Might as well get this part behind me and drown the memories out with better ones.
As the song found its end just as we entered the castle, I was promptly left alone with Spike as everyone else sped off to do what they came here for. Spike was disappointed that his hopes of how this evening would go were crushed so soon.
I felt bad I couldn’t prevent that from happening. I was hope given form with Lux, and here I stood. Unable to give it back to him as even my own was crushed beneath the cruel hand of fate. Perhaps it just wasn’t meant to be.
“Come on, Snakeboy,” I said to him. “Let’s find the buffet, maybe we will find some of our friends to hang out with.”
“If you think so,” he muttered dejectedly.
“Hey, if everything else fails, you still have me here with you, right?” I said, nudging his shoulder in a reassuring way. “Can’t be too bad stuck with me here.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t want to babysit me the entire time here at the Gala, Sol,” Spike grumbled. “Twilight is off to who knows where, Rarity is after that man she dreamed about, Fluttershy is going to be in the garden the whole night, Rainbow has her thing with the Wonderbolts, Applejack is too busy with her apples, and Pinkie is... Pinkie. And I’m sure you don’t want to hang out with me and your brother the whole night, Lux.”
“Well, you’re not entirely wrong there, sorry,” I said, a grimace coming to my face. He wouldn’t make the greatest dance partner, I feared. “But I could still keep you company if you want?”
“I guess,” Spike said. Nothing else was said between us, so we hung out a little while at the table with the food.
And as the evening progressed both the mood of Spike and I got gradually more bored. At some point, he left me standing there on my lonesome and I sighed dejectedly. Great, even the kid leaves after seeing the disaster that our night had become.
“This isn’t what I thought would happen,” I muttered. Thinking for a moment, I went over to the band and saw Pinkie come over as well. Before she could do something I was sure would not go over well with the other guests, I stopped her in her tracks.
“Hey, Pinkie, what are you up to?” I asked her, narrowing my eyes at her.
“Oh, hey Sol!” she replied cheerfully. “I was just about to ask them to play the Hokey Pokey. Do you want to participate with me?”
“Uhm... no, Pinkie. I don’t think these people will appreciate that kind of song,” I answered her, hesitant to burst her little bubble that this was a party and not a formal event.
“Aww, you really think so?” she pouted. “Who wouldn’t like to have a little bit of fun, this party is totally boring.”
“That is true,” I agreed. “This isn’t the audience you are familiar with, Pinks. These people are here for the connections, not for the ‘fun’.”
“Bummer,” Pinkie sighed, feeling sadder now. “What were you doing, coming over here?”
“I was trying to see if they could perhaps play a piece you could better dance to with a partner. The slow kinda music, not the one you or Rainbow would think of,” I answered, stopping her from jumping to conclusions. She made an ‘O’ face and grinned slyly at me.
“I understand, so...” Pinkie said, leaning in conspiratorily. “Who were you going to ask out for a dance, hmm?”
“It’s not like that!” I said, a blush appearing unbidden on my face. “I would have danced with my sister, seeing that none of our friends tried sticking around.”
“You tell yourself that, Solus,” she giggled, bouncing away.
“What does that name even mean?!” I shot after her, but she disregarded my attempt to learn about that weird name she sometimes called me by. I swear, someday I will get the answer out of her. Preferably today.
The band hired to play this evening actually assured me that the Gala would hold a formal dance later that night, but seeing that people were already interested in it to start early (meaning: mainly me and some other couples), they decided a change of schedule would be okay as soon as one of them spoke with the organizer of the event.
Said organizer shrugged, said why not, and allowed the dance to start half an hour ahead of schedule. I mean, if I had known I would have only needed to wait that long, I could have been patient about it.
Once the musicians on stage changed the pace of the music from the barely noticeable background music to the more active, relaxing melody, I saw people around me take their partners out to dance. I followed suit, taking my positions across from myself. It might seem weird dancing with yourself in two bodies, but the one I actually wanted to dance with? She was sadly unavailable.
And as I danced there, twirling my female body around and moving slowly over the floor, I couldn’t help but notice that Pinkie tripped up Rarity with one foot. The man Rarity was in company with didn’t even seem to care.
What did she see in that sorry excuse for a grown-up?
I sighed dejectedly, feeling miserable as I danced with myself. This wasn’t right. How could I not go over there and punch the asshole in the face? He was supposed to be a prince, was he not? Weren’t those meant to be chivalrous with the woman they accompanied? He certainly didn’t live up to the expectation of Prince Charming...
A dip down, a spin around, a step to the left. It felt hollow, being here on my lonesome. This really wasn’t how I imagined the night to go today. Here I was, the last day I would have of quiet and peace, and I wasn’t having any fun. Mom would be so disappointed in me.
Pinkie’s eyes caught mine and she made a gesture with her head for me to do something. She huffed as I bit my lip in hesitation. Her hands made wild gestures for me to get over to Rarity, then she held her hand at her mouth like she was about to give away a secret while pointing with her other hand at Rarity.
Could I really just go and steal Rarity away from her dream, even if the man she so desperately wanted to meet was a jerk? My mind told me not to do it, that I would forever ruin everything between us, but my heart went and got the club out and beat my brain into a pulp.
So, as I saw Pinkie walk towards where Rarity was going, I made my choice. Leaving the dance floor in a hurry, I ran after Rarity with Lux, being careful not to fall on my face while wearing the stupid stilettoes.
“Rarity!” I called out, the woman in question turned a questioning head my way while slowing down from her brisk pace. She obviously had tears in her eyes, after that man just left her there on the ground.
“What is it, Lux? I’m not in the mood for you to tell me you told me so,” she sniffed, trying to keep from full-on crying right there in the middle of the hallway.
“Would you...” I began, and I had to fight myself from clamming up. Looking up from where I had bowed my head down in fright, I mustered up all my willpower to just ask her. To not be a coward for once. “Would you like to dance with me?”
“I...” Rarity stuttered, looking my nervous self up and down. “Truly?”
“Uh... yes. Yes, please,” I said, giving her a smile, hoping she would take my outstretched hand. “Just this one dance... If anything comes of it, would you be open to the idea?”
“You... I had a feeling you felt this way about me,” she whispered, taking my hand and stepping closer to me. My heart began to beat faster as she stared into my eyes. “I thought you would never say something... That I just imagined it, that the slip up with the dress was just a fluke... Was it because of Blueblood? Were you so afraid I would reject you because I had a crush on a man?”
“Maybe...” I mumbled, swallowing thickly. Even in my wildest imagination, I never would have thought I would actually be at this moment, standing in front of her and confessing my feelings. After I first gave up on her, I never thought that it would ever happen, couldn’t entertain the thought that... she might have said yes if I spoke up.
“Oh, Lux, you silly girl,” Rarity said, barely above a whisper. “How long would this have gone on? Would you have lived in misery because you wanted to sacrifice your own heart to see me be happy with another?”
“I...”
“Please, tell me,” she demanded. “Don’t say that you were ready to just give up on me like that.”
“I know it was stupid of me,” I said, shivering all over my body. Not because I was cold, though. “But I couldn’t just go and ask you out if it meant that our friendship would have been ruined by that. So, I just... tried to accept your decision, as Luna suggested to me when I talked to her about it.”
“Lux,” Rarity said, turning my head back around to stare into my wet eyes. “Here I thought you were someone that wouldn’t let something like that stop you... I’m not so petty to ruin our friendship over something like love, dear.”
“Thanks...” I answered back with a tiny smile, relieved.
“No problem. Now, I’d like that dance you asked me out on very much,” Rarity said, smiling happily. The beating heart in my chest just skipped a turn in pumping blood through my vessels, deciding that this moment was too precious for it to continue its work lest it ruined it. “Won’t you dance with me?”
Giddily, I turned around and led her to the dance floor with a skip in my step. I took the lead as we began dancing to the tune coming from the stage and we stepped over the floor like it only belonged to us. My wild smile was reflected by her graceful one, my eyes twinkling in the light while I saw hers sparkle wonderfully. This was the best moment of my life.
The other dancing couples seemed to just flow around us as we glided over the floor in perfect harmony. None dared to get in our way as we went back and forth, from side to side, all over the freeing up space they so graciously gifted us. Rarity was a great dancer, teaching me maneuvers I had no idea existed previously.
It felt so right holding her in my arms, as she held me in hers.
Nothing could compare to this feeling I felt flaring up in my chest. This warmth, the fluttering, filling me to my core. The rest of the world stopped existing for as long as we were here with each other. And none could take it from us at that moment.
Rarity took the lead from me, spinning me around expertly. Then, once more we went into a dip, this time with me being held up in her arms. Our faces were so close to each other, I could feel her breath down on my lips, caressing me lovingly.
Playfully taking back the lead as we came out of the dip, I followed her example and held her just as low to the ground, grinning all the way even with the slight exhaustion we were starting to feel. Bringing her up again, we stepped around on the floor in a perfect synchronicity.
Twirling Rarity around in my arms, Pinkie settled down beside Sol at the end of the room, smiling like the lunatic that she was. She gave me a playful nudge into my ribs.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” she said, gazing out at the pair putting all the other couples to shame with their performance. I might have practiced a lot in preparation for this day. Still, Rarity was putting my efforts to shame.
“Indeed,” I answered her, watching in satisfaction as my other half was finally able to hold the love of our life in her hands. “So, what was that about with the Solus thing?”
Pinkie, on the other hand, was already gone. I sighed, cursing myself for not having watched her instead. Oh, well. It probably wasn’t anything important, why bother with the mystery that was Pinkie Pie.
I decided to go and find one of my other friends while I was preoccupied with having the night of my life with Lux. It left me feeling oddly divided inside. This feeling, whatever it was, wasn’t the first time that it had popped up in me. I remember multiple instances where it almost felt like I was separated in half over two conflicting thought processes. I had no words to describe it in any other way.
My thoughts made me almost run into Twilight and Celestia. Before anything happened, I put my hands on Twilight’s shoulders as we rounded the corner from opposite ends.
“Sorry, Twilight,” I said to her, a small smile coming to my lips. “Almost bumped into you, my dear.”
“No worries, Sol,” Twilight said. “Where were you going, if I might ask?”
“Actually looking for some of you girls. Pinkie managed to give me the slip, so I thought I might try my luck to see if any of you weren’t currently doing something,” I replied. She nodded, her cheeks tinting up a bit as I forgot to remove my arms. “Sorry.”
“You’re welcome... I mean, apology accepted! I...” Twilight stuttered. “Just forget that...”
“Are you okay, Twi?” I asked, confused. I don’t think I have ever made her react that way around me before. Maybe as we first met... or when I teased her... or the odd little instances where we were training and I wiped my sweat on my shirt.
Wow, have I really managed to fluster her so often without me noticing?
“Nothing! I’m fine, everything is fine, no need to worry about little old me, heh heh,” Twilight quickly answered, shaking her hands in front of her, an awkward smile on her face.
I looked at Celestia, but all she gave me was an amused titter. Deciding to follow them for now, we actually went back from where I came from. And as we arrived in the ballroom, I couldn’t help but give a wistful smile at the sight of Lux and Rarity still dancing around as if they had just started.
“I think I might go and look at what my sister is doing, will you be alright for a few moments, Twilight?” Celestia told us, a mischievous smile forming on her lips. What was she up to, now?
“I’ll be fine, Princess. Besides, I still have Sol here with me,” Twilight answered, glancing my way. “Right?”
“Yes, I won’t run away from you, promise,” I teased. “Go and do whatever it is you do when you’re alone, Tia. Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do.”
“My, my,” Celestia giggled as she walked away. “I certainly don’t think you meant anything inappropriate?”
“What is that supposed to mean?!” I shot back after her, but she just laughed more. “Seriously, what was that about?”
Twilight shrugged helplessly, her face red as a tomato. Great, now I was the one getting teased back. Celestia was way more experienced in it, as well. I really hoped she didn’t go and do what she implied. A shudder went through my spine at that image. Fucking hell, get it out! Get it out! Ugh... I need brain bleach now.
“You said you were with Pinkie Pie, right? What did she say to you?” Twilight asked me nervously, playing with her hands.
“Uhm... I don’t think anything that you’re thinking about,” I answered. “She has this weird obsession with calling me Solus and I tried to get her talking about that, but then she was gone. Why?”
“Oh,” she said. “Nevermind, then.”
“What did she talk with you about? I swear, if she said anything inappropriate about me dancing with Lux, I will strangle her,” I asked her, my eyelid beginning to twitch.
“You know... this and that,” Twilight answered, and once more she began with the awkward laugh thing.
“I’m so gonna kill her,” I growled. “Spreading lies, she knows better!”
“No, no! She didn’t do anything like that!” Twilight assured me, stopping me from trying to go and find the pink-haired menace. “She... Pinkie just suggested that I go here and... you know, try dancing! Yes, that’s it! Dancing.”
“I’m feeling like you are leaving out something here,” I said with narrowed eyes. No one ever said ‘That’s it!’ when they were being honest, so she had to be lying about something. And considering she was a pretty bad liar, I could tell Pinkie mentioned something very embarrassing to her. Or something similar to that degree. “So, do you want to?”
“Eh? Do I want to do what?” Twilight asked, confusion evident in her voice. Okay, now I knew Pinkie was up to something for sure. If Twilight couldn’t even remember that we were talking about dancing, she must be pretty distracted by other thoughts.
“Dance? You know, like you just mentioned?” I reminded her.
“Oh! Uhm... yes?” she said, now even more nervous. If I didn’t know better, I would assume that she had a... crush... on... me... Oh, for the love of my Goddess of a mother, how blind was I? Have I really gone so far with my teasing that she actually developed a crush on me? How could I miss that of all things?
“Twilight?” I asked, cautiously. She gave me a nervous glance, and now I got nervous, too. To hell with it, just ask her and be done with it. “Do you have feelings for me?”
“What?” she laughed, embarrassed. “How did you get that idea? There is no way, heh heh. Right? I mean, that would totally ruin our friendship, wouldn’t it? I don’t want that, do you?! Please don’t tell me you hate me now!”
“Hey, hey! Calm down,” I said, wrapping my arms around her. She went stiff as a board, so I rocked us both a bit from side to side and put my chin on top of her head. “No need to get so flustered over it. It’s totally okay if you have a crush on me, okay? I find it cute.”
“You do?” Twilight mumbled quietly. “You would give this a chance? If I asked you, I mean?”
I looked down at her, her lavender eyes catching my blue ones. Would it be cheating on Rarity if I said yes to Twilight? I mean, technically I counted as two people. Wouldn’t that make it weird, though? I guess if I really wanted to, I could explain my situation to them both and look where that ended up.
Perhaps that was the wiser choice, I was loath to keep something so essential about me hidden from the ones I had feelings about. Maybe it was time that I came clean to the rest of the girls about that. Didn’t want to make things weird between us, though. Although, considering who and what I was? Weird was pretty much a given.
Solus... I know that had a friggin’ Latin meaning. There must be a reason why Pinkie called me that, what was it? English had a word that came pretty close to that one, and considering there were a ton of languages that were derived from Latin, that couldn’t be a coincidence. And the word sole referred to a single thing, sounded like it could come from solus and the fact I was a single entity controlling two bodies? Too many coincidences for my comfort, if you asked me.
Pinkie knew. She had to know. The things the woman sometimes knew were eerie. In no way wouldn’t she know about this when she already knew about me doing all that stuff in Manehattan as a vigilante. Was Pinkie omniscient? No, I don’t think so, but she had a knack for knowing things she shouldn’t be able to know. Was that a thing her Pinkie-Sense allowed her to do?
Seeing that Pinkie most likely knew about me, I had no other excuses to still try and hide this from them. I think they had earned my trust enough by now that I didn’t need to cling to this image of them calling me crazy as soon as I told them the truth.
“I would like to give you and me a chance if you want to, Twilight,” I said, at last, having come to a decision. “There is one thing that I have to tell you and the other girls after the Gala, though. It might change your opinion of me. Do you still want to have that dance with me in the meantime?”
“I’m sure it can’t be worse than you and Lux having the tendencies to act out your violent impulses against our foes,” Twilight assured me. We will see about that, I guess. I just hoped I wasn’t committing a massive mistake with this.
“Then I ask you one last time,” I grinned. “Won’t you dance with me?”
“Gladly,” she said, as I began to lead her to the dance floor. “Just be warned, I haven’t ever danced like this before.”
“I could help you with that if you want?”
At my question, she gave me a nod, so I told her to put her toes to the front of mine and go along with my steps. I positioned her arms in the correct way and then we began to dance, not that far away from where Lux and Rarity were twirling around. Both of them were trading the leading position quite often and it made for a spectacular sight.
Twilight began to relax as I showed her around the movements with a gentle patience. As much of a quick learner that she was, she seemed to struggle with the more rhythm-oriented motions. I didn’t hold it against her, it made her quite a bit more endearing as a person in my eyes.
And as we danced here among the crowd, I saw Pinkie return with a flustered Fluttershy, getting her to dance with her. Now that wasn’t something I ever expected to happen. Pinkie had a big smile on her face, and it only got wider as she spotted Twilight in my arms.
I see... playing matchmaker, aren’t we? Let’s see where this will end up, then.
The unmistakable vibrancy of Rainbow’s hair caught my attention next, as I found that she had managed to convince a heavily blushing Applejack to dance with her. Let me guess, Pinkie was also behind that one?
As the night went on, we danced to our heart’s content. While Twilight didn’t exactly get better at this, we wound up in a setting that worked for both of us quite admirably. We hugged more than we danced, but it was just as nice.
At one point, Celestia and Luna came in thanking the other guests for their attendance, although it became quickly apparent that something was wrong. As they bid goodbye to most of the guests, they motioned for me and Twilight to get the rest of our friends and follow them out of the ballroom.
“We should go and see what this is about,” Twilight told me and we began to drag our friends with us towards where we had seen Celestia and Luna leave.
Once we were out of the ballroom, we went after the two sisters leading us to the throne room. And as we entered the massive room, we saw a huge group of people gathered in here. All of them had one thing in common.
Wings reminiscent of an insect, holes all over the ends of them, some buzzing in agitation and fear. The people, of which the race I could only guess at, were of a fae-like nature. Everyone within their group had a malnourished look to them, a suffering quality in their slitted eyes giving away that they must have been through hell and back.
One of them was looking way worse, but she still cared for the others first above her own wellbeing. She had matte green hair that almost flowed down to the ground, her wings were larger and way more tattered than the rest of the gathered people, and on her head rested a black and green crown. Their leader, I assume.
“We have gathered the Elements, Chrysalis. Now, what is this about?” Celestia said, getting the attention of the woman I had been observing. “You come here seeking refuge for something you have yet to explain.”
“Our home was destroyed, Celestia,” the woman said, an otherwordly quality to her voice. “My people were reduced to what you see before you. No one was there to help us, as I had to watch helplessly as my nation was burned to the ground!”
“We are sorry to hear that, but why the urgency for the Elements of Harmony and the embodiments of Hope and Courage?” Luna gave her condolences. “We have yet to hear why you would ask for them.”
“They need to be prepared. War is riding once more, my sisters. We have to act now!” Chrysalis growled. “You both know what happened to the empire of our brother. The attack on my palace shattered my throne, and with it the seal holding War at bay.”
“Are you certain?!” Celestia asked her, desperate to hope that she had misheard her.
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Chrysalis answered somberly. “My people were almost eradicated to the last person. The madman leading the fight could not be stopped, even with our unique magic. Sister, I beg you, prepare your army as fast as you can, and travel north. We can’t let Sombra retake the Empire.”
“It will take weeks to prepare the whole army, we can’t work miracles, sister,” Luna said. “And we have to make sure you will recover, you look almost entirely drained! What happened to you?”
“I used up a lot of my energy to try and keep that man from breaking the seal. As you can see me sitting here with the rest of my subjects, I obviously failed,” Chrysalis explained, blaming herself almost entirely. “If you can’t send the whole army, send in a vanguard! Anything to delay War long enough so we could muster up enough warriors to bring him down again. Perhaps this time for good.”
“Chrysalis...” Celestia sighed, glancing sadly at the distraught woman.
“I know I was a mere child as you first defeated him, but now I’m ready to fight by your side! Just... let me recover my strength first. I have to help you, please! Don’t tell me I am not ready, not again. I’m old enough now!” she begged, and my heart went out to her. To almost not make it out of the attack on her home must weigh heavily on her.
“Nay, sister. You have already suffered enough, we will not force you on the battlefield against War,” Luna declined fiercely. “We can’t let you risk yourself for this.”
“But...” Chrysalis protested but was cut off by Celestia.
“Luna is right, Chrysalis. You are in no condition to fight,” she said. “I will send in Cadance and Shining Armor with every soldier we can get to move immediately in the meantime. They will be able to hold the line long enough while we prepare the Elements for the coming fight. Let us get you back on your feet, please. You don’t have to sacrifice yourself, your people need you now more than ever. I might have another ally I could make contact with, depending on whether or not the mirror is amicable enough to open.”
“Very well,” Chrysalis sighed, accepting that it would be unwise for her to abandon her people now for the purpose of revenge. I could understand wanting to go out and do something about your mistake, but there were barely enough people left to let her species survive if they couldn’t get children with another species. They might look similar to the humans here, but I had a feeling there are a lot more differences on the inside than could be seen from the outside. “If you need my help convincing her, just ask. I would like to meet those on the other side for myself.”
“Princess, what is going on?” Twilight asked confused, a pitying look in her eyes as she beheld Chrysalis and her people. I might have voiced out my own confusion if she hadn’t spoken up first. I was very much interested in who they were talking about with that mirror thing. It sounded like a portal, almost.
“An ancient foe is about to return from where we sealed him away, and with it, a forgotten empire,” Celestia answered, producing a rather large crystal from a case by her throne.
She placed it on the ground and with a little bit of magic, a familiar sight began to form around it. It was the glass-like castle I had seen in the mural within the Everfree Forest.
“The Crystal Empire,” Celestia said, introducing us to the majestic view of the city-state.
“The Crystal Empire?” Twilight asked. “I’m sorry, but I have never read about it in any of my books!”
“It would be unlikely you would find much information on it, my dear student,” Celestia told her. “Few know of its existence. Even in the time that it was still where it stood, people only knew about it so much. All they ever remembered was the man that came and took control of it.
“He was a vicious man, riding upon a nightmarish beast of a stallion, bringing misery to every country he tried to invade. It was only through sheer luck we managed to fight him and his army back to the north. It was there that a great battle raged, taking many lives in the process.
“But, as he was about to flee from his just punishment, he cursed the Empire to go down with him. As we managed to push him back in the seal he first broke out from, he took his rage out on the people he had enslaved. The crystal people of the Empire had a unique quality to them, but it also made them quite vulnerable to his twisted mind.
“With him threatening to come back, we must prepare you and the rest of your friends for what he might bring to bear against you. Shining Armor and Princess Cadance will hopefully be able to hold him off long enough for me and my sisters to train you to resist his temptations.
“It will be an arduous task. You will wish for it to stop, but we can’t give in to what you may tell us as we do this. There can’t be any doubt left in you after we are through with you. You will defend yourself from us trying to break you with false promises and images. If you fail...”
The heavy atmosphere got a lot darker as a viscous miasma spilled from the side of Celestia’s eyes.
“Everything will be lost,” her words were biting at us, almost accusing in nature. She shot a purplish-black beam of magic at the crystal sitting in the middle of the image of the Empire.
The happy colors of the little people walking around in the city before us were turned grey and lifeless. The crystalline buildings turned into twisted mockeries, the once bright green grass turned ashen and listless, while the palace in the center turned into an oppressive fortress.
Dark crystals started to sprout throughout the shadows. And they weren’t a part of the shimmering illusion of the Empire.
“Love and hope were the things the Empire was meant to spread across the world. It was a powerful magic only found within the people that lived there,” Celestia explained, light shining from her eyes as she erased the wrongness of the crystals that had started to encroach on us. “If the Empire is once more used to spread hate and despair, a dark future awaits all of us.”
“Do not worry, young Twilight Sparkle,” Luna spoke up, standing next to her sister. “We will not let you fight this war on your own. While my sister cares for Chrysalis, we will accompany you once your training is completed.”
“Do you really think we are ready for this, Princess?” Twilight asked. I, too, was doubtful about this. There was no way we stood a chance against what was the equivalent of an apocalyptic rider from myth turned real.
“You will have to be,” Celestia returned. “Fret not, my student. We will do everything in our power to prepare you for this. And have no fear, Princess Cadance is perfectly capable of resisting Sombra’s twisted visions. You remember her, don’t you?”
“How could I not? She was the best baby-sitter one could hope to have!” Twilight answered, a smile spreading on her face.
“Then you don’t have to worry. Trust in your friends and in yourself,” Celestia said, a smile finally turning the somber mood around to that of a lighter one.
I just hope I wouldn’t make any mistakes when we go and confront the man that was fear given form. He certainly looked intimidating judging by what we saw from the illusion.
Darkness loomed ahead of us in the coming weeks. The question was, would our light remain strong, or would it be extinguished?