Three more winters did nothing to Princess Platinum but exaggerate her. Though she had begun her reading, she found it shallow and could not see what good it did her to have a scholarly side. She read only when she must with great pressure from her tutors or when it benefitted her to do so. And for Platinum, she only saw more benefit in getting more of what she wanted — so, even at eight winters old, she was already fostering what political skills she could. As the sole foal of Unicorn Royalty, she had to have the most dresses and jewelry. She would start wearing makeup if she wanted to, and when she demanded a tutor to teach her what a mother normally taught her daughters of beauty, she was given one. She could not stand it if any fillies among the gentry and servants had more dolls than she did.
Yet, that march of winters did not just make Platinum more spoiled but heightened her skills in manipulation. Perhaps the way she manipulated ponies best was learning to hide that there was something not well with her, something that went beyond what any material indulgence could soften. What child would be well in the head if they were as haunted as she was? Every morning, Platinum woke to Vitalis' stare and words, and every night, she knew that the strange sight of her mother was always lurking in the corner. Her greediness and vanity were earnest attributes of hers, not her manner of masking. That was something she learned from both manners and the art of performance. Acting was swell as long as she was the star of the show — but she had to act as though she were normal, which petrified her in quiet moments when she wondered if perhaps all she might be was the shell of a filly, if all she did was pretend. And what amount of toys, dresses, and jewels could fill an empty child?
The Unicorn Tribe was the only one of the three tribes that had true healers. The pegasi all disposed of the sick, weak, and those deemed burdensome. Only those with the most superficial of wounds survived a return from the frontlines of war among the pegasi — because for them, the return to their own kind was more perilous than the two-front wars of the races that they called enemies. Earth ponies had healing poultices and spreads, but they couldn't stitch a wound shut or mend a broken leg in a way that let the pony be in fighting shape again. Yet, what was it that healed troubled eyes? And how did one keep silent if it was their mind itself that was injured, lest they be locked away? The only way a unicorn with an ailment of the mind could have any power was if they were the reigning King or an unwed Queen. Then, they only had to eliminate any enemies among the court that might try to get them deemed unfit — which was not likely, as there had been many mad enough unicorn kings before Princess Platinum. Though, the degree of madness mattered too — there were those whose ailment's nature was not sufficient enough to create a tyrant at least some could rally around, and would result in overthrow no matter what. Thus, pretending to be normal even when she was stalked down every hall by what was surely a ghost was all Platinum knew to do.
And what could be more normal for a young filly than to play with dolls? Princess Platinum was alone in her playroom, surrounded by a colorful array of dolls from all classes and forms of dress. Every single one of them was a unicorn, just like her. No little filly would have earth pony or pegasus dolls. Some of her dolls were dressed for dancing. Others were dressed for winter. Some were dressed as peasants. A few wore colorful and shimmering robes that marked them as mages. There were princess dolls and pauper dolls. Some dolls were shopkeepers, wig-makers, cooks, and all manner of things a mare could be.
The sheer variety of dolls that Princess Platinum had made it easier to ignore how Queen Vitalis watched her. Today, the old queen was silent, and not even her long skirts rustled. Without even a servant in the playroom, there could not be a more perfect afternoon for playtime. Immediately, Princess Platinum scooped up one of her dolls in her magic. The doll was newer, and the colors on her face were bright with this fact. The cloth legs of the unicorn doll mare dangled out from beneath a wedding dress. The dress was obviously made with the scraps of some gentry-mare's actual wedding dress, since the white fabric was gorgeously shiny and smooth, and the jewels on it were real ones from the gem mines owned by her tribe. A woven headdress netted the little doll's mane and glittered with shards too small to injure a filly. The doll's horn was smooth and unchipped while her expression was both blushing and the sternness appropriate for a wedding. Two button eyes were hidden behind a veil that Platinum loved to flip.
Normally, she had tea parties with her dolls. In that regard, she was a typical filly. They had dances, fancy dinners, and she tried to play house to the best of her ability. But Platinum had never had a wedding before, and this doll was utterly perfect for a play marriage. Princess Platinum loved to go to weddings — it was one of her royal duties she genuinely adored — and to drink in all the sights as though they were as precious as sunlight and would never be seen again. The magic shows, the food, the music, the gifts, and the dancing all overshadowed the contract-signing and the dullness of the ceremony itself. Except for the bell-tolling and the first kiss, there was little about the actual ceremony that appealed to young Platinum.
She had to have a doll wedding, and it had to be now, before she forgot. Perhaps it could even be the first of many doll weddings. Princess Platinum's smile slipped slightly as she looked around at the other dolls scattered on the floor and in their houses and costume chests. Something was quite wrong. She wanted a wedding, and while there were plenty of guests, bridesmaids, audience members, and even a mage to officiate things, there was a vital element to any wedding that was missing. Not a single one of her dolls was a stallion — she was without a groom! How could a doll wedding happen now?
Platinum's hoof almost slipped, but she hugged her bride doll more tightly to her chest as she plopped onto the floor. Her skirts flared out with the gesture, almost as if they guided the spread of her thoughts. Just what was she to do? Should she stop playing at all — even if it meant not getting what she wanted? Or, perhaps, she should just quit? But then what? Should she just summon one of the servants to entertain her, as she had countless times before when she was struck with boredom?
What was the harm in playing, though? That question sprouted up stubbornly and refused to be tamed. She had no good answer for it, even as she stroked her doll's mane and tapped her muzzle with a forehoof. How could she be doing anything harmful if she was just playing with dolls, as she always had?
The question that felt so loud that it almost pierced the silence that Platinum sat in had no easy answer. The little filly slumped, momentarily letting her perfect posture slip, though she kept the doll clutched closely. There didn't appear to be an answer at all. All she heard was the impossibly slow ticking of the clock on the wall. Platinum knew that she couldn't just walk up to one of the servants and ask them for a ready-made doll. They took time to order and have delivered to the castle. Sometimes, her father ordered that the foals of servants surrender their dolls to Platinum's collection when she made a big enough fuss, but if she wanted a doll even half as nice as her unicorn bride, she was going to have to wait ages for such a doll to be completed, and too many playtimes would have passed by then.
She wanted to play, and that was exactly what she was going to do. Platinum slipped her doll onto her back and stood up. Her skirts still brushed the stone floor — she'd made the mistake of trying to scoot across it when she was much younger. She trotted innocently around the room, eyeing the dolls strewn about. Eventually, she found one that looked satisfactorily coltish enough to pass for a groom. The doll was of a warrior mare — something rare only in her tribe, where mares had the luxury to not be slaughtered in battle — and still had her face stitched in a way that made it obvious she was a mare with little eyelashes and the like. However, there was still enough about her short-cropped mane, armor, and miniature spear accessory that set her apart from the other dolls' femininity. She would simply have to do.
Princess Platinum hummed her best imitation of a wedding song as she reached into her costume chest and pulled out enough scarves and petticoats to pretty up her nicest dollhouse. When that was done, she arranged all of her other dolls in their proper formations. The mage was at the front with a few scraps of a lesson Platinum had done poorly in folded a few times over to make a book. Various peasant dolls found themselves as makeshift soldiers. Without enough dolls to serve as defined members of a family, Platinum heaped the rest of her dolls into the rows needed to serve as a proper audience. All the caution she hadn't realized she had been clinging to faded away as she began to hum louder. Finally, Platinum sat herself down beside the mage doll and positioned her groom. Careful telekinesis guided the bridesmare to the altar, before Platinum took her groom in one hoof and her bride in the other. After a few breathlessly mumbled vows, the wedding was nearly complete.
Guided by her excitedly shaking hooves, Princess Platinum's two dolls met. The bride kissed her soldier mare and something almost right stirred in Platinum's chest as she drank in the sight.
Behind her, a mare screamed. It took only a split second, but Princess Platinum looked to where Queen Vitalis was as she hurriedly plopped her dolls in the heap of her skirts. This was a habit she'd picked up for whenever anything seemed amiss or any sudden sound could be heard. Half the time, the sound came from none other than the vision of Queen Vitalis herself, and Platinum would have to pour her heart into dismissing anything about odd behavior. She only needed a few months of her earliest years to learn that snapping her head towards the source of her mother's noises and the like would only get her asked the wrong kinds of questions — or scolded for the wrong kind of behavior.
Especially when it was the bursts of that damned scream tearing across the room. Even when Queen Vitalis was not within Platinum's line of sight, there were times when she would hear the scream. In the past, she had reacted visibly enough that the servants and even her father had asked about her behavior and scolded her for it in equal measure — sometimes even in the same breath. She learned to sit through the screaming that only she could hear, and even to smile through it, no matter how loud it got, how much it hurt, or how murderous Queen Vitalis would glower at her daughter.
This scream did not come from Queen Vitalis. It was not the scream. In fact, Queen Vitalis was almost ignoring Princess Platinum — she eyed the filly with a disgusted sideways glance that almost felt as though she were being shunned. Princess Platinum had to turn around to find the source of the scream. One of the maids was standing in the doorway, her magic clasped around the door's handle and a bucket and sponge that floated in the air next to her. She quickly followed the maid's eyes as a chasm of fear opened in her stomach.
The dolls gathered in Platinum's skirts felt heavier. There had been no mistake in what she was doing.
"YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS!" breathed the mare all in one shriek. Platinum immediately swiveled her ears back. In any other circumstance, it would normally be she who got to throw out the commands and demands. However, this was one of the few situations where the servants were to act as disciplinarians to the young filly, in accordance with unicorn tradition. She couldn't even remember the name of this mare — or most of the servants — if she wanted to throw a fit, which would probably only make things worse. "YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS YOU MUST NOT DO SUCH A THING!"
"I..." Princess Platinum mumbled, gluing her eyes to the dolls sitting in her skirts.
"YOU KNOW WHAT PROPER PLAY IS! NOPONY SHOULD EVER SEE SUCH A PERVERSE THING!"
Perverse? thought Platinum. What does that mean? Had the feeling that she had gotten in her chest — that feeling like no other she had ever had, that incorrigible sense of rightness — been perverse? What on earth was that feeling — and why had it been so wrong?
"WHERE DID YOU EVEN LEARN SUCH A THING? YOU ARE TOO YOUNG TO HAVE BEEN TO A BURNING! YOU HEAR ME? TOO YOUNG! JUST WAIT UNTIL I TELL YOUR FATHER ABOUT THIS! YOU KNOW THAT MARES CAN ONLY BE WITH STALLIONS! YOU ARE THE SOLE HEIR TO THE THRONE OF THIS RACE! IT IS THROUGH YOU ALONE THAT OUR RACE SURVIVES — AND THROUGH YOU ALONE THAT WE CAN GET PROPER HEIRS! ONCE YOU ARE OF AGE YOU WILL FINALLY SECURE US A RIGHT AND PROPER KING, YET YOU WASTE YOUR DAYS BEING A WICKED FILLY WHEN EYES ARE AWAY FROM YOU!"
While the form of Queen Vitalis stared indifferently down at Platinum, the little filly felt as though she would burn a hole through the floor. She was filled with so much confusion that the ache it tore through her made her want to lie down and melt through a bed. Just what had she been doing wrong? Why had that feeling happened? Why did she feel so terrible and like she might wilt? Normally, when the maids yelled at her, she would simply launch a tantrum back. Some ponies said she was getting too old for them — eight winters old was already old enough to consider marriage. Ten winters old was a definite marrying age, though the adulthood of ten winters never meant she would have any more say in her future than she did now. Power and tradition did not decree it so. Her father would be just as much her lord as ever.
"WHEN YOUR FATHER HEARS WHAT I CAUGHT YOU DOING, YOU WILL NEVER NOT KNOW THE CORRECT WAY OF THINGS EVER AGAIN! AGAINST THE NATURAL LAW IS WHAT THAT IS! DISORDERED! RACE-KILLING BEHAVIOR! NONE OF THIS NONSENSE OF LOVE AND ALL ITS PERVERSIONS!"
As she felt herself falling away and her heart burrowing in on itself, a tiny part of Princess Platinum reared past all the dread of knowing she would have to face her father. Through the crushing shame, she realized one thing of note — she had never, ever heard the word 'love' brought up in the context of what she had done before.