//------------------------------// // Chapter 76: Arrival in the Crystal Empire // Story: Marshmallow Dreams // by Halira //------------------------------// Well, I wasn't expecting to start my visit in Equestria with being in a parade.  It wasn't technically a parade, I guess. It was a procession. Wild Growth marched at the head of it with her husband (I didn't know she was married until this). Immediately behind her were most of the rest of her family, which included Phobia Remedy's wife, Phobia Remedy's foals, Wild Growth's human brothers, the wife of one of those brothers, and that brother's three young kids—two of which were in a double stroller and the third was holding her dad's hand as they walked. Phobia Remedy's bodyguard, Crystal, followed immediately after the family. Phobia Remedy was the only close family member of Wild Growth's not here since Dreamwardens from Earth have an unofficial rule against leaving Earth until they retire. All the rest of the contest winners followed behind them with a noticeable distance gap between the family and us.  The reason for the procession was that Wild Growth visiting Equestria for the first time was a big enough deal that she had to be formally received by the royalty because officially she had government business to do—examining the conditions that former US citizens were living under. Wild Growth was also a highly influential US Senator despite being the current youngest serving senator, and she was the hero of the Cataclysm. That made her one of our national heroes and also an important government figure. I had it explained to me that the Equestrians not doing some formal reception of her, at least for her first visit, would be considered a slap in our government's face. I also had it explained to me that Wild Growth and all these Equestrian royals really would have preferred to skip all this, but formalities had to be observed. This did give me a chance to look at the town and all the stunning architecture! It was made entirely out of crystal, and I mean everything! The streets were crystal; the buildings were crystal; that tall ominous spire in the center of town was crystal. There were at least six primary colors of crystal in use, and nothing seemed to have been built with any curves or right angles. Actually, there were trees and grass… growing on the crystal. How did that work? I didn't see any cracks where they were breaking through. How did the roots work? How did it not mess with the foundation of the buildings? I needed to know how they did that! The ponies of the Crystal Empire had come out to watch us from the sides on the sides of the street, with a few watching us from their upstairs windows. There wasn't any cheering or anything, but I did see plenty of bright smiles. It was a little weird seeing this many crystal ponies in one place, but then again, these crystal ponies weren't like Earth's crystal ponies. These were just shiny versions of earth ponies without the powers our crystal ponies had. I did spot a few humans in the crowd as well. I guess they were here on business or something.  We walked down a vast crystal causeway towards the spire in the center of town, and as we got near the spire, I saw that the alicorn princesses were all standing at the base of the building waiting for us. When we had almost reached them, a smaller alicorn, maybe a teen, unfurled a trio of banners from a high balcony on the spire—the Equestrian flag, the American flag, and what I supposed was the Crystal Empire flag. The younger alicorn seemed to lose her balance while doing it and tumbled over the edge of the balcony but quickly caught herself in the air with her wings before sheepishly smiling and waving at us. It made me chuckle. Princesses can be clumsy too. Our procession was brought to a halt by Crystal's signal, and the four princesses on the ground walked forward, and Wild Growth stepped forward to meet them. Wild Growth then gave a slight bow towards the princesses, and they bowed the same depth back to her. The white alicorn, who I assumed was Celestia, spread her wings wide. "Senator Wild Growth of the United States of America! We welcome you and your entourage to Equestria and the Crystal Empire and hope that we may continue to work together to ensure mutual trade of goods and exchange of ideas between our nations' betterment!" Well, technically, she said something slightly different, but it didn't translate perfectly between Equestrian and English in my head; that was the gist of it.  Wild Growth raised her head high and smiled. "I thank you, on behalf of myself, my guests, and the United States for your warm welcome," she said in Equestrian. "I am confident that my visit will be a pleasant and productive one thanks to the kind and generous goodwill and hospitality of the citizens of the Crystal Empire and Equestria. I endeavor to maintain the friendship between our nations. Thank you, once again." The crowds that had been watching finally started cheering. They cheered for about a minute and then began to disperse, seeing the ceremony as over. Wild Growth and the princesses took their leave of us, and a big white unicorn stallion wearing armor stepped forward with several crystal ponies wearing similar armor.  "Greetings!" he called out to us. "I am Prince Shining Armor, and I'm in charge of seeing you get settled in. You will be spending the night at one of our hotels and will be picked up by your airships tomorrow at the crystal stadium. Before you check into your hotels, I will be dividing you into groups and having my guards escort you on a tour of the city. Don't worry; I am having other guards take your luggage directly to the hotel, and you need only ask for it at the reception desk when checking in. That way, you don't have to walk around the town hauling your luggage. This is only a tour; you can shop if you wish after you are done and checked in. The hotel will be providing you with today's allowance of bits after check-in, as your senator provided for you." Six guards, one of whom was a pegasus, stepped forward and spread out. Shining Armor watched them and then turned back to us with a smile as he pulled out a list. "I have already gone through the trouble of assigning groups. I was unsure exactly who was relative to who, so I apologize if your family is split up for this. The hotel has not assigned specific rooms yet, and when you get there, you can ensure you are grouped with family. I have only assigned the adults to groups; your young can be included with whatever parent you so choose for the tour. I shall slowly call out groups one at a time and ask you to join the corresponding guard. Does anyone have any questions before we begin?" A middle-aged human woman with a similar accent to Blanche's raised a hand. A relative, maybe? "What if we want to skip the tour and head straight to the hotel for now? I'm running on fumes and not up to doing a lot more walking right now. I also have some medicine I need to take." Shining Armor nodded in understanding, then gestured to several other guards who were pulling forward some carts. "If you wish to head straight to the hotel, when the others leave for the tour, these guards will make sure to get you to the hotel safely. Any other questions?" Another human, an older man, raised his hand. "Will there be places to take restroom breaks?" Shining Armor nodded. "Most businesses do have restrooms, and your guides will make sure you get time to use those if you need them. Any other questions?" A pegasus mare raised a hoof. "Does the hotel have free room service?" Shining Armor sighed briefly. "It has room service, and Wild Growth is covering that. The hotel will give you instructions regarding that when you arrive. Would you please save hotel-related questions for the hotel staff, who can more effectively answer them. Any other questions?" Another man raised a hand. "Why is it called an empire if it only has one city?" Shining Armor frowned. "The Crystal Empire still owns and controls a large swath of territory. That territory is currently buried under a great deal of snow, but we still claim it. In ancient times this area was much warmer, and there were other towns and cities. The Crystal Empire hopes to push back the snow eventually and resettle the region." A unicorn stallion raised a hoof. "If you're a prince, why aren't you an alicorn too?" Shining Armor blinked. "I… uh…" "I think we should save tourist questions for the guards on the tour," someone said from behind the guards. We all turned and looked as the teenaged alicorn approached with a big smile. She approached, looking very regal in a crystal blue dress, and sat down next to Shining Armor. "Don't you think so, Daddy?" He took a deep breath. "That is correct. Thank you, Flurry." Flurry Heart grinned bigger. "How about if I visit their hotel tonight and do a question and answer session? I think they should like that, wouldn't they?" Shining Armor frowned. "That's not something we discussed." Flurry pouted. "But, Daddy, I want to do something useful for this big visit. I'm too young to be part of the talks with the big important earth pony, and unfurling flags and smiling and waving isn't helping. Don't you want me to better understand the ponies and humans that come from one of our biggest trade partners? Isn't that helping with my education?" The prince seemed to be torn between saying no and trying to resist his daughter's pouting look. He eventually shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "Very well. You can do that. I will arrange for some guards to attend you. Just a one-hour question and answer session, nothing else." "Two hours," Flurry countered.  "An hour and a half," Shining Armor said in quick response.  "Way to put your hoof down with the young princess, sire," the pegasus guard said with a smirk.  Shining Armor rolled his eyes. "Head back to the palace, Flurry. Your mother and aunts might decide they want to introduce you to the senator, and they shouldn't have to send the guards looking all over town for you. I also assume you might want to study up a little before your talk." Flurry Heart nodded and stood up. "As you wish, Daddy." She then began to stride away and managed to go about five steps before stepping on her dress and tripping. "Aww! Stupid legs! Stupid dress!" She then lit her horn and vanished as the guards all snickered—which didn't last very long before they caught Shining Armor glaring at them and quickly came back to attention. He took several more seconds staring before returning to his list. "My captain, Flash Sentry, will escort this first group. That's the pegasus here who regularly asks me to fire or demote him." "I don't ask that," the pegasus guard protested.  "Really?" Shining Armor asked with a raised eyebrow. "I seem to remember you just making a snide remark about me dealing with my daughter that I was sure translated to I want to be a potato peeler for the rest of my life. I must have misheard." Flash Sentry gave a sheepish smile but didn't say anything.  "Alright, when I call your name, please come stand behind still-Captain Sentry," Shining Armor said. He looked at his list. "Sunflower Smiles, Jonathan Dexter, Roger Wilco, Rebecca Riddle, Howard Mercer, and Blanche Laurent, all of you are the first group." I blinked. What were the chances that all three of us would be put in the same group?  I didn't hesitate too long in going to stand behind the pegasus guard. I looked at Blanche and Sunflower after we got behind him, and they gave me confused looks of their own. If we were together, were the other two candidates with us too? I examined the other three people who were with us. I hadn't gotten to see who had come at what name being called out. One of them was the older man who had asked about the restroom, and I dismissed him as a candidate. The Dreamwardens wanted someone young, and he was grey-haired and wrinkly—old enough to be retired, not starting a new career. The other two were about the same age as the rest of us. One of them was a human guy who looked about as stereotypical nerd as could be, wearing extra thick glasses, a high collar button-up shirt complete with pocket protector and pen. He seemed to be taking a great deal of interest in examining the crystal spire. The other was a dark blue earth pony stallion with a brown mane and a screwdriver and lightbulb for a cutie mark. Were these two the other candidates to round out the top five? They didn't look like artists, but maybe being an artist wasn't one of the prerequisites. Perhaps it was some trait they shared with artists. We waited patiently for several minutes while each group to finish being assigned. Then Shining Armor addressed us again.  "Each of your escorts has been designated a different tour path through the city. All of you will get to see the same things, but it might be in different orders, and all of you will finish at your hotel. If you have any further questions, please direct them to the guard who is guiding you. Once again, I hope you enjoy your visit to our world." Flash Sentry turned and smiled at us. "Congratulations, your group gets to be the first to tour the palace. If you follow me, we'll be on our way." Deep breath and smile. It might have just been a coincidence we were grouped together. Maybe Shining Armor had grouped people from the same region together. That would get us all together. I wasn't going to worry about it too much right now. We were on another planet, and I was about to go see a building like the ones I dreamed of making. This was going to be great!