Princess Cadance stood upon the stage as she spoke to the crowd in front of her. “Dearest citizens,” she said. “I am sure you are all just as thrilled and ready for this Crystalling as myself and Shining Armor.” The crowd cheer in response.
Behind the stage and curtains Shining Armor was panicking. “I'm not ready!” he exclaimed.
“Take it easy!” Rainbow tried to assure him. “Just pick whoever looks the most like honor guard material.” She presented Shining with two helmets.
“Right... right.” Shining took a deep breath and turned to the line-up of guards. He ended up placing the helmets, backwards, on two random guards, who slowly back away. He turned back to the girls. “I'm sorry. Fatherhood is way more stressful than I ever thought.”
“I can only imagine.” Fluttershy said.
Rarity walked up beside her to present a box. “Now, I know choosing the crystal of purity is a very important decision.” She explained as she opened the box to reveal 5 crystals. “So, I have gone through the trouble of arranging them in order from incredibly pure to outrageously pure.”
“Um, Rarity, don't they all sort of look the same?” Fluttershy asked, looking at the crystals.
“Oh, well, to the untrained eye, perhaps.” Rarity replied. “What do you think, Shining Armor?” She asked as floated the box over him.
“I don't know!” Shining shouted.
“I hope Twilight, Pinkie and Sunset are having better luck with the baby!” Rarity whispered to Fluttershy.
Meanwhile, Pinkie was being dragged around by the baby as she flew around shooting beams of magic about. “Well... at least she's having... fun!” She commented.
“Pinkie, hold her still!” Twilight shouted as she was producing shield after shield to keep the magic from doing too much damage to the nursery.
“I'm tryiiiiiiing!” Pinkie shouted back.
Suddenly there was a sharp whistle that startled the baby to a stop. All three ponies looked over to where Sunset had sat down cross legged on the ground. She was holding the snail plushie she had bought for the baby.
“Hey, sweetie,” she said, kindly to the baby. “Look what I got you.”
The baby laughed as she flew over to sit in Sunset’s lap and started to play with the plushie. As she played, Sunset started to hum a calming tune. Pinkie and Twilight looked on as the hum became a song.
“When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you
If your heart is in your dreams
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do.”
As she sung, her hair lengthened into a ponytail and her human ears formed into pony ears. The baby softly giggled when Sunset softly tapped her finger on her little nose, her eyes starting to droop
“Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true.”
The song did the trick as the baby slowly dozed off into dreamland.
“Wow, Sunset,” Twilight commented, quietly, so she didn’t wake the baby. “That was so sweet and amazing. How did you know what to do?”
“Well, I did say I help my Pinkie with babysitting, including helping entertain the kids in the children’s ward at Canterlot City General Hospital,” Sunset said, rocking the baby. “We discovered that while Pinkie is good at keeping the kids happy and entertained, I’m better suited to calming the kids down and helping them into bed.”
“That makes sense,” Pinkie grinned. “And it looks like you are really good at it.”
“Thanks,” Sunset smiled back. “I figured that Cadance and Shining would prefer the baby well rested for the Crystalling.”
“Good idea,” Twilight commented. “While you do that, I’ll get to fixing the damage to the walls.” The other two nodded in agreement.
A few hours later saw Rarity helping Shining Armor straighten himself out. He turned around when he saw Cadance, Celestia and Luna coming into the room. He trotted over to them, saying, “Okay. I chose the honor guard, picked the purity crystal, and I know exactly who I want to be our crystaller. So, all we need is…” He tried to think of the last thing they needed.
Cadance raised an eyebrow, “The baby?” Shining simply looked sheepish.
“We're here!” They heard Twilight say as she, Pinkie and Sunset walked into the room. The baby was awake and giggling in Sunset’s arms, as she walked over to Cadance.
Cadance lifted and floated the baby out of Sunset’s arms, but the baby really didn’t like that. She kept trying to reach for her new friend Sunset, only to realised she couldn’t. She started to whimper, loud enough to gain everyone’s attention. Suddenly, she screeched loudly, so loudly that everyone could feel the shockwaves. Hearing a cracking sound, they turned around in time to watch in horror as the Crystal Heart shattered into a million pieces.
Wow, that kid has a set of pipes, Sunset thought, both terrified and impressed. Not even a month old and she can already use the Royal Canterlot Voice with devastating consequences.
“I'm guessin' that's gonna make it harder to do the Crystalling.” Applejack said as she walked closer to the now shattered crystal.
“It's worse than that. Without the Heart, the Crystal Empire's about to be buried under a mountain of ice and snow!” Twilight said, as she pulled back the curtains to show a massive snowstorm closing in.
“Greeeaaat,” Sunset commented to herself. “I’m now regretting not packing my snow gear.”