Cadence was cold, her entire body was numb with it like she had fallen into a frozen lake, and she was helpless as she sunk to the bottom. She was looking out one of the arched windows of the office, watching as the encroaching storm threatened to drown her empire in snow, the same way her grief threatened to drown her in its icy embrace.
A sharp stab of guilt penetrated the icy tomb that surrounded her heart, but only for a brief moment before fading into the background static of her other emotions. Her ear twitched as she barely heard her husband shout over the din of her mind, ah yes, the meeting. She should probably be paying attention to that, she willed her body to turn towards the conversation that was happening next to her.
Princess Celestia sat on the other side of the desk, looking as regal on the faux leather chair as she would on any throne, her face was a mask of stern authority, but cadence could see the almost desperate worry behind her eyes.
Cadence could see shining next to her, one hoof holding up his body as he leaned over the desk, while the other was pointed at the solar goddess. His entire body was shaking with the grief-turned-rage that he was directing at her aunt, his normally smooth white face had gone beet-red and contorted with wrinkles at the force of his shouting; cadence desperately willed for her ears to come back to her, begging her distant body to allow her to participate in discussing the fate of her ponies.
Bit by bit, the conversation faded into focus, Celestias soft but unyielding tone versus shinings loud but wavering wails, cadence furrowed her brow, straining her ears as she finally began to understand the words being spoken.
“But my daughter”-
“is not worth the death of your subjects, shining”
The room was quiet as the grave, shinings mouth working around counter-arguments that wouldn't come as cadence scrambled for any scraps of context, she heard Celestia inhale before her voice reached cadence once more.
“I cannot even begin to understand the pain you both are in” she began slowly, almost as if she was talking to a scared animal instead of worried parents “But what i can understand is that the crystal heart is failing” cadence winced at that, the sudden reminder of her failure in the wake of her daughter's disappearance was yet another shard of ice burying itself into her heart.
“The shield is getting weaker with each passing day, and the monsters that live in the wastes are getting bold, several search parties have reported close calls with packs of frost wolves already”. Celestia threw down a small stack of incident report forms on the desk, spreading them out with her magic for them both to see.
“We're reaching the breaking point, either the shield will break and they’ll all freeze to death, or they’ll all be eaten by hordes of monsters” Celestia planted a hoof on the desk, rearing herself up before looking down on the couple; it reminded cadence of being in the principal's office in high school. “As the senior deity of this continent, it is my responsibility to ensure all other gods and rulers within take care of their subjects, and i cannot stand idly by and watch you both condemn the crystal ponies to an icy grave searching for a foal which is not there”.
Shining flared up at that, his ears pinned back against his skull, baring his wolf's teeth in a clear display of aggression. His horn sparked, causing the ornamental spear mounted on the wall to rattle in its casing. Celestia merely snorted before casting her magic outwards in a wave, cutting the connection between his magic and the weapon like scissors cutting thread.
She slammed her other hoof down on the desk, making both shining and cadence to stare up at the God-ruler in an awed sort of fear “i am Sol Invictus!, Solar God of the continent of Equs!, and i now decree that you, Prince consort Shining Armour and Empress Mi Amore Cadenza shall call off your search parties and evacuate your citizens immediately, or i shall usurp you positions as rulers and do it myself; as is my divine right” her use of the Royal Voice left no room for argument, she lowered herself back into her seat, her hardened visage softening just slightly; just enough to show that she still cared.
“you have until midnight to give the order”, she rose from her seat, walking to the door at the other side of the room. She cast a sorrowful look at them before closing the door behind her with a soft *thud*.
Shining looked to the door for a long torturous moment before screaming, grabbing the chair in his magic and hurling it at the wall, cursing every god he knew. He pounded his hooves on the desk, the wood creaking and splintering, the force from his blows not quite enough to break it entirely. Cadence felt like she should reach out and comfort her husband in his hour of need, but her hooves were frozen in place. without Celestia’s fiery outburst to keep the frost at bay it felt like it had begun to reach her very soul, every inch of her being was encased in ice so cold it felt like not even the warmth of her love could thaw it, she was utterly powerless to save herself.
Just like she was utterly powerless to save her empire.
Just like she was utterly powerless to save Flurry.
~~~
Celestia closed the door to the office, and began to walk back to the sitting room Luna was waiting in, she winced as she heard something heavy hit the wall; she decided to speed up to a brisk trot, willing herself to ignore the broken wailings of her nephew-in-law.
She paused as she walked past one of the many pop-up infirmaries that had been set up in the palace, taking in the exhausted faces of the medical staff as they worked around the clock to care for the many frostbitten, hypothermic; or otherwise wounded ponies who had joined the search for their beloved crystal princess. It was a sorry sight, the way the crystal ponies were working themselves to the bone trying to find her, ignoring the weakening shield and growing cold until they simply couldn't anymore; it broke her heart.
Celestia moved past the infirmary, taking a few short turns until she found the door to the sitting room, she peeked inside and saw something that would have brought her immeasurable joy if it weren't for the circumstances.
Luna was reclined on one of the sofas, a book of Old Empire myths held aloft in her magic, a joyful glint in her eyes as she read out the tales to the group of enraptured foals in front of her, all of them silent as she filled their minds with wonder. Celesta loathed to disrupt her sister, but they had to discuss evacuation plans, preferably without little ears around to misinterpret what they said and cause mass panic. She rapped her hoof against the door, giving a thin smile to the foals who turned to look at her, Luna looked at her for a moment before sighing quietly, setting down the book before turning to face the little ones.
“My little ponies” The foals snapped to attention at her voice, and quiet muttering silenced in an instant, Celestia found it truly incredible how great her sister was with children. “It pains us to say this, but there are important royal matters that we must discuss with our dear sister, so we are afraid story time has come to an end” Luna paused, letting the chorus of disheartened ‘awws’ peter out as the foals left the room, she shut the door as the last foal-a little pegasus colt-scampered through the doorway.
Celesta made her way to one of the reclining chairs, letting her weight sink into the plush furniture with a groan, she looked to her sister who had straightened herself up on the couch, a look of sympathy on her face.
Luna took in her dishevelled appearance for a moment “That bad?” she asked, her voice sympathetic and worried, she hadn't heard shining all the way out here, but she didn't need to. She could see that the conversation had taken a toll on her sister just from the way she sat.
Celestia sunk further back into the recliner, rolling her shoulders to try and alleviate the tension. “They're both distraught, obviously” Celestia winced as she arched her back, feeling it pop slightly, before settling back into the recliner “but I've given the order, all residents of the Crystal Empire will be ordered to evacuate by midnight tonight, whether by their hooves or mine” Celestia looked to a nearby window as she said this, not wanting to see the pain on her sisters face, knowing it would make any facade of strength crumble to dust.
Luna was probably the most affected by Flurry’s disappearance besides her parents, her natural inclination toward foals from managing the dream realm and her ability to handle her grand-nieces magical outburst made her de-facto babysitter; Celestia didn't know too much due to being too busy with day court to come with luna on her visits, but she knew that luna loved flurry heart dearly and that the decision to back celestia up on the evacuation order was not an easy one for her.
“I just hope we made the right choice Luna” Her voice sounded foreign to her as she said that, so far away and empty.
Luna’s silence was deafening.
~~~
The sky over Huoshan’s capital city was alight with activity, airships darting in and out of landing strips, flying residents weaving in and out of traffic with the grace of a swan, dinky couldn't help but be amazed as she watched them all whizz about like bees in springtime. She peered down at the metropolis from over the railing of the ship, it was hard for her to believe that the empire had been just one tiny city in the centre of a volcano just 50 years ago, now it was a sprawling mass of cities and towns covering much of the surrounding meadows and mountain ranges.
Dinky lowered herself from the railing, turning around to see her mother still caught up in the game of mahjong she was playing with her uncle, well it wasn't really ‘playing’ since they were both still learning how to play, apparently mahjong was popular in Huoshan so her mother and uncle had decided to learn it on the flight over to kill time. Dinky was a bit mad that she wasn't allowed to learn with them, but they told her it was very frustrating at first and they promised to teach her after they got good at it and she had settled in at her new school, which made her feel a bit better.
Dinky trotted over to the floor cushion she had brought up to the deck with her and sat down, it would be another day or so before they made it to Yāncōng, the city her mother was stationed at. Dinky considered going back downstairs and re-reading the little pamphlet her school had provided her on school rules and etiquette, but she decided that she’d rather stay in the warm sun, besides, Mom would be bringing them in for lunchtime soon, she could just read it then.
Dinky looked over to where her mother and uncle were playing again, now focused on the little dusty-pink foal curled up at her uncle's side, her cousin. Uncle Som had said her name was Skyla and that she was one-and-a-half, dinky didn't know she had a cousin until then, and she didn't know she had an uncle either. But mom had pulled her aside and said uncle som and Cousin Skyla came from up north, and the reason they were moving in with them in Huoshan was that the crystal ponies didn’t like uncle som because he was an umbral and they wouldn't let him work and he was scared they would harass Skyla, so he was coming with them because there were a lot of umbral in Huoshan and he would have a better chance at getting work there.
Dinky liked them both for the most part, uncle som was funny and agreed to help her with her magic when they settled in, and Skyla was ok- dinky didn't really have an opinion of her yet because she was so little- but she was excited to be a big cousin! dinky had only known them both for a week but they had quickly settled into the role of ‘family’ for her. Plus, mom had been happier than Dinky had seen in ages when they showed up, and her mom was the best judge of character Dinky knew.
Dinky's musings were interrupted as she heard the clatter of tiles on hardwood, she turned to see her mom groaning in frustration over a pile of mahjong tiles, all while her uncle burst out laughing, which just made her mom groan harder as she swept up the mess with her wings. Dinky smiled to herself and settled back down, yeah, they were family all right.