"It's done." Cadance breathed out with a very un-princessly sigh. After everything, just the feel of the air exiting her lungs was blissful. The following inhalation made it pale in comparison.
Now she could finally release the iron-clad focus she had been holding for what felt like years. She actually had the chance to look at her creation. Before her stood the most complex bit of crystal workings she had ever even attempted.
An older Equestrian earthpony mare tapped and prodded each bit of the crystalline machine. So intent was her focus that her steam engine mark glowed faintly.
Would she become the Alicorn in charge of the rail service? Cadance mused as her mind idled and relished its current liberty. As with every time her mind wandered, it started shipping ponys. Now, who would be a good match for you? She thought as she narrowed her eyes and studied the mare's heartlines. There were friends, family and all the everyday things, but they were tinged by the grey of worry. Fortunately, the lines were hale and hardy on both ends, so Smokey had not lost anypony to the Blight. Now there were lines for romantic love, or at least something akin to it. The colour was off. Somehow, it seemed greyscale, yet Cadance could clearly see the soft pinks of love.
Long minutes passed as the mare continued her review. That gave more than enough time to thoroughly investigate the odd emotions. With a slow curl of her wing, she drew them nearer. The insides of the lines were textured like train tracks, and each had a locomotive racing along it. What?
Suddenly she gave a curt nod. "Aye, I think you have it this time, Princess."
Cadance slumped back onto her hunches. The sound of her crystalline body impacting the floor was so much more noticeable than her softer flesh and blood body would have made.
She gave a sheepish smile to the engineer. "Thank you for the instructions, Smokey."
"Think nothing of it, la... Princess." Smokey said, leaning casually against what would soon be the beating heart of a locomotive. "I've not seen anypony grasp the works of one of these beauties so quickly, let alone conjure one from whole cloth with magic."
For a moment, Cadance's mind blanched. The long list of possible matches scattered and were lost to an avalanche of images. Her Alicorn near-perfect memory almost battered her into begging for mercy as it assaulted her with page after page, lecture after lecture of the inner workings.
The only external sign was a blink as she pushed aside the barrage of images. Thank you, brain. If I wanted that, I would have asked.
One of Night's lessons came to mind through the open door the locomotive plans departed thought.
"As sister dearest has so thoroughly failed at anything approaching education for you, you will have to condition yourself."
"Condition myself?" Cadance had asked as she restrained nervous wing fidgets.
"There are many... reflexes and abilities Alicorns can gain... without proper instructions, some can become... troublesome."
"Do you have any examples?"
"Losing oneself in memories is common... the longer you live, the more you need to stay grounded in the moment, or else you may never return from reliving treasured experiences."
Her mind had drifted back to Shining Armor. He was mortal, and she was not. It was a painful truth, a bitter truth, but one that could not be avoided. Not unless Twilight figures it out... or I kill him to make him one of my fragments.
"Err... Princess?" A voice that was very definitely not Night's said.
Cadance blinked again, and Smokey now held her clipboard in hoof, and a soft chuffing in the background announced the engine was merrily running. "Yes?"
"You alright?"
"Yes... thank you." Cadance offered a warm smile. "This will help a lot of ponies." Cadance pointed her wing towards the engine.
"Ah can see that. You just magicked it up from the ground."
"Any problems?"
"Nah, if it were a cat, he would be purring contently. This is mighty fine work. This has got to be the most precise craftponyship I have ever had the pleasure to see."
"Then shut it down, and we can finish the next bit."
"Aye, Princess."
The part of her that was the politician trained by Celestia insisted she should be doing this in public and have some grand speech. She rejected that. This was simply the will of her ponies made manifest. Their desire to help, kindness, and selflessness for their fellow equines.
As Smokey set about her work, Cadance closed her eyes and focused again. This time it was no torment. "Visualise your intent." She whispered under her breath.
Warmth built in her chest as her magic gathered. She focused on its purpose. "Protection, comfort, safety, sanctuary." Each concept coalesced, crystallising and concentrating deep inside her.
Holding that tight, she slowly spread her wings and reached out with her senses. The crystal heart, the core of her soul, answered. Countless images, emotions and sensations rushed down the link. Snapshots of every positive emotion. A mare hugged her foal. Two lovers shared their first kiss. A large family presented their foal for their crystaling. Twilight's muzzle buried in a book. Every couple, herd, family, and group of friends that had ever been in the Crystal Empire got their turn.
The surge of emotions poured into the crystal core in her chest, and, with a spark, it lit. The crystal core resonated, holding no mere echo of the emotions. No, this was more akin to lighting one candle with another. So long as this was tended to, this new core would produce its own light.
Slowly, reverently she brought her hoof to her chest. It's times like this I feel a little like a goddess. She thought as she inhaled.
Like so many times before, she exhaled and moved her hoof from her chest. This time there was no stress or bad feelings to push out. No, this time, she parted with the good. She pushed all the gathered energy, all the focused intent and emotions to a single point.
She slowly opened her eyes. There, levitating above her hoof, the crystal heart in miniature rotated.
"Please help those you can."
The heart chimed once.
A soft exhale was all it took to cause the heart to float away. It drifted to a stop above the engine.
"Thank you." Cadance bowed her head and focused back on her crystal shaping. The image of a large double-decker locomotive with her mark as heraldry and rose-themed details sharpened in her mind. Light raced from her core down all four legs and through her hooves into the crystal below.
First new tracks formed, then the wheels as the engine lifted into the air. Like ice crystals forming in fast forward. In less than a minute, the imposing beauty was there.
Smokey sat on her haunches slack-jawed as her huge eyes watched in awe.
The first carriage started to form independently, the new heart continuing the work.
Did I just create a fragment? She thought as the train kept growing and improving. More and more detailing lined the locomotive's flanks as the whole design shifted, becoming more fortified. One part crystal castle, one part warship and two parts luxury train was not what she had expected.
Being an Alicorn and the Princess of Love was almost nothing for Smokey, but apparently, the ability to conjure magical crystal trains from thin air was what it took to make Smokey look at her like most ponies look at Celestia.
"Princess?"
"Want to be the first member of the... crew?"
If Smokey’s nod was any quicker, she would have ended up in hospital with a broken neck.
"Then welcome aboard. Treat her kindly. She is alive and has feelings."
The mare's mark glowed almost as bright as the sun. It was the only warning Cadance got. Fortunately, she did have pegasus reflexes. The tackle hug would have broken bones if Cadance had been a normal pony. Instead, she had to move with the impact to avoid the poor mare breaking herself against her crystal body.
The stream of syllables that exploded from the mare's mouth was best translated as thank you in every conceivable way she knew.
I wonder how long it will take her to notice the change in her mark.
From her balcony it was easy to see life playing out in her city. So many ponies, each with their own stories, their own loves. It would have been easy to reach out with her domain and see into their hearts, to sense what they were doing, but it was more interesting to guess.
She normally enjoyed her pony-watching, but today it simply was not holding her attention. She sighed and opened her wings slightly apart from her, longing for the crisp air of Canterlot. It had always been a joy to feel the mountain wind as it danced through her feathers. Her muzzle twitched with what would have become a giggle when she was just a filly. Perfect weather every day, and I'm missing storms...
She shook her head and considered what had happened earlier. With barely a thought, she could feel the train, the mobile crystal vehicle she had imbued with magic and the will of her ponies. Even though she was nameless, only having a purpose, Cadance could feel her eagerness to help, her glee and contentment at being fussed over. If I had made you a pony, I think either me or you would have been proposed to.
It had taken an hour to escape Smokey's excitement and gratitude. Even with the delay, she had left with a content smile that was only slightly forced. Seeing anypony that happy would bring warmth to the hearts of even the coldest ponies.
Cadance had used the excuse she had important Princess things to do, and yet here she was, leaning on her balcony just pony-watching.
No doubt, Smokey was hard at work. Likely, the gleeful mare had lept right into recruiting and provisioning for the maiden journey, the mission of mercy to Equestria.
A part of Cadance wanted to smile, Smokey had been adorable, and for a few minutes, she was just as hyperactive as a little Twilight had been when she pranced around saying Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes.
Just like Twilight... Ice poured into Cadance's soul. The thought that the original Twilight was gone, that somepony could deliberately assassinate the little filly she once foalsat, it was too tragic. It stole a lot of the joy from Cadance's heart. Despite the chill in her chest, Celestia's training kept a serene expression on her face. She closed her eyes and took a moment. It was too much like what the Blighted did. There would be no little filly Twilight building book forts in the afterlife. Her soul was gone, or at least repurposed for the Faithful Student.
"I'm sorry." Only the air heard the almost inaudible words. The slight lowering of her head would likely not be noticed, and despite her princess lessons demanding otherwise, she offered that moment up in solemn silence.
Bringing her hoof to her chest, she inhaled. The normal breathing technique helped, but not as much as it usually did. Her smile shifted to bittersweet. If Aunty had her way, I never would have known.
It was the foundation of all of Celestia's lies. To her, at least for anypony other than her, a comforting lie was the correct response compared to a painful truth that nothing could be done to alter. Forsaking honesty for kindness. It had to be wrong. There were six elements of harmony for a reason.
Blind loyalty could lead to a pony doing terrible things. Too much generosity and you have nothing left for yourself, and your family would suffer as you drove yourself to an early grave. An excess of honesty, if not tempered by kindness, would be a blunt hammer which indiscriminately drove others away from you. Laughter alone would either turn you into a monster that found humour in everything or a stop you from taking anything seriously. If you were nothing but kind, you would not be able to stand up for yourself or others.
Would I be happier not knowing? A small part of her said yes. A larger part just added she wished little Twilight was never attacked in the first place.
Would Twilight be happier not knowing? That had a simple question. No. Sweet Dreams and Luna were two ponies that would not be in Twilight's life otherwise. Well, Luna might have been, but before all this had happened, they would have never ended up pairing up.
So you have lost yourself to Loyalty and Kindness. Cadance nodded. It certainly sounded right in her head. It fit everything Celestia had done, every action she had taken, even the mind control. After all, everything was permissible if it would end up with the most ponies happy for their 'short meaningless lives'. Even with her sharpened senses, Cadance had never heard Celestia say those words directly, but it made sense of so many of Celestia's actions.
Without honesty she would be able to delude herself that anything was necessary, that anything was for the greater good. For a moment she considered starting there to help her aunty see the truth of things. It will never work, even now she still sees me as a filly… she’s proud of me… but she does not respect me, yet. It made sense if just for the vast difference in experience alone.
Cadance rested her chin on her forelegs. "Now, how do I help you find Laughter, Aunty?"
The moon had risen on the scattered remains of dozens of plans of how to deal with Celestia. The host of ideas ranged from brilliant to insane. Unfortunately, as she glanced over the doodle-covered papers that littered her desk, she could not tell which were meant to be the sensible ones.
It was clear there needed to be some sort of intervention. The question was, what? She glanced to the window. As always, the crystal sparkled enchantingly in the moonlight.
"Thank you for the beautiful night sky, Aunty Luna," Cadance said, bowing her head to the celestial body. There was no answer, but that did not mean Luna was not watching, so it still paid to be respectful.
Then she felt it. How could she not? She was the Princess of Love. Luna's silvery light became more. It hit her senses like a wave of emotions. Love, joy and satisfaction were shouted to all the world, at least for those with the senses to experience it.
Cadance fixed her eyes upon the moon and the far too obvious magenta magic upon it. The moon shined with it like a blazing beacon cutting through the dark of night. For once, it would not only be thestrals that could see well in the night. In fact, the moonlight was bright enough that someponies might have trouble sleeping.
"Luna..."
"Oh, give them some slack." Garnet's no-nonsense tone cut in from beside her.
Cadance flicked her eyes to her first fragment. The adventurous hero she had wanted to be as a filly. The crystal pegasus perched on the balcony railing poised like some sort of action hero ready to leap into motion.
"But the rules..." Cadance said.
"Don't matter, they are 'Equestrian rules', and they are on the moon..." Garnet said firmly before smirking roguishly. "And you know rules are made to be broken. Also, with those emotions, they might just be fighting again."
Cadance winced as her mind went to the finale of their first date. The true visuals of it, the brutality, the blood and worse being scattered to the sands. She chewed her lip and glanced back to the moon. At least the emotions are all positive.
Garnet's wing reached out and threatened to poke her. "You can grill them later. I have something to show you."
"You do?"
"Come on." That was all Garnet said before she launched herself from the railing and took wing.
With nothing else she could do, Cadance spread her wings and followed at a more sedate speed.
Their flight was not long, but it was to an area of the city she did not normally go to. Like Canterlot, the Crystal Empire had no slums, but there were areas that were not as well off as others.
This was one such area, but somehow it felt different. Every part of the Crystal Empire was part of her, but this part felt distant, detached, almost like it was part of her body that had gone to sleep.
Garnet dipped a wing, and in a very Rainbow Dash like display, slammed into the ground in a high-speed landing. With Cadance's more sensible approach, Garnet had time to offer up two impatient glares that practically shouted, 'Hurry it up.'
The slower approach let Cadance assess their destination. The building had not been here the last time she walked this street. In fact, there was no building quite like it in the rest of the empire. It was even somewhat fortified, but it was the sign swinging in the breeze that, added with the rustic edges, gave it away.
"Garnet... Is that a tavern?"
"Hey, you made me who I am. And I wanted somewhere to drink, so I made a tavern," said mare stated while bodily shoving Cadance towards the door.
With a small flick of her wings and a quick hop, Cadance opened the gap between them. If she was going to walk into a place, she was going to walk, not be pushed through the door like a reverse eviction.
Inside, other than the fact it was made of crystal, it had come right out of one of Shiny's O&O games. It even had the booths in shadowy corners and a few ponies that looked like grizzled retired veterans nursing tankards of ale.
"Is this an adventurer's tavern?"
"Close enough," Garnet said before holding up two primaries. "Hey, barkeep, two."
Two crystal tankards slid across the counter with the smooth sound of crystal on crystal. In what was clearly a well-practised move, Garnet effortlessly caught both and held one out for her.
Out of polite habit, Cadance accepted the beverage in her magic. Smile fixed in place, she turned to the bar pony. As soon as her eyes found him, she froze. She could clearly see exactly what her senses were telling her, and yet it took a full second for her mind to actually piece it all together.
He was not a normal crystal pony. Like herself, his entire body was made from actual crystal, not simply an outer coating. Like her current form, it could only exist within the influence of her bastion. The barkeep nodded respectfully, as close to a bow as he could do and remain at his post behind the bar. "Princess."
"Thank you for the drink." There were many things she wanted to say, many things Celestia's lessons said should have been voiced, but instead, she turned to Garnet. "You turned one of my eternal guards into a barkeep?"
"Yep."
"Why?"
"You'll see," Garnet said and nodded to a booth in the corner. A booth that happened to have a pair of mares flirting with another of her eternal guards. This one smiled and joked with the mares as he told old war stories. In short, he was anything but the mindless defender she had inherited.
"Garnet..."
"Look, there is a stallion shortage, and this helps."
Cadance narrowed her eyes. "But..."
Garnet's eyes hardened. "I know you know how many mares force themselves to be with another mare just to get any romance." She quickly downed half her drink and waved her wing dismissively. "Sure, it's normal, sure most of them are ok with it, but a fair number won't truly be happy without a stallion. Just desperate and lonely."
Her mind went to her Shiny, her perfect romance, and all the different looks there had been in the crowds. The dreamy ones, the hopeful ones, the wishful ones that had accepted it was something they would never have and the few that had hidden the seeds of depression deep and offered their congratulations. She turned her senses on the two mares. It was easy to see their heartlines.
First, she looked at the one between them. They were friends that had become more, friends that loved each other, that were as close as family, but the romantic spark between them almost did not exist. They loved each other that way out of habit and the peace that having a lover to snuggle up to brought. She thought about looking at the one towards her Eternal guard, but that thought was enough to let her eyes wander. Lust, hope, desire and the first embers of romantic love. Unless something was done, it was clear the two mares would be adding the stallion to their relationship and forming a herd. They loved each other too much to be separated now, so adding him to the mix was just what they needed.
Almost hesitantly, she turned her attention to his heart lines. The colours were a little simplistic. There was not the full weight of a long life behind his emotions, but his were real, he cared for them, he was open to falling in love with them, and he was relishing every moment, every experience.
This was what the mares needed. How could she, as the Princess of Love or just a mare that could empathise with the empty space in their heart, not support this? A few lines from Twilight's report on the laws of Alicorns came to mind. "But they're ... Legally dating me."
"So? That's another Equestrian law…."
Cadance nodded slowly. "And this is the Crystal Empire."
"Now you're getting it. Now be a good girl and drink up."
Cadance slowly sipped from her Ale. The flavour was simple. It lacked the complexity of more expensive or hoof-crafted types, but it was one of the better cheap ones. She rolled the taste over her tongue as she considered what to say next. There was so much detail, even in the taste of something common like this, that only Alicorns could appreciate. With a sigh, Cadance signalled her defeat. "How many do you intend to… awaken?"
"In time, all of them. The story is that all these new crystal ponies, me, them, Flurry's foal sitter are all ancient ponies that got kinda frozen, and most of us when we wake up, have missing memories. So…”
"I did leave you in charge of the defences."
"There are three reasons why this is better than leaving them zombies."
"I already agreed just to help the mares looking for their special someponies."
Garnet shrugged her wings. Then raised one feather at a time as she made her point. "It also makes them better in a fight. They're not idiots anymore, they're not just a weapon. Last and most importantly, I get more drinking buddies."
Cadance just face-hooved and signalled for another round of drinks.