//------------------------------// // Fool // Story: Cadance's solstice // by Rainny Night //------------------------------// For any skill you want to develop, you need to have practice to improve. This, without a doubt, is the best advice for anything you do in your life, whether writing or painting, cooking or anything else. Having practice is a way to evolve. For Cadance, this was undoubtedly her personal motto. Since her first experience concentrating magic, she became familiar with the energetic sensation, surrounding her until she had the strength to cast magic on an object. Within a week, she was able to levitate small objects like feathers, dusters, apples, mundane things. It was a personal victory for Cadance and she hoped to be able to adapt within two days to begin levitating more massive and heavier objects, such as rocks and carts. Celestia was proud of her new student's rapid advancement, although one question in particular about Cadance left her stumped: What actually made her become an alicorn? Celestia had seen similar cases of ponies saving their villages, towns and neighborhoods from catastrophes, but on none of these occasions had a new alicorn emerged. No pony, be it pegasus, terrestrial or unicorn, gains wings or a horn by chance, there must be something beyond and Celestia committed herself to discovering this in the same way in which she committed herself to making the arduous change of habit and character of her nephew Blueblood, which honestly, was one of the hardest tasks she had ever had in her nineteen seventy-seven years. Theory was an extremely essential part of any type of practice and Celestia needed to confirm a large part of her theories about Cadance to put into practice what she omitted from the girl. She took into consideration where the village was, in the northeast of Equestria, close to the Crystal Mountains, where further north was the emptiness and fog of what the old Crystal Empire should be, and then something clicked in her mind. "Before Luna and I banished King Sombra to ice for a thousand years, the king placed a curse on the Empire making him disappear most likely for a thousand years as well, to align with his possible return, if that's right, the His curse must be weakening, almost breaking apart, after nine hundred and seventy-seven years of surrounding and blocking the magic that comes from within and without the Crystal Empire." Celestia wrote on her parchment, her mind racing, trying to align her line of reasoning with the order of events. Unfortunately for her, she would have to stop writing and refocus on her life, her real tasks and her commitments. But to give herself a little boost, she reduced her amount of weekly meetings and daily commitments outside the palace to focus on her classes with Cadance and Blueblood. "Hm, your highness? Please go ahead, your schedule is busy today and being late for the meeting with Fillydelphia's ministers will only mess up the schedule." A deep, hoarse voice echoed from behind the door. "I'm coming! Just give me a second." Celestia then rolled up her parchment and shelved it on her dressing table. She was then greeted by her faithful secretary, Sharp Feather, an old unicorn stallion, with yellowish fur and a reddish-pink mane with the gray of age growing at the roots. "Sorry for the delay, I was... doing some paperwork." "If it's the four-thirty paperwork, we can advance tomorrow's documents and reschedule next week's meeting for this week." The unicorn levitated a clipboard, making adjustments to the schedules. "Please, I would appreciate it if you at least had an hour less just so I could focus on the kids a little more." "More? We've already cut five hours from your official schedule to accommodate your tutoring." "I know that, Sharp, do you know how boring it is to have to attend meetings, sign documents and sign documents about meetings? Things get very monotonous that way." "I don't remember this palace ever being animated." "He hasn't been lively for a long time..." Celestia walked just in front of Sharp Faether. · · • • • ✤ • • • · · Without Cinamonn's presence, Cadance felt insecure walking around the palace, at least she still had the company of Blueblood, who seemed completely uninterested in being around her. In the royal garden, Cadance lay down on the grass with her book open to the first page, and Blueblood sat right in front of a rose bush, levitating a black notebook with blank pages and a pencil. This was one of the few moments where Blueblood wasn't being... Well, himself, an arrogant, arrogant colt. It was one of the few opportunities Cadance had to analyze him. He was a little tall for a colt and had few similarities to Celestia, namely the slightly longer horn and white fur. Now, she had also noticed that he had a blank flank. "What are you looking at?" Blueblood dropped his notebook and pencil onto the grass. Cadance quickly opened and closed her mouth without knowing what to say, she had stared too much and was embarrassed after he realized. "Nothing, um, sorry..." Cadance levitated the book and buried her face in it. "You're a little strange. And your book is upside down." Blueblood turned his attention back to whatever he was scribbling in his notebook. "Thanks for letting me know." Cadance leaned over to see what he was doing, he was drawing one of the roses on the bush. "I didn't know you drew." "It's one of the few good things I've brought here since Celestia adopted me." He didn't take his focus off the drawing. "But I don't usually draw roses or other objects, I usually map places." Blueblood flipped through the notebook and showed a small recreation of each corridor of the palace seen from above. "Did you draw the hallways of the west wing? It's all exactly right!" "Yes, but it's not all exactly right, I got the library entrance wrong, it should have been on the left and not on the right, it was only wrong because I did it from memory." "You're great as a cartographer, how come you didn't get a cutie mark for that?" "Seriously, me, a prince, as a cartographer? That's not a prince's job." Blueblood pouted. "And what does your cutie mark do to this? Celestia raises the sun, a job that wasn't for a princess." "Okay, okay, Celestia raises the sun and the moon, but what about you? She got wings for some reason and it certainly wasn't for lifting a heart." "And what am I? I'm not a princess, I don't have a crown, or a kingdom, much less I received this title. Having a horn and a pair of wings shouldn't be merit for receiving this title." "Talking to you is very bad, you still have the habit of a simple commoner." The colt turned her face away. Cadance laughed, which left her confused. "What are you laughing about?" "I'm laughing at your aristocratic nonsense. You judge commoners and forget that at some point in your life you will be their leader, and to make matters worse you end up being much worse than a commoner." Cadance continued laughing. 'You' and 'commoner' in the same sentence associated with Blueblood was like a stab to the prince's ego, he closed the notebook and stood up abruptly from the grass. "Wipe your mouth when comparing me to ponies of that ilk!" "Wipe your mouth when using 'commoner' as an insult! You don't even leave the palace to see what reality is like, you're trapped in a bubble full of privileges and on top of that you're under Celestia's wings as her protégé!" Cadance stood up and came face to face with Blueblood. "What do you want me to do? My parents simply decided for themselves that I should live and act like one of those bums, without even giving me the chance to choose!" This was the first time Cadance had seen a foal swear, it would be an understatement to say she was shocked. Blueblood, realizing that what he had said went beyond the limits of proper language, covered his lips and shrank back in shame, even more so when he remembered that this proved Cadance's comparison right. "Remember that the employees here came from and live among them, including me." Cadance frowned, that was undoubtedly the last straw for the filly after all the insults from the arrogant prince. The filly flew towards a cloud just above one of the palace towers. The initial shame turned into remorse after having said what he said, since in addition to offending the filly, he offended his guards, his personal cooks, his chambermaid and, to make matters worse, he offended his aunt, who also had his origins among the 'tramps'. ' even if it was a distant time. Blueblood thought about calling her, but if his ego wasn't hurt enough, he didn't want to have to trample on his pride either. He decided to change his scene, not wanting to remember what had happened. He went to the guards' training yard, after all it was almost time for him to train with Ginger Pie. With his nose up, he looked away from Ginger and remained silent when the older man greeted him. It was Blueblood's custom to ask what the day's task was and then start complaining, however, today Ginger noticed that the prince was acting more downcast than like an annoying brat. "What's wrong, kid? Did you run out of light fur shampoo again, or was it your antler polish?" Ginger tried to start a conversation. “What ended was my spirits.” "What was it this time?" "Why do you want to know?" "Honestly? I don't want to know, but when you're sad it's good to have someone to talk to. Now tell me, what's bothering you?" Ginger handed the colt a harness, it was brown with some yellow lines drawing its sides. "I just argued, nothing more. Why the harness? There's no field to plow here." Blueblood levitated the item, looking at it in disgust. "Exactly, you will plow another field. Now come, unless you wanted me to put the reins on you again." Ginger Pie came out ahead, he ordered the vigil pegasi to open the gates and, once done, the duo left the palace. That was one of the very few times that Blueblood left the palace, always accompanied by Ginger. They would go somewhere far from the capital and, to the prince's greatest chagrin, they would walk to, wherever it was, that field. It took an hour and a half just to walk. Blueblood was already panting from the effort. I think I'll have to learn the teleportation spell, I can't walk anymore. He thought, making a mental note to try and learn the spell. The prince stopped and observed the place, it was a quite large farm, there were some orchards filled with peaches and others with large apples ready to be harvested. "Where... Where are we?" The prince dropped to the grass to try to catch his breath. "Welcome to the peach ranch!" Ginger picked him up and threw him under her back. "Come on, kid! Get up! It was just a walk, you still have a lot to do." "Just a walk?! We walked four kilometers!" The prince threw himself off Ginger's back and tried to stay on his feet. His legs felt weak from exhaustion. "Nonsense, I know you're not used to it, but this won't be the first time you've come here. Now come, I want to introduce you to Peachy Sweet, she's the one who's going to take you to the field where they need to be plowed." They walked through the field, saw a house just ahead. It was big, red and with a white roof, and there were peach designs carved on the door. A little further behind the house, there was a chicken coop, and a few meters further there was a pig pen. Blueblood screwed up his face, smelling the mud and the neighing of the pigs smearing themselves in it. His gaze then turned to a mare still in foal, with pastel green fur and her reddish mane tied in a dark green bow. She gave a wide smile to her visitors and addressed them with a rural, country accent and without the finesse that the prince thought she might have. "Hi, Peachy, is your dad there?" Ginger bent down to the filly's height. "Yes, he's in the pen at the new field. I'll take you there." Peachy smiled happily, quickly fading it and becoming more shy when she noticed Blueblood's presence. The harness around the prince's neck didn't bother him as much as having to walk another league under the sun, his hooves seemed to have gotten hot when stepping on the hot grass and his muscles were shaking due to the effort he had made walking from the castle to the field. He remained firm so as not to waste the last bit of pride he had left by throwing himself on the grass looking for a rest. "Argh! Finally!" The prince grumbled. "Hi, Ginger, I thought you weren't going to come anymore, I took too long." And once again an unknown pony catches Blueblood's attention. Now he was a stallion, perhaps more robust than Ginger, his coat was a clay red that shone in the sunlight and his mane, short and moss green, had gray markings giving a reminder of his coming of age. "I know, it's the first time the boy has walked so far, he's not used to it." Ginger pushed the colt in the side. "Come on, introduce yourself." "Hello, sir..." The prince made an effort (clearly followed by a displeased grimace). "I'm Apple Cinnamon, you must be Prince Blueblood, am I right? Well, now that you're here, you should have an idea of what you're going to do with this harness. Come, as soon as Ginger heard that I was looking for someone who could plow the field, he spared no effort to make Celestia allow him to come." "Do not tell me." The prince glanced sideways at the stallion beside him. "Peachy will take you to the plow. Me and Ginger will be waiting in the barn." Apple Cinnamon, followed by Ginger Pie, left the foals alone. Peachy Sweet led him to the plow, a metal ridge-like structure with two wooden arms curved so that it hooked into the harness collar. Blueblood sighed deeply in hopes that this would give him some strength to be able to pull the plow without the aid of magic, or maybe... A little magical help wouldn't hurt him, after all, Ginger and Cinnamon weren't keeping an eye on him. "Do you need help putting the plow in?" Peachy was still there (much to Blueblood's chagrin). "No, I can do it myself." In fact, he wanted help, yes, but he didn't want to hurt his pride even more. When she attached the wooden arm ropes to the harness, he pulled, with a lightness he never thought possible. "Oh, that's quite light." "That's because you're not in prison, you fool!" Peachy laughed. The prince's ears drooped and he cringed in embarrassment. "Here, let me lock it up for you." Peachy tied the ropes tightly to the harness, also attaching it to the metal rods that came out of the back of the prince's necklace. He tightened it well in the chest area so that the collar ropes were not the only ones to concentrate the force when pulling the plow. "Ready! Try pulling now." The filly moved away from the prince. "Argh, it's too tight!" Blueblood started to move, in fact he tried, as he almost fell when the ropes held him in place. The harness, stuck in the ground, didn't move even a millimeter from its place. "That's the only way to stop the ropes if the harness slips." Blueblood tried again and nothing came out of the harness, he pulled again and nothing happened. He sat down, giving up on pulling the object. "Come on, it's not that hard." Peachy tried to encourage the boy. "Isn't it so hard? That thing didn't even move! How can you Earth ponies do that?" "Come on, it's not that difficult. Try again, harder." And once again he tried, it didn't work. Already defeated, Blueblood allowed his body to fall to the ground. The colt was no longer feeling well, his face was so clear, he kept thinking about the argument he had had with Cadance in the morning. Peachy noticed, after all, he wasn't even trying to hide his discomfort anymore, so she sat down opposite him on the lawn. "What is it, prince?" "I can't take this anymore..." Blueblood buried his face between his hooves. Staying silent, he left a space for him to see Peachy's kind and compassionate look, feeling even worse when he remembered what he had said earlier. "Hey, don't be like that." Peachy approached, nudging his head with her hoof. She untied the knots from the arms of the harness and from the prince's chest. "Now tell me, what's wrong?" "I had a fight with someone earlier and I ended up hurting them along with other ponies..." He finally uncovered his face, took a deep breath and looked at Peachy, who was smiling at him sweetly. It was at least charming to Blueblood, something he would never say out loud. "Well, when you hurt someone, you acknowledge what you did and apologize." "It seems easy when you say it like that." "It seems that way, but it's difficult for someone to look beyond their own pride to see that it's wrong. That seems to be your case." She laughed. Blueblood stopped for a moment, saw her laugh, the simplicity on her face was charming. She wasn't wrong, he was denying himself until he came to the peach ranch and realized how wrong he was in treating those who live simply with inferiority. He stopped thinking for a moment when he realized that their hooves were touching. The difference was clear, Peachy's hooves were dirty with dirt and a little cracked, while theirs shined and were smooth as crystals. His cheeks flushed at the act and he allowed himself to lower his ears. Before he could say anything, in the distance he saw Apple Cinnamon and Ginger Pie coming towards them. Peachy then got up and trotted towards her father. Blueblood stood there, thinking about her words. · · • • • ✤ • • • · · The long walk caused the pair to arrive at dusk. BlueBlood was already so worn he even cared when he received a ginger sermon for not plowing the Apple Cinnamon field. To his unhappiness, there was a party in the gardens of the palace, the whole Elite of Canterlot was there. He liked to be present at the social parties, especially when there were other admirable ponies and as snobs as he, but now, he just wanted to see a specific pony. The rosy alicorn had locked up in the library, reading the end of his novel. She did not notice BlueBlood's entry that was nothing but discreet. "Cadance? Are you there? Oh, there you are." BlueBlood walked slowly, sat ahead of Cadance on the table. "Wow! Where were you?" The pot was frightened by the foal's sight. Her by the white was muddy and the slightly messy crin. "That does not matter now, I came here because ... I ..." BlueBlood's barrier ripped off, but he was determined to go through pride, however difficult. "I came to apologize for saying what I said earlier. I was foolish and inappropriate, I hurt you, I hurt everyone from the palace that, wanting or not, they had humble origin. You were right when I said I had no idea what the reality was like But now I know a difficult part of it." The words came out stuck, as if he struggled not to say them. Cadance smiled tenderly, glad BlueBlood has recognized his mistake. A blue glow appeared from her flank, her Cutie Mark shone beautifully in the same way as the aura of her horn. She was not doing it consciously, her aura wrapped the body of the prince and then concentrated on the chest. He felt as if something clinged in his heart and suddenly in his mind something seemed different, although everything remained the same. Then the glow stopped and BlueBlood was static on the floor. "What was that?" He trembled. "I-I do not know, are you okay?" Cadance ran to find out the foal. "Yes? I'm normal, at least I feel normal." He looked at his tail, to make sure there was nothing different. "Great, I'm glad you recognized you were wrong." "It's hard to go over the pride ..." "I imagine, but you got it and it's already a start." Cade smiled. · · • • • ✤ • • • · · "So, it was exactly as I imagined. When making a quick visit to the north, I noticed that on the horizon something seemed unstable and it was not the unnatural storms that were constantly occurring in the region. A large shadow , not a creature, but a building that It showed itself in the middle of the fog, appearing imposing and morbidly grand. Right at the top of the highest construction peak in the shadow, a blue glow caught my attention. In fact, the curse was weakening, that was enough to carry the heart What remains to be seen is how long this curse will last, for if the empire will not be the only thing to return." Celestia rested her quill on the inkwell. The first part of her theory was confirmed, so the second part could be easily accepted when she finally discovered the connection between Cadance's magic and the crystal heart. What was Cadance's magic capable of doing?