The Crystal Princess took a stroll around the castle after comforting her aunt. She walked from grand corridor to grand corridor. She looked out the windows and saw a beautiful sun greeting her outside. She bowed her head and continued walking. Cadence kept on remembering about how depressed her mom was, yet how her mom still smiled. The loss of her father was devastating, and nopony knew how he had passed away. She could understand why her mom would be so sad though because her mother was the empress of love. She was taught that when a loved one dies in the royal family, there was the danger of falling into a deep depression. It was always a curse.
Cadence continued to sulk around the castle, until she caught the attention of a maid. The maid was using her magic, levitating a feather duster, and dusting the furniture around the castle, when she saw Princess Cadence. Of course, the maid was much too shy to approach the princess, so she dismissed it. It was until after it was in the late afternoon that Princess Cadence went to her bedroom. She opened the balcony door and walked outside. She saw that her aunt was about to set the sun and start the moonrise for the first time.
“The night that Celestia brought was beautiful,” Cadence though, “but it’s not as beautiful as Luna’s.” She looked up and saw a mare-like shadow on the moon. She sighed and decided that it was time to sleep, as she had been spending the entire day walking around the castle. She used her magic to take off her crown, necklace, and shoes, and proceeded to lie down on her comfortable bed. She took a quick glance around her new room, it was painted a light purple with little pink hearts that seemed to fly from wall to wall. There was a grand chandelier in the center and there was a seating area with 4 chairs and a glass table. Her bed was a gorgeous pink and gold with transparent curtains that were cyan. She used her magic to cover herself with her down comforter and she quickly fell asleep.
Cadence could hear a deep voice chuckle, which quickly turned into evil laughter. She was trapped within the Crystal mines and it was extremely dark. She couldn’t even see her own hoof in front of her face, until there was a sudden blast of bright light. She looked in the direction of where it came from and saw that it was the Crystal Heart, the one that had been missing for years. She tried to grab it, but it shattered at her touch.
“You are not suit to become the Crystal Empresssss…” A voice whispered, “Who are you to take my placccceeeee…?” Cadence gulped and shouted back.
“And who are you to tell me what I should become? Show yourself!” Shortly after Cadence replied, a stallion whose coat was as dark as shadows and eyes as red as blood was right in front of her. He evilly grinned.
“Have you forgotten about me sssssoooo sssssooon? I am the Crystal Emperor, and I will not tolerate you or your little pretty princesss auntssss…” Soon, she was out of the mines and was outside of the Crystal Palace. She looked around, the skies were a deep orange, and the crystal ponies’ coats were dull. Quickly after that, she was teleported to the royal throne room.
“Sombra! Who do you think you are, trying to steal our Crystal Heart?” Cadence turned around and saw her mom, trying to fight off Emperor Sombra. Sombra, with glowing purple flames from his eyes, maniacally laughed. He turned to face the empress and used his dark magic to lift up the Crystal Heart.
“My dear empressss, what do you think I am doing? This Crystal Heart is the key component to kicking me out of my throne! You may think you have the sssstrength to beat me, but you are terribly wrong…” He laughed as he sent the Crystal Heart away. “I have hid it away, where nopony will ever find it. Ssssurrender now or you will sssoon sssee what my power is capable of.” Cadence watched as her mom fought with much effort; however, her mom’s magic was not strong enough compared to Sombra’s.
“You won’t win Sombra, and you never will! Not as long as the royal bloodline lives! You may be able to defeat me, but you can’t live without fulfilling your desire for crystals, and you will become weak. The crystal citizens are escaping now, and soon the princesses of Equestria will defeat you.” Sombra walked closer to Empress Cristyllo and stomped his hoof on her battered torso. He used his magic to finish her off and Cadence looked away at this moment. Not long afterwards, Princess Celestia and Luna came with the Elements of Harmony and, just barely, banished Emperor Sombra. Soon, the palace was starting to fade away, and Princess Celestia hurried to find Princess Cadence and carried her away.
“Mom… No, the Crystal Empire! The people need to be saved; my mom needs to be saved! Where are we going auntie?” The young Cadence frantically asked, but the princesses did not answer. All she could see was the sight of the Crystal Empire fading away, along with her mother and all of the crystal citizens. Soon, they flew so far high into the air, that Cadence could not see her empire anymore, but could only see nothing but sky and clouds.
“No…” Cadence groaned aloud, “No!” She woke up and saw that she was still safe in her bedroom at Canterlot, and that everything was just a dream. She caught her breath and wiped away the tears in her eyes. Soon, the maid from earlier came inside.
“Princess, are you all right? I heard you screaming in your bedroom, and I was worried that something had happened…” Cadence smiled and told her that it was just a bad dream. The maid quickly dismissed herself and said that she would retrieve Princess Celestia.
“No, please, it’s alright. I wouldn’t want Celestia to get worried about me. After all, she still has to cope with Luna being gone. I wouldn’t want to put too much weight on her wings.” Cadence told the maid, and the maid promised to keep this conversation a secret. “What is your name?” Cadence asked.
“My full name is Joybloom, but ponies just call me Joy,” the maid politely replied.
“What a nice name Joy, I’m sure you’ve heard of my name. You can call me Cadence; I wouldn’t want you to be intimidated by my royal title.” She bid the maid farewell and she closed the door. The princess looked outside and saw that it was still dark out. “Might as well wake up anyway, after all, I can’t sleep with the thought of the empire on my mind.” Cadence used her magic to put on her crown, necklace, and shoes and headed outside. As far as she knew, Joybloom and a couple of other maids were the only ponies awake at this time. There were even some guards falling asleep during their nightly shift. She walked into the grand sitting area of the castle and saw that some other pony was not asleep as well. A white coated mare with a colorful flowing mane was still up late at night.
“Aunt Celestia, why are you up so late? Shouldn’t you be in bed so you can be on time when you raise the sun?” Cadence asked, as she walked to her aunt’s side. Her aunt warmly chuckled.
“Dear Cadence, I should ask you the same. I just came out onto the balcony to get some fresh air. The bedrooms are quite stuffy here, and I plan to renovate them soon,” Celestia looked up to the sky. “Isn’t the night beautiful? Of course, it’s not as beautiful as my sister’s.”
“I had a bad dream,” Cadence told her aunt, “I’m guessing you did too?” Celestia looked at Cadence and sat down to meet her niece’s height.
“My sister is the princess of the night, therefore she handles with dreams. Or at least, she used to. I have been having trouble sleeping ever since her banishment,” Celestia answered Cadence. “Please Cadence, is there something troubling you too?” Cadence shook her head.
“I’m fine,” the pink coated princess lied, “I am more worried about you. I’ve heard that you haven’t been going to your royal meetings lately. The ponies of Equestria are worried about you too. I am the princess of love, like my mom, I understand how hard it is to lose somepony.”
Princess Celestia smiled and said, “I believe we have already gone over this topic, dear niece. I do miss Luna, but there are things much more important. I regret what I have done, but there was no choice and we must move on, right?” Princess Cadence’s worries vanished when she saw her smiling aunt. “It’s time to raise the sun, would you like to come along with me?” Cadence nodded and hopped onto her aunt’s back. Celestia pretended to stumble around, “You’re so heavy now for a little filly! I don’t think I can carry you down!”
“Heeey! I am not that heavy!” Cadence stated, as Celestia laughed and soon, Cadence joined her aunt in laughter.