//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 // Story: Halcyon Hearts // by TheMyth //------------------------------// The ride up to the Crystal Empire wasn’t boring, at least not to Twilight and Blaze. They stepped off the train and onto the platform with smiles on their faces. Rarity and Fluttershy, who had been in the car next to them, gave them a few odd looks but said nothing. “Whoa... you guys weren’t kidding,” Blaze noted as he looked around. As nice as Canterlot had been, there was a certain novelty to the Crystal Empire that the capital city could not mimic. The unusual inhabitants just added to the aesthetic. “Yeah, well, don’t get too excited,” Twilight noted, looking over the schedule she had made for herself. “We probably won’t have time to sightsee. The Games Commissioner is notoriously hard to please. We’ll probably spend our entire weekend just showing her around.” “Didn’t you say your brother was going to meet us here?” Rarity noted. Blaze froze. “Her brother? Shining Armor?” he said, his pupils shrinking to the size of pencil points. “Relax, I’m sure Shiny can behave himself,” Twilight said. “He should be...” At that moment, the voice of the stallion in question drifted through the air. “Twiley!” Seven heads turned to see the Prince of the Crystal Empire trotting up to meet them. “Shiny,” Twilight said, running up to nuzzle her brother. The other mares went to greet him as well, with only Blaze staying back, trying to make himself as invisible as possible. “I’m glad you could make it up,” the unicorn said as he began leading his group of guests toward the palace. “We were hoping that having the Bearers represent this place would get it approved. The Crystal Ponies need a little pick-me-up after everything they’ve been through.” “Wait,” Rainbow Dash said, “can’t Princess Celestia just decree where the games are held?” “I’m afraid not,” Shining Armor said, shaking his head. “She signed away her right to do so a few decades ago, during one of her reforms.” “Always getting closer to a democracy,” Twilight said happily. “The games commissioner, Ms. Harshwhinny, is arriving later today,” Shining Armor continued. “It’ll be your job to show her around the Empire and convince her this will be an ideal location.” “What do you want us to show her?” Shining bobbed his head as he looked up to the sky. “Just show her around the empire, make her see it’s in grand condition before she meets up with Cadance and I to-” his words fell flat when his eyes landed on Blaze. The eyes narrowed as he stared at the pegasus, leaning to Twilight’s ear. “What’s he doing here?” “I invited him, Shiny,” Twilight replied plainly, walking up to Blaze and pulling her coltfriend up to where the others were standing. “Anyway, what say we go meet Cadance now?” she asked all the ponies around her, not waiting for a reply as she walked on off. Her friends shrugged and followed her, leaving Shining and Blaze alone. “Lead the way,” Blaze said as he grinned to the white unicorn, invoking a glare from Shining. Shining leaned his head dangerously close to Blaze’s. “I got my eye on you.” “Grow up.” Blaze retorted, deciding to follow the girls instead of the frustrated Shining Armor. Cadance sighed, looking out at her window of her new throne room overlooking the empire. She was happy that her sister-in-law would be coming soon, but was also nervous with the commissioner and gaining favour from her to host the Games in the Crystal Empire. Her eyes landed on three statues that have been crafted recently; one depicting her and Shining Armor, the latter holding her in the air like a javelin. The other with the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony standing together with their elements, and the last one was that of her nephew Spike. Cadance chuckled, remembering how the crystal ponies voted on making him an honorary member of the empire and naming a public holiday after him. Her ears perked when she heard the doors to the throne room open. She slowly turned around and saw her husband standing in the doorway, with his sister and friends. Cadance smiled broadly, trotting up towards Twilight and the others. “Twilight!” “Cadance!” Both ponies rushed up to each other, taking a stance and performing their signature greeting. “Sunshine! Sunshine! Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” Both Cadance and Twilight giggled, hugging the other. Cadance nuzzled her little sister-in-law before letting go of her. “It’s so wonderful to see you again, Twilight!” she said merrily, standing up on all fours again. “You, too,” Twilight said. Cadance’s gaze turned to Twilight’s coltfriend. “Blaze, good to see you, too,” she said, giving him a hug. Shining Armor glared. Blaze hoped he’d make it out of this weekend alive. “Um, yes, good to see you too,” he said quickly, breaking up the hug as efficiently as possible without being rude. “We, uh, better get to work on this. Any idea when she’s going to get here?” “Actually,” Cadance said, looking at the wall clock, “right about now.” “Okay, girls,” Twilight said as they scanned the crowd. “We’re looking for a pony with floral print luggage.” “Look, there’s one,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing to a rather simple looking pony with the luggage matching the description. “That’s her!” “Hold on,” Twilight said, stopping her. Slowly, she walked up to this newcomer. “Excuse me, are you Ms. Harshwhinny?” “I’m afraid not, darling.” “I’m sorry, my mistake,” Twilight said, turning back to her group. “Wow, it’s a good thing you asked her name,” Rainbow Dash noted. “Yeah, can you imagine what would'a happened if we had shown some stranger around?” Applejack added. “That would have been silly!” Pinkie chirped. “Um, I think that might be her,” Fluttershy said, pointing to another pony with a floral suitcase. “It’s worth a try,” she said, taking a deep breath and walking up to her. “Excuse me, are you Ms. Harshwhinny?” “Yes, I am...” Ms Harshwhinny responded, shifting her scarf before looking to Twilight. “And you must be Ms Twilight Sparkle, I presume?” Twilight flustered a little, blinking profoundly with a hint of red on her cheeks. “Y-you’ve heard about me?” “My dear mare,” Ms. Harshwhinny said, smiling a little. “Anypony who lives in the major cities of Equestria has heard of you and your companions’ names,” she said, leaning in a little to Twilight’s ear. “Even your son is famous...” “Oh! T-thank you...” She looked to see all of Twilight’s friends standing behind her. “And I see the other Elements of Harmony are here to greet me, what an honour...” she said, with Twilight’s friends looking away and rubbing their heads with smiles on their muzzles. “Could you be so kind as to lead me to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, please, Ms Sparkle?” Twilight ears perked before she cleared her throat. “A-actually, Cadance is at the moment preoccupied with royal duties.” “Oh, I see...” “In the meanwhile,” Twilight smiled wide to Ms. Harshwhinny. “Why don’t my friends and I show you around the city?” Twilight spoke softly, never breaking her smile. Ms. Harshwhinny simply nodded and smiled briefly. “By all means, then,” she said, taking out a notebook and writing down something before tucking it back in her bag. “Lead the way, Ms Sparkle.” “Right this way...” Blaze whistled when he decided to look out to the city of the Crystal Empire. I can’t wait to show this to Light... He chuckled when he thought back to his colt, remembering how he and Light never went outside of Canterlot nor Manehatten. His ears flickered when he heard hoofsteps approach him, and he looked to his side to see Cadance. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” “Yeah. Sure is...” “Are you feeling alright? You seem nervous around my husband...” “Gee, I wonder why,” Blaze said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “You know, for somepony with fire powers, you’re remarkably rattled by him,” Cadance noted. “Back during the Bloodwing incident, just one of you could cause the Elements of Harmony trouble.” Cadance’s words caused him to jump a bit in surprise. His powers, the ones he had forgotten he had. “It seems so long ago,” he said, looking out over the Empire. “Almost like it was a different pony it happened to.” “What do you mean?” “I mean, I never thought it would be like this,” he said. “Over a month ago I thought the only way out would be either Bloodwing winning or me being arrested. It seemed so hopeless. I never thought I could give Light the life he deserved, let alone be there to enjoy it with him. Now look, he’s my son, he’s going to get a mother if things work out between me and Twi, I’m a Wonderbolt... it’s pretty overwhelming.” He summoned some flames on his wings and looked at them for a moment. “I hated these powers. But I never thought I could be separated from them. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think I was normal.” “Celestia couldn’t change you back?” “She could, but wouldn’t. It’s part of the deal, I have to use them to serve Equestria if the need ever comes up.” “Well, can’t you use them for tricks? I’m pretty sure the Wonderbolts could think of something flashy for you.” “Believe me, I think Spitfire’s already on it,” he sighed. “You don’t sound too happy about that.” After a moment, he smiled. “You know, I’m actually happy I’m unhappy, if that makes any sense. Before I was free, Light was all I cared about. Nothing else mattered, because everything revolved around protecting him. Now... well, I still do that, but I have help. My fiends... I have friends now... they take some of the pressure off. I have time to be me again. I think... I think maybe that’s why Celestia required me to spend time with Twilight and the Wonderbolts. She knew I needed some time away from Light.” Cadance smiled fondly at his words, walking slowly up towards him. “Friends will always help you out,” she said as she looked out the window, where she swore she saw Twilight and the others. “And love will always find a way...” “I guess so,” Blaze laughed a bit, before his eyes looked up to Cadance’s hair. “Hate to change the subject, but why you have your hair studded in jewels?” “Oh!” Cadance giggled, blushing a moment. “It’s for the commissioner, something of a ‘necessity’ my aunt told me...” Blaze tilted his head, cocking his eyebrow. “You think she was just pulling your leg?” he asked plainly, taking Celestia’s joking behaviour into consideration. “The thought had occurred to me...” Before either pony could speak any further, the door opened up again. This time, Shining Armor entered the room. He was wearing his ceremonial armor, which were made of pure crystal. “Cadie, the commissioner will be here soon and-” his words were cut short when he looked to the pony keeping his wife company. “I’ll be there now, Shiny,” she replied to her husband, before turning her attention to Blaze. “It was nice talking to you, Blaze, but I must be off to-” “Say no more,” Blaze chimed in, raising his hoof and grinning. “Go out there and wow the commissioner with that shiny hair of yours,” he told her with humor behind his voice, not noticing Shining glaring at him and a stress mark appearing on the unicorn’s forehead. Cadance giggled again, nodding at his words. “I just hope I don’t look like an idiot with this,” she muttered, walking to the door with her husband. “I’ll see you later.” she said, before leaving the room. Shining looked at Blaze again, narrowing his eyes at the pegasus. He walked out of the room, leaving Blaze alone with his thoughts. As he shrugged with his eyes closed, Blaze looked back at his wings and flared them up again. He sighed, thinking of the power he held inside of him. I suppose I could practice with my powers a little, maybe not only for tricks alone... He looked out of the window again, furrowing his eyebrow to the horizon. Never hurts to be prepared for the future... “Well then, I think I’ve seen enough,” Ms. Harshwhinny said. “I think this will be the perfect for the Games.” Six pairs of eyes lit up in excitement. Cadance managed to stay better restrained. “You’ve truly decided?” “The Crystal Empire is already becoming a prime tourism spot, and I had such a great time I believe that this will be the perfect place.” “That’s great!” Cadance said. “Why don’t we step into my office and handle the paperwork?” The group went silent as the Princess of the Crystal Empire led the Games Commissioner out of the rotunda. After a moment, when they were sure they were out of earshot, the crowd cheered. “Yes, yes! We did it! “And in record time too,” Rarity declared. “I must say, this trip turned out to be quite the success.” “Then let’s party!” Pinkie said, pulling out a party blower and blowing it as hard as she could. “Uh, Pinkie, maybe we outta save th’ fun stuff fer when th’ games are on,” Applejack deadpanned. “Silly Applejack. You don’t need to save fun! There’s plenty to go around!” “I must agree with Applejack,” Rarity said. “Why not just go out to dinner? The six of us, Cadance, and Shining Armor... and Blaze of course,” she added, turning to Twilight. The lavender mare simply smiled. “That sounds good. I’ll go find him... and get the chefs to put on a meal for us.” Blaze’s practice was a bit difficult. He had chosen the stadium where the games would be held to work out a bit. However, apparently Shining Armor had apparently told the guards to keep an eye on him, because they were watching him with an intense look that made him uncomfortable. He finally got tired of it, and had just decided to land and head back inside. Blaze huffed, as he caught his breath. He took a towel that lay on the bench and wiped the sweat of his forehead. He saw the guards still looking at him, with eyes never leaving their assigned spot. “You know,” Blaze sighed, raising his eyebrow at the guard. “You don’t have to look at me all the time...” “Captain’s orders, to keep a close eye on you.” “Fine,” Blaze sighed out in frustration and was about to leave, when he saw the Shining Armor at the door. “You done with exercise today?” he asked rather casually, not glaring at him one bit. “Yeah...” Blaze replied cautiously, cocking his eyebrow. “Why the change of attitude?” he asked Shining curiously. “I dunno what you mean.” “Whatever.” Shining cleared his throat before furrowing his brow slightly. “But I do have a challenge for you, if you not too tired.” Blaze’s ears perked at the word ‘challenge’. “What kind of challenge?” “A duel,” Shining replied plainly, smiling a little at Blaze. “A duel?” Blaze repeated Shining’s words, with the latter nodding and keeping his smile. “With whom?” “Me.” The guard next to Shining was flabbergasted at the challenge’s conditions. He gulped nervously as his eyes widened, and he stared at Blaze who didn’t show any reaction to this. Does he even know the Captain’s record of victories in duels? Blaze shrugged, closing his eyes. “Sure,” he answered Shining and opened his eyes again to reveal a glint of confidence in them. “Good,” Shining said, as his smile turned sinister. “Any other rules?” “Just the basic ones. We stay in the ring. If you get knocked out, give up, or, and this better not happen, kill somepony, you're disqualified. Oh, and out-of-bounds counts as more than twenty meters above the arena, so no using your flying to get too high.” “Makes sense.” “Oh, and none of that freaky fire magic you have. This will be a pure strength battle.” Blaze arched an eyebrow. “Afraid I might whoop ya?” “No, I just want to keep this safe. I’m not even going to use magic. Deal?” “Fine. After you,” he said, motioning for him to step toward the combat circle. Shining Armor went in with his head held high, with Blaze right behind him, looking equally confident but nowhere near as disciplined about it. The two stood on the circular arena, standing face-to-face. Flash Sentry raised his wings. “Ready? ...Begin.” In a flash, the two stallions lunged at each other. Shining Armor pulled his opponent in a headlock. “See? I already got...” He was cut off when Blaze gave him a swift kick in the gut. He wheezed and fell back, giving a groan. Blaze tried to follow up his attack, but Shining Armor didn’t get to be head of the guards by being easy to defeat,and countered Blaze's attack by pushing him to one side. “Not gonna be that easy,” he smirked. “Could have fooled me,” Blaze shot back. He was rewarded with a low kick that missed him completely, as he was up in the air much too fast. Shining Armor rose to his hooves and stood there, waiting. Blaze would have to dive bomb him to attack. He was correct, and though Blaze was much faster than he anticipated, Shining still got a hoof underneath his chin, knocking him back. Both ponies ended up on the ground, Shining Armor rolling from being tackled and Blaze clutching his chin in pain. “You’re better than you look,” Shining Armor praised. Blaze moved his jaw and chuckled. “You’re not half bad yourself,” he returned the praise. Shining stood up from the ground and narrowed his eyes as he smirked. “Why don’t we make this interesting?” he lit up his horn and began to charge magic in it. “I can use magic and you can use yours...” Standing up from, Blaze looked on to Shining before his move moved again. A slow grinned formed, and his wings began to lit up in flames. The flames were not exclusive to his wings only, as his torso was also coated in flames along with his hair. “You won’t forget this,” Blaze merely told him, before vanishing from Shining’s sight. Shining squinted his eyes to focus on Blaze’s location, before he heard the sound of fire sizzling to his side. Immediately, he put up a shield to withstand the hoof that Blaze readied for him. The hoof impacted with the shield, creating an explosion of flame. Blaze grinned as he flew backwards, seeing Shining’s shield still holding. “That shield of yours is pretty good.” “So is that fiery punch of yours,” Shining complimented his opponent with a wry smile. I just hope I can beat him without going all out on him... “Here I come!” Shining galloped towards Blaze, his horn shined bright. When he thought he was near his target, he released a laser of magic that went through the wall on the other side. Having dodged in time, Blaze was shocked to hear a loud boom on the outside. If that had hit me... He had no time to react, seeing Shining prepare another one. Blaze’s brow furrowed as he focused his power, and his wings caught fire again. He flew upwards and tucked his wings in for a second, before unfurling them to release fire that created a barrier with them inside of it. Shining whistled as he started sweating. “That’s a nice trick there...” “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Blaze decided to fly directly to Shining, with the latter stepping one side. When Shining thought he was going to turn around, he looked back to see Blaze missing. He looked around him but found him nowhere. Before he could react, Blaze jumped out of the flames and proceeded in sending projectiles at Shining. With the unicorn deflecting the attacks, Blaze decided to tackle him again. With quick reaction, Shining charged up a beam and sent it Blaze who was a mere inch away from him. A loud explosion come afterwards, and the dome of fire dissipated. When the flames cleared, two exhausted stallions stood facing each other. Both stallions eyed the other before charging towards each other, screaming a battle cry. “Knock it off!” Suddenly a purple aura surrounded them both, lifting the two stallions in the air. Their protests died when they saw a very angry Twilight and an equally angry Cadance glaring at them. “What in Equestria do you two think you’re doing?” Twilight demanded angrily. The two full grown stallions, at that moment, looked like colts with their hooves caught in the cookie jar. “We were just, uh...” Shining Armor stuttered. “Just having a friendly sparring match,” Blaze said quickly. “Yes. Just a friendly match.” “Really?” Twilight said with a lifted eyebrow. “It seemed far from friendly to me.” She lowered them down, though she still seemed angry. “Well, we’re stallions, it just got a little...” “I thought I made it clear I didn’t want either of you...” She trailed off as Cadance trotted over, with some difficulty due to her showing belly, and smacked her husband upside the head. “What were you thinking?” “Dear...” “Shiny, you’re going to be a father soon. Is that what you want to teach our foal? To go around beating up ponies he doesn’t like?” “Dear, it wasn’t like that...” “Shiny, nothing you say is going to stop me...” As it turns out, Shining Armor didn’t try to say anything. He just swept his wife up and planted a deep kiss on her lips. Cadance went from being shocked to melting into the action. As they pulled apart, leaving a dazed and swooning Twilight, Blaze muttered, “You’re good.” “I can’t believe that!” Twilight yelled. “Cadance, how could you...” Blaze decided to go for broke as well, sweeping Twilight off her hooves and planting a kiss on her. They pulled apart. Twilight smacked him. “Ow!” Blaze rubbed his chin soothingly to ease the stinging pain. “What was that for?!” Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed. “You know exactly why, you fight with my brother and use your pyrotechnics on him to-” “Twilight...” The lavender unicorn’s ears perked at Cadance calling her. She turned her head slowly to see Cadance not smiling at her. The alicorn shook her head with her eyes closed and opened them again to look Twilight directly in the eye. Twilight sighed and used her magic to heal Blaze’s stinging cheek. “Just please don’t do that again,” she told him, bringing her eyes closer to his. “Got it memorized?” she mimicked his favourite saying. “You got it.” Twilight smiled and decided to repay him with a heartfelt kiss of her own, that both ponies melted into the embrace. When Twilight was free from his lips, she stood up with Blaze on all four hooves. Blaze nearly collapsed from standing as he suddenly felt pain in his front hoof. “Oh my gosh!” Twilight reached out for him and held him close. “Are you ok?” “Yeah, no worry... just a little sting,” Blaze replied, standing on the hoof again. His face contorted slightly as he felt a surge of pain. Twilight furrowed her brow and used her magic to encase the hoof in a protective aura. She turned to her brother, glaring at him. “I’ll talk to you later,” the only reply she got from him was a gulp and a grim look on his face. “Blaze, let’s go back to our room...” she spoke softly to her colt friend and together they walked past Flash Sentry. Shining looked as though he sighed a death wish when Twilight gave him that look. His head turned slowly to his wife. “I’m in so much trouble, aren’t I?” Cadance merely sighed and nodded her head. “Yes, you are,” she said plaintively. “Oh, and Shining.” “Yes?” “You’re sleeping on the couch tonight.” she gave him a quick peck before rushing off to meet Twilight and Blaze. Shining’s jaw was agape and he fell on his haunches. His lips were quivering as he stared out to the beyond. Flash Sentry’s eyes darted to every corner until he saluted his captain and flew off with all haste. Shining merely sat there dumbfounded at what happened. “Cadie...” Rainbow Dash couldn’t hide her amusement as she watched Shining Armor walk back toward the palace. She laughed uproariously, finding the whole thing quite amusing. Eventually the laughter died down and she kicked back on her cloud, looking down at the various other ponies flying and competing. She might join in tomorrow morning and fly a few laps, if she had the time. She thought of her father. He would have loved this. It was almost a shame he couldn’t come. She smiled as she thought of her daughter and him, having a good time with each other. She remembered seeing what a wreck he had been just weeks ago, a pitiful drunk missing his child. In just a short amount of time, he was looking like his old self, at least as close as somepony who had been through what he had been through could look. She kicked back and looked at the stars which were just starting to come out. Her father and her were a family again, Scootaloo had a nice colt, her friends were all getting families of their own. So much was changing so fast. And yet, just lying here thinking about it, she decided she was just fine with that.