The last week had gone as well as could be expected. If Jet could say anything about the girls, they were adaptive.
He had enrolled them in classes within a day and according to their homeroom teacher, they’d adjusted quite well to the new curriculum and students. Olive in particular had dived into her classes with enthusiasm, and while Silver hadn’t quite shown her sister’s same propensity for learning he could not fault her determination.
Jet, on the other hand could find plenty of faults with himself.
At the orphanage, he’d managed to remain calm, sophisticated. During the ride home in the carriage they’d had rather enjoyable conversations, short though they may have been.
Even when they had arrived at the estate it had started well enough, however once they had chosen their new room right down the hall from his own, Varnish had thought it was endearing, and unpacked their luggage, the realization that they were now truly new family had slammed into him like a runaway train.
Normally, Crux considered himself rather level-headed but he would be lying if he’d said he hadn’t panicked just slightly.
No matter how hard he had tried, and he had worked harder on this than he had smiling at Lord Jasper’s wedding, he couldn’t seem to relax around those two.
He’d fallen back on old habits almost immediately, sequestering himself in his father’s office and making excuses about tax forms that needed attention, or receiving a conveniently timed notice to return a late library book.
Though Olive was perhaps too nose-deep in his father’s library to take much notice, Silver had picked up on his hesitation almost immediately.
She had apparently mistaken it for dislike on his part and had recently begun avoiding eye contact with him, only speaking when spoken to directly and even then keeping her reply as short as possible.
The frustrated young lord even now sat in his office, the comfortably padded chair doing little to ease the uncharacteristic scowl that twisted his muzzle. Papers lay on his desk unheeded, his mind too clouded with frustration and contempt for his awkwardness to bother with their contents.
“Here I am, hiding in my proverbial castle from two little fillies like a foal frightened by Nightmare Night decorations. I call myself their guardian for Maker’s sake, I should be out congratulating them on their hard work, or helping them with their homework at the very least."
"Yet I can’t even manage to speak with them like normal ponies. Let alone the fact that, if anything, Olive would most likely be helping me with my work.”
So absorbed was he with his internal berating, he didn’t notice the creak of his door as a pony stepped softly inside bearing a tray.
“Ah, a pony must be careful with such a face young master, lest it freeze that way, non?”
The young lord sighed and closed his eyes, slumping over the desk defeatedly with his horn scraping against the lacquered hardwood.
“What am I going to do, Merlot?”
“About what, young master? If you are asking this most humble servant for advice with some legal matter or another I must admit, such things are far above my paygrade.”
The dark purple unicorn gently set aside the few papers on Crux’s workplace, stacking them into a neat pile as he placed the tea tray down with nary a sound.
“No, Merlot about the children. What am I going to do about the children!?” The irate stallion slammed a hoof onto the desk, rattling the cups and saucers.
“Calmez-vous, young master! This was your mother’s favorite tea set. You break it, I break you, oui? And I am certain I do not know what you mean, have the young ladies gotten in trouble?”
Crux sighed through his nose, exasperated. “No, Merlot they haven’t. Though perhaps it would be easier to speak with them if they had.”
The butler clicked his tongue comprehendingly. “Ah, je comprends. You have been rather awkward speaking to the filles of late, oui?”
“I’m afraid awkward doesn’t do it justice. Silver’s barely even looking at me anymore. I’ve only been their guardian for a week and I’m already making a royal mess of things.”
Merlot shook his head an amused smile on his face as he poured two cups of steaming tea. “It has only been a week, and you were expecting to have already grown as close as family? Ne soyez pas ridicule, young master.”
“Please don’t do that, you know I can’t understand a word of Prench.”
“That is why I do. Believe me, young master if your parents understood half of what I said in my native tongue I would have been fired long ago.”
The desk muffled Crux’s snort of amusement.
“Ah, he no longer mopes but manages a laugh! Nous devons célébrer!” The butler cheered condescendingly.
“Yes, keep it up and it won’t matter if I can understand you or not. I shall still fire you.” Crux tried stubbornly to keep his scowl but his butler’s joviality had worked its magic.
“Please, young master,” Merlot chuckled. “If you could get through a single day without moi I would gladly hand in my own resignation.”
The strong, sharp scent of peppermint assailed his nostrils as Merlot’s magic passed him a steaming cup.
“Mmm, peppermint, hmm? Was I really that out of sorts?” He breathed deeply of the calming mist as he blew gently on his drink.
“I’m afraid so young master, I did not even have to ask for it to be made. As soon as I entered the kitchens Madame Varnish thrust the tray in my hooves, and me out the door. Such power in a mare, I have never seen.” The butler’s eyes glazed over, seeing beyond the walls of the office.
“Easy, Merlot. Don’t you know what they say about employee relationships.” Crux smirked, taking a sip of his tea. The soothing taste of peppermint easing mind and body.
“Well, they can go soak their heads. I shall win that bountiful mare yet!” Merlot raised a challenging hoof to the ceiling.
The young lord shivered, despite the hot tea in his mouth. “Please don’t refer to my prior nanny and current maid as bountiful. I’d like to enjoy today’s dinner.”
“Ah, and speaking of dinner, it should be an excellent time to work on that family bond you so desire!”
Crux sighed, jettisoning a cloud of scented steam from his cup. “That’s just it, Merlot. I can’t seem to be able to accept them as family.” The lord’s ears drooped depressedly.
The butler smiled sadly, comprehending. “Oui, young master. That is also not surprising, but please try to keep in mind that the filles are not your parents’ replacements, nor should they ever be.”
Staring at the his desk the grey stallion could only nod slowly, feeling his dour mood begin to creep back upon him.
Merlot smiled brightly, if a bit forcefully, pouring himself a cup of tea. “Don’t be too concerned about your relationship with the girls, young master. Why, I am certain they’ll be breaking down your door to talk to you about all sorts of things any day now, non?”
The two stallions chuckled, the magic of silence, tea and companionship falling over the room, broken only by the sounds of pouring liquid and clinking spoons.
*SLAM*
“Mister Crux, come quick! Something’s happened to Olive!” Silver screamed, distressed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earlier that day…
“Ugh,” Silver groaned.
She lay sprawled out on her bed, the comforters rumpled and scattered across the mattress in fluffy piles.
Stealing a glance over to her roommate to see if she’d noticed, he ears flattened in annoyance as she saw Olive sitting in a padded chair by the veranda, her face still buried in her book.
“Ughhh.”
Olive’s ear twitched slightly, she drew her hardback closer to her muzzle; a shield between her and her fidgeting sister.
“Oliiive~!” The pegasus filly whined. “C’mon~! I’m so bored, can’t you put that book down and go do something with me?” She flopped around on the mattress, trying to draw the unicorn’s attention.
Her sister’s only response was hunching her withers, trying to force as much of her body behind the book and out of Silver’s line of sight as possible.
“Ughhhhhhhh-” Silver squeaked and broke off her groaning, ducking as Olive hurled a book at her head.
“Silver, would you shut up!? I am trying to read!”
The innocent hardback sailed harmlessly over Silver’s mane and slammed into the vanity table, knocking down mane-care products and combs. The fillies flinched as the sound of shattering glass cracked through the air.
Accompanied by tinkling shards of glass, the hardback flopped listlessly to the carpet, bemoaning its mistress’ cruel treatment.
Olive stepped down from her seat, taking hesitant, horrified hoofsteps over to the damaged vanity.
“Oooo, you’re in trouubleee~,” Silver taunted in a sing-song voice.
“B-but I-I didn’t mean to...and it’s also your fault!” She screeched,
“Well, I don’t know about that. I wasn’t the one who threw a book at Granny’s make-up table.”
Olive huffed petulantly, picking up the offending novel in her magic. She gasped, horrified.
“Oh, no!”
Silver jumped down from her bed, her frizzy ponytail waving as she tilted her head curiously.
“I broke Miss Sable’s portrait of Mister Aurol!” The filly whimpered as the lipstick graced painting of the deceased husband slid off from the book’s bottom cover, accompanied by a few shards of glass.
The unicorn danced from hoof to hoof fretfully as she picked up the pieces of shattered frame, trying to halfheartedly piece them back together. Silver cantered over to get a better look at the emotional devastation before something caught her eye.
She blinked. “Ooh, and ya knocked a piece of wood out from underneath the table, too.”
“What?!” The filly squeaked, galloping over to stick her head next to the pegasus’.
“Yeah, see? There’s this little panel hanging out from the bottom.”
A hinged, hanging cabinet had been knocked loose by the book’s impact. In the dimmer light under the vanity the girls could see it held a small, circular chest, the kind used to hold jewelry, and a note penned in hornwriting so lilting it was nearly illegible.
“I wonder what that could be,” Olive whispered, plucking the note from its hiding place with her magic. Her panic from the unintended destruction temporarily forgotten.
Silver pulled the small chest out with a wing, turning it over in her hooves.
“I don’t know, but I can’t open this thing. It’s locked.” She ran a pinion over the scrolling wheels of the chest’s combination lock.
Olive ‘hmm-ed’ thoughtfully as she read over the note:
A day I shall never forget, its memory shall live on in the darkest places of my heart and in the contents of this case.
Jet, my son. When you believe yourself ready, open this box.
“Miss Sable left this here for father. He’s supposed to open it.”
The filly turned to Silver, but was too late to notice the pegasus flinch at her statement.
“You said it was locked?”
“Yeah,” Silver said, biting her lip. “It’s got some kinda combination lock or something.” She flicked a feather against one of the sliding tumblers.
“ Ya don’t think her darkest day had anything to do with Gramps, do ya?” She gestured toward the forgotten picture on the carpet.
“I shouldn’t think so.” Olive mumbled, picking up the portrait in her aura and studying it. “I don’t think she would keep his picture on her vanity like- wait.”
Silver’s ears perked up as she glanced away from the container.
“Whadja find?”
The unicorn had turned the portrait backwards, squinting as she read the script hidden on the back.
“To my dearest Aurol, with all my love. Since the heart first began to watch over your people, forever after has our love grown.”
“Since the heart?” Silver asked, a confused expression on her muzzle as she tilted her head.
“Perhaps she meant the Crystal Heart. Remember, father’s parents were alive before the thousand year banishment of the Empire and were trapped in it as well, so they would have been alive when the Empire first made the heart.”
“Wow, I wonder when that wa-”
“Approximately 982 S.E.” Olive tapped her glasses up her nose smugly.
The filly rolled her eyes. “Of course, I’d only have to ask Madame Book...worm.”
Silver trailed off as her eyes were drawn down to the numbered rings on the chest’s surface. A mischievous grin wrinkled her muzzle.
“0 - 9 - 8 - 2.”
“What are you...doing!?” Olive gasped as the tumblers gave a faint click and the lid of the chest popped open with a small cloud of dust.
“Oh, yeah,” Silver sniffed. “I’m the greatest.”
“You weren’t supposed to open that! That was meant for father.”
“Would you stop calling him that?” Silver whimpered.
Olive raised a brow curiously. “What ever for?”
“Nevermind.” The pegasus mumbled as she flipped open the lid.
Her eyes widened in surprise as she beheld a teal crystal disc about the size of a small serving plate, but inscribed with carefully etched runes around the edge. It gave off a soft glow that shimmered with the colors of the rainbow.
“Whoa...pretty.”
“Don’t touch it!” Hissed Olive, smacking Silver’s hoof away. “You don’t know what it is!”
“Sowwy…,” Silver mumbled through her hoof as she held it in her mouth.
“But come on,” she squealed, pulling her hoof away from her mouth and waving it excitedly. “You can’t tell me your nerdy side isn’t interested in this thing.”
Olive sucked in a breath to respond but hesitated, biting her lip and looking away as Silver’s grin reached manic proportions.
“Maybe...just a little bit.”
“Yeah, see!?” Silver waved the crystal in front of her, clutched in a pinion.
The unicorn gasped. “Silver!” She scolded.
“What?” The filly shrugged.
Olive groaned and plucked the crystal disc from her grasp with a delicate magical field.
“Well...it’s obviously magical so if we wanted to know what it is, we should inspect it magically.” She said matter of factly.
“Well? Go on then horn-butt! Light ‘er up!” The filly squealed, her eyes shining in anticipation.
Olive rolled her hazel eyes but did as bid, her horn glowing with a forest green energy as it tapped gently against the disc.
Her eyes slammed shut and she let out a piercing cry as an explosion of light and sound went off behind her eyelids.
“Olive?!”
She heard Silver shriek, shouting for help when she didn’t respond.
The deep, bass rumble ripping through her made her bones rattle, and her ears rang as she let loose a pained scream.
“Sable! What are you doing?!”
A rough, gravelly voice echoed through her mind with the sound of an avalanche. She cried out again, covering her ears with her hooves to no avail; the sound wasn’t real, it was being projected into her thoughts by the strange magic of the crystal disc.
“I’m doing what I should have done to begin with, brother!” the strong voice of a mare reverberated through Olive’s skull. It seemed angry and frustrated, yet holding back so much sorrow and heartache that the unicorn could feel tears pricking behind her clenched eyelids. “You’ve gone mad! You knew that we were not meant to remain in contact with the Cradle for as long as you have. Without its heart to balance it, it’s nothing more than a wretched, hate-filled wound that infects everything around it.”
“Dumplin’!?” she made out Varnish’s shout. “What’s happened ta sweet-pea?!”
Silver’s reply was buried by the unmistakably male voice as it lashed out.
“Somepony had to do it, Sable! If not I or you, then who? Our father?”
The sound of a pony spitting in disgust sent the fur on Olive’s spine rising as a shiver wracked her body.
“ The weakling would have let the Cradle fester! Its anger would have waxed for millennia before crashing down over their Empire like a black tide.”
“Which is why we exist to watch over it! We were meant to protect the Cradle, keep it safe from itself and stop it from harming those ponies under our protection!”
“Hah! Those ponies are the reason for the Cradle’s pain, my pain! They were the ones who stole the Cradle’s heart in the first place! Were it not for their greed, my heart would be at peace!”
The voice’s volume seemed to shake the walls as Olive screamed in agony, clutching her head. At the back of her mind, she could feel hooves shaking her shoulders, a panicked voice calling her name faintly.
“Dumplin...Master Crux...and Merlot! Quickly now!”
“Silver…” she managed to gasp out before the disembodied shouting began afresh.
“Listen to yourself, brother! T’was not your heart that was taken, it was the Cradle’s heart. It has blackened your mind, left its mark on your soul…” Sable hesitated, her voice wavering and cracking with suppressed emotion. “You’re not even a pony anymore, are you? Have you seen your eyes? You used to have such kind red eyes, now they hiss and spit hellish miasma like a pit hydra!”
“ Tis only further proof of my becoming the Cradle’s new heart. I am the harbinger of its anger, and I will show these crystal ponies the error of their ways! With the Cradle’s power backing me, I will crush their flimsy crystal bones under my hooves, not even their whore princesses will be able to stop me!”
Panting hard, Olive tried to catch her breath in a blessed moment of silence, the shouting having momentarily ceased.
“Nay, they will not,” Sable whispered. “Which is why I will have to.”
“Sable?,” the voice echoed, uncertainty peeking out in its gravelly voice. “Sable, answer me! What are you doing?”
“I am sealing the Cradle. I cannot allow you to use its power for evil purposes. Now that you have been so touched by its hatred, the family seals will no longer heed your call, and this place shall be sealed to time.”
“What?! You can’t simply seal the Cradle away, it is the heartwood of the Crystal Mountains itself! All you will achieve is placing a lid over it, eventually it will boil over.”
“Yes, I cannot think of a way to combat the heart as it is now. However, this way I will be able to buy time for those that might. For my child.”
“Olive?!” shouted what must have been Crux. He sounded as panicked as she felt.
…
“You are pregnant. With the foal of that filthy crystal stallion.” It hissed.
“Indeed. Aurol is the father of my child, our families and those of the crystal ponies...it is fitting that the two sides of this conflict come together to mend it, no?”
“You would betray your own brother for that crystal pony and his half-breed bastard?!”
“Yes! I love my Aurol, and I will love my foal! And if I have to, I will shield them with my own soul from the Cradle if need be!” Sable’s proclamation seemed to pierce through Olive’s scattered thoughts, clearing the agitated waters of her mind and warming her from her heart.
“Think you such an act of defiance will be capable of stopping the void left by the loss of the Crystal Heart?” It scoffed, its mocking laughter grating harshly on Olive’s ears, making her grit her teeth in frustration.
“I will do what I must, Sombra.”
As quickly as it began, it was over. Olive’s eyes snapped open, taking in the ponies standing over her; shocked and fearful expressions stamped on their muzzles.
“Olive?!,” Silver shrieked, tears in her eyes. “Are you okay? Can you hear me now?”
“Olive, what happened!?” Crux cried his horn aglow and holding the crystal disc, worry evident in his voice and intense frown.
“Sacre bleu, my dear. You were having quite the fit, non?”
“Oh, sweet-pea, thank goodness! I was worried sick, you were sreamin’ and hollerin’ a storm.” Varnish had grasped her apron in her hooves, wringing it out roughly in distress.
Her glasses were askew on her nose making it hard to focus on the ponies, but she didn’t have the strength to tap them back into place.
Struggling she managed to turn her head to her sister. “Silver?,” she panted weakly.
“Yeah, what is it Olive?,” the pegasus asked, her brows wrinkled fiercely as she tried to blink away fresh tears.
“The...the next time we find a strange magic crystal...you’re investigating it first.”
She collapsed into Crux’s quick hooves as she promptly fainted.