“Please rise for her Imperial Majesty, Mi Amore Cadenza, Empress of the Crystal Empire and Keeper of the Crystal Heart. Here with Their Imperial Highnesses the Prince Consort Shining Armor and the Crown Princess Nostra Canzona Dell'Alba.” The Herald called out as Cadance and her family entered the throne room and assumed their places. Cadance’s throne stood centre, the crystal chair dwarfing the two silver thrones either side for Shining Armor and Dawning Song. Cadance smiled and nodded at the nobles in the enormous room.
“Please sit,” she told them, “I pass over to you Tight Schedule, chief minister of the Crystal Empire.” Upon hearing his cue the brown crystal pegasus unfurled a scroll and held it with one of his wings while putting on his ancient spectacles with the other, being careful not to touch his carefully combed grey silver mane.
“Thank you your Majesty. The court sees his grace, Blazing Arrow, Duke of the Bay of Sapphires.” He announced, looking up from his scroll to see if Blazing Arrow was in attendance. Sure enough a tall orange unicorn strode towards Cadance. He stopped and bowed at the neck before addressing Cadance.
“Your Majesty, I would like to issue a complaint against Pouring Sun, the Lord of Ashenbrook Hall.”
“What is your complaint Duke Arrow?” Asked Cadance.
“My complaint ma’am is that for the past four months he has been overfishing in the Sapphire River which runs into my bay. If the peasants in the villages of the bay cannot fish then they lose a large amount of their income which means the knights of the lands cannot get as much money in taxes from the to pay me. Meaning that before long I will be unable to pay for the upkeep of my castles and to pay those I have working in my farms.”
“Is there no other source of income that can replace the fishing?”
“No ma’am. The crystal fish sell at a better price than anything the peasants could grow in the time it takes for them to fish. I will not simply stand by while Sun gets rich off of my fish!”
“Please mind your tone Duke Arrow. Tight Schedule, have you been able to look into this issue while the Duke has been waiting for his appointment”
“I have, your majesty. In fact I received the report from the Sheriff in the area this morning. He tells me that, yes, Lord Pouring Sun is fishing in the river to an extent where the Sapphire Trout populations are dwindling. The low population is such an issue that the townspeople refuse to fish any more out of fear of endangering the animals. They also told make, and this quite interesting, that Duke Arrow has threatened many of them with eviction if they do not continue to fish, despite the dangers the continued fishing will pose to the Sapphire Trout.”
“Well can you believe peasants? They were probably paid by Pouring Sun to say that. It is libelous ma’am! This stallion is lying, he is probably on Sun’s payroll as well!!” Blazing Arrow blurted out before falling silent, remembering his status.
“I am prepared to attempt to resolve your complaint Duke Arrow.” Cadence said calmly, “The level of satisfaction you have with my judgement may change depending on if you choose to accuse any more of my trusted advisors of corruption. Perhaps you would like to tell me that my daughter has been telling people to overfish the trout as well?” Dawning Song giggled as he blanched from Cadance chastisement. “Please continue Schedule.”
“Thank you ma’am. As I was saying” Tight Schedule glared at Blazing Arrow, “The townspeople accused Duke Arrow of threatening them to continue fishing but that before the shortage began he was a far more lenient and benevolent ruler.This leaves me to assume that it is stress that has caused the change in attitude that Duke Arrow has shown. Of greater interest was the news that lord Pouring Sun has also been threatening his vassals to fish more but he does not have as great financial obligations as Duke Arrow has, who has a larger estate and more soldiers contributed to the army to pay for.”
“Have you called Lord Sun to Cristamera?”
“I have ma’am but as I only received the report today he has expressed consent to scry us later today to give us his explanation.”
“Very good. Then we shall speak to him then, are you able to stay in the city another day Duke Arrow? Excellent, then tomorrow I promise to do my utmost to find a compromise between the two of you that will leave you both happy.” Cadance assured Blazing Arrow.
“Thank you ma’am.” The Duke said before bowing his head again and returning to stand with the rest of his entourage in court. Shining Armor looked over at Dawning Song as the Duke walked away to see an extremely fidgety and bored filly in the throne.
“She’s bored Cadance. There’s only so much a filly can hear about the politics of river lords and their fish.” He whispered to his wife while Tight Schedule called the next lord up to make his appeal to the Empress.
“Go,” She whispered back, “take her out into the gardens with the big kite, she’ll like that. Especially when she hears the story.”
“Don’t you want to hear the story?”
“I’ve heard it dear, we all have except for her. Whenever you’ve gone near it you’ve told the story. We know it was the kite you used when you taught Twilight to fly a kite. We know.” the pair of them laughed, catching Dawning Song’s attention.
“It is a good story though.” Shining Armor whispered as he stood up and lifted Dawning Song onto his back
“Just hurry up. You have to take advantage if the strong winter winds or wait another year. I have a job to do, unlike you!” Cadance sighed and turned to her next appeal. A young mare asking for advice on how to deal with her son insisting on moving to Canterlot for university when he is needed on their farm.
“I like that mummy does that.” Dawning Song said after they had left the throne room. “She gives two hours in the afternoon every day for her subjects to speak with her. That’s not the bit that I really like. The bit I really like is that anypony can speak to her; the rich, the poor, the young, the old. They can have big problems like the Duke or little ones like that mare. When I’m big and I’m empress I want to help ponies too.” She paused and thought for a moment before quickly saying “But what if I’m not a good empress? What if nopony likes me or wants me to help?”
“Someday you’re going to make a fantastic empress Dawn, and ponies from all over will want your help because that’s what you want to do: help. You’ve got no reason to worry because you have a long time to learn how to rule exactly how you want to,” Shining Armor assured the worried unicorn on his back. “now I’ve got a story to tell you and a kite waiting for us.”
“A field trip?” A curious Dawning Song asked her mother, “Why did we wait until the end of the day to go on a trip? Where are we going mummy? Are we going to the spring markets? No, they’ll be closing around now, are we getting a train somewhere overnight? Is that why we have to go now?”
“Calm down Dawn.” Laughed the filly’s mother, “We’re going somewhere in the palace, just follow me.” Dawning Song chased after Cadance as she left Dawning Song’s classroom.
“Are we going down to the armoury? Or, or to the treasury? Umm… oh no! I’m not getting another lecture about the importance of a balanced agricultural hierarchy,” Dawn took her time to carefully say the last two words that had been drummed into her. “from Mr. Schedule again am I? Please Mummy, no, I’ve been good! Wait,” Dawning Song breathed as Cadence stopped in front of an old oak door. “Is this?” She asked, Cadence nodded. “Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow, oh wow! Really? This is the best lesson ever!! I’ve wait so long, oh wow, oh wow!” She was literally jumping around Cadence as she realised what was going on.
“This door and the tower on the other side are two of the oldest things in the palace. The palace has been redesigned, painted and rebuilt countless times, so far as we can tell. This door is so old that you can barely make out the beautiful carvings. I did not bring you here to look at a door though,” Cadence unlocked and opened the door with her magic, revealing a plain spiral tower. “We’re going to go up. Now it’s a long walk Dawn, we’re going from the bottom of the palace to the very tallest point. See if you can count all the steps.” Dawning Song ran after her mother once she began the long climb, counting as she did so.
“Three hundred... and two. Three hundred... and three. Three hundred… and four.” Dawning Song panted as they continued to climb, “Three hundred… and… are we at the top??” she asked incredulously. The princess did not need an answer, however, when she looked into the room at the top of the tower. The room was perfectly circular and empty apart from the stairs and a beautiful crystal podium in the centre. The incredibly long stairs, the room, the podium, none of it was important to Dawning Song. Her eyes were transfixed upon what was on the podium.
“Welcome Dawn,” Cadance whispered, “to the most important place in the empire: the chamber of the Heart.” Dawning Song tentatively took a few steps towards the heart. “What do you feel Dawn?”
“It’s so… full. I can’t quite get my head around how there could possibly be so much magic in there. You, auntie Tia, auntie Luna, auntie Twilight, even together you wouldn’t get close. There’s just so much, it’s scary. It doesn’t feel safe, is it?”
“Try not to focus too hard on it. Every single time we imbue the Crystal Heart with our emotions at the Crystal Fair it sends out a wave of our emotions across the world. It sends out enough to cover the entire world but there is still magic left to fill the heart, a lot left.”
“Why is there so much left over? We’re not any more emotional than anypony else. Certainly not more than auntie Rarity.”
“Well Dawn, what can crystal do? In regards to magic?”
“Store it, redirect it or amplify it.” Dawning Song recited confidently. She suddenly gasped as she realised what she had just said, “So the Crystal Heart does all three? It takes in our emotions, amplifies its power, redirects some out and then stores the rest inside of itself!”
“Exactly. Also, while the empire vanished the heart remained hidden and absorbed the emotions of Equestria, our closest neighbour, for a thousand years. You’re such a smart little filly Dawn, you’ve been revising, haven’t you?”
She nodded, “For two reasons: first you said that auntie Twilight was coming to stay for a few months to help with the Fair preparations and I don’t want her to think I’m just a little filly.”
“Well that’s going to be hard when you are a little filly Dawn.”
“I’m not mummy.” Dawning Song moaned,
“If you weren’t a little filly would I still be able to do this?” Suddenly Cadance’s enveloped Dawning Song in her magic. The filly wriggled and giggled as her mother tickled her relentlessly.
“Okay, okay. I’m still a filly. Just stop mummy. Stop, please” Dawning Song managed to shriek in between giggles. Cadance released her but she kept giggling for a few more seconds before she could stand up again.
“What was the other reason Dawn?”
“Well I need to know this stuff if I want to be a good empress and help everybody.”
“Every… body?”
“I was thinking. If I’m empress that’ll mean I’ll be really important, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.” Cadance confirmed, wondering where she was going with this.
“Well if I’m really important I want to try and help out everyone I can. That means I want to help creatures more than just the crystal ponies, more than just ponies. Like the griffons and the minotaurs, and the dragons too. They’re not ponies but they obviously have bodies. So I meant what I said, I want to help make everybody happy and safe, not just ponies. It’s like,” Dawn absentmindedly took a step towards the heart and froze. She knew that her mother was talking, begging her to respond. All Dawning Song could do was stare into it. She felt connected to it; not connected in the way that the other ponies were, with their emotions being in tune with it when near. Dawning Song felt as if she was being pulled in, voices whispered to her. They were too far enough away for her to make out what they were saying but somehow she knew it was about her.
“Dawn!” Cadance yelled. Dawning Song suddenly broke out of her reverie as her mother pulled her away with magic and placed herself, wings unfurled, between Dawning Song and the Crystal Heart. “That’s enough for one day Dawn. Downstairs, now!” Cadance ordered, her voice quivering slightly as she tried to compose herself. WIthout complaint Dawning Song complied and began the walk downstairs in shock, not remembering a time Cadance had yelled at her as well as being unable to understand what had just happened.
“Alright Dawn. We’ve been over the theory, practiced dry runs of the motions and talked it over; you’re ready.” Twilight said, checking the stance this small pink filly was standing in; she stood sturdily with her head bent slightly lower so her horn pointed directly at her target. “This is high level magic for your age, some filly’s wouldn’t be able to do this at this point. Remember to feel the magic as an extension of your body, unlock it in your stomach and channel it through your horn. Are you ready Dawn?”
“I’m ready.” Dawning Song said between gritted teeth.
“Then go ahead.” Twilight watched intently as Dawning Song’s horn became enveloped in a dark blue light, “Brilliant Dawn, now lift it.” the book was covered in the same light and began to slowly rise. “You’re doing it, keep going.” the book wobbled as Dawning Song continued to lift it but she kept focusing and slowly placed it on the tall pile on the other side of the room. Finally Dawning Song released her magic and collapsed on the floor.
“Did I do okay?” She asked, gulping down lungfuls of air. “Did I do it right? It looked like I did.”
“You did great Dawn! You’re almost as good as I was when I was your age.” Twilight told the filly as she helped her up. Dawning Song’s head shot up and looked at Twilight, awe written across the filly’s face. “Now let’s try something a little bit harder shall we?” Twilight took the book Dawning Song was carrying, opened it up and removed the block of lead hidden in the hollowed out compartment within. Twilight walked over to a box in the corner and lifted out a slightly larger block and placed it in the book. “Okay, back into position Dawn.”
“So how large is the exhibition hall going to be when it is complete Mr. Schedule?” Twilight asked as she surveyed the construction and read from a clipboard she held in front of herself.
“Approximately seventy metres by one hundred and eighty metres. We are due to finish the main brunt of the construction a few weeks before the exhibitionists are due to arrive. We plan to continue the decorative parts of the building while the set up of the exhibits is still underway but we should have it completed in more than enough time ma’am.”
“Perfect, so we’re due to be ready for the opening next winter?” Twilight stopped walking and looked directly at Tight Schedule, maintaining a strict air of professionalism as Dawning Song tried to catch up while carrying a large block of wood in the air.
“Yes ma’am, we understand we are on a tight schedule, if you will pardon the pun ma’am.”
“Have the invitations been written?”
“Yes ma’am. May I thank you, your connection to the head of the dragon postal network got us a very generous discount on the postage, especially considering the distance these letters will be going.”
“I know Mr. Schedule, I was able to see him before he left, we go back a long way that dragon and I. Do you have a copy of the invitation I can look at?” Twilight asked. tight Schedule opened his saddlebags with his wings and fished out a pristine white piece of paper bordered with gold leaf and covered with carefully written calligraphy. Twilight took hold of it with her magic and read it quickly:
To The Most Serene Doge Zebrask of the Zebricans,
You are cordially invited to attend the Reunification Fair’s great exhibition in Cristamera in two months time. The Exhibition is the finale of a year long celebration across The Crystal Empire to celebrate the reappearance of our last town, Pursorubi, and the completion of our nation. Over the past few years the lands and ponies around of The Crystal Empire have returned. No longer is our nation one of earth ponies alone, our unicorn and pegasi brethren have been returned to us.
The exhibition will both show the beauty and magnificence of Crystal culture and celebrate of the greatest technological and cultural achievements of the day. Hundreds of inventors, writers, thespians, artists and musicians have been invited to show how bright the future of our world is.
Certain dignitaries, yourself included, are invited to attend a great banquet at The Crystal Palace in the heart of Cristamera. Attendees include The Elements of Harmony, who have assisted in the organisation of the fair, the Equestrian Triarchs, and King Petyr of Griffonia. As well as, of course, myself, my Prince Consort Shining Armor and our daughter Crown Princess Dawning Song in her first major royal event.
We sincerely hope you will be able to attend both the fair and the banquet. Any enquiries will be personally dealt with by the royal chamberlain.
Yours Sincerely,
Empress Mi Amore Cadenza
Sent by Spike the Dragon Postal Enterprises by Imperial Appointment
“Very good. Well I must say I am impressed Mr. Schedule. Cadance was right, you have done an excellent job of organising the Fair thus far.” Twilight praised the Chief Minister.
“I am honoured ma’am. Forgive me for asking but I have been wondering how you are able to spend half a year here in Cristamera while your fellow elements and triarchs, let alone your life in Ponyville, are miles away in Equestria?” Twilight sighed and held her clipboard under her wing.
“It is not easy I assure you. I miss my friends and my library but I promised Cadance my support for a few months with the fair and Dawning Song’s magical education. In my absence a young mare named Twist is running the library, I have had her as an assistant since Spike started his postal enterprise and I am happy she will handle herself. I am also able to handle being away from those that are close to me by sending letters to them all each day. It may not be the same as when I had Spike with me all of the time to send letters but Vulcan is agreeable enough and we have a new dragon in Ponyville filling in for Spike while he is working on combining our post service with his network.”
Tight Schedule glanced towards the other side of the building site. His face darkening, “Ah, may I introduce you to Ms. Prism, the captain of the Lens Flares.” A lean crystal pegasus sauntered over. She wore a transparent jumpsuit which put her diamond coat on full display.
Prism held out a wing, “Twilight Sparkle?”
“Princess Twilight Sparkle, Ms. Prism” Tight Schedule disapprovingly corrected her.
“Oh just Twilight is fine Ms. Prism. do not worry about it Mr Schedule,” Twilight Laughed and shook Prism’s wing with her own as the two pegasi stared daggers at each other.
“Yeah, calm down Tighty,” Prism said as she stepped in between the Princess and the Chief Minister who did not look happy to be called ‘tighty’. “I was told that you wanted to see me and watch my team do what we do best. Is now a good time? You don’t look that busy, and my team have a very… Tight Schedule with our training.” the captain began to laugh at her own joke as Tight Schedule began to look increasingly annoyed
Hoping to diffuse the situation as fast as she could Twilight quickly looked down at her clipboard, “Well i think we have covered everything I wanted to cover with our meeting today Mr. Schedule. Could we speak again tomorrow to discuss catering?”
“Great!” Prism extended one of her wings and led Twilight away before Tight Schedule could get a word in. “Now first let’s do a little history Twilight, The Lens Flares were commissioned by Empress Cadance as part of the celebration for Princess Dawning Song’s birth. We are the top nine fliers in the empire and we all have developed and perfected ‘prismatic transmission’. Meaning we produce trails of rainbows by catching the light in our bodies in certain ways, hence the see-through jumpsuits. It’s the same effect your friend Rainbow Dash can do except the rainbows she produces are created by her mane, not by a technique.” Twilight was surprised at how technical Prism was getting in explaining the technique. She was clearly proud of it. There were many similarities between the two captains, Twilight would be surprised if Prism had never called Tight Schedule an ‘egghead’ before. “In terms of skill we are as, if not more, awesome than the Wonderbolts, we just don’t have the numbers is all,” Twilight opened her mouth to point out that ‘awesomer’ was not a word as they entered the gardens behind the exhibition hall where the plans for the arena had been sketched out in chalk. “Let me introduce you to the team, Princess, c’mon!” With that Prism burst into flight leaving a rainbow in her wake. Twilight stood in shock for a moment before taking off herself and following Prism to her team who were floating in formation waiting for her.
“Right these are the Lens Flares, the most awesomest fliers in the world, Rainbow would be lucky to have just one of my guys. Like Mach Fore, he was gonna be a pro golfer until he found out he was a flying prodigy, and Rising Sol, the second fasted mare in the Empire, the first being your truly” The Captain of the Lens Flares laughed as she introduced each the eight pegasi in her team, three mares and five stallions. , and gave her reason why each was a fantastic flier.
Finally Twilight was able to get a word in edgeways, “So what kind of show do you plan to do? How long? How many in the day?” Twilight lifted her clipboard again and began to transcribe everything Prism said.
“I’m glad you asked that Twilight. We plan on an hour long show every other hour from nine until nine with a special show at midnight after Empress Cadance has brought out the Crystal heart.” The Lens Flares continued to show their routine over the next two hours, stopping after each movement for the team members to explain how the move worked, how it was brilliant, and how the crowds would love it. For the finale the Lens Flares formed a perfect three-dimensional image of the Crystal Heart with their rainbows that pulsed as they flew at unbelievable speeds.
By the time it was all over Twilight’s wings ached from keeping herself in the sky for so long, she practically fell out of the sky as she lowered herself to the ground and walked towards the palace. The exhibition area was about a mile and a half from the palace. While her journey there had been easy, her return would be more laborious, she could not bear to fly any more so it was time for a long trudge to her room. She was working from dawn until dusk every single day to help organise the fair. On top of it all she also had to help teach Dawning Song’s magic which, while it was the highlight of Twilight’s day, it was still incredibly tiring. All of a sudden a blast of sky blue light appeared beside Twilight,
“Twilight, what are you doing out here walking back?” Cadance asked her friend, “and so late,” she looked up at the Lens Flares flying towards the city and sighed. “Prism, I should have guessed. That pony just cannot stop once she starts showing off. Do you know who she reminds me of?”
“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight said instantly, her face lighting up.
“I wonder what they’d do if they met,”
“I don’t,” Twilight chuckled, “I know exactly what they’d do. They’d be racing before anypony else could speak to either of them.”
Cadance giggled, “We’d never get them to stop. If I know Prism then she would have to win by at least two clear races,”
“Dash is the same; when she get’s competitive nopony is safe. One year, she and Applejack had to complete the running of the leaves twelve times!” Cadance laughed out loud, ”They only stopped because they physically couldn’t run anymore; they crawled the last lap!”. The rest of the evening Cadance and Twilight laughed as they each told story after story about the eccentricity of their friends. Once they reached the palace they sat in Cadance’s solar for while. There they continued to tell stories until Twilight fell asleep in her chair halfway through talking about the time the Cutie Mark Crusade almost attempted brain surgery on Sweetie Belle.
“You can grow up, bear an Element of Harmony and become a princess but you’re still the same filly I used to foalsit.” Cadance mused as she remembered Twilight doing the same thing talking to Cadance about magic. She called a few of her ladies-in-waiting to come and gently carried Twilight to her room.
Cadance turned her head as she saw a faint green glow out of the corner of her eye. She smiled and lifted up the mirror and tapped the glowing emerald with her hoof. She watched as her refection shimmered and changed into the image of the Queen Remeta of the changelings in her own chambers in the Colony beaming at Cadance.
“Good Evening Cadance, I hope I’m not disturbing you tonight,”
Cadance turned the mirror to show her friend the room. “No, don’t worry Remeta, I was with Twilight but she just retired to bed. I didn’t expect you to contact me at this hour, is everything alright with you?”
Remeta laughed at the concern in Cadance’s voice, her yellow eyes sparkling “Oh I’m fine, I only just got my newest larvae to sleep and I didn’t want to be disturbed. In fact the brood is almost as large as my sister’s was at its peak.”
“I’ll never understand how you find time for them all. Our hooves were full enough when Dawn was born, how many were in this last brood?”
“Three hundred,” Remeta said nonchalantly, “and with each born our hivemind gets stronger and more sophisticated.”
“Oh? I thought all Changelings shared a hivemind, was that wrong?”
“Slightly. Normally all Changelings do share a hivemind as you say, it is our greatest defence against predators. When a queen is dying she passes down the control of the hivemind to one of her daughters, it is from her that future broods are born. It is possible for a princess to create her own hivemind and become the queen of her own swarm and have children. It was complicated and painful but I performed the ritual to do this.”
“That explains why your children share your eyes, I noticed they were different to her’s,”
“I had no plan to allow my sister’s swarm to continue. Chrysalis’ tyranny knew no bounds, I have told you how she forced our mother give her control of the swarm and called upon centuries of songs of imperialism in the hivemind to turn the swarm into what struck Canterlot. I started anew, I created my own hivemind and helped wipe the slate clean. Since then I have nurtured my swarm with though songs of peace and harmony.”
It was clear to Cadance that Remeta did not wish to continue this topic so she hurriedly changed the subject, “Why was it that you contacted me then Remeta?” she asked.
“I wanted to apologise, I cannot come to the Reunification Fair. I do not think it is wise for myself to go, most still do not know about our redemption and there is the obvious history between my race and you and your husband. We do not have the numbers yet to slowly integrate ourselves, neither my brood or the other nations are ready for us yet. I do plan on sending Espera there in surprise as my envoy however, if that is fine with you of course.”
Cadance beamed, “Of course. We would love to host Espera again, it has been too long since we last saw her. How is she?” For the rest of the night both monarchs forgot about the stresses of ruling their lands and managing their populaces and instead gossiped throughout the night and told each other about their children, easily mistakable for any other pair of mothers in world.