//------------------------------//
// 4 The Fair 
// Story: The Crystal Prize 
// by Calden 
//------------------------------//

“GOOD MOOOOOOOOORNING!!!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she bounded into Dawning Song’s room. “DO YOU WANT TO GO TO A FAIR?!” 
Shock was the first emotion to cross the filly’s face, then confusion and finally a mix of realisation and excitement,
“Yeah!” she shouted back.
“Um,” Fluttershy whispered as she stuck her head around the door, “I’m not sure Dawn was awake Pinkie. Good morning though Dawn.” Dawning Song grinned widely at her as Pinkie froze where she was in the air in shock and stared incredulously at Fluttershy.
“What are you talking about Fluttershy?” She laughed. “Of course she’s awake. Are you awake, Dawn?” The filly nodded, “See, I told you she was awake, silly.”
Fluttershy sighed. “I think you woke her up Pinkie. We should let her get up and ready for the Fair. We’ll see you later Dawn, I think Applejack has some ideas for your breakfast, if you’re interested, that is.”
“Thanks Auntie ‘Shy,” Dawning Song said cheerily. “See you later today, you too Auntie Pinkie.” Once the pair had left she clambered out of bed and started getting ready. “Gotta be quick Dawn, but not sloppy,” she muttered to herself, “just remember what Auntie Rarity says: ‘a princess is presentable, dear’” Dawn giggled at her impression of the unicorn. Wearing a small silver circlet and with her mane styled, she galloped out of her room and through the palace to the foyer where Applejack was waiting.
“Mornin’, Dawn!” she called cheerily as the filly ran down the stairs towards her. “How about we get on over to the markets and get ourselves some breakfast? I gotta set up my stall up first but that won't take two ticks with two of us at it. Sound good?" Dawning Song nodded energetically before suddenly standing still and gritting her teeth in focus. Applejack looked worried for the filly before she burst out laughing as her hat flipped into the air and twirled elegantly down to Dawning Song, her horn was the only thing that stopped the hat from falling down and covering her eyes. "Fine, you can wear the hat. Just don't let Pinkie see you and get any ideas about takin’ it."





"But dear I thought the idea of going shopping early was to avoid the lines, plus you can skip them anyway. You could buy twice the amount I can and in half the time. Why not use your privileges as a princess?" Rarity asked as she walked with Dawn towards the line. 
"Well," the filly explained, "there are all kinds of different creatures here for the fair and I want to meet as many as I can. You don’t meet ponies by skipping the lines. Meeting new ponies is always fun, and I get to do that too! In fact," she gestured for Rarity to lean in close. "I really want to meet a zebra!"
"A zebra? We know a zebra, darling, her name is Zecora. She lives just out of town, in the Everfree Forest."
"I know, Auntie Pinkie told me. She said all zebras speak in rhyme. I don't think many zebras are here though," Dawn said absentmindedly while scouring the crowds for stripes. "I've looked at maps with Auntie Twilight last week and Zebrica is really far away from the Empire."
"Well I wouldn't worry, Dawn." Rarity cheerily replied as she waved to a pony in the distance. "Our friend Zecora is here today with one or two other ponies that could take the time to come. She's just over there. Ah, she's seen us. See her there Dawn?" The filly looked up, wide-eyed, to see Zecora walk over.
"It is an honour to see you Dawning Song, since we last met it has been too long." she said, bowing her head.
"Too long?" Dawning Song whispered in a confused and embarrassed voice. "Have we met before? I'm really sorry Miss Zecora but I don't remember you"
"Oh sweet princess do not fret," Zecora laughed. "you simply were not old enough yet."
"Just a short while after you were born Cadance and Shining Armor visited Twilight in Ponyville. The whole town came to see you, in the end Cadance had to call extra guards over to help take all the gifts for you!" Rarity explained.
"Miss Zecora, Auntie Pinkie says that all zebras speak in rhyme, is it true?"
"Ah I guessed as much from Pinkie, that is not true you must see. How it started? I have no clue, but the rhyming is not what all Zebras do. No Pinkie is not correct, this is my regional dialect." Zecora stopped as somepony caught her eye. She bowed again. "Forgive me princess, but I must go. I have just seen a friend I used to know" With that the zebra galloped off toward another who was waving to her near to the flugelhorn stall.





"Oh Rarity, it looks wonderful."
"Why thank you Fluttershy. Dawn bought it for me, she had me trying on hats all morning. I had no idea they were for me, I thought it was a gift for Cadance," Rarity told the pegasus as Dawning Song grinned at her handiwork. "Now I had better go darling, apparently we're not allowed to keep Dawn to ourselves, and I must admit she has scheduled us all quite well today. Twilight told me that there was an exhibition on crystal fashion, have you seen it, dear?"
"Oh yes," replied Fluttershy eagerly, "there are some especially impressive selection of haute couture outfits I liked." 
"So where are you too off to?"
"Auntie Shy is taking me to the petting zoo." Dawn excitedly told Rarity, "She said that there are ewes in more colour than I can think of!" Suddenly Dawn's face became deadly serious as she stared at Fluttershy. "I can think of a lot of colours, Auntie Shy. Challenge accepted."
"Clearly you two are fine. I'll see you both later at the banquet. Have fun!"
"Bye Auntie Rarity. C'mon Auntie Shy, lets go. Don't forget we're going to see Auntie Dash's show later. She's gonna fly with the Lens Flares. They're the coolest fliers in the World!"





It would have been physically impossible for anybody in the crowd to open their eyes wider than they already were when Prism and her team were, out of the blue, joined in the air by the entire main roster of the Wonderbolts! The rainbows following the Lens Flares and Rainbow Dash were joined by lightning bolts from Lighting Dust and the gold, silver and bronze stripes from Olympiad. They ducked and weaved around each other, forming shapes with their trails. The true show soon became clear however, as Prism and Rainbow Dash became increasingly focused on upstaging the other. Once Lightning Dust and Rising Sol took over leading the teams the captains upped their game. Prism would do a nosedive and pull up at the last second, Rainbow Dash would go lower. Rainbow Dash would slalom through incredibly close pillars of cloud, Prism would do it faster. Suddenly a rainboom appeared to the west and another appeared in the east as Prism and Rainbow hurtled towards each other. They both moved at the last second and spiraled around each other, forming a rainbow double helix in the sky! They both flew down to the ground and bowed with their teams, gulping down all the air they could get to refill their lungs, their hearts racing faster than they ever had before. The crowd fell silent as the captains turned and glared at each other, ready to pounce. A grin appeared on both their faces and they burst out laughing at the shocked crowds and hoof bumped and bowed again before the flying teams walked to the locker room at the side of the arena.
Dawning Song was jumping up and down in her seat,"Wow wow wow wow wow! That was amazing! The coolest thing ever. Wasn't that the coolest thing ever, Auntie Twilight?" She asked.
"I was cooler than that!" a voice answered before Twilight could.
"Oh way cooler. Like, twice as cool!" said another.
"Auntie Dash! Prism! That was so cool!" Dawn screamed as she ran to them. "Are you gonna do that every show?" 
Rainbow looked at Prism and they both laughed. "Sorry kiddo but we can't. Well I can't. This is Prism's show, I just thought I'd bring the team out as a surprise seeing as lot of VIP's are here. Thought I'd give 'em something special. I didn't expect Prism to give me such a run for my bits though, where did you learn to fly like that?"
"I could ask you the same question" Prism chuckled, "I know I surprised you with that rainboom. I've been studying how you did that for months, today was actually my first time doing one! I don’t know you handle the speed, I can barely walk, you’re already fine!"
A scowl crossed Rainbow Dash’s face before she quickly regained her smile, she was clearly more threatened by Prism’s rainboom than she let on. "Well you  still have a lot to learn before you can out-fly me newbie. I just didn’t want to upstage you is all. Same time next year?"
"You betcha!" The captains hoof bumped again. "I'm glad you enjoyed the show, Your Highness." Prism bowed to Dawning Song and flew off towards the locker room to rest before the next show.
"Maybe you should have a go too next time, Twilight. Maybe you could read a book on how to do a sonic rainboom," Rainbow teased.
"Can you do that?! Is that in books? Why haven't we been reading those ones?" Dawn yelled. Rainbow  awkwardly laughed as Twilight gave her a disapproving why-are-you-teasing-her-like-this? stare from behind the filly.
"Sorry kiddo, pegasi only. Well, pegasi and alicorns like Twilight."
"Well if I can't learn to do one you have to Auntie Twilight. You have to sonic rainboom in my place." Dawn grinned innocently as Twilight shot Rainbow a disapproving look. 
"Well," she said, standing up. "Dawn and I are going to the exhibition to look at some magic exhibits there. We'll see you at the banquet though. That was an amazing show though Dash, you'll struggle to top that one."





Dawn squealed with delight as she hurtled down the four story helter skelter. She twirled around and around until she reached the bottom and collapsed into the pile of children of a myriad different species trying to stop being dizzy. After a couple of minutes she pulled herself to her hooves and waited for the world to stop spinning.
"Tag! You're it!" A voice cried as a claw pushed her side. She turned to see a griffon drake running away. He turned back and stopped when he saw the confused look on her face. "You're it," he repeated, "you have to catch someone, no magic or flying, those are the rules!" With that he sped off again. Dawning Song laughed as she ran after the griffon before feinting to the side to tag an almost black crystal pegasus colt with who immediately spread out a wing to tag his friend before hurtling off towards Dawning Song, his gold and silver mane sparkling as he ran. 
"C'mon!" He cried, extending a wing again to usher her forward. After ducking and weaving through the giant playground for about ten minutes they collapsed in a small bunker. "There’s no way a griffon is gonna get through there. Or one of those," the colt panted while looking through the small tunnel they had crawled through, "what is one of those anyway?"
Dawning Song crawled over to him and peeked through at the creature the colt was pointing to. "Oh that's a rhino, I think."
"It's big, I bet their parents are huge. Oh they have horns too! I thought only unicorns had magic."
"I don't think the horn has magic. I think it's just there."
"Weird..."
"Different," she corrected.
The colt looked at her as if she had just said something incredibly naive, "Weird." He grinned and held out a hoof, "My name's Scourge."
Dawning Song balked, "Scourge?!"
"I'm just messing with you," he laughed, "my name's Reach, because my wings are big and I can reach really far with them." He demonstrated this by unfurling his wings which were indeed noticeably bigger than those of other pegasi their age. He held out his hoof again and she bumped it. 
"Dawn. My name's Dawn." she told him. "`I'm here with my aunties. Are you here with anypony? Your mum? Your dad?" 
Reach looked forlornly at the floor. "They're not here, they had to work. I'm here with my brother." All of a sudden he was filled with energy again, "You should meet him! C'mon!" He scurried out of the bunker with Dawn hot on his hooves. They were barely out for a second before they heard two voices calling:
"Dawn, where are you?" called the first voice.
"It's time we were going I'm afraid, you have to get ready for tonight," said the other.
"That's me. I'll see you another time," Dawn said as she ran off towards the voices. Reach started waving but his wing went limp and his jaw dropped. 
"There you are, c'mere, we gotta go, Reach," Reach's brother said when he caught up to him. "Are you okay bro? What happened?"
"I-I-I," Reach stuttered, "I was playing tag, with this filly. This filly called Dawn, and she, and she just went off with her aunt. They were," He gulped. "—they were those princesses from Equestria, the white one and the blue one. Woah..."
"Sure bro," Reach's brother chuckled, "and I was just having the loveliest conversation with a diamond dog about the magic show Trixie and Houdiamond did earlier. Ow! What did you do that for?"





"-and then Auntie Luna and Auntie Tia took me to see the changing of guard Daddy did with all those extra soldiers and the bands and then they helped me make my mane really pretty like this and then we came here." Dawning Song said in a single breath.
"Wow, Dawnie," Cadance laughed, "you sure have had a busy day. You are right, your mane looks really great. How are you feeling?"
"A little nervous. Is it that easy to tell?"
“It's natural to be when you're about to meet all these new important creatures from different countries. Besides, mum's know." Cadance winked at Dawn. Cadance looked over to Tight Schedule as he entered the room and gave her a nod. "Come on Dawnie, time to go. I have to speak to some creatures about some boring stuff but I think you have a lot to tell Daddy about your day. Maybe when you tell him you could breathe a few more times than you did with me, okay?"





As soon as Dawn had galloped over to Shining Armour she was like a filly on a mission. She was adamant that she was going to talk to every creature she could and nopony was going to stop her.
“And who’s this young filly you’ve got here Shining Armour?” An ancient zebra asked.
“I’m Dawning Song, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Dawn said, curtsying.
“And I you, Your Highness.” 
Shining Armour bowed his head to him. “Nice to see you again Your Serenity. We are very pleased that you have been able to come to Cristamera. Cadance often worries about your health.”
As if on cue the zebra broke out into a coughing fit. “I am fine Shining Armour,” he said firmly, “and feel free to call me Zebrask. The same goes for you Princess Song.“
“Then you can call me Dawn, Zebrask.” She said with a wide grin on her face. 
“It would be an honour Dawn. Have you met a zebra before Dawn?”
She shook her head. “Not before today, but I did meet my auntie Rarity’s friend Zecora today and I played with a few fillies and colt this afternoon. Before Ms Zecora explained it to me I thought that all zebras rhymed.”
“No, only a few of us I’m afraid. My second wife was a rhymer you know?” The awe in Dawning Song’s eyes brought a smile to Zebrask as he reminisced about his wife. “She spent years living in the jungles so life Za-Lasa was hard for her.”
“Is Za-Lasa very different then?”
“Oh undoubtedly. The jungle surrounds a desert in the core of our nation. Both the desert and the jungle are home to countless hidden villages, tiny communities united by the shared laws and customs of our people. Za-Lasa our only city and couldn’t be more different. It was built centuries ago, Dawn, on a huge lake almost in the centre of the desert. Apparently the jungle and desert zebras worked together to build islands with the wood and the sand and enchanted potions. These islands hold our homes and our navy.”
“A navy? How do you have a navy in the middle of a desert?”
“When the city was built the ancient zebras built a giant canal connecting our coast to the city so that it could trade and flourish.”
“But why did they even build a city there?”
“That’s the question isn’t it Dawn?” Zebrask winked at the confused filly. “Why was this magnificent built by zebras who, until then, had always shunned city life? Why did they build a huge canal to link it to the sea? Now it is the core of our trade but it cannot have been built merely for that.” Zebrask was suddenly distracted by somepony on the other side of the room. “Forgive me Dawn, Shining Armor, I must leave you. Thank you and Empress Cadance for the invitation once again.” He hobbled away with a pair of handmares hurrying behind him.
“Daddy,” She turned to her father. “Is he always like that? All mysterious but at the same time really nice?”
Shining Armour laughed. “Well he has been since I met him. Who do you want to talk to next Dawn?”
She began scanning the room for only a second before she had acquired her next target and pointed him out to her father. As they walked over, Shining Armor bumped into a young white crystal unicorn with a pale blue mane. Dawning Song merely giggled as her father profusely apologised to the mare. Dawn didn’t recognise her, which was strange because she had seen most of the upper class of the empire during her time in the court. The mare wasn’t a servant either because she was clearly mingling with the other guests. 
“Who was that daddy?” She whispered as the walked away.
“Just an old friend. Ah, good evening Prince Kaciar” Any further questions Dawn might have had were removed from her mind as the tall, well built stallion she had pointed out to her father. Kaciar had the appearance of a normal pony with a dark purple coat and maroon mane from the waist up. He had no tail and his rear legs were coated with shining bronze scales. Kaciar did not look at Dawn and simply kept his stony expression as he bowed to her father.
“Good evening Prince Shining Armor. Please thank Empress Cadenza for allowing me to come here in the place of the Greater Council. They are currently dealing with an issue of the greatest importance.” 
“I understand.” Shining Armour replied, using the demeanor he used when leading his troops. “May I introduce my daughter, Princess Dell’Alba” Their use her and her mother’s regnal names Confused Dawn so she just smiled and curtsied to the strange pony.
“A pleasure to meet you Princess Dell’Alba,” Kaciar growled, “I am prince Kaciar, a leading member of the Lesser Council of the hippocampi.” Dawn shifted from one foot to the other awkwardly. She knew what a hippocampus was, they were the merponies that lived underwater, but she had no idea what the Greater and Lesser councils were. Shining Armor clearly understood how she felt as he quickly made and excuse and hurried her away.
“They’re like that,” he explained, “the hippocampi. It’s hard to crack a smile out of one but they’re good to have on your good side, old Zebrask and his navy have to keep that in mind more than anypony else.”
“it wasn’t fun to speak to him.” Dawn said, “not like speaking Zebrask was, but I need to be empress someday, I have to know these other creatures. Now who should we meet next?”





The evening continued uneventfully, Dawning Song spoke to many older creatures and almost all were charmed by her politeness.  Eventually everyone's attention was taken by the as the giant main doors to the throne room boomed as they slammed open. All present looked in awe as the Crystal Heart was brought in, radiating energy. 

Dawning Song tried to get a closer look but everytime she tried to move forward Shining Armour would hold her still, keeping her close. No matter how hard she moaned he refused to let her go so she was forced to watch from afar. She wasn't interested in what her mother was saying, she was transfixed with the Heart. All she could do was stare into it. She felt connected to it, 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. The voices were closer this time but still too far away. She was vaguely aware of a unicorn carrying a platter suddenly slipping and dropping it to her left. The father moved to help him and she was able to find the voices. Almost nopony noticed the filly slipping through the crowds. She simply pushed away those that tried to stop her. They would assume she was going to her mother. She was so close. So close. She could almost touch it. She could almost reach the voices. She was so close to them. So close to the voices. They were talking about her. Why? She had to get closer to find out. She was so close now. So close.

An ear splitting scream burst through the ears of everyone in the room. The scream was joined by shouts of concern from a dozen ponies, none louder than the Empress and her consort who galloped over to the filly writhing and screaming near the Heart. Cadance clutched Dawn in her hooves and cried for her to respond, tears streaming down her face. Almost in synchronisation Prism and Tight Schedule moved in front of the pair and unfurled their wings, blocking them from view. Other members of the royal household quickly began ushering the dignitaries out of the room and to wherever they were staying the night in the palace, telling them that they needn't worry about the young princess while Shining Armour almost ripped the Crystal Heart off of its podium as he and some guards removed it. Only eight other ponies were allowed to stay in the room. 
"We are not leaving. Not while we can help." Celestia said firmly as an usher approached her, nopony tried again after that. Luna and the Element Bearers shared the same look of concern. "Cadance" She and Luna tentatively moved towards Dawning Song and Cadance. "May we take a look at her? We won't take her or harm her, you know that. We've picked up a thing or two about medicine over the centuries, we're probably the best doctors you will find for the moment." Cadance simply nodded, too distraught to say a word. As softly as she could she lowered the filly to the ground on a bed of cushions Twilight had thrown together with those scattered around the room.