The train coming from Ponyville arrived to the Crystal Empire in the next day morning. Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie came out of the train onto the platform and they began to head to the empire.
"Ah, it feels so good return to the Crystal Empire" Rarity said, as they passed through the entrance. "I love how it is bright and perfectly polished. And the crystal ponies... Well, there are no words!"
"Of course there are words, Rarity" Pinkie Pie said, while she was hopping when walking, as usual, pausing as she spoke. "If it were not so, how could we talk? And if we couldn’t speak, then what would we do? We could not even hear our own voices!"
Rarity and Twilight gave laughter as they passed through her, and Pinkie said, turning to walk:
"Hey, it’s not funny, girls."
"I'm happy to go back to see my brother and Cadance and spend quality time with them, in their spare time" Twilight said.
"I could not agree more with you, darling" Rarity said. "Don't take me wrong, but you always tend to join in times of great stress, like the wedding or King Sombra’s threat or the evaluation of the Equatria Games inspector."
"Yeah, not to mention that time in which you had to go on mission to that strange world to retrieve your crown, going through that magical and glittering mirror" Pinkie Pie continued.
"And when Cadance came to visit you, you two had to put up with Discord all day" Rarity added.
"Yeah, yeah, girls, I get it" Twilight said. "Our reunions don’t usually run as expected. But I'm sure that this time will be fine."
They reached the castle and, at the entrance, Twilight asked one of the guards:
"Sorry, but can you tell me where are my brother Shining Armor and Princess Cadance?"
"Captain Shining Armor is currently inspecting some guards, princess, and Princess Cadance, as I know, is in the throne room, dealing with affairs of the empire" he said.
"Thank you" Twilight thanked, while the guard answered with a slight bow. "Come on, girls."
They entered the castle, starting to head to the throne room with Twilight saying:
"Maybe we should go greet Cadance and then we let her work and we can explore a bit. Knowing my brother, his inspection to the guards might take a while..."
But then she, being distracted talking to her friends, bumped into somepony. From the sound, it seemed she had bumped into an armor, meaning she had just bumped into a Royal Guard.
"I'm so sorry" she said, rubbing her head. "I didn’t see where I was going."
"Never mind" the guard said. "I'm also a bit clumsy."
When she heard that voice, Twilight petrified. She knew that voice from anywhere, but she hoped it was not possible. She began to feel her heart beating fast as she stared at the face of the stallion she had just bumped into and was shocked to see that he was...
"Blue Sword?" she asked.
She was right. Blue Sword was right in front of her, wearing his purple armor, looking at Twilight with his blue eyes and making his gentle smile.
"I can’t believe it" he said. "Twilight? Is that you?"
"Yes I am..." she said hesitantly, blushing slightly.
"Wow! Look at you. You look so grown up since the last time I saw you. And look, now you're an alicorn princess. And you're so different. Of course for the better."
That praise caused Twilight to blush a little more and said, nervously:
"What... Don’t talk nonsense, Blue. I have not changed that much. Except the wings, I remain the same Twilight. You're... still the same too. It seems that you have not changed anything."
"Well, I aged, but it was nothing more" he said.
That made Twilight a laugh. She didn’t know why, but she always laughed at Blue’s jokes, even when they were not deliberate or were not funny. But her reunion with him has thrown up an old feeling that she had been suppressing for so many years, a feeling that began to loose up when Twilight heard Blue’s voice.
She just came back to reality when she heard Rarity doing an intentional hack to get her attention. It was then that Twilight noticed that her two friends were there.
"Oh, I'm so sorry" she said. "Blue, these are two great friends of mine, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Girls, this is Blue Sword, Shining Armor’s oldest and best friend and also his right hoof."
"Hello" Rarity and Pinkie Pie greeted at the same time.
"Nice to meet you" Blue Sword said, bowing his head to each of them. "If you are friends of Twilight, then you must have as much sympathy as you have beauty."
“Oh, what a gentlecolt!" Rarity exclaimed. "It's really nice of you saying that."
"It’s not sympathy" he replied. "It’s the truth."
By listening Brue praising Rarity and Pinkie Pie in that way, Twilight felt a pang of jealousy. Despite knowing that Blue was like that, the young princess didn’t fail to feel that same feeling, which led her to change the subject as quickly as she could.
"But what are you doing here?" She asked to Blue. " I thought you were traveling. At least, that's what my brother told me."
"And I was, and liked it and now I returned" he replied. "I was to return to Canterlot, after my visit to Shining and Cadance here at Crystal Empire, so I could take my place as Captain of Canterlot Royal Guard, but your brother was mired in work and I decided to use the days that left me to get back to work in the big capital to give him a hoof."
"And Shining accepted that? " Twilight asked, surprised. "I thought he was too proud to accept help."
"He tried, but Cadance managed to convince him to accept" he said.
Upon hearing that, Twilight’s logic soon began to work.
"Really?" she asked.
"You look surprised" Blue noted. "It seems you don’t know the power Cadance has on Shining."
"When did you come back?" Twilight asked.
"Yesterday morning" he replied.
Then it all made sense to Twilight.
"Well, I have things to do" Blue said. "If you don’t mind..."
And having said this, he walked away.
"Well, Blue is quite charming" Rarity commented.
"Yes, and did you see how his name is consistent with him?" Pinkie Pie asked. "His name is Blue, and by his coat, his mane and even his eyes are also blue."
"Yes, Pinkie, we noticed it" Rarity replied, looking after that to Twilight who was looking Blue departing. "And I think there are ponies who noticed it more than others."
Rarity had said this in a more sharply way to make Twilight come out of her trance.
"What?" she asked.
"Twilight, are you okay?" Rarity asked.
"Yeah, I was just... distracted" she said.
"Yes, I noticed it" Rarity said. "Blue is a hunk, isn’t it?"
"Yes, he is ..." Twilight said, in a dreamy way, waking up suddenly. "I mean, he’s not bad. I mean... Let's just go to Cadance."
And she began to walk away.
"Did you see how she was when she met Blue Sword?" Rarity asked to Pinkie Pie.
"Of course!" Pinkie answered. "She looked like a zombie pony, the only thing missing was the drooling, and the lightness she had was like a Breezie the wind."
"I liked the metaphor" Rarity commented.
"Thank you, I've been working on it" Pinkie Pie answered.
"Girls, do you come or not?" Twilight asked, a bit away.
Rarity and Pinkie Pie accompanied her, giggling.
They came to the throne room, where they found Cadance alone scribbling on a long parchment. Seeing Twilight and her friends, she exclaimed:
"Twilight!"
She dropped the quill and parchment and run to Twilight and, when they reached each other, they began making her song-and-dance:
"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap you're hooves and do a little shake!"
They finished with a shake of tail and then they laughed. After a hug, Cadance said:
“I’m glad you could come, Twilight. And you too, girls.”
"Yes, I'm also glad I could come" Twilight said, then adopting a more serious tone. "But now I want you tell me your real intention for inviting me."
"What do you mean, Twilight?" Cadance asked with a false innocence look.
"Cadance, I just crossed with Blue" Twilight said.
"Ah, yeah! He arrived yesterday and he is here to help Shining."
"Yes, I know, he told me" said Twilight. "He also said that it was you who managed to convince Shining to accept his help and I bet that’s happened even before you send me the letter."
"What do you mean?" Cadance asked.
Twilight frowned and answered:
"Cadance, I'm not stupid. Admit that you sent that letter to me so I could meet him."
Although Cadance continue to try to do an innocence look, she realized that would not do anything and then she made a smile and said:
"It is impossible to deceive you, isn’t it?"
"Why did you do this?" Twilight asked.
"Isn’t that obvious? For you, silly " Cadance replied.
Twilight took a deep breath before saying:
"Cadance, What I felt for Blue is dead and buried. I was just a little filly who didn’t know what life was!"
"Please, you're not seriously saying you don't feel anything for Blue Sword now, are you?" Cadance asked.
"Of course I don’t feel anything for Blue!" Said Twilight.
"She's lying!" Said Pinkie.
"What?" Said Twilight.
"Please, darling, we both saw how you looked to Blue" Rarity said. "If Pinkie Pie saw that you still have a crush on Blue, it's because it's too obvious."
"Yes!" Said Pinkie, who only then realized what Rarity had said. "Hey!"
"I don’t have a crush for Blue!" Twilight protested.
But, being hit by their stares, she sighed and ended up confessing:
"Okay, maybe I feel a little thing for Blue."
"You see" Cadance said. "I knew it."
"Yeah, but this serves me to what?" Twilight asked. "Blue only sees me as a sister, nothing more."
"Hey, we're your friends, after all" said Rarity. "We can help change that. There is nothing I like more than seduction game."
"Oh, we gonna play a game?" Pinkie Pie asked, starting to jump. "I love games!"
"Twilight, we'll help you" Cadance said, putting a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "You saved my relationship with Shining twice. It's time for me help you with your love problem."
"Wait, twice?" Rarity repeated. "I know that Twilight helped you release Shining from Chrisalis’ control, which makes one. But what is the other?"
"Long story" Cadance replied. "But doesn’t matter now."
"Look, girls, I know you are trying to help me, and, because of that, thank you" Twilight said, removing Cadance’s hoof from his shoulder and began to head for the door. "But this is my problem and I don’t you involved, okay?"
"But Twilight..." all three mares started simultaneously.
"But nothing," she said, opening the door of the room. "Now, if you don’t mind, I'm going to my room tidy things up and then I go for a walk... alone."
And having said this, she came out and closed the door with her magic.
Twilight started driving up to her room, unable to stop thinking about Blue Sword and her friends’ words. She knew she shouldn’t have accepted Cadance’s invitation. If she had, she wouldn’t be in this situation of indecision.
However, she thought in what she was feeling right now. After all, she was quite happy to see Blue again. And with her flame of passion she felt for him reignited, she felt an energy that she has not felt since she was a filly. But she had to be realistic, their relationship was virtually impossible. Not that he could not love her as she loved him, but it was because of a single variable: a pony whose reaction to her relationship with Blue would serve to moderate everything. Of course she was talking about her brother, Shining Armor.