//------------------------------//
// The Glorious and Radiant 
// Story: Crystal People 
// by Word Worthy 
//------------------------------//

The Crystal City bustled with activity, far more so than usual, even for the Crystal Empire’s capital and largest city. A large crowd of royal guards, crystal soldiers, and curious onlookers surrounded the perimeter of the Crystal Castle, all vying for a rapt and unimpeded view of the Crystal Heart, as well as the four alicorns and lone unicorn who had gathered around it in the shadow of the towering castle above.
 
Only a day ago, Crystal Pony stewards of Cadance’s royal court who regularly tended to the heart reported magical fluctuations they had never countered before. Whether it be good, bad, or entirely grey, it had been clear by the unicorns’ accounts that something peculiar was indeed happening,
 
Celestia peered at the Crystal Heart as it revolved in a full circle excitedly, her magenta eyes narrowed with puzzlement and fascination. “Cadance, can you detect anything unusual about the heart with your magic?”
 
“No, nothing at all. It seems to be the same as it always is, just more…energetic!” Cadance replied in a voice laced with astonishment, standing between Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle as she scanned every immaculate and glossy inch of the great blue crystal.
 
“Very energetic!” Twilight agreed. She pursed her lips in thought as she too studied the heart.
 
“Surely there must be a reason for this sudden flux in energy,” Luna said, looking as dumbstruck as Shining Armor was standing next to her. “Perhaps some exotic magic is at work here, my friends.”
 
“Very possible,” Twilight replied. “Although…I’ve never heard or read of anything besides love being able to make the heart so empowered like this before.”
 
The heart’s rotations were gradually getting faster as a faint magical field began to paint a cerulean-cerise glow across the polished street underhoof, and Shining Armor immediately took note of something. “Umm…Cady?”
 
Princess Cadance turned to look at her husband. She arched her brown upon registering his comically agape expression. “What is it, Shining?”
 
He shook his head in wonder, stammering. “Your mane, it’s, uh, it’s-”
 
“Flowing like mine and Celestia’s…” Luna interjected with widened eyes, a silver-shoed hoof pointed at Shining Armor. “So does your own, and Twilight’s, too!”
 
Twilight gasped and her forehooves shot up to her hair. Her neatly fringed forelock, now gently waving, felt almost like liquid to the touch. Finer than the softest silk. She looked about, and sure enough, both her brother and her sister-in-law’s manes were likewise curiously blowing in a phantom wind exactly like those of the two elder alicorns.  She gasped again. “I cannot say so with full certainty, but I believe this high-energy state the Crystal Heart is in may very well be benign,” Twilight stated as she finally collected herself and got a grip on her surprise.
 
“Let us hope so,” Celestia replied. “I can sense its power increasing, but nothing else.”
 
“Wait…something’s about to happen. I can feel it.” Cadance said.
 
“What is it?” Shining inquired with urgency.
 
“Something… or somepony, is coming.” Cadance replied vaguely, frowning to herself. “I can’t tell what, or how. If I’m interpreting this correctly, the heart is…calling to it, summoning it into our world. We should definitely give the heart more space.”
 
Without question, all five ponies moved two meters further back, maintaining their inquisitive circle around the magical device even as it now started to burn like a miniature star, straining the eyes of at least a few nearby onlookers.
 
“King Sombra?” Luna questioned flatly with a stoic frown, not needing to explain her query any further to the others.
 
“No,” Cadance answered, her tone one of certainty that clashed with her puzzled stare. “Whatever it is the heart must be calling forth, it’s not exuding dark magic of any kind; I can detect nothing malicious. I think we can safely say that it would be pretty obvious if it were evil.”
 
“Are there any other specific details you can tell us about them, dear?” Shining asked, still keeping his guard up regardless. “I’d rather not have a whole army of something appear right in front of us and start a gigantic ruckus, friendly or not.”
 
“Whether good or nonaligned, it, or they, must be quite powerful. That’s about it, sorry.”
 
Shining tensed up further. “Wonderful,” he muttered.
 
“Cadance, I think your interpretation was quite accurate,” Celestia said suddenly, gesturing at the Crystal Heart. “We have visitors!”
 
Equestrians and Crystal Ponies alike watched in awe and held their breath as twenty bipedal figures began to materialize before them in a brilliantly bright light that enveloped a three meter-wide circle around the Crystal Heart.
 
“Incredible…” Twilight murmured.
 
Shining Armor winced as he turned away to look at the nearest armoured ponies, his non-alicorn eyes already uncomfortable from the glaring light. “Be ready in case these newcomers are trouble!” he ordered the guards, who promptly saluted. The Royal Guards instinctively inched closer to the weapons within their reach, some already having to squint from the light reflecting off their comrades’ armour.
 
The light then dissipated around the heart, and revealed the two-legged visitors. ‘Reveal’ was a questionable term, for they were almost as bright as the magic that had summoned them on the spot.
 
Four beings at the front of the patiently standing group appeared to be the most prominent, and the middle two were the tallest in stature of all twenty, based on their outlines in the light. They appeared to be wearing headdresses or crowns of an exotic fashion that no doubt added to their height.
 
As Shining Armor and the alicorns carefully studied the beings, their genders became quite evident based on body shape. The tall ones in the middle were a male and female, while another male and female stood on either side of them with dutiful and dignified postures, very much like members of a royal court.
 
For many of the onlookers, staring at the mysterious beings was almost like staring into the Sun itself. Their luminescent skin and gradient locks of hair glimmered naturally in the sunlight like those of a Crystal Pony, as did the gemstone-studded fabric of their many robes, dresses, armour, and embroidered tunics.
 
Cadance blinked and squinted her eyes slightly from the exceptional amount of radiance, but put on a cheerful smile as she approached the waiting and elaborately dressed strangers. Sensing that she, her sister, and extended family were now in the company of fellow albeit foreign royalty, Celestia joined Cadance in stride while the others chose to remain where they were for now, watching with rapt attention.
 
“Can you understand me?” Princess Cadance ventured in a friendly tone. “If so, we welcome you to the Crystal Empire. I’m Princess Cadance,” Cadance then gestured to the taller pony beside her, as well as Twilight and Luna in the distance. “and this is my aunt, Princess Celestia. She and her sister Luna here rule the nation of Equestria to the south. Beside Luna is Twilight Sparkle, youngest of Equestria’s princesses and former student of Celestia. And last, but certainly not least, this is my husband, Prince Shining Armor.”
 
As the royals awaited a response, the magical strangers’ facial features became slightly more visible in the shadow of the castle when the Sun was momentarily covered by a slowly moving front of clouds.
 
To the relief of everybody who could actually manage to gaze upon them, the regal foreigners wore friendly but thoughtful expressions on their shimmering, furless faces that mirrored Celestia and Cadance’s own as the towering woman in the middle stepped forward to speak, members of her party gracefully stepping aside to make way for her. The woman’s measured steps across the polished ground seemed more like gliding as the lengthy tails and skirts of her flowing white, gold, violet, and ruby dress followed after her.
 
Standing at roughly two and a half meters tall, the woman had to stare down slightly to see each of the Princesses face to face, her platinum crown resting impossibly tall atop her head and mostly concealing the multi-hued hair beneath. Decorative gemstones lay suspended above the crown in an unseen telekinetic field.
 
Golden eyes met Celestia’s, then Cadance’s, and the crowned visitor returned the Princesses’ smiles, charging the air with a positive atmosphere. Then, she parted her lips to speak.
 
“I see your spoken tongue has changed very little, fair equines! Warmest greetings to you!” The woman’s voice was extremely loud and produced a noticeable wind and vibration as it carried out almost like a megaphone, yet her posture and expression seemed entirely – and bizarrely – calm and formal.
 
For Shining Armor and the Equestrian princesses, the volume was surprising but not painful, while most of the citizenry assembled all around them strained even further, their ears now as surely distressed as their eyes were fast becoming.
 
“And warmest greetings to your people,” the regal woman continued, “for I am High Empress Amethystine, the hundred and third reigning sovereign of the Glorious Empire!”
 
“And I am High Emperor Adamantine, husband of Amethystine and the hundred and fourth sovereign of our Glorious Empire! We are humbled to have the privilege to bask in such august company!” the tallest of the men spoke with much enthusiasm, having separated from the group of people as well in glide-step to join his wife.
 
Adamantine was roughly his wife’s height, but clad in a form of light diamond-like armour from toes to shoulders and a snow-white cape over a glittering golden tunic. Like Amethystine and all of the other newcomers, his hair was a glossed gradient of various colours and his eyes a gentle amber upon a mostly smooth and prominent face, with his ensemble altogether radiating light at varying degrees of brightness every couple of seconds.
 
In sheer opposition to his wife’s skyscraper of a crown, the Emperor also donned a humble gold circlet that fit snugly around his ears and hosted only half a mine’s worth of precious gems.
 
“We would also like to…” Amethystine paused, her glittering lips pursed with concern, scanning the straining equine crowd around them before looking to her husband, who adopted a sheepish grin. The Empress then turned gaze to the Princesses with an apologetic flourish of the hand and a flittering of eyelashes. “…we would also like to introduce our royal court, and its two appointed heads – our chief advisors.” Her voice had adopted a much lower and far softer, less exaggerated pitch as she gestured to a stout woman approaching beside her and a prominent man likewise joining the Emperor.
 
As the Empress’ voice had shifted, Luna resisted the urge to torture her own eyes from gawking at their radiating regalia by finally donning a pair of high quality sunglasses.
 
“I apologize for our volume, most esteemed equines. We assumed your ears to be accustomed to our Glorious Cadence, in the same manner as our own subjects. We still have much to learn of this realm in our absence, you see,” Adamantine explained.
 
Much of the Crystal Pony crowd began murmuring in appreciation and curiosity despite the brightness while Luna winced a bit in what appeared to be minor embarrassment, Twilight patting her on the withers reassuringly as the youngest alicorn stifled a giggle. Shining Armor, having been little bothered by the volume, tried instead to shade his eyes while carefully adjusting his posture in doing so for fear of appearing rude.
 
Celestia nodded to the foreign heads of state gracefully with a radiant smile, privately throwing herself a congratulatory party in her head for not having used the Royal Voice herself in centuries. “That is quite alright.”
 
“Equestria and the Crystal Empire have simply not been subject to such tradition in many years, but both for very different and separate reasons,” Cadance interjected, sunglasses having appeared on her muzzle that she’d pulled out of her waving mane.  
 
In response, the members of the royal court that had accompanied the Emperor and Empress began murmuring as well amongst themselves with understanding and wonder.
 
“Please, by all means, introduce yourselves. We are honoured to meet you all,” Celestia finished.
 
The four prominent figures of the self-proclaimed ‘Glorious Empire’ bowed gracefully, then the stout and severe-looking armoured woman beside Amethystine assumed a military stance of attention. Her heels clicked smartly together and one fist lay against her breastplate, whose appearance mirrored the light raiment of the Emperor, albeit far heavier.
 
“Your Highnesses of Equestria, I am Lady Grand Marshall Cameo, supreme commander of the Exploration Guild of the Glorious Empire! It is a privilege to make your acquaintance.”
 
To the natives’ surprise, Cameo’s voice was incredibly high pitched. Luna and Shining Armor wondered if the human officer had somehow advanced in her career within their Empire by robbing balloons of their helium at children’s birthday parties.
 
It was now the prominent man’s turn to speak. “Your Highnesses, I am Lord Chamberlain Lustre, civilian head of the royal court and overseer of all the ministries of our Glorious Empire. It is my greatest pleasure to meet you and lay gaze upon the Empire of Crystal once more!” Diametrically opposite of Cameo, Lustre’s voice was a rich baritone, which in Shining Armor’s opinion was a fitting complement to the man’s braided and well-kept beard.
 
The Lord Chamberlain seemed the most humbly dressed of all the twenty humans of the Glorious Empire that were now present before the Crystal Heart. He donned a silken white tunic with gold trim over a matching robe boasting filigree that formed the shape of feathered quills across the legs. A cape made of the feathers of some phoenix-like species completed his ensemble.
 
Luna, Shining Armor, and Twilight finally joined Celestia and Cadance as Luna addressed the humans directly for the first time with a stern but serene gaze behind her shades. “As my sister and niece have iterated, we are pleased to meet you, esteemed visitors, Your Majesties. However, I must now extend the polite inquiry: what brings you here to… are you of this world?” While her body language was almost nonchalant, Luna spoke with a deliberate and subtle edge to her voice to convey her wariness.
 
“We hail from the planet known as Vitreus, located in a realm parallel to your own, though our Glorious rule extends far beyond one world,” Amethystine explained with a harmonizing tone. “Vitreus is very much like your own.”
 
“Astounding. Then what brings you to Equis? To the Crystal Empire? You clearly speak as if you’ve tread here before in times since passed.”
 
“You also mentioned our language has remained unchanged…” Twilight ventured. “What is your, erm, Glorious Empire’s connection with the Crystal Empire and the Heart?”
 
“Indeed, we’re very curious about your people, as you can imagine. Very curious,” Shining Armor added, an eyebrow arched.
 
Emperor Adamantine gave a friendly wave and beamed to the three as his luminosity intensified, almost blinding Twilight and causing shades to pop into existence on Shining Armor’s muzzle with a glint of rose-coloured energy. Many of the pony onlookers were now wearing sunglasses and polarized goggles as well.
 
“We mean no martial intent, we are only here to revisit an old surveying outpost,” Cameo stated dryly. Put a bit at ease by the woman’s lack of hesitation in her assurance of peace, Shining Armor supressed a smirk as he was reminded of a friend’s pet guinea pig.
 
“Apologies, Lady Cameo greatly downplays our true peaceful intentions. If you could only imagine our wonder and astonishment when the Explorers’ Guild discovered a remote outpost on a distant world had become this,” Adamantine explained. The diarch gestured to everything around them.
 
“We are the builders of the very citadel you now greet us beneath, and this Crystal Heart and the city around it, I suspect, was inspired by the myriad magical technology we left therein,” Amethystine said. “We leaders of the Glorious Empire have come here to meet with the younger civilizations that have sprung up around this citadel, and all lands beyond. The amount of emotional energy derived from the pure love that permeates the crystalline lattices of your Crystal Empire detected by our remote research enchantments have throttled our imaginations, and inspired a new era of curiosity and exploration amongst the learned and adventurous of the Glorious Empire.”
 
A massive murmuring of excitement began to overtake both the humans and ponies present. The human’s teeth showed a pearlescent glow as she smiled, causing Twilight to finally don eyewear.
 
“Then your presence here is most auspicious,” Celestia remarked. “We have much we can learn from one another, our peoples.”
 
“What a relief,” Twilight interjected. Everyone turned to her curiously. “Uh, about your intentions, I mean. Heh, yeah!”
 
“When the Crystal Heart first started the series of energy surges that hinted at your arrival, many of us initially feared an invasion was imminent from a dark and magical threat,” Shining Armor said.
 
“Invasion…?” Amethystine stood in bewilderment as her light dulled for a moment and she looked to her husband, the Chamberlain, and Grand Marshall each before returning focus to the Equestrians. The leaders of the Glorious Empire subsequently burst into a fit of angelic and light-hearted laughter, even the stern Cameo.
 
Awkwardly at first, laughter began to crop up amongst the ponies as well like a contagious bug, and after a few seconds, the entire castle plaza was rife with rich and echoing laughter. A whole minute past and human and Equestrian magic began to kick in from the energy in the air.
 
To the ponies’ further astonishment since the visitors’ arrival, the coats of the non-crystal ponies present began to glimmer and shine, and butterflies began to manifest and flitter about the air as golden halos gleamed above all.
 
The halos faded away within a few moments, but the butterflies and omnipresent glimmering remained. Cameo had a grin on her face as she was the first to recover enough to speak.
 
“Invasion with what, if I may respectfully impose a rhetoric query? The Exploration Guild is the Empire’s military anywhere outside of Vitreus and our native dimension, whose defence is entrusted in the talons of the mighty Sentinels.” Cameo’s voice assumed a prideful air at that. “We are adventurers armed with tools and trained in warriors’ arts necessary for our protection along our journeys, not conquerors. My Guild’s sole mission is to explore the various realms of creation, spreading the Glorious Empire’s virtues of amity and camaraderie, and recording the cultures and peoples we come across for future study.”
 
Both Twilight and Celestia mentally squeed, their expressions not betraying their excitement, however.
 
“I see,” Princess Luna replied. “All very intriguing. Celestia, Cadance, Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle, we must usher our guests into the Castle and offer them refreshments at once! We have been rude for keeping them outside so.”
 
“Agreed,” Celestia answered, others uttering their affirmations as well. All five of the Equestrians began glowing, actually causing some of the human visitors to squint from the luminosity in turn. “Your Majesties? Lord Chamberlain and Lady Grand Marshall? Shall we discuss things further over tea?”
 
Shielding her eyes with her right hand and appearing somewhat sheepish, Amethystine performed a partial curtsy. “Of course, Princess Celestia. I am most eager to secure friendship between our civilizations.
 
With a stately grin, Celestia at last put on a pair of sunglasses, then gestured towards the nearest entrance to the Crystal Palace above.
 
As the masses of people began to shift about and the royals made their way into the castle, Twilight was walking alongside Amethystine when the Empress leaned slightly towards her. “Now, about the language topic, and the nature of our connection to the ponies’ Crystal Empire, I’m sure you have many questions…”
 
While the human diarch took in the scenery as they walked onwards, she failed to register the predatory nature of Twilight’s jovial and grinning response.
 
“Most definitely, Your Majesty.”