//------------------------------// // Chapter 3. - The Crystal Empire // Story: Reflections // by Amethyst Flower //------------------------------// Luna walks into the crystal castle, accompanied by her night guards. A crystal pony greets her. "Welcome, Princess Luna, princess of the night," she says, in her Crystal Empire accent. "I am Garnet, Princess Cadance's personal-royal-mare. Now yours." "Um, personal-royal-mare?" Luna asks, in her own accent that she was used to using. "Yes, basically I just help you with your schedules and help give advise, things like that. I hope you will find me of use," Garnet says. "Oh, yes, very," Luna says, truthfully. "I would like to see Princess Cadance. Is she receiving guests at the time?" "Well, no. But you're not necessarily a guest, so, yes, you may see her. She's in her royal quarters. I will lead you there." To the guards, Garnet says, "Flash Sentry, one of the royal guards, will show you where you may stay." Luna's eyes widen in surprise. "Oh, Celestia never did tell me what happened to that royal guard. He used to be in Canterlot. He was transferred here?" Garnet nods. "Yes, quite a bit ago, actually." Huh. Luna never knew this. This was the first she heard of it, actually. Well, no matter. Garnet leads Luna up a big stair case and then knocks on the door. A wild-eyed, yet very tired looking, Shining Armor yanks the door open. "Oh, it's just you," he says to Garnet. Luna clears her throat, realizing that at the moment she is clearly invisible. "Oh, Princess Luna, hello," Shining Armor says, a rather odd look crosses his face. "So, you're the princess that is going to take over for Cadance for awhile?" Luna nods. "Yes, my sister sent me." "Oh, well, I thought, that, perhaps, Celestia would send Twili..." Luna frowns. "Er, um, I mean, come in, Princess Luna. I suppose that you are wanting to see Cadance. Um, we're glad you're here," Shining Armor says. As Luna walks in, he continues to ramble, "So very, very glad...that you're...drat it all! Did I leave my socks in the dining room? Maybe I left them in the microwave..." What? Luna never really could get what was going on in Shining Armor's mind, nor did she really want to. His dreams were all a big, jumbled up mess that were very hard to decipher. Most of the time she didn't feel like seeing what was going on in his dreams. It made her feel weird... Perhaps he is still having some minor effects from his mind being controlled by that changeling queen... I never did get to see the wedding... I was out on business and Celestia forgot to tell me the exact date... Luna walks into the room, where Cadance is laying in a canopy bed, with light blue covers over top of her. There is, what Luna presumes, a barf bucket beside the bed, on the night stand. Which is also where Cadance's crown in laying. Luna wrinkles her muzzle as she stares at the bucket. She then turns to Cadance. "Hello, Princess Cadance. How are you..." Cadance coughs ..."feeling?" Cadance looks up at Luna with a big smile spread across her pink face. "Never better!" she chirps. Hm, maybe being pregnant affects your brain... Luna thinks. It was quite obvious that Cadance was very ill and could not possibly be 'never better'. "Well, I certainly am glad that you are keeping a positive out look on things..." Luna says. "So, what exactly must I do awhile I am here?" Cadance shrugs. "Oh, you know. Be a princess. Look out for the ponies. Have all the latest news to make sure that nothing awful is going on. Garnet will help you." "That's all?" Luna asks. "Yes, that's all." "Oh, well, then I'll leave you and Shining Armor and get to work," Luna says, highly doubting that there was even any work that needed tending to. Garnet shows Luna to the room where she is staying and Luna decides right away that she despises it. Pink, pink, and more pink. Shudder. Give me some indigo, black, dark purple, or deep blue, Luna thinks to herself. She begins to unpack, and once she does, she hears a loud scream coming from the door way. Luna whirls around and sees a terror stricken maid. "What?! What is it?!" Luna asks, looking around worriedly. The crystal maid rushes over to where Luna had been unpacking. "Oh, no, no, no, NO! Princess Luna, I will unpack for you! You must go refresh yourself for dinner and leave the work to me!" Oh. "I'm sorry," Luna says. "I didn't know that I had a personal maid." The little yellow maid smiles brightly. "Yes, well, I am Dandelion. And the bathroom is that door right there, if you want to wash up." Luna nods and goes into the bathroom where there is yellow, yellow, and spring green. Is everything here adorned in bright colors? Luna wonders in frustration. She fills the yellow tub up with water and soap, and hides in the bubbles, until Dandelion bursts through the door and announces dinner. Cadance is unable to attend dinner, so it is just Shining Armor, Garnet, and Luna at the table. Garnet is rambling something about Luna's schedule. An announcement speech...public viewing... a quick tour of the Crystal Empire, since Luna had never really been here before... meeting the royal guards... stuff like that. Luna nods when she felt she feels that she should and adds a few things, like, she would prefer to meet the guards when she was touring the Crystal Empire, rather than later, as it would save time. Garnet argues on this, saying it would cause less stress on everyone if she did things spread out, and Luna finally gives in, not wanting to cause an argument. She didn't understand why they thought that a full schedule would cause stress, but then again, Luna never really did have a full schedule, as Celestia does most of the work. Luna mainly just raises the moon and helps ponies with their dreams. Really, Luna thinks the Crystal ponies rather frivolous. They seem to be willing to fuss about anything. But then again, that might actually be how royal ponies act, and maybe she just wasn't as royal as she should be. She wasn't exactly like all the rest of the royalty, as she liked older, more vintage things and darker colors. But, Twilight wasn't exactly into all that fancy stuff either. She was a total book worm, though. Not that Luna didn't like reading; just, having a book how to tell you how to do everything seemed a little much to her. At the end of the day Luna was exhausted, though she hadn't really done much. She was about to go to bed, when Garnet came up to her and cleared her throat. "Yes? What is it?" Luna asks. "Aren't you going to raise the moon?" Luna was quite startled by this, as she never forgot to raise the moon. She looked out the window and realized that it was, in fact, dark, since Celestia had most likely lowered the sun, and that Luna should have raised the moon nearly half an hour ago. "Do you have a balcony?" Luna asks, mentally screaming at herself for forgetting. Garnet nods. "Yes, of course." She shows her to a balcony. "May I have some privacy?" Luna asks. She does not like raising the moon in the presence of others. It brings flash backs of being Night Mare Moon. "Oh, yes." Garnet leaves. Luna sighs, and begins her moon rising spell. Soon the moon is firmly in the grasp of her magic and she raises it into position. Raising the moon has given her new energy and she doesn't feel like going to bed any more. "There," she says, more to the moon than to anyone. She looks at it lovingly, but then remembers what it was like, living there for a thousand of boring years. She had almost wanted to destroy it, she was so angry and bored. Luna shivers. The Crystal Empire looks much better in the night. Some how more elegant, yet vintage. Sparkly, in that beautiful night-time way, Luna thinks happily to herself. Suddenly she sees a dark pony -a pegasus, in fact- on top of one of the tall, crystal buildings. This pony is gazing up at her moon, seeming to enjoy it's milky white glow. This pony does not look like a normal run-of-the-mill crystal pony. Far from it. And then, out of the shadows creep some more dark colored ponies. They all come and gaze up at her moon, and twinkle like stars. Who are these ponies? Luna wonders, with great curiosity. She knows one pony who can tell her.