//------------------------------// // Story Time - Names // Story: Crystal Empire Chronicles // by Northern Course //------------------------------// Come, come, I have a story to tell, but before I begin, a question for you. What is a name? Because of all things in this world, names are truly funny things. Mostly because from birth our names can define who we are and who we will become, and this name isn’t chosen by us, but by our parents, our guardians, our family. What kind of future do they imagine for us at birth? What would I imagine for my own foal if I had one? How should our name define us? By our skills, talents, or by personality? With a name that lacks one; do we develop our own of the others? Does this mean that we are shaped to follow the destiny of our names, and what if we don’t happen to like the way our destiny is turning out? Is there any way to change that destiny or are we always set to go down that path? Would it matter anyway in the end? “Crimsy?” Mi amore cried out looking up at her foal-sitter. It was a name she had taken to calling Crimson. A name he had heard before in much more innocent times. The name his sisters called him by. It was not something he hated. It was just something that had brought a surprise to him. It was a strange and yet wonderful coincidence of all things. “What is it Cady?” Crimson asked. Princess Mi amore cadenza… what a mouthful. She turned out to also not like this after giving Crimson such a nickname and the princess decided Crimson was to call her by the name by the name Cady. So says the royal decree she drew up in crayon. Cady seemed like a good fit. “Crimsy, tell me a story” Cady asked out to her foal sitter. A demand Crimson was all but too happy to follow. “What story would you like to hear?” said Crimson with the lighting of his horn, levitating a collection of book volumes from the bookcase, each of them linking up to form a rotating circle around him. “Alicorns and you?... Oh oh, The adventures of Crystal Song? ” Crimson ran through the list of each title that past by him as he levitated the amount of books around him, and with each title, Crimson sounded more and more excited, much like a foal who liked hearing his favourite story over and over again. More so than even Cady would hearing her favourite. “Oh, tell me how you met Daddy?” Cady asked, deciding on her story of choice. Suddenly of all things, Crimson’s levitation magic had stopped, all of the books falling down to the ground, a few unlikely books hitting Crimson in the horn as they fell. Crimson took the shook of pain in his horn as a small distraction from his thoughts. To Crimson, that particular story was not an easy one tell, neither were the events that led up to the events of that story, ones that Crimson wanted to share with some pony as young and innocent as Cady. But that did not mean he wouldn’t try. “Alright, sit down. For it is Storytime, and this is the story, of how I met your father” Crimson began, as the princess excitedly took a seat in a small pillow in front of Crimson. “Before I met your father, I lived in Equestria, the lands that give rise to night and day. Spells passed down through unicorn families from the very alicorns of legend themselves, or so it is told that way. Events happened in which I forced to leave my home behind me, and travel outside of Equestria” Crimson explained, a hard look on his face, taking into account every hard word he had to say about past events, not pleasant to think about. “But why?” Cady asked with a sad frown. HE HAS VIOLATED THE RULES THAT GOVERN OUR MAGIC, IF HE IS CAPABLE OF THIS; HE HAS NO RIGHT OR LOYALITY TO THE LUNA COURT. I SAY EXECUTE HIM AND BE DONE WITH IT “It is not important as to why I was leaving, more the destination that I chose in this story. To the south there were dragons, going east or west would force me to cross the oceans. Then, there was north, past the Crystal Mountains to lands of ponies outside of Equestria. I chose north. The mistake was being caught in the middle of a hazardous snow storm” “I fell down in the snow, for a really long time. Then somepony picked me up, put me next to a fire and fed me, saved me. That pony was your father. From that point on, I vowed I would be by his side, and repay him” “Your father saved my life. Without him, I wouldn’t be here, looking after you. Know that I will always be thankful for what he did for me that day” “It’s not a very long story, I know, and I’m sorry for t…” Crimson was interrupted by the small embrace of Cady. “Don’t ever leave Crimsy” “Yeah, I can promise that” 13 years ago… North of the Equestria border is a field of snow and mountains. A land that even in it’s harsh weather and unsuitable climate, some ponies were still able to find a way to make a home out of the lands. This did however in no way make the lands outside of this said home anymore welcoming. Snowstorms were a common feature of the lands, tales of dangerous creatures and the lost ponies that enter only never to return, were words that only sought to scare ponies off their tracks to somewhere safer worth travelling. This however did not stop one such unicorn. A unicorn banished from his home. Set out on a trip that would more than likely end his live. To him, a life to throw away, with no direction or hope, at last faces the challenge in front of him. Push forward, or die. Words he told inside over and over again. “The limits we set are there for a reason Crimson" Crimson said, repeating the words he had heard at his trial with a mocking tone of voice, showing his disgust for the words and ponies who said them. “What a load of shit. Limits set hundreds of years ago” Crimson yelled out, his anger only one of the things fuelling his small steps forward through the cold storm of snow. One more step Crimson kept repeating in the back of his mind, just hoping that the next step wouldn’t be his last, and all the while the snowstorm continued to worsen. It didn’t help that the glow of his horn, no matter how bright he made it, he couldn’t see anything through the storm. Just the continued onslaught of snow, piling on and over him, as every minute he shakes the gathered snow off his back. For now all he could focus on was staying awake through his anger and by the magical use of his horn. But even that would fail him in time. “Come on, for once in my useless life, work” Crimson yelled out in his mind, his horn sparking with magic everything that he tried from that point on when trying to cast the most simple of light spells. What he failed to do during this time was to watch his step and footing. He felt the frosty chill of the snowy plains on each of his breathes. As his hooves finally sinking so deep into a patch of snow, forcing his body to flip forward, the momentum continued building as the slope in front of him did nothing to slow his fall. Crimson finally hit down hard, completely knocking the wind of him. A coughing fit starting as he continue to breath in and out the cold air quickly and the chill that he had worked to ignore and fight through finally worked its way to consume him. Crimson realized all the things that happened didn’t matter anymore, that the anger that fuelled him through the storm had stopped, and all that was left were the tears flowing down his face. “Night Light, I’m sorry. It looks like I won’t be keeping that promise” Crimson cried huddling what parts he could move to form a ball around a small flower shaped necklace. “I don’t want to die” Crimson was going to die. But destiny said otherwise. From the lands of the crystal empire, travels a prince, on the start of a journey he would have no choice in making. His saddlebags filled with the travelling equipment, items and food he was told would help him “survive” his travels across the world. “Go out there my son, and look for the alicorns. Your time is now, just as I have and each ruler before” the disgruntled unicorn said, in a much tougher voice than his own, trying to imitate the words of his father. “I’ll tell you were you can shove your bloody tradition” the unicorn muttered in his anger alone, knowing not even his father would hear them. Not having as much concentration focused on his path forward in the snow, the unicorn prince falls forward over something, landing face forward into the patch of snow in front of him. “What the f-” the prince says as he turned his head over his shoulder. His mouth gaped open at the sight of a black coated unicorn in the snow. His trip over the ‘corpse’ had barely swept the lairs of snow that covered it. Only for its distinct colour of fur was what made the unicorn able to stand out. “Poor soul" the prince said sadly. A sadder beginning than any he thought possible for his journey. “Nopony deserves an end like this” He said taking a moment of silence in the storm for the loss of life. In that silence he heard the heavy breaths of unicorn that finally had a chance for breath outside a pile of snow that covered his body. "You're alive" the prince said giving a hopeful smile, before the grim remainder of his surroundings, caused survival to be his foremost thought, and his once hopeful smile, absorbed and showed the horror of his mind’s decision. “I am sorry” the prince said to the unconscious unicorn. Slowly taking his steps around the unicorn, whether or not it was the heavy lairs of snow, or his conscience, holding him back. Every step was slower than the last. Each step, his hooves growing heavier and heavier. Some part of him wanted to go back. It would be the right thing to do, but was it the smart thing to do, is putting your live at risk for a pony you didn’t know. All of these ideas, reason not to go back popped through his mind. WE DON’T KNOW HIM YOU DON’T OWE HIM ANYTHING THERE IS A REASON HE’S HERE YOU WON’T SURVIVE HAVING TO SUPPORT A STRANGER HE’LL PROPERLY DIE ANYWAY No pony I know sweeter than you. You just have to show them that “Well… shit” Am I dead? Why is the afterlife so warm? What’s that noise? Crimson’s eyes slowly opened, much to his surprise, shot open at the sight of what seemed to be a large fire before him. His eyes wide open to see a strangely formed fireplace of stone, as he felt his body come alive with new life and hope. His current whereabouts seemed to be a cave from his understanding of how the area looked. He felt a smile grow over his face as he looked out the exit of the cave as a flurry of white snow continued its onslaught, knowing the one important truth. “I’m alive” Crimson said with such happiness. "Of course you are" A voice from the area answered, as Crimson turned himself to identify the source. Quickly he noticed a white unicorn, covered in a layer of blankets. At first it was hard to tell that his fur was just that white, Crimson imagined if he had passed him in the storm, he wouldn’t have even seen him. "Hi, you can call me your lord and saviour. Did you know you’re very heavy?” “You, you saved my life?” “That I did. Now you going to eat that or should I have not cooked dinner, or whatever you call food at this time of the night?” the prince asked taking a bite out of his own food he had prepared. Crimson noticing a bowl at his feet and the smell of something sweet and tasty, it didn’t matter what was actually in it, as Crimson’s hungry stomach would have more control over his own body at this point that his head. Not even bothering with whether his magic was working or not, Crimson quickly went face first into the bowl, eating away everything the bowl contained as fast as he could. “Soooooo…. Pony, mind telling me what you were doing passed out horn first in the snow” the prince asked, curious about his hungry guest. “That’s… well… I was travelling” Crimson offered this as his explanation. “Right… Well can you at least tell me where you’re headed? Not many ponies I know who tackle a snowstorm without good reason” the prince exclaimed trying to get a handle on his new guest. “I just couldn’t turn back, that’s all” Crimson tried again, to leave his situation as vague as possible. “You are a quiet one” the prince was doing all he could to get anything from the unicorn. So by this point, he just settled for observation. What he knew was, the unicorn was likely from the south. Lack of knowledge about dealing with such weather made that clear. Northerners are taught the way of the dealing with hazards of their own lands. The problem is, how far south did he live, and why’d he leave? The black unicorn’s dark cloak was something had a chance to look over, and it said all it needed to say. He came from somewhere with money, or at the very least is a thief with excellent taste or almost perfect luck. Speaking of the cloak, he had not the chance or interest to sneak a peek at the pony’s cutie mark. Now that the black unicorn was moving about, the prince’s eyes shifted at slight movements of the cloak to spot his cutie mark. It was however clear after several attempts that such a thing was not going to happen. Dark cave, dark cloak, dark pony. It was something that didn’t matter, but if he stuck around, he’d surely find out. “Listen, I saved your life, the least I could do is get your name. I’m Stratege” Stratege then held out his hoof in gesture, awaiting his response. “Nice to meet you then Stratege…” Crimson put out his own hoof to Stratege, making contact with this new ‘friend’s’ hoof. Shaking it he offered his own name in response. “I’m Crimson... Crimson Shade” Names are a funny thing. They can mean a lot to someponies, for good or ill