Lunares woke up and opened her eyes. She appeared to be in a blue plane with light particles floating everywhere. Uh-oh. She had transported all of her cousins to the Time Plane!
Lunares heard groans from everypony else as they started to wake up.
"Ugh… Where are we?" Sky groaned.
"Stand your guard." Crystal ordered. "We don't know what monsters could be here."
"I think this place looks pretty cool!" Heart commented as she looked around.
"We should stay together." Embers suggested. "Just in case."
"Hey look, it's you, sis!" Jewel called out to Crystal as she pointed at one of the pictures on the side of the plane. At the top of the picture, she saw Crystal's cutie mark, which was a violet shield emblazoned with the Crystal Heart. "Just a little bit… younger! And there's Heart, Star, Embers, Sky, and me, too!" She said while looking at all the other pictures on the side of the plane.
"Where did those come from?" Starlight questioned. "They weren't there a second ago!"
Crystal walked up to the picture. It suddenly started moving. "Hey… this was the time I got my cutie mark!" Crystal said as she looked at the moving picture. "But this happened about 100 million years ago…"
Everypony gathered around the moving picture as it replayed the time Crystal got her cutie mark.
"Do you have to go fight on my 12th birthday?" Crystal asked her parents.
"Sorry sweetie, but the Crystal Guard needs us. They are slowly being overwhelmed by the enemy." Shining Armor explained.
"But don't worry! We'll be back in time for the party!" Cadence reassured her daughter.
"Okay… " Crystal replied quietly.
Shining Armor and Cadence hugged their daughter. "We love you!"
"I love you too, mommy and daddy…" Crystal said as she squeezed them as tight as she could.
Crystal let go of them and said goodbye.
"I need to make sure that mommy and daddy will be safe out on the battlefield!" Crystal thought as she ran to her room. She closed the door and locked it. Crystal took out a magic mirror that her mom had given her last year. "Whenever you need us, just look through the mirror, and you will know where we are."
Crystal looked through the mirror. Her mom and dad were at the front lines. They were trying to advance to the enemy base. Crystal closed her eyes whenever they killed a pony. They were almost at the base, when…
"Agh!" Cadence and Shining Armor cried as the collapsed on the snowy ground beneath them. The snow around them turned crimson red. One of the ponies had stabbed them on their sides.
"Mom! Dad!" Crystal cried. She watched in horror as the troops surrounded them and started to beat them. "I have to do something!" She decided. Crystal unlocked her bedroom door and flew as fast as she could to the battlefield. "I hope I'm not too late…"
Crystal reached the battlefield and searched for her parents. Once she had spotted them, she landed in front of them and summoned up a crystal dome around them.
"Mom… Dad…. Are you okay?" Crystal choked.
Cadence opened her eyes. "C-Crystal? Is that…" Cadence coughed and spit out blood.
"You're going to bleed to death!" Crystal cried. She tried to use healing magic, but she couldn't focus with all the chaos happening around her.
Ponies had started breaking through the crystal dome.
"Crystal…" Shining Armor whispered hoarsely. "Go…"
"No!" Crystal replied, panting. "It'll work! I just have to try harder!"
The ponies had almost broken through the dome.
"Crystal…" Cadence wheezed. "Save… yoursel…"
Cadence coughed up blood once again and closed her eyes.
"Mom… Dad… No…" Crystal muttered as she collapsed to her knees. "No…" Crystal threw herself onto her parents, tears streaming down her face. "No! I won't leave you here to die!" Crystal cried. "If the enemy is going to kill you, they'll have to kill me first!"
The dome had been completely destroyed. As ponies charged in to finish off the Crystal Family, Crystal braced herself, preparing to be killed. Suddenly, a bright light surrounded Crystal and brought her up into the air as the enemy ponies covered their eyes. Crystal felt a surge of energy pump through her body. With righteous anger, Crystal wiped out the entire enemy fleet and destroyed their base. She was then lowered back onto the ground. Crystal stood in front of her parents, who were still on the ground, cold and lifeless. She hung her head in shame, a tear slipping down her cheek.
"I wiped out an entire army by myself and protected the Crystal Empire, but I couldn't save my own parents…"
However, to Crystal's surprise, Cadence and Shining Armor got up, their wounds healed. The snow beneath them was no longer crimson red, but as white as the clouds above them. Overjoyed, Crystal went up to her parents and hugged them tightly.
"Mom! Dad! You're both okay!" Crystal exclaimed.
"Yes, yes we are!" Cadence replied.
"I know, b-but how?" Crystal questioned. "I s-saw you g-get stabbed!"
"We were unconscious, but suddenly, we woke up and all the pain was gone! As if we were never stabbed in the first place! Then we saw you take out the entire army all by yourself!" Shining replied.
"Y-you saw me do that?" Crystal said, blushing.
"Yes we did!" Cadence replied. "And we are so proud of you for saving us!"
Cadence looked at Crystal and gasped.
"W-what's wrong, mom?" Crystal asked, her voice quavering.
"You got your cutie mark!" Cadence replied.
Crystal gasped.
"I-I did?! What is it?!"
"It's a violet shield, shaped like your fathers', with the Crystal Heart in the middle of it!" Cadence said excitedly.
"So cool!" Crystal exclaimed.
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot!" Shining Armor said. "Crystal, what do you want for your birthday?"
"I… I… I want to be a Crystal Guard!"
"And then I became the general of the Crystal Guard." Crystal finished.
"Wow…" Crystal's other sisters gaped. The marveled at their sister who had taken out an entire army single-hoofedly.
"You're so awesome, Crystal!" Sky complemented.
"I never knew it was you who saved the Crystal Empire 100 million years ago…" Embers stated.
"Yeah. I didn't want the Crystal Ponies to be afraid of me, so I asked my parents to not have it written down." Crystal replied.
"Why would they be afraid of you?" Jewel asked.
"If they didn't know that my powers were a one-time thing, they would think that I could wipe them out single-hoofedly as well." Crystal explained.
"Hey look! There's me!" Heart called out to the group as she was looking at her picture. Above the picture was her cutie mark, the Crystal Heart with a pair of golden wings. "Let's watch my cutie mark story now!"
"So why is mommy in the hospital again?" Heart asked her father in the waiting room.
"She's really sick, and she needs special medicine." Shining explained without going into too much detail.
Cadence had cancer, and healing magic couldn't fix it. She had been in the hospital for a month now. Whenever Heart Wing asked him why he was going away so often, Shining had just said "I'm running errands." He would never let his daughter see her mother in such a bad condition. (Crystal would have visited more often, but she was in training camp.) This would be the first time Heart would go with Shining to the hospital, but he still wouldn't allow her to go see Cadence.
"Prince Shining Armor?" The nurse called out.
Shining stood up. "That's me."
"Please come with me." The nurse said as she motioned for him to follow her into a room.
Heart went up to her father and grabbed his leg.
"Where are you going, daddy?" She asked.
"Daddy's going to talk to the doctor, but I'll be back soon." Shining assured Heart. "Just stay put, okay?"
"Okay, daddy."
Once Shining and the nurse entered the room, Heart practiced her magic, which, so far, had only been a few sparks. But after a while she got bored.
"Daddy's been in the room for a while, now." Heart thought. She was hesitant, but she eventually decided to eavesdrop on the conversation. Heart put her ear against the door and listened.
"…not working… won't make it… has three months…" is all that Heart heard. She tried to fill in the blanks. The bakery's oven is not working, so they won't make it to a party and the bakery has three months to make a cake that was pre-ordered? No. The new muffin maker is not working, so they won't make it make anymore muffins, because now the inventor has three months supply of muffins? No. Mommy's medicine isn't working , so she won't make it and she has three months to live? No way! Heart was still thinking when she heard hoof steps and raced back to her chair.
When Shining came out, his eyes were red. Tears were slipping down his face.
"What's wrong daddy?" Heart asked her father.
Heart expected to hear a reply, but all she heard was silence.
"Daddy?"
Shining stood still. After he shook his head, he said, "L-let's just go home now…"
"Okay…"
As father and daughter walked home, Heart had a million things racing through her mind. "What's not working? What won't make it? What has three months? Why is daddy so sad? Why don't I ever get to see mommy?" Heart was so deep in thought that she bumped into the Crystal Palace gates.
"Oof."
Heart backed away from the door and looked for her dad.
"Dad? Daddy? Daddy where are you?!" She called out. "He must have already gone inside!" Heart thought.
Heart raced inside the palace and called for her dad. "DAD, WHERE ARE YOU?!?! HELLO?!" Hearts' voice echoed throughout the crystal halls, but she heard no reply. After an hour, Heart gave up and decided to go to the kitchen, since she was a little hungry. Heart when into the kitchen and opened the fridge to look for ice cream, but it was all gone.
"What? It's all gone?! But the maid just bought 10 gallons!"
Heart heard tiny sobs coming from behind the kitchen island. She grabbed a nearby frying pan, just be safe. Heart slowly approached the back of the island. Without thinking, she just started hitting the pony behind the island with the frying pan.
"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!"
Heart stopped an looked to see her father, who was rubbing his head, behind the island. His eyes were red, and there were ten empty buckets of ice cream around him.
Heart suddenly bombarded Shining with questions. "Dad! What are you doing here? I was looking for you for hours! Why are you crying? Why did you eat all the ice cream?! How could you eat all the ice cream?! I wanted some too, you know!"
"Oh… Hey Heart…" Shining sniffled. "What's u…"
Suddenly, Shining broke down, sobbing hysterically.
Shocked, Heart went up and hugged her father. "W-what's wrong, father?"
"C-Cadence is g-going to d-die s-soon… AND I'LL NEVER SEE HER AGAIN!!!" Shining cried.
Heart froze. "Mom… is gonna… die?"
Shining still continued to sob, wailing so loud that the crystal silverware in the nearby cabinet shattered.
Heart flinched. "Daddy's gonna break the palace if he keeps this up!" She thought. "I have to find a way to make him feel better! Even if I'm only six years old, I'll try my hardest!"
Heart hugged her father even tighter. "At least you have me, right?" She asked Shining. "And big sis, and Aunty Twilight!"
"Thanks Heart…" Shining sniffled. "You're right."
Shining picked up the empty ice cream buckets and put them in the trash. Then he went to his room.
"Man, I still wanted ice cream!" Heart complained.
Day after day, week after week, Heart continued to cheer up her father. Whenever he started crying, she would always hug him and say, "You still have me and big sis!" and "There are plenty of things to be happy about!" Even though Heart still couldn't see her mother to cheer her up, whenever Shining visited her, he told Cadence how Heart had cheered him up! Cadence was so happy that she was determined to get better, even if all odds were against her. Halfway into Cadence's last month, she surprised everypony! Cadence went to the Crystal Palace with good news. She was healed! The doctors don't know how it happened, but one day, she just got better! Shining and Heart were overjoyed! Cadence had returned to them. On top of that, Heart got her cutie mark! The Crystal Family was happier than ever!
Embers shed a tear while Star and Sky were sobbing.
"So… beautiful…" Sky sniffled.
"You reunited your family…" Star added.
"And I was at camp the whole time!" Crystal angrily ranted. "I wasn't there when you guys needed me!"
"How could you be at training camp when you were only eight years old?" Jewel questioned Crystal.
"Hey, I was one tough cookie back then!" Crystal replied.
"You still are!" Heart thought.
"That was a pretty heartwarming story, wasn't it, Lunares?" The voice asked.
"Whatever." Lunares replied coldly.
Sky went up to Lunares and put a hoof around her shoulder. "Come on, Lunares! You have to at least feel happy for Heart and her family!"
Lunares pushed Sky away and backed away from her.
"Okay, Misses Brick-Face! Whatever you don't say!" Sky teased.
"Ugh…" Lunares thought.
"It still didn't tell us why Heart was crystal wings." Jewel complained.
"You don't know?" Star questioned.
"No. Mommy and daddy never told us, and Heart doesn't even know either!" Jewel replied.
"Hey, shouldn't we find a way back so we can fix our element problem?" Crystal asked.
"We have time, Crystal." Embers replied. "I have a feeling that time has not passed in Equestria since we got here."
"Okay…" Crystal replied unsurely.
Precious Jewel went up to her picture, with her cutie mark on top of it as well. Jewel's cutie mark was a Crystal Heart with a Band-Aid on it. Once again, everypony gathered around the picture and saw how Jewel received her Cutie Mark.
Cadence, Shining Armor, and Heart Wing were all gathered around newborn Precious Jewel in the NICU. They looked at her, sleeping so peacefully. She was so tiny!
"I'm here!" Crystal whispered as she rushed into the NICU.
"Crystal!" Heart exclaimed as she ran to hug her sister.
"Back from camp so soon?" Shining joked.
"Well, the camp instructor said that I had to go, since it was a royal emergency."
"In that case, meet your new sister, Precious Jewel!" Cadence introduced Crystal.
Crystal took one look at Jewel, and her heart exploded… twice!
"She's so adorable!" Crystal squeaked. "But why is she in the NICU?"
"She was born three months early." Cadence replied.
"Oh…"
"Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence?" The doctor called.
"That's us!" Shining and Cadence said simultaneously.
"Please come with me."
"Okay…" Cadence replied unsurely.
"Crystal and Heart, wait in the waiting room until we come back." Shining directed his daughters.
"Okay!" Crystal and Heart replied.
Cadence and Shining went and sat down in the doctor's office.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news…" The doctor said somberly. "Since Precious Jewel was born 3 months early, she is undeveloped. She has an extremely fragile body, and won't be able to get even a scratch, or else she will have to be brought to the hospital. Jewel can go home in five months, but I advise that you keep her in bed under extreme care. Unfortunately, Precious Jewel will be like this for her entire life."
"We understand…" Shining replied quietly.
"Th-thank you, doctor…" Cadence said as she and Shining walked out of the room.
"How should we tell the kids?" Cadence asked her husband, struggling to keep from bursting into tears. "I mean, should we even tell them at all?"
"We should just tell them." Shining replied. "It's not good to keep things from the kids, and besides, they'd eventually find out by themselves."
"You're back!" Heart exclaimed happily as her parents entered the waiting room.
"So, what's up?" Crystal asked curiously.
Shining and Cadence sat down and took deep breathes.
"Your sisters' body… is very fragile … and she can't get hurt…. or else she'll have to got to the hospital…" Shining replied sadly.
"And even when she goes home… she'll have to stay in bed… all the time…" Cadence choked.
Heart and Crystal were shocked.
"Come one…" Shining said as he stood up. "Let's go home…"
Five months passed, and Precious Jewel was able to go home for the first time. Cadence and Shining kept her in a cloud crib, because Jewel could get hurt if she slept in a crystal one. Guards watched Jewel 24/7 to make sure she never got hurt. Even though Jewel was very weak physically, she was very strong mentally. Jewel learned how to talk when she was just one year old! However, she never learned how to walk, because she wouldn't be able to leave her bed anyway. Jewel was never taught how to read or write, because she could get a paper cut or a splinter. She was pretty bored most of the time. The only time she wasn't bored was when her sisters talked to her.
When Jewel was two, her parents told her about her fragile body and why she never left bed.
"Really? All my life, I'll be like this?" Jewel asked.
"Unfortunately, yes." Shining sighed.
"Well, how do you know?" Jewel questioned.
""The doctors told us so." Cadence replied.
"How do we know the doctors are right?" Jewel challenged.
"Umm… just because." Shining ended.
"Well, that's not a sufficient answer!" Jewel exclaimed. "I'm gonna get better, just you wait! Even if these 'doctors' don't think so!"
"Okay then." Cadence chuckled sadly.
From that moment on, every night before she went to bed, Jewel looked out her window and wished, "I wish I could get better."
Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, Jewel would wish she could get better. Even though her parents though it was useless, Jewel never lost hope. When she was five, on the day of the Crystal Faire, Jewel woke up and she felt… different. Jewel yawned and sat on her bed and looked around her room.
"The guards aren't here…" Jewel mumbled nervously. "Wait a minute… The guards aren't here! That means I can try to stand up!"
Jewels' heart began racing.
"I reallly want to try to stand up, but I don't know if I should…" Jewel thought reluctantly. Eventually, Jewel made her decision.
Jewel slowly put her weight on her hooves, her body shaking. To Jewel's surprise, she could stand up!
"I-I can stand up!" Jewel exclaimed cheerfully.
Next, Jewel put her let foot in front of her. Then her right hoof, and then her left hoof again. She could walk!
"I-I can walk!" Jewel shouted. "Mom! Dad! I can walk!"
Jewel ran to the throne room to show her parents, But when she entered the room…
"Jewel! What are you doing out of bed?!" Cadence shouted, worried for her daughter.
"I-I can walk!" Jewel replied.
Jewel ran to her mother, but she suddenly tripped in front of her mother. When Jewel stood up, her horn was broken.
Horrified, Cadence shouted, "Guards! Bring Jewel to the hospital immediately!"
The guards rushed to the room and put Jewel on stretcher.
However, much to Cadence's surprise, when she looked at Jewel, she grew a crystal horn on her head to replace the broken one.
"H-how did you do that?" Cadence muttered, flabbergasted.
"I-I don't know! It just… healed!" Jewel replied.
Cadence dismissed the guards and hugged her daughter tightly.
"I was so worried!" Cadence cried.
Suddenly, the doctor came rushing into the room.
"Your highnesses," The doctor bowed. "When I received Princess Jewel's medical reports for this week, it shows that Jewel is… normal! We don't know how it happened, but all signs of Jewel being undeveloped are gone!"
"Y-you mean…" Jewel muttered.
"Your healed!" The doctor exclaimed.
Jewel and Cadence hugged each other, overjoyed.
Ater that, Jewel was put into school and learned how to read and write. She was also able to play with her sisters and go to the Crystal Faire! Cadence and Shining agreed that this years' Crystal Faire was the best Crystal Faire ever, because their whole family was able to go. The Crystal Family was finally whole.
"Wow…" Sky mumbled.
"But… how… defied… science…" Star muttered.
"Uh oh. Star isn't able to comprehend Jewel's AWESOMENESS!" Heart exclaimed.
"Th-that was pretty n-neat…" Crystal said quietly.
"That was wonderful!" Embers exclaimed.
"Meh. So she defied science. Big deal. We live in a world of magic for Celestias' sake!" Lunares thought.
"OH COME ONE!!!" The voice shouted. "AREN'T YOU AT LEAST HAPPY FOR THEIR FAMILY, LUNARES?! HUH?! ARE YOU?!?!"
"Stop talking to me." Lunares thought as she tried to shut out the voice.
"Fine." The voice said as it became quiet.
"Well, there are still more Cutie Mark stories to view," Embers said. "So let's go!"