//------------------------------// // Pt. 6 - Past and Present Family Reunion // Story: Chase the Wind // by Witching Hour //------------------------------// Twilight watches the countryside roll by outside the window as the train rattles along its tracks, the geography becoming more and more marked as they approach the Crystal Empire’s capitol. “Thank goodness it’s still autumn… This trip a little later would’ve been as bad as our trip to Saddle Arabia,” Witch comments from the bench across from Twilight. The lavender alicorn smiles and turns to nod at her companion. “Going from one of the hottest deserts to the Frozen North in winter would likely make us sick.” “True enough, Witchy,” Twilight agrees. “Though by ‘us’, you likely mean ‘just you’, oh concussed one.” “Low blow, Twy!” Witch declares, feigning affront. Twilight simply smiles in reply. “Do you think Cadance represents Love? I mean… She is the Princess of Love…” “Well… Celestia’s not the Princess of Life, even if the sun is necessary to life,” Witch states with some hesitation. “And you’re not the Princess of Compassion, though friendship can be a form of it.” “What about the memories though?” Twilight points out. “We both saw her as that young mare…” Witch chews on her lower lip, recalling the foreign memories causing as much sadness as if they’re truly her own. “I did call her ‘Little Love’. That could’ve easily been a term of endearment… but that crystalline heart did react to her…” “Was the Crystal Heart Love’s relic?” Twilight queries, leaning forward for the new information. “Oh… Didn’t I tell you what the other relics were? The Librarian told me about all of them…” Witch says, smiling sheepishly. Twilight shakes her head vigorously, making Witch duck her head in shame. “Sorry… Yes. The Librarian told me that Love’s relic is a crystal in the shape of a heart, and given the memories I saw from Hope’s perspective, the simplest explanation is that Love’s relic and the Crystal Empire’s Crystal Heart are the same thing.” “Oaken’s Razor,” Twilight adds with a nod of agreement. “The simplest explanation is often correct.” “Exactly,” Witch agrees with her own nod. “Well don’t leave me hanging here!” Twilight exclaims. “Tell me about the other relics! What do they look like? What do they do?!” Witch laughs lightly at her friend. “Alright, alright! Relax there Twily! Strength had a set of armor, and Life’s was an amulet like the one the Librarian wore. These bracelets apparently turn into bracers at full power, and amplify all my magic, but healing in particular. Compassion had a book made with paper from crystal tree pulped wood meant for recording acts of compassion either witnessed, performed or heard about… It apparently had some significant enchantments because it never ran out of pages no matter how much the princess wrote in it. There was also an amulet to amplify the princess’ magic as well, but it was secondary to the book…” “I think I… remember the amulet…” Twilight responds haltingly. “You… Or rather, Hope… pulled it from around my neck… At the end…” Witch rises from her seat and moves to sit next to Twilight and put a comforting arm around the alicorn’s shoulders. “Those memories were hard to watch… No matter the perspective.” Sighing, Twilight leans against Witch’s shoulder, her eyes staring unseeing at the landscape passing by the window. “Witchy? Do you think there’s a way for Cadance to experience some of the memories without going to the Tree?” she asks softly. “I only ask because it could really help her understand…” Witch shrugs slightly. “It’s possible… The Librarian said the Tree was connected to the princesses through their relics… So maybe if Cadance tries to connect to the Crystal Heart with that intent…” Twilight nods, blinking slowly to refocus her eyes on her current surroundings. “That makes sense… I just hope… she doesn’t…” Witch cuts that train of thought off with a tightening of her arm before moving to sit in front of Twilight again. “Twily… I know it felt real… But it was not you… I’m sure Princess Cadance won’t think any differently of you if she sees what you’re thinking she’ll see…” With a slight sniffle, Twilight nods again. “I hope you’re right…” Witch smiles slightly, lightly jabbing Twilight’s shoulder with her hoof. “Hey… You and I are new friends, and I recognize it wasn’t you… With her being so much closer to you, I’m sure she’ll feel the same as I do.” Twilight flinches, then smiles as she rubs at her shoulder. “I should really have you meet the rest of my Ponyville friends before you go back to Canterlot…” A playful grin crosses her face as a thought occurs to her, making her laugh. “Applejack’s already threatened by Rainbow Dash working to get stronger… I think both of them will feel like the world is coming to an end if they meet a unicorn strong enough to compete with them…” Witch chuckles, blushing. “I’m not that strong… I’ve just been following the regimen my boss gave me, and not regularly at that,” she demurs, abashed. “And actually, I already met Rainbow Dash… Flash and I were the ones to pop her wings back in after the whole… post-Ball insanity…” Twilight laughs, and seems about to say something more, but then the brakes make the train lurch slightly, making her smile sheepishly. “Guess we’re almost there…” Witch smiles as well, moving back to her bench and packing up the books she’d used to occupy their trip northward while Twilight does the same. “How do you think the Royal Sisters got those two books?” Witch asks, her hoof brushing against several of the books from the old castle’s library. “The Blessings of Order books?” Twilight clarifies. “Queen Amore must’ve given them the books… They were alive when Sombra took over the Empire.” “But why would she have given them the books?” Witch persists curiously as she swings her saddle bag across her back. Twilight shrugs slightly, her magic levitating her bag to settle it on her back. “Maybe she knew about Equus and its fall, and wanted to make sure that other rulers knew of it?” she suggests as she moves to wait near the exit, Witch following close beside her. “That would make sense… It just seems strange that history from barely more than a millennium before us has degraded so badly…” Witch comments with a sigh and the train lurches slightly as the train brakes more and slows to a crawl as they arrive at the platform. “Oh… One thing about Cadance and Shining? They’re not like Princess Luna…” Twilight starts. Her thought derails as the doors slide open, so Witch is left wondering what her friend meant while Twilight leaps to the platform towards Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor. After giving her brother a quick hug, Twilight immediately moves to stand before Cadance and starts what appears to be a ritual dance and song. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” Witch, approaching slowly with confusion and no small amount of trepidation, bows to Prince Shining Armor while Cadance and Twilight were busy doing their greeting. “Well met, your highness.” She turns as the two princesses start laughing at the end of their rhyme and dance. “Do they always do that?” she asks, mostly to herself. Shining Armor laughs, waving a hoof which she takes as an invitation to rise. “Yes, they always greet each other like that…” he chuckles, smiling affectionately at the two alicorn mares. “And please… Just call me Shining… I get enough of the royalty nonsense while on duty…” Witch flinches slightly. “I’ll try…” she temporizes. “Should that be something I should keep in mind with Princess Cadance as well?” she asks quietly. “Probably best to keep up the formality when there are others around…” he responds, smiling, “but you’re Twily’s friend, and Princess Luna’s student… I don’t imagine she’ll mind you just calling her by her name when it’s just me and Twily around.” “Witching Hour!” Cadance starts in excited greeting as she approaches with Twilight beside her. “Twilight says you two have been on an adventure… I thought she’d only do that with her Ponyville friends!” A light pink blush colors Twilight’s cheeks as she smiles sheepishly. “Well… Witch asked for my help with her assignment from Princess Luna, and there’s really quite a fascinating history involved… And translating Arabic and Coptic was very interesting!” she explains in her defense, making Shining laugh and put an arm around his sister’s shoulders. “That’s our Twily…” Shining chuckles, ruffling Twilight’s mane with a hoof. “Always curious about something!” “We should head to the sanctu- er… I mean palace… We can talk more about what we’ve found there…” Witch suggests, stammering as she slips up slightly, her mind crossing memories together. If the royal couple had any reaction to the misspoken word, neither give it away, instead turning with smiles to walk back to the center of the city, and the crystal-spired castle. “I’m sorry if we’re a bit busy right now,” Cadance starts, turning her head to look back at the pair behind her and Shining. “A librarian found some old records in an even older dialect of Equestrian. It took some time to find someone who could translate it, but a historian living in Seaddle named Viridian Archives was around when the dialect was still in common use. He informed us that it was a detailed account of how the Crystal Empire was founded… It wasn’t created by Queen Amore like we thought! Who knew?” Twilight and Witch share a silent exchange with their eyes, and Witch laughs nervously. “Um… We may have found some indications to that in our research…” she responds with a slight smile. “You’ll have to tell me about that over dinner then,” Cadance replies, making a mental note to address the awkward silence that had fallen over her sister-in-law. “In any case, the Crystal Ponies wanted to celebrate their original founders, Queen Crystal Hope and Princess Little Love, so the preparations have been taking up a lot of our time, and the celebration is the day after tomorrow… Oh! Here!” The pink alicorn nods as they enter the palace courtyard, now dominated by a statue of a pair of mares. The larger mare is a pegasus with her wings fully extended and all four hooves planted firmly to the ‘ground’ in a defensive stance, with her mane and tail streaming behind her as though whipped up in a wind. The smaller mare, a unicorn only large enough to reach the top of the pegasus’ shoulder even rearing as she is, seems just as determined as the pegasus with a fierce expression expertly captured by the artist who had made the statue. Both have diadems with the symbol of their Aspect; the heart with eight rays for the unicorn, and the three-rayed open triangle for the pegasus. In addition to the crown, the pegasus’ legs have full bracers that cover from elbow or ankle to fetlock, a large cabochon jewel set in the center over the cannon bone. On the edges of her thoughts, Witch dimly registers that Cadance is describing what’s known about the pair, and how an artist had found the fragments of the statue in the old sculpture garden and restored it. Twilight attempts to stifle a sob, her sniffling cutting through her haze of memories and subsequent thoughts like a knife into her mind. Turning, she sees Twilight in a high distress. “Twy,” Witch says softly, reaching out a hoof to gently lay it on her friend’s shoulder. However, the moment she makes contact, whatever control Twilight had managed breaks and she flees into the castle, leaving her family baffled and Witch cursing softly under her breath. “I’m almost afraid to ask what that was about…” Shining comments dryly, earning himself an exasperated look from his wife. “Um… Well… Let’s just say it involves memories from somepony else’s life…” Witch responds with a sigh. “I’ll explain more after we find Twilight…” she adds in assurance at the confused looks her answer garnered. “I think you’d better explain while we find Twilight…” Cadance counters with a skeptical expression leveled on Witch. Swallowing nervously, Witch nods. “Well… It has a fair amount to do with the kingdom that… Erm… Crystal Hope, you said? Where she came from, actually…” she explains haltingly. “She came from the Equusese Empire.” “Equusese Empire?” Shining repeats, obviously baffled even as he and Cadance start towards the castle and hopefully in the direction Twilight had fled. “Never heard of it…” “I’ll spare you how hard it was to find any reliable text short of going to Saddle Arabia,” Witch starts, following behind Shining and Cadance. “It was ruled by a council of five princesses, notably not alicorns, which represented the aspects of Cosmic Harmony; Compassion, Love, Strength, Life, and Hope. Hope was the only surviving ruler when the empire fell, and she retreated from her seat in Roan to try to salvage what she could, and tried to keep as much of the Council as possible in tact.” Cadance looks back with an arched eyebrow. “Really? Crystal Hope came from Roan?” “Presumably,” Witch responds. “It’s at least where she spent a majority of her life as a ruler… In any case, Twilight and I discovered that the Tree of Harmony, where the Elements of Harmony came from, is associated with Equus, and… Well… To put not too fine a point on it, we’re the current… incarnations, for lack of a better term, of Hope and Compassion… And that allowed us to access the memories of the last recognized aspect representatives through the Tree of Harmony.” “The Tree of Harmony?” Shining repeats, apparently laboring to keep up with all of this new information. “And didn’t you just say these princesses weren’t alicorns?” Cadance adds, better able to keep up with Witch’s narrative, but still confused. “It’s very complicated, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to explain it all without Twilight.” Witch sighs heavily, shaking her head. “The best I have is that the Tree of Harmony is tied to the relics of the Princesses of Equus, and therefore the princesses themselves. Crystal Hope’s bracers, that you saw on the statue? And my bracelets?” She holds up her hoof, the light glinting of the silver cuff and smooth blue jewel. “They’re the same thing; Hope’s relic… Just a difference in our respective mastery of them… As for why Twilight’s the new Compassion despite all previous princesses being non-alicorns, it’s still a mystery. Everything we’ve found says alicorns as these representatives shouldn’t happen, but it has… And there are strong indications that she’s not the only alicorn chosen to represent Cosmic Harmony.” Witch takes a deep breath in the silence her words cause. “We know that Celestia is the new Life… And we have reason to believe that you, Princess Cadance, are the new Love…” Shining’s mouth works, opening and closing with no sound coming out, clearly gobsmacked, and Cadance seems to be working at digesting Witch’s information. Witch hunches her shoulders, ducking her head sheepishly. “I told you I needed Twilight to help me explain all this…” she mumbles, barely audible. “Let’s find her then, and see if she can add any more information,” Cadance responds, offering a slightly reassuring smile to her guest. “The last time she reacted like this, she went back to her room…” Witch supplies, hoping that it might help. Cadance and Shining share a silent look before Cadance suggests, “Library?” “Library,” Shining concurs with a firm nod, and they turn in the direction of their agreed destination. Witch trots quickly to catch up with their path change, struggling to keep up in her own fashion. In trying to explain things to Cadance and Shining Armor, Witch finds new connections she hadn’t initially made, even new information entirely that had been buried by the onslaught of memories; strong arms that held her while she grieved for the small unicorn called Little Love, a new student… A flash of a silvery-blue tail and a high-pitched giggle as the pony it belonged to kept running to hide from her... The creak of opening doors pulls Witch from her thoughts, and she narrowly keeps her jaw from dropping at the sight of the huge library. She keeps up with the royal couple as they head deep into the shelves, and scrolls replace books as they go further into the recesses of the library, though her steps slow while she looks around with wide eyes. They stop at a dimly lit break in the shelves to either side, all looking in different directions for where Twilight might’ve gone. Shining tilts his head to one side, his ear perked in that direction. Witch and Cadance turn their attention that way, and almost too quietly to be heard, Witch catches the quietest whisper of a whimper. Without looking to the royals for confirmation, Witch takes off down the corridor between shelves, her horn lighting up briefly to cast a silence spell, so Twilight would not immediately run at hearing hoofbeats approach, though with the drawback of not hearing anything outside the muted bubble. Despite the lack of sound, Witch feels a draw in the correct direction, and doesn’t doubt that she’s heading towards Twilight. A wall hung with old maps with foreign labels looms in front of her before long, and slowing, her eyes flit along the tables lining this edge of the library, finally falling on the magenta sparks flickering from behind two overturned tables in a corner forming a open box. Slowly approaching, Witch cancels the silence spell on herself, allowing the sound of Cadance and Shining behind her and Twilight’s ragged sobs back into her ears. She keeps her steps as quiet as possible, even though she doubts Twilight could hear over her crying. Stooping down so she wouldn’t loom over the barricade, Witch positions herself on one side of Twilight’s hiding space and cautiously peeks over the edge of the overturned table. “Twy?” she queries, her voice barely more than a murmur. Though Witch is reasonably sure that her soft tone couldn’t be heard over Twilight’s weeping, Twilight sobbing gets louder and the young alicorn shifts just slightly further into the corner, remaining curled into a ball. Witch mutters an oath under her breath, glancing over her shoulder at Cadance and Shining Armor who stood hesitantly a few lengths back. Catching the princess’s violet eyes with her blue ones, she flicks her glance to the other table boxing the youngest princess into the corner. Taking the silent cue from the unicorn, Cadance approaches with soft hooves, as though she were trodding on eggshells. Mimicking Witch’s position behind the other table, she rests her chin on the edge and looks down at her distraught friend. “Twily… Please, tell us what’s wrong,” Cadance coaxes softly with a soothing tone. “Get away!” Twilight snaps and glares at the two mares, trying her best to look angry despite her puffy, bloodshot eyes and tear-stained cheeks. “I don’t want to hurt you…” she adds, burying her face back in her arms. “Twily,” Cadance murmurs in soft protest. “Twy… That’s not logical,” Witch responds, her voice firm despite its low volume. “Sending us away would hurt us…” “But what if I turn into her?” Twilight insists, muffled by her arms. “Twilight, be reasonable… You would never turn into Envy…” Witch retorts, resting her chin on the edge of the table. “You don’t know that!” Twilight replies, her voice jagged from sobbing and sharp with anguish. “No pony can know that because we’re supposed to find out and we haven’t!” “I know you won’t because you’re so heartbroken by even the thought of it happening,” Witch consoles, reaching a tentative hoof inside Twilight’s ‘box’ to try to touch her friend’s shoulder, hovering bare inches from its goal. “Twy, I need your help… Please. I know we’ve only gotten more questions than answers so far, but we need the answers to stop anything like that from happening again… And I need your help figuring everything out.” Witch sighs, hanging her head and her arm dropping to drape over the edge her table. “Please, I can’t do this alone, Twilight…” “Twily…” Cadance chimes in, her voice as soft and pleading as Witch’s. “We know you would never intentionally do anything terrible…” “And Princess Luna didn’t want eternal night when she became Nightmare Moon!” Twilight retorts hotly, turning and glaring with bloodshot eyes at the two mares. “No, she didn’t,” Witch replies, keeping her voice even and soothing while silently praying that Twilight would calm down, “but you were the one that said that we could face everything if we did it together… With friends, remember?” “All I could see in that statue was…” Twilight starts, trailing off as sobs threaten to overwhelm her again. “I know, Twy…” Witch responds soothingly, reaching out again and this time actually putting her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “But that wasn’t us… You aren’t Envy. I’m not the old Hope, and Princess Cadance isn’t Little Love.” Opening her mouth to speak, Cadance reaches out to place her hoof on Twilight’s other shoulder - “It must’ve been difficult to fight somepony who’d been so close to you, Nana,” Cadance says softly and the old pegasus mare, almost fully obscured by the overlay of an elderly version of Witching Hour, sighs heavily. “The friend… No, the sister I knew was gone, young Amore. I was fighting to save what remained of the Empire from somepony that merely wore my fellow Princess’s skin… As a ruler, thinking of the good of the many, how could I do anything else?” ‘Nana’ explains, her voice heavy with regret and responsibility. Cadance jerks her hoof away and blinks, looking between Witch and Twilight in confusion. “What in Equestria was that?!” she exclaims, making Witch’s jaw drop. “You saw it too?” the unicorn asks, eyes wide with surprise. “What was it?!” Cadance demands, an edge of annoyance creeping into her voice. Twilight and Witch exchange an anxious glance with each other. “Um… Well…” Witch starts hesitantly, “It was a memory… from the last Princess of Order that shares your aspect of Cosmic Harmony… Remember how I said we thought you might be the new representative of Love?” When Cadance nods, recalling Witch’s explanation, Twilight rubs at her face, dashing away the remains of her crying fit. “She got a memory just from being around both of us? Maybe she’s more connected to Love’s relic than we are to ours?” “It’s possible,” Witch replies, still clearly uncertain. “I mean… She is the the Princess of Love, and the restoration of Mir-er… the Crystal Empire… probably gave her a better connection to the Heart…” “Wait wait wait…” Shining interjects then, stepping forward to stand next to Cadance. “You’re saying that the Crystal Heart is a relic that came from the empire you two have been trying to find information on?” “Yes, that’s what they’re saying, dear,” Cadance quickly answers, turning her head to address him before returning her gaze to Witch. “But wait, what were you going to say before, Witching Hour? The restoration of the Crystal Empire… You almost said something else, like before when you called the castle ‘the sanctuary’... The restoration of what?” Witch casts an uneasy glance at Twilight, who simply gives her a blank look and a quick shrug. “Places around here… I keep getting the names mixed up in my head because I saw this whole city get built up from a small village on the outskirts of Equus, the furthest flung town in Hope’s realm as Crystal Hope.” Witch sighs heavily before taking a deep breath to steady herself, as though expecting some sort of backlash. “The town was called Mirrormere.” “Amore, mia cara, we’re here…” A gentle mare’s voice rouses Cadance from her sleep, and she quickly raises her head from the makeshift pillow made of blankets. All around her in the open wagon, busy ponies rush back and forth with construction materials or other supplies between tents and magical construction bubbles. Looming ahead of them as they make their way through the town, a large construction bubble dominates a central point, surrounded with banners displaying the eight-rayed heart of Love and the familiar sigil of Hope - the latter having dominated her old home in Roan. “The militia are setting up tents for all Roanan refugees,” says a stallion wearing a tabard with Hope’s symbol on it, speaking to the stallion pulling the cart. “Welcome to Mirrormere.” “Mirrormere…” Cadance repeats, her tone sounding distant as though she’s still lost in the memory, and then she shakes her head quickly, pushing it aside. “You said the relics were connected to both these Princesses and the Tree of Harmony? So how am I getting memories now? We’re not near the Crystal Heart, to say nothing of the Tree of Harmony!” “Witch and I thought it’d be possible to access the memories of the previous princesses by using the relics to… draw the memories from the Tree,” Twilight replies, her usual certainty absent. “You’ve already used the Heart to protect this city, and the city was designed to amplify its power to do so, which may have given you a better connection to the Heart, and through it, the Tree of Harmony,” Witch adds. “While I have Hope’s bracelets, I’m not fully connected to them. They become bracers once the connection is completely established, like I said before. And Twilight doesn’t even have the relics for Compassion. We have no idea where the book is, aside from that it was in Hope’s possession, and she’s better off without the amulet as I suspect it was corrupted beyond saving by its last user.” Twilight cringes at the last comment, making Witch wince as well before continuing. “The memories we got were very emotional. We saw each other as ghost-images over the last princesses… And we saw an image of you over Little Love… Just a moment ago, right before this all came up, I saw you again, but you were also Queen Amore instead of Little Love…” “I… Er… I mean the last Compassion,” Twilight stammers, correcting herself at Witch’s concerned look, “is the reason Little Love died… And… I watched what felt like myself murdering… well… you…” Witch sighs, eying the expressions of horror and shock on Cadance and Shining’s faces. “Wanna come out of your bolt hole now, Twy? Because I think these two are about five seconds away from that sinking in and breaking the tables to hug you…” With a noise that’s equal parts sob and laugh, Twilight nods and a quick flare of magic puts back the tables boxing the young princess in her corner. No sooner were the tables replaced than, as Witch had predicted, Shining and Cadance quickly scoop their sister into a group hug, and Witch rises to stand off to the side with a slight smile of satisfaction. Looking up from the pile, Shining looks at Witch with an expression of astonishment on his face. “How did you do that? It used to take hours to pry her out of whatever hole she took cover in!” he asks, amazed, only to get a pair of elbows to his gut. Witch quickly smothers a chuckle and hides her grin behind a hoof. “It helps when you’ve been on the receiving end,” Witch responds sheepishly. “Twilight could tell you all about the several times she had to talk me out of a corner…” “Or up from curling in a ball on the floor?” Twilight adds with a weak laugh as Cadance and Shining finally release her. “That too,” Witch agrees nodding. “We’re just about even now on that score too… All this Equus craziness has caused me three panic attacks and her two…” “You can’t count the one from the ball, Witchy!” Twilight exclaims, almost chidingly. “I can and I will,” Witch retorts firmly. “It’s all the same ‘on par with Goddesses’ insanity, which I still don’t buy for one second…” “Girls,” Cadance cuts in, and though her tone is sharp enough to successfully silence the two younger mares, her expression (and Shining’s for that matter) is one of fond amusement, “I think you two are getting a little off topic here.” “No kidding,” Shining adds as he presses a hoof to his ear, rubbing it as though it were sore from listening to the two younger mares’ quick verbal exchanges. “Seriously Twily… It’s bad enough there’s one of yo- OW!” He winces, nursing the new bumps on his head from both Cadance and Twilight giving him a firm smack to the back of his skull. “Let’s move this somewhere more comfortable,” Cadance suggests, her tone inferring more of an order. “Are you sure you don’t want me here?” Shining frets, dancing from hoof to hoof in the doorway to the open atrium at the foot of the castle. Cadance offers him a reassuring smile and nuzzles his cheek. “I’ll be fine, dearest,” Cadance responds gently. “If I understand what the past holds, I will tell you at dinner.” Despite his obvious reluctance, Shining nods, pulling her back for a quick hug. “We’ll see you soon, BBBFF,” Twilight promises, and Shining finally retreats inside. “What’s BBBFF?” Witch asks as they turn to face the courtyard. “It means big brother best friend forever.” Twilight explains with a slight blush on her cheeks and then chuckles at Witch’s raised eyebrow. “It’s something I called him when I was a filly and it just stuck.” Approaching the Crystal Heart, Witch and Twilight stop a few lengths away and Cadance looks back once she realized they stopped. “Cadance,” Witch begins evenly, “whatever you may see or hear, just remember that all of it happened in a different lifetime, just the memories of somepony else.” “We’ll be here for you.” Twilight adds encouragingly, hoping she could at least be stronger for her sister-in-law than she had been for her own vision. Cadance nods once before looking back to the Crystal Heart. Taking a deep breath, she pushes aside all her doubts and reaches out with her hoof, pausing an inch away from the Crystal Heart. With one last bout of resolve, she touches her hoof to it and - The sight of an old pegasus mare half-stumbling near her home at the outer fringe of her hometown of Mirrormere stops Cadance in her tracks. Partially obscured by the ghostly overlay of an elderly version of Witching Hour, her silver-blue and muted gold mane is matted and snarled, and her graying pale blue coat is marred by many scratches and bruises in various states of healing. Cadance gasps as the old mare/Witch sinks to her knees and she runs to her side. “Are you alright?” she asks anxiously, looking her over in concern. She gives Cadance a weak smile and a slight nod before she gets distracted by something. The bracers on her legs radiate an icy blue light, and two objects rise from the satchels on her back. Cadance’s jaw drops at the sight of a pegasus easily using magic. The old mare first eyes the book, a thick tome with somehow-glittering pages, before turning her attention to the crystal heart, which calls to something deep within Cadance. A violet glow expands from around the heart, overpowering the blue halo of magic, and tendrils of soft purple light seem to reach out to Cadance. The mare’s smile grows broader, her face crinkling along the many lines there. “No… But I believe I shall be soon, little Love,” she says as the book floats back into her bag, and the heart hovers under its own power to Cadance. “Who are you? What is this?” Cadance asks. “I am Hope… And that, little Love, is the Crystal Heart, relic of the Princess of Love…” ~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~ Through the pain, Cadance feels herself being carried. There’s a slight jolt when her carrier stops and slides her as gently as possible to a cold smooth surface. “We’re safe now, Little Love… We’re back at the palace.” Hope/Witch says softly, and the pain spikes as pressure is applied to her wound. “Did… Did I do well, Nana Hope?” Cadance asks, her breathing labored and raspy. Through the darkening haze, she feels Hope touching her cheek with her hoof gently. “Yes, Little Love… You did so well…” Hope replies, her voice choked. “I’m so very proud of you…” she adds. “Don’t ever give up… Nana…” Cadance says, straining to get the words out. She wanted to add more, tell her mentor that she would succeed in building a new Equus, but her breath runs out, and with a sigh, her eyes drift closed, embracing oblivion. ~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~ She waits in the long line to meet with Princess Crystal Hope, fidgeting anxiously as the day drags on. As pony after pony leaves, looking dejected, she begins to fret that she would not meet whatever the princess’ expectations were; or worse, that no pony would… “Amore.” Cadance jumps alert when the guard pony says her name, looking about and surprised to find herself at the front of the diminished line. Taking a shaky breath, she follows the armored stallion into the castle atrium. The windows surrounding the base of the castle, usually transparent to allow a clear view of the literal heart of the city, are opaque, leaving the area dimly lit from sconces and two points of light at the center. As she approaches the center, she makes out the shadowy figure of the princess, illuminated from glowing jewels on her bracers and the crystal heart hovering between a matched stalagmite and stalactite. She had seen the Crystal Heart many times, but this time is different. She feels a pull at her heart, drawing her closer to the relic and Princess Crystal Hope. Are her eyes playing tricks on her? Or was the Crystal Heart glowing brighter now than it had been? Cadance feels a hum go through her just as she steps into the circle around the Heart and the princess, making her stagger slightly before she can bow properly. “Amore is your name, is it not?” Princess Crystal Hope asks softly, the raspiness of old age diminished but still audible. “Yes, Your Loyalness… Amore Cristallo…” Cadance responds, rising from her bow. “Your family… fled Roan, correct?” Cadance blinks in surprise at the question, to say nothing of the tone that echoes unshed tears. “Your name has a Roanan pattern to it…” Hope explains, eliciting a nervous laugh from her subject. “We are, Your Loyalness… I was very young when we left, but I remember it fondly,” Cadance answers. Despite the perceived gap in rank, she wishes to bring comfort to the old mare, who cringes and sighs at Cadance’s reply. “Perhaps we may then build on that,” Hope states cryptically, making Cadance blink in surprise again. Sensing the confusion, the pegasus princess smiles down at her. “You, Miss Amore Cristallo, are to be my protégé, and take my place when I am gone.” Stunned, Cadance only watches as Hope looks over her newly-chosen student’s shoulder to the guard. “Send the rest away. I’ve found whom I have been seeking.” As the lights brighten in the area, and the windows return to transparency to allow the fading sunlight into the area, Cadance looks on curiously as Hope levitates a large tome with glittering edges into a satchel at her back. “What is that?” she asks quickly, though she flinches the moment the words leave her mouth. “I mean… If you don’t mind my asking…” “Oh, it’s nothing… Just something that belonged to an old friend…” Cadance wants to call her out on the lie about it being nothing of importance, but bites her tongue. She could always ask later, when it didn’t seem to make the princess so sad. ~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~ A queen she was on crystal throne In many-pillared halls of stone With golden roof and silver floor, And runes of power upon the door. The light of sun and star and moon In shining lamps of crystal hewn Undimmed by cloud or shade of night There shone for ever, fair and bright. The world is grey, the mountains old, The haven’s hearth is ashen-cold; No harp is wrung, no hammer falls: The darkness dwells in crystal halls; The shadow lies upon her tomb In Tsuyouma, in Fillyon, But still the sunken stars appear In dark and friendless Mirrormere; There lies her crown in water deep, Until Hope wakes again from sleep. As her sung eulogy fades away, and the doors close on the tomb beneath the Crystal Sanctuary, Cadance sighs heavily. A light nuzzle at her arm pulls her attention down to a young unicorn filly with green-gold eyes, pale violet coat and silvery white and blue mane. “There there, Radiant…” Cadance says softly, pulling Hope’s daughter close for a hug. “You should go check on your father… I’m sure he needs you right now, darling.” “Yes, Auntie Amore,” the little filly sniffles, clutching her tightly for a moment longer before scampering back into the castle. Cadance sighs again, watching her mentor’s foal until she disappeared inside. She looks up as two wings - one the color of the midnight sky, the other the color of fresh-fallen snow - cover her shoulders and back from either side, and she offers the alicorn sisters a sad smile. “We’re sorry for your loss, Amore,” Celestia says softly. “Thank you Celestia… I was honored to be Crystal Hope’s successor.” “We have not met anypony like her… The world would diminish should we not see her likes again.” Amore does nothing to stop the tears that fall from her cheeks at the other alicorn’s words. “You are right. I should very much like to meet somepony like her again, Luna…” Cadance staggers back a step and Twilight rushes to her side, supporting her sister-in-law with her shoulder. Despite her own initial hesitation, Witch takes Cadance’s other side just as the pink princess looks at her, violet eyes full to nearly bursting with emotion of all kinds. Before any words can be exchanged, however, the Crystal Heart starts spinning in place, its glow matched in intensity by the blue gems on Witch’s bracers. A globe of pure white light begins to expand outward from both items, temporarily blinding all present for a few brief seconds before it condenses back around the Crystal Heart. In the next instant, a column of interlaced blue and violet light shoots skyward, exploding into a brilliant aurora of color across the sky once it reaches its peak. Twilight remembers when the Crystal Heart had banished Sombra for the second time, but something seems different about this event. The light from the Crystal Heart seems to be more… corporeal, to the point of being almost a physical force. There’s only a brief moment to reflect on this before the corona in the sky seems to snap back with a resolute and unhesitating crash back at its epicenter in the sky, having spread beyond the horizon moments before. The light swiftly descends back down to the Crystal Heart with another brilliant flash of blinding light, and the three mares are left to stare in awe at what the event has left behind. Two brilliant diadems hover before Witch and Cadance, held midair in blue and purple auras respectively. The first of the two is a polished gold, and hovers before Cadence. Gems of the most vibrant violet the three have ever seen are set in the peaked brow, a heart with eight lines of deep amethysts radiating from it. Cadence cannot help but feel as if the crown before her was meant for her, even if it didn’t have the heart on it, and she reaches out with a hoof and gently takes it. Meanwhile, Witch observes the one in front of her with no small amount of trepidation. Unlike Cadence’s, instead being a proper crown, it is more like a circlet formed by a pair of caducei that look like they’d rest upon Witch’s brow. A pristinely polished blue cabochon jewel is set in the center, held by the winged tops of the familiar medical symbol. Witch looks closer at the gem, and finds - much to her surprise - the sigil she’s come to associate with Hope inside the centerpiece, a natural part of the stone and not carved into it. “What -” Witch starts, only to be interrupted as Shining Armor careening into the courtyard from the stairs. “What in Celestia’s name was that?!” he shouts, alarmed and looking around wildly for any threats. With Twilight struck dumb and gaping at the two new crowns and Witch staring at her own as though the snakes on it would come alive and bite her, Cadance sighs resignedly as her husband joins them. “I think we need to go back inside and talk…”