"And so I told my dear neighbour: 'Tell your ewes to go play somewhere else, they are eating all of my crystal berries!' But noooo she won't listen. Please princess do tell her to keep those ewes away from my farm!" the light pink crystal pony with messy peach-coloured mane dropped on her knees and begged in front of the crystal throne on which Princess Cadance was sitting.
"Ah, yes no need to beg I completely understand," Princess Cadance replied and jumped off her throne. "I'll talk to your neighbour and see what can be done," she offered a hoof to her loyal subject and helped her up.
"Thank you princess! I just knew I could rely on you," the said subject smiled happily and trotted over to the door.
"I'm sure there is solution that will make both of you happy," Cadance said as the pony opened the door to leave. "There always is..." she added with a disappointed sigh as soon as the pony was gone and returned to her throne with bored look on her face. "How many more are there?" the princess asked one of the guards that were standing on each side of the massive door that led into the throne room.
"Emm... about twenty your highness," the blue one replied.
'Great, I'll be here for the rest of my life,' Cadance thought as she took a deep breath and forced her face into her usual cheerful smile. "Call the next one in," she ordered.
"Are you alright my love?" Shining Armor asked as his wife literally dragged herself into the room.
"Ah yes, I'm fine, just a bit tired from all complains I had to listen today," Cadance replied. "And how is my snuggly wuggly wittle Flurry Heart, huh?" she took baby Flurry Heart from her bed and hugged her tightly. "Did you miss mommy?" the reply she got was few giggles and a big hug from the cute fluffy creature. "Ohhh, of course you did!"
"If you want I could handle all the complaining tomorrow, you just stay with Flurry Heart and relax for a while," Shining Armor suggested as he took the camera with his magic and took a few pictures.
Cadance lowered Flurry Heart to the ground next to her favourite toys and ruffled her blue and purple mane, "Is it really alright? You already have your hooves full with preparations for this year's crystal faire?" she asked.
"Don't worry about that, you've been busy this whole week, I have hardly seen you get off that throne or away from paperwork," Shining said and hugged her, "besides, you deserve some quality time with Flurry Heart."
"Well if you say so, I guess I could use a bit rest."
"Mhm," Shining nodded moving a hand mirror in front of Cadance.
Cadance examined herself in the mirror and almost screamed. Not because of the huge bags under her eyes but because of her mane. What was once clean and shiny mane that everybody was jealous of now turned into a mix of purple, yellow and pink mess and kinda resembled a snake's nest. "Oh my, I really do need rest!" she hurriedly pushed the mirror aside and grabbed a comb. "You know what else I could do tomorrow?" she asked her husband who shook his head in confusion. "Visit a spa," the princess giggled.
When Princess Cadance woke up the next day she found out that she was alone in the bed, 'Shining is probably checking preparations for the faire already,'she thought, jumped off the bed and went to check on little Flurry Heart that was still asleep.
She then walked over to her dressing table, brushed her mane and feathers, put on her jewellery and make-up and looked herself in the mirror. 'Perfect,' she concluded proudly and struck a few poses before trotting out of the room and down the crystal corridor to the dining room where a nice hot meal was already waiting for her. She sat down and looked at her plate. Pancakes with chocolate and berries. One of her favourites! She lifted a fork and a knife and cut a piece before showing it into her mouth. "Mmmmm...!" she hummed happily.
Cadance looked down at the pancakes and then around herself to check if anyone was around. Hoping nobody sees what she is about to do she threw the fork and knife away and simply dug into the pancakes. 'I miss just being able to enjoy the food,' ever since she became a princess she had to start eating like a lady. In other words cut every single meal into tiny pieces and eat like a bird! Imagine being at a party where you are surrounded with various cakes and sweets and you must be a lady and eat only a tiny bit of it. What a nightmare!
Well at least Princess Celestia understands how she feels, she herself taught her how to fill her stomach without anyone seeing a thing. After all Celestia was a pro at these things, Cadance even saw a whole two tier cake disappear next to Celestia when noone was paying attention. 'Wait... Maybe that's why she likes it when her parties turn into a catastrophe?' with nobody paying attention she can easily stuff herself with all kinds of sweets.
Cadance finished the rest of her meal and licked her mouth clean before going to check on Flurry Heart again. Seeing that she was still asleep she informed Flurry Hearts' babysitter that she was going out for a bit and left for the spa.
The Crystal Empire was truly a beautifully land, many would say the most beautiful part of Equestria and Cadance agreed. She never saw such sparkly and magical place before coming here. But it was not only the beauty of the empire that made it known all around the world, it was its inhabitants. All ponies living in the empire were so kind, so loving and so peaceful, every-pony always felt so welcome here.
The only problem with living in such place was that it quickly became dull. There was nothing really interesting happening here. In Ponyville her best friend, and sister-in-law, was constantly fighting gigantic monsters, banishing the evil, restoring harmony, solving friendship problems. But here? There are no monsters to fight, the last villain that messed with the empire is most likely dead, harmony does not need to be restored, and all friendship problems she gets to solve are when two neighbours have an argument where ewes eat berries, and she solves such problems without even trying. It's not that she doesn't like living here, it is just that... at times she wishes that something interesting would happen.
'Maybe I should tell Twilight to send Discord for a visit,' the princess giggled to herself. Twilight would probably think she's out of her mind.
"Princess Cadance!" she suddenly heard a voice call out to her and turned around to see a white unicorn with short pink and red mane waving to her. It was Strawberry Shake, the pony who works at the local cafe called "Strawberry Tale Cafe". Strawberry Shake isn't a crystal pony, she came one day to Crystal Empire and started a cafe, nopony really knows where she came from or where she lived before coming to the empire. Whenever she was asked about it she simply giggled and said: "It's a secret." Cadance asked her once why she keeps it a secret and the pony answered: "It makes things more fun around here." It seems she wasn't the only one looking for a bit of adventure and mystery.
"Oh, hello there Strawberry," the princess greeted the smaller pony, "how are you?" she asked.
"I'm great, the job is really paying off this month," the unicorn laughed, "seems like the word about my super secret milkshake recipe travels fast," she added in a low voice. "Well, anyway, its real surprise to see you outside princess, took a break from all the princess work I presume?"
"Ah, yes. I really needed some time off so Shining suggested to take over for today."
"Why do all good guys have to be taken?" Strawberry pouted.
"I'm sure there are plenty of them still roaming around," Cadance patted her on the shoulder.
"Where?" Strawberry pretended she was holding the binoculars and looked around, "are they hiding under a rock or something?" she giggled. "Well I won't waste anymore of your time, I have to get back to work too. Have a great day princess!" she waved again as she returned to the cafe. Princess Cadance chuckled and continued her trip to the spa.
At that time nobody noticed that Crystal Empire's shield was growing weaker and weaker and that a certain shadow was waiting outside for the right moment to attack.