"So, Copper, you want to hang out today?" Stelimus reluctantly suggested.
The energetic mare let go of Yolumay and latched onto Stelimus like some sort of parasite.
"Oh yes! Let's go! I know several places we can go to have fun!" she cheerfully sang.
The two ended up leaving the doctors, patient, and Cadance behind to continue what they needed to. Yolumay scoffed, but it quickly turned into an actual cough. The princess covered her mouth with a hoof and removed it to see that yellow sap had stained it. A good sign was the little bits of red meshed into a thin speckle of orange, although 'good' would be subjective in this scenario.
"I really have sap instead of blood?" Yolumay calmly noted.
"Yes, unfortunately. That energy was, as mentioned prior, very thorough in morphing you into something we've yet to understand." The doctor adjusted his glasses. "Even so, I'm glad of the progress we made here."
Cadance looked at the deer with poorly veiled disgust, but not because of the substances exiting Yolumay's body.
"So, you're Stelimus' sister?"
"Yes." Yolumay wasn't looking at the pony in front of her. She was more preoccupied by what was in front of her.
"I've heard things about you. Things that I don't appreciate."
"I don't care what you think about me, pony-song. It's inconsequential."
Cadence reared her head back in surprise. "Pony song?"
"Yes, Empress Cadence."
"That's PRINCESS Cadance. I am not an empress."
Yolumay looked up at the pink pony without moving her head. "You are an empress. You are married and control an empire." Cadance was about to refute the term, but the title was logical in a sense. "Either way, it seems my brother and your daughter are to be betrothed, meaning that you and I will become family, regardless of what we think of each other."
"That may be, but I'd rather you stay away from my daughter."
"No can do."
"And why is that?"
"Because the whole situation wouldn't look very promising now, would it? The alliance might not happen if you alienate me."
Cadance rubbed her forehead and calmed down. "I'm sorry. I'm just on edge a bit."
"Is it because my brother doesn't have any kind of physical or mental infatuation with the betrothed?"
"Yes, but--"
"Just because you're the alicorn of 'love' doesn't mean you'll be able to affect my brother."
"But I didn't even--"
Yolumay leaned forward and glared at the pink pony. "And I don't like it when someone's free will is played with."
"I wasn't going to manipulate his mind! Do I look like a monster to you?" Cadance was insulted, and the deer simply sticking out her tongue playfully drove a nail into the alicorn's anger bubble. "I was going to use my magic to try and...nudge him. I know he loves her. My magic only amplifies the feeling. It doesn't create new ones."
"Yeah...That's not going to work."
"And why not?"
"I already know about your powers. I've studied all of your history, pony-song."
"Why? I thought that the reindeer hated ponies."
"We do, but I'm more of the militaristic type, and I know that, in order to defeat your enemy you have to know your enemy. History and culture is the most important thing to know."
"I see. And why won't my magic work on him, anyways?" Cadance raised an eyebrow.
"Because my aunt, Effervescence, has a more powerful form of magic that she passively emits from herself which creates and amplifies feelings and emotions for her." Yolumay scratched the back of her head. "I am loathe to say that the magic in question actually did affect me after some time despite me doing my best to resist it, and I rarely ever stayed close to her."
"And how does this imply Stelimus?"
"Because he was with her practically the entire time he was in the forest, even in direct contact with her, and he was absolutely unaffected by her. He either has an incredibly powerful mind...or is gay." She tapped her chin and chuckled. "I'm leaning towards gay."
Cadance frowned at the bad joke, let alone if it could even be considered a 'joke'. Meanwhile, Copper had taken Stelimus outside to a group of towering pillars near the outskirts of the empire and smiled. The towers were all wider than a pony and narrowed at the tip like spikes, but they were all of varying sizes. There were even little stubs at the bottom growing out of the ground.
"Why did you take me to a pile of crystals?"
"They're 'Color Crystals™'. They change in shape and form when you touch them. They're fun to play around with. Come on!"
The young mare poked one of the crystals that immediately turned into a short, fat, yellow crystal. Its transformation filled the air with a grinding noise akin to a fart, something that even the grimmest of people might laugh to. Stelimus couldn't help but a stifle a little chuckle and followed suite, although he was more cautious with the crystals. The one Stelimus pushed on became a very tall, red crystal that latched onto his hoof and pulled him with its group. His screaming and situation made Copper laugh at his misfortune simply because she felt like teasing him.
The little trauma subsided quickly as the mare came to Stelimus' rescue by creating a tall-yet-wide blue crystal that came to about his height, allowing her to pull him out of his trap. The whole day was practically just this: The two playing, and Stelimus knew this all too well. His daughter had a nasty tendency to pull her 'target of lovertunity' all around to play with him and have them know each other better without getting into any sort of bizarre and unneeded situation. After all, he's the one who taught her that technique. A crowded area and just fun to be had at the same time. All the needed traps. That wasn't to see he wasn't enjoying himself, but there was a little emotion gnawing at his heart and mind and making his throat feel swollen.
Later on, Copper took him to a permanent gaming area where one could fish for plastic ducks, use magic to knock down floating targets, and even play around in a crude form of go-kart. Copper had a rather unnerving tendency to cuddle into Stelimus' neck and under his chin, making him blush and several ponies around mumble. Many were aggressive mumbles, but some were endearing. They found amusement in seeing such a 'cute' display. Gregary was never one for 'cute' displays of affection.
"That was fun, wasn't it?" Copper asked.
They were both inside of the tower now, and Stelimus was exhausted due to her dragging him all over the place. He needed to recover his bearings.
"I...guess," he gasped. "Can we take a break and rest a bit? I'm melting, and with this fur, it's not easy to cool down."
"Oh. Of-of course." Copper looked down in disappointment.
Stelimus came to a sudden realization and face-hoofed. He sat upright and clapped his forehooves together, slowly separating and creating an ever-expanding bubble of cold mist. It enveloped him and he sighed in relief.
"Much better."
"That was...so cool," Copper exclaimed. "Oh yeah! I want to show you something. Wait here."
The pony dashed off through the halls and disappeared quickly afterwards, leaving Stelimus alone and under the watchful gaze of the suspicious guardsponies. The calm and lack of his arm risking to get ripped left the deer with his thoughts. It had been several hours since they went on the playing spree, and Gregary, despite his younger body, still felt he was too old for all of this. Plus, he was still curious about the mental state of his sister. She seemed to have changed quite a bit. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't find any reasonable explanation for such a drastic change. Was he the reason? Was it the corruption that affected her personality? A little voice whispered in the deer's ear while he was thinking.
"Continue to doubt. Continue to question. It will spread and it will become complete. The familiar soul will not know what is to come even when the painting has been made in front of his eyes."
"So? What do you think?"
"Huh?"
Copper snuck up on the stag during his trance and shocked him. She was wearing a dress that was mostly a hot pink on the front and lowering to the bottom of the dress like wings starting from her chest. The rest of the dress was a cool, pale pink, and a red ribbon wrapped all around it. It crossed on the front of the chest and spread around the mare's back neck then joined into a large band running to the base of her tail then splitting off in their separate directions, lining over her hind legs in a curve then waving along the dress before plummeting towards the base of her hooves and rising back up to the crossing area. Her mane was fluffed up and made out into several blades curving upwards going outwards and causing her hair to absorb the sunlight and shine off the curves. This was only the left side of her hair. The right side was obviously shortened because of it and so was covered with a pink bow. She rubbed her left foreleg in embarassment and shied away.
"So? Do you like it?"
Stelimus reared his head back slightly, squeezed his lips into his mouth as though he just a lemon, and the final change were his pupils shrinking. He was speechless, but not for the reason Copper thought.
"He's speechless! That means he loves it!" Copper squeed.
"Oh shit. She's really serious about this. Now I really DON'T know what to do!"
"I was thinking maybe we could walk around the Empire to show everypony my new dress. What do you think?"
"Uhhh...that would be fine."
"Don't you have something to wear?"
"Only my armor."
"And it's still in the room. Let's go!" she cheered.
Now the two were standing outside of the tower, bringing about everyone's attention. The daughter of the royal couple accompanied by a deer knight. Copper couldn't help but feel like her fantasies were coming true, but Stelimus was the one receiving the brunt of embarrassment. It was a miracle that his head wasn't literally expelling steam by how red he had become. He did learn something about how quadrupeds do things better though: To hold eachother's 'hand', ponies would interlock their forelegs and support eachother's weight.
"So, what do you think about where I live? My parents?"
"Should I be honest?"
"Of course."
"I'm not too fond of the crystals randomly spewed about the empire's outskirts, but I do like the main city in it. Very sparkly."
Copper chuckled nervously. "Yeah. I don't really like them either so much. They're...strange."
"But you looked like you had lots of fun with them earlier."
"Oh! Uh, n-no! It wasn't the same thing!"
Stelimus cocked an eyebrow. "Noooo. She couldn't be. She's not that naive, is she? I don't mind your parents so much, but I think your dad hates me."
"Oh, yeah. He can be a stick in the mud sometimes."
"Of course." Stelimus stopped and held Copper back. "Copper, are you just agreeing with me because you don't want to alienate me or something?"
"What? N-no! Of course not!"
"Okay then, because a couple who agrees with everything never lasts long mentally."
"What do you mean?"
"Disagreements and discovering each other's likes and dislikes are what makes most relationships interesting and fun. Some couples stay together simply because they find it invigorating to fight, but not for aggressive reasons. Simply because it's fun and can be destressing." He scratched the back of his head. "It's not the healthiest of lifestyles, which is why calm arguing is better for the more sane."
"But, wouldn't couples be better off if they liked everything each other liked?"
"That depends if they BOTH actually think that, but we both know you don't think that. Nothing can work if you can't be true to yourself, Copper."
"Well, I really really love you, Stelimus. You were the first to actually help me out after...that incident." She looked away.
"Oh geez. Now we just need the little tear to wipe away and a rainbow."
"And I guess I developed strong emotions for you over time, but sometimes I wonder if it would really work."
"Oh?"
"Yes. I mean, we're two different races, and I'm worried what your dad would think and what your own people would do."
"Well, I don't really see what our races have to do here, but I really don't care what my dad thinks," Stelimus said while scratching his ear.
"What? Why? He's your dad!"
"Perhaps, but one could say that he's not the sharpest spoon in the knife drawer." Copper looked down, trying to make sense of Stelimus' words. "Don't think too hard on that."
Blossom got out of her confusion and looked at Stelimus with a sad and almost desperate expression. "So you still love me?"
The deer looked from side to side and worry was thrown onto his face. "Uhh, of course. Why? Oh no. That was the wrong answer."
And then there were glomphs and kisses, in public, in front of hundreds of ponies, of varying ages. Copper took too much of the love magic her adoptive mother possessed and was extremely sensitive to romantic situations, regardless of how corny they might have been.