Valetine's Day Special: As You Wish
Disclaimer: Minor spoilers about some future events. However, this need not be taken as a 1 to 1 of what the future has in store. Rather, what dynamic could exist between two characters.
In other words, it's just for fun.
==================================
Shining Armor’s pleas were still unintelligible, too discombobulated to be understood readily with how he was being rapidly being teleported between three different corners of the room. The poor Prince Consort had made the mistake of taking the back door into the royal chambers, stepping on a pressure pad hooked up to a surge crystal. A combination of elaborate spell work and portal magic linked up to three other surge crystals made the poor unicorn perpetually fall in random directions, being spat out one portal only to be swallowed up by another.
“I fail to see the error in the security measures. They are working completely as intended,” Xenilla shrugged.
Cadance had fire in her eyes, “My husband is getting flung around at terminal velocity! How exactly is that intended?!”
“He should have just come through the front door. Why would he be taking the back way if he were not a doppelgänger trying to sneak in? Have we even checked them to see if they are a changeling yet? What if that Chrysalis character is seeking revenge?” Xenilla hummed as he rattled off several more possibilities on why his behavior was not at all suspicious and poor Armor simply walking into his own bedroom was.
Cadance’s eyes flashed blue in the hues of the Crystal Heart as she stomped on the ground hard enough to crack it.
“PUT. HIM. DOWN. NOW.” Her Royal Canterlot voice learned from her adoptive aunt was commendable, blowing Xenilla’s mane back.
Xenilla shrugged his shoulders, “As you wish, My Empress.”
Cadance’s eyes glowed blue as she almost spat flames, ”Princess!”
Xenilla ignored the fuming from the alicorn as his horn blinked twice like the blinkers on an unlocking car, a dual beeping ringing out before the crystals were switched off and Shining Armor was freed to be safely caught by his wife.
=====
Days Later
=====
“And then you have an appointment with Celestia shortly after that, it’s been a long time since she has been to the Empire and wishes to be toured around the place,” Xenilla hummed casually as he poured another cup of heated tea for the seated royal couple.
Shining Armor, not used to being waited on, shot a thankful smile and took a sip. Something about the flavor reminded him of a certain candy cane and he blinked a few times before testing at his tongue.
“Huh, did you put steroid- I mean surge crystals in this again?” Armor muttered with a raised eyebrow.
“Considering this is mostly for your unborn progeny, yes,” Xenilla shrugged, levitating up another crystal grown from the ground under his power, crushing it with telekinesis into a fine powder and mixing it into the teakettle, “Recharges mana and magic all at once.”
He did likewise to another crystal, dumping it specifically in Cadance’s cup right in front of her. The alicorn paused, glancing at the teacup with a deadpanned expression. She passively looked at her own swollen belly, looked back at the drink, looked at the sparking mixture inside of it, and smacked her lips briefly as she scrunched her nose.
At this point she was not only getting used to it, but she was actually starting to notice when her drink wasn’t feeling like it was pop rocks in her mouth. Looking at her morning coffee, she levitated up the cup in front of her self-appointed guardian and jiggled it slightly under her magic.
“Two blues and a yellow, stir heavily,” She huffed, “I’m still winded after getting kicked a few times last night and I’m gonna need it for today.”
She waited a few seconds before glancing up to see that stupid, wide, fanged grin looking like he was holding in a burst of laughter.
“As you wish, My Empress.”
She didn’t feel like correcting him this time.
=====
Weeks Later
=====
The winds howled and the storm raged beyond the borders of the empire’s rim. The barrier shield could only hold out for so long without something to confront the marching nightmare of shadows and writhing limbs beyond. With a towering force poised to march upon the Empire, Legion’s many legs rattled as her horn flipped open. Another deathly light engendered an equally deathly torrent of heat and energy, smashing against the force field like a hammer upon tempered glass. The barrier held, but it cracked.
The one who had been standing guard dutifully in the corner of the delivery room knowingly marched towards the window and placed themselves between the vile colossuses and his duties. Even in the throes of her own labor pains and strains upon her magic, the one holding up much of the barrier shield managed to force free words from her teared, pained face.
“XENILLAAAA!”
The glass in the room cracked from Cadance’s outcry. The kaiju was unmoved, but did tilt his head to look back with a red glint from his dimly glowing eyes. Cadance’s resolve was nothing short of legendary, sweat pouring down her face as she looked back through messed hair. A silent communication was cast, and he obeyed, walking over to her bedside.
Cadance was about to speak, but shut her eyes and sucked in a breath after another contraction. After only a moment of pause, her otherworldly companion started to reach out. Her own hoof grabbed onto his as she snapped her eyes open to look directly into his own.
“The empire-“ she cringed back another wave of sensations and labor pains as she kept her resolve to speak her word, “It is my family now.”
The barrier shield cracked again under another titanic blow, echoing like a gong across the Empire. Shining Armor, Flash Sentry, the delivery staff, and her parents corralled around the alicorn as the former kaiju continued to listen.
“Don’t let them win… I still need to kill you for putting me through-Thiiis!” Cadance grimaced as she shook all over again.
Her grip on him loosened as he stepped back, having his orders.
Xenilla bowed his head slightly, pacing away from the bed and moving for the window with intent. To match one giant with another. Blade Dancer, a product of the very changes the crystal monarch had helped engender in him, began to rapidly follow him as he made his way out the window.
His tone, grim as it was, carried a promise, “As you wish, My Empress….”
=====
Months Later
=====
Cadance looked almost as haggard months later as a happily babbling form climbed across her mother and father like a jungle gym. Rapidly teleporting between them, Flurry Heart spread her truly enormous wings relative to her size and started flapping them quickly after latching onto the back of her mother’s head.
Cadance groaned and rang a crystal bell put on the nightstand thrice.
Like clockwork, the closet door opened and Xenilla came power walking out of it not five seconds later. He took one moment to look at the situation, picked up and helped the exhausted Shining Armor into his bed; and got to work. Running his own energy through him, a yellow and blue surge crystal of the exact type of variety used to put in tea grew out of his horn. Clearing his throat to get her attention, he patiently waited only a mere four seconds for it to work.
Flurry Heart glanced over, babbled eagerly, and teleported onto her guardian’s head. Nesting in his mane, she happily began gumming his horn like candy-corn. Ignoring the baby slobber coming down his horn, and the wriggling hooves going over his face as she crawled around his head, Xenilla stood by calmly as he patted Flurry’s head.
“Thank yooo-oou…” Cadance moaned as she hauled herself into bed to cuddle up alongside her husband, able to smile through the bags under her eyes as he happily pulled her into an embrace. Resting on his shoulder, she beamed at the once source of such utter annoyance actually bothering to use the proper door for once, as Xenilla took Flurry to her nursery.
Xenilla only chuckled briefly, “As you wish, My Empress.”
=====
Years Later
=====
Cadance sighed, sitting on the distant corner of the Empire late at night in the snowfields. With a scarf and warm clothes on, she laid back and relaxed alongside her Shiny; utterly content as a calm voice continued to rattle off words of the deep voids above.
Far away from the city, there was no light pollution to partially obscure Luna’s craft.
“And that is a red dwarf, a very small but very long-lived system. Quite interesting outputs when two of them crash into each other,” Xenilla hummed at his ward looking through the telescope, sticking her tongue out the side of her lips naturally to make sure she could focus best at the indicated red spot in the sky.
“How do you know that, Uncle Xen?” Imperial Heiress Flurry Heart quipped, now a grown mare but talking almost childishly to one of the few beings she could.
“Because he was born with a kaboom almost as big as yours was,” Blade Dancer sniggered, a few more lines on her face as she grinned at her ‘niece’.
Cadance laid back, admiring the sky, the warmth of her dear husband, the feeling of being surrounded by good company in her parents, her sister-in-law, her child and compatriots. Her family.
=====
Decades Later
=====
She’d found him at the graveyard again. This wasn’t the first time this week and she would never hold that against him. It wasn’t like he had even missed something scheduled. He’d been attending meeting after meeting all day for days, not missing a single one. Planners on the new expansion ideas one hour, mass distribution of healing surge crystals on both sides of the portal another, tutoring session on another still; all attended with spotless timing.
Instead it was what amounted to free time for an insomniac kaiju who didn't need to sleep much where she noticed his absence. The lack of red eyes checking in from the corner of the room.
The same red eyes silently looking down at the gravestone for his wife.
Princess Cadance wordlessly approached, and Xenilla wordlessly inched aside to make room for her. She looked a bit different than all those years ago after that fateful accident that crashed six from one world into another. A few more lines on her face, her coat a bit grayer, eyes just a little bit dimmer. And yet her presence radiated with the same unnatural power atypical to most ponies all the same.
With how much change had happened over the decades, it was perhaps welcome that something stayed consistent in his crazy life. Well, consistent besides the fact he looked completely the same as he always had, save for a few scars one could just barely see. The one on his brow, just below where a ring encircled his horn, ached the most.
“I don’t know what I am anymore without her. If I will be what I was before........ There will never be another like her.”
Xenilla’s voice was steady and completely without wavering born of pain or uncertainty.
The words lingered for a time before his company replied.
“No, there probably won’t be,” Cadance said plainly, “Blade Dancer met a recently ex-super villain, attempted kin-slayer, and was personally involved in all that happened since. Because of her, you helped save the lives of the whole empire, of my whole family-”
Cadance took a moment to glance over at the Empire itself, larger than when she first came to the throne and still growing to this day. Phantom memories of shadows from the depths of time and cast shadows of towering forms from the stars still managed to flicker in the mind. And be brushed away by a simple sight of lights in the streets. Whilst not fully bonded to the Heart, she could feel all it could through their link. A link to every single life touched by its magic. A number that had only grown in number with time.
That count included the heart she could sense next to her.
“-And me,” Cadance finished, nodding to her currently oldest friend.
“Way to describe me, Cadance,” Xenilla grumbled slightly, using her name on such a rare occasion causing her wings to perk up slightly, “I really was a piece of work… I caused a lot of problems. A lot of pain.”
“And you’ve been forgiven for a lot of that.”
“Not all of it,” Xenilla whispered, eyes cast down. His brother, his former enemies, even his home world could all say it. But it couldn’t have been everybody. Especially not Xenilla himself.
“…. Then you have enough time to make up for it,” Cadance huffed as she stood back up, “Face me.”
Xenilla paused for a moment, taking a moment to think, before standing up and doing so.
“Do you intend to ever return to your ways so scorned?” Princess Cadance said with narrowed eyes as she reached out and felt the heart before her with her magic.
“Never,” Xenilla said quietly, not pulling out one of many justifications he ever had over the years for what he had done on Terra initially.
She felt his heart beat, and continued, “Will you work to atone for what you have done, even if it takes longer than a typical lifetime to do so?”
“I will,” Xenilla replied with not a waiver in his voice nor his heart beat.
“And,” Cadance extended her wing and lightly poked him in the shoulder with a feather like it was a finger, “As you take your chance to atone and continue to atone, will you promise not to harm the one your wife loved most?”
Silence. A heart with a still beat for a moment, before it beat again all the same. Unwavering truth in his voice.
“I will.”
Princess Cadance had a lot to be constantly concerned about. But right now, it was chiefly about ensuring her friend didn’t doubt the convictions of his late wife, nor slaved himself to misery either in her absence or in his efforts to remain good.
And that concern diminished away at the feel of his heartbeat.
“You know,” The alicorn smiled, “There is one big misconception about soulmates.”
Xenilla kept his face neutral as he tilted it slightly, “And that being?”
“That a soulmate is a “sole mate”. That everypony only ever gets one chance,” Cadance said before she tapped at her cutiemark.
“Benefit of this? I get to see what’s in the heart and the best potential. I don’t go around telling folks, but whenever I help break the ice on a match, I can see any who might be a good fit,” Cadance rolled her eyes upwards and chuckled at an old memory, “I remember the first time Shiny and I had a fight. My magic activated on accident.”
“What happened?” Xenilla muttered with a furrowed brow.
Cadance snickered, “I guess you could say I got to see my compatibility score with a lot of others that day. It goes up and down with life and changes and interactions. Turns out had I not stuck to Twilight’s big brother, Blade Dancer was a good match for me too.”
Xenilla’s brow perked up slightly before his tone became noticeably more deadpan, “That would have led to a very different first meeting for us.”
“Yeah,” Cadance giggled, “I suppose it would, you probably would’ve started calling her Imperial Consort or something.”
“Well she would have been a princess in some regards if that happened,” Xenilla shrugged.
Cadance’s laugh froze and she shot him a jokingly withering leer, “Oh so you’d call her a princess then, but several decades into and I still haven’t gotten one out of you for me!”
Xenilla briefly lowered his brow in a noticeable deadpan aimed at the alicorn, “Simple, you’re not a princess and I refuse to make myself an idiot calling you that.”
Cadance frowned deeply, but shook her head and slowly morphed it into a smile.
“The point that I was getting to is, frustrations and royal titles aside,” Cadance sighed as she motioned to Blade Dancer’s gravestone.
Cadance’s magic gripped something she had been carrying behind her crown and gently placed it on the gravestone. A beautiful flower crossed over the one Xenilla had put down already.
“You changed for the better, and she loved that. And if you loved her back, which I know you did, you won’t change with her gone,” Cadance whispered with a soft smile on her features.
Xenilla was silent for a time, lots of memories going through his head. He looked at the grave and recollected, to a long and happy life spent in his company. The initial growth together, the closeness, the warmth felt that never diminished even when the end came. Just like it never felt diminished right now.
“The heart changes. It'll be up to you to decide how. Personal thoughts? I doubt she'd want you to remain alone if you got a chance when you felt comfortable,” Cadance said as her smile widened slightly, “Because in my experience as someone who can actually see it myself, it's the company you keep that affects things the most.”
Reading between the lines was pretty easy. He would work to atone, yes. Here and elsewhere. He had likely multiple lifetimes to do so. And through it all, he had a home here.
A hoof was offered to him and his pushed up to it after some time.
“Ready to keep on living?” Cadance beamed.
For all those yet to meet, for all those loved past. Damn if it wasn't a convincing argument against the cold that threatened to seep in. Whoever coined the term “warm the heart” was onto something.
His affirmation put Cadance's mind at much ease, some of her best friend's old self back. A first step on the road across grief to recovery.
“As you wish, My Empress.”
=======
Later....
=======
Cadance twitched and frowned to herself. In her hazy thoughts, her magic had stopped and the resulting cut in telekinesis had dropped her pen. Most times ruling an empire was not stress-free, and paperwork day was easily one of the worst. Especially when her vision was a bit blurrier. The alicorn blinked and squinted, looking about the table for what she sought.
“You lost these again,” A familiar voice hummed as a pair of crystal lenses were offered.
Cadance beamed, leaning her head forward and letting them be levitated onto her face. A lot of things came into sharper clarity with them on. The portraits on the walls of her parents from years ago. Portraits of the day she became a grandmare herself. Portraits of the first date she went on with her dear Shining…
Her lips crinkled, and she closed her eyes, controlling her breathing and letting it out slowly. Something pushed up against her hoof and she reopened her gaze to look upon a familiar teacup. Like clockwork, several surge crystals brought forth were ground up into it. More than just for her personal tastes these days. Blues were good for health.
Xenilla was silent for a time and Cadance could count the seconds in his pause. Until they became too high a count for him and her broke the festering silence again, “Empress, about that project we discussed earlier?”
“We can talk about that later, Xenilla,” Cadance hummed pleasantly as she accepted the tea and nudged out the seat across from her to her companion.
“Cadance, I can do it!” He said with a heightened tensity in his voice, a rare thing usually accompanied by using her name in such a way instead of the title he all but annoyed her into accepting, “I know I can with the Crystal Heart. Later might be-“
She somehow could give the same look in her eye she once glared with, even without the leering. The same look that always shushed him, so he’d listen. Xenilla, not looking at all different sans changes to his hair, sat himself down and poured himself another glass.
His hairs were sticking up on end, clearly stressed.
She nudged a glass of his own tea to him.
“Help me with the Northwestern expansion plans, will you? Empire has gotten bigger over the years,” Cadance beamed pleasantly, positively radiant in her look and manner aimed at the one who’d once been the source of so many frustrations. The one who was now her best friend.
She could hear the small hitch in a breath that came with the sigh.
“As you wish, My Empress.”
=====
Later....
=====
“You can’t just recklessly go to the Northeast like that!” Xenilla grunted as he stomped down a long hallway.
Cadance fixed him a familiar blue-eyed, crystalline leer like so many years ago. She threw off her helmet and let her long hair flow.
“What’s the use of all this power if I can’t use it to defend both the people there and the Empire!”
“I never said anything about not using it when you had to, but you really should’ve gotten me,” He kept his tone level and that only set her off more, like she was being talked down to. Again.
“I handled it fine!” Her wings snapped out and teeth grit. She was trembling and knew he saw it.
“You were nearly overwhelmed and taken away. If you idiotically charge out like that again, you might be-“
“Oh like you’re one to talk! You could barely walk a week ago and I had to all but chain you to the medical wing!” Cadance cut him off, getting right in the kaiju’s face and pointing at the medical bandages on his left forelimb, “I. Was. Fine…. We got everyone out, and we can plan out our next move tomorrow.”
There was a tremble in her limb again, a glisten on the edge of her bruised eye.
“Empress-“
“TOMORROW!” She teleported away, the door slamming shut behind her.
Xenilla stood there for a solid five minutes collecting himself, before shrugging slowly. He looked upon the many portraits on the walls, many familiar faces. Seeing one, he shook his head and calmly walked into the nearest broom closet. He stepped out onto the perimeter of the empire itself. There were stones in the ground, some having statues. He passed by a shield-bearing one, one with crossed blades, one grand piece of a heart-bearing monarch, and others so forth. Some had epithets or designators on their names. Junior, Senior, the third, the fourth.
He went backwards until he found one specific one laid to rest. Sitting himself down, he just stayed there until nightfall.
Xenilla did not look quite as he once did, but it would take a very close inspection to notice. His colors had dulled slightly, a few more lines on the face. A few old marks from ancient wedding bands.
Sitting in the shadow of a tall statue, one pleasantly knelt down like they were about to greet the visitor and give them a warm embrace for the love she represented; he remembered her face not like that. Not as bright, though still radiant in its own way. Not smooth and polished, but wrinkled and stunning. She was still beautiful until her last days.
She still drove him just as crazy then as when they first met…
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, he remembered her in her final bed and final hours. And she couldn’t stop the pain from his final question. A question that took him back to that very moment..................
“Why?” A younger Xenilla choked out, not caring about his composure.
Cadance giggled, grayed, blind eyes still somehow seeing him perfectly as she reached out to put a hoof to the side of his cheek. She’d heard the rest of the question several times before. Why hadn’t she fully united herself with the Crystal Heart? Why hadn’t she made herself like Tia and Luna had, bound to some great power in their celestials? Why had she let herself age at all, or at the very least not slow it to be as they did? Why not as slow as he did?
The old matron was so glowing as her wrinkled lips beamed.
“Because… Shiny gave me sixty happy years with him. I’ve kept him waiting too long..."
"C-Cadance," He wavered and she frowned. When he used her first name repeatedly instead of the title he'd all but shoved into her lap, it required it.
Teeth ground and eyes narrowed, red glints shining beneath those lids. She couldn't see, but she could feel. The hitch in his breath, the tremble going down his arm, and the very air seemingly heating up. It wasn't a display of threat, far from it. She knew him enough to know his heart. He couldn't hide fear from her, even if it was of him.
A city eviscerated by crystals. Towering infernos. A war of clashing titans. Even if he was far from the only cause, they both knew what he'd once done. What he felt stings of pain recollecting. What he'd spent almost every hour not in the Empire trying to atone for.
The fact that being next to one of such light's bed was a monster, even without an ill deed done in over a half a century.
There were two essential forces behind every action that any sapient being with the power of reason used to commit all of their deeds. Love and hatred. And Cadance knew well who her best friend loathed the most. The one he was most ashamed of and afraid of becoming again, especially with so many gone.
With her as the last one left.
Unless... the object he'd toiled over for so long was used… She thought of it, knew of it. Even had trust and full faith it would work. The temptation was there all the same, no matter how much peace she'd made with her body giving out.
Cadance stroked the side of his face and just smiled, tears in her blind eyes, "Xeni, I promise to say hello to Dancer for you too.”
His latest experiment, latest concoction he had been driving himself up the wall for the last five years perfecting. Something tied directly to the Heart in the ultimate sign of trust she could give him to work with it, hit the ground and shattered.
Cadance only slid her hoof to his shoulder, closing her eyes as her long, grayed hairs lay still.
“… Will you look after…” She swallowed, taking in a breath, “Look after, our family?”
What a foolish question, he almost laughed and hitched his breath in a half chuckle.
Did she really have to ask?
All the things he had done, all those he had ruined and all the ruins he had made. He could live six times longer than he had before he felt like he had finally atoned. And the one who might have actually given him the chance to, let out her last exhale.
Lips kissed a hoof, “As you wish, My Empress.”
“Don’t rush to the space I’ll save for you…”
His ears perked hearing a final word and his nerves instantly felt shocks going right to his heart. Damn her, she managed to surprise him one final time. She just had to get the last word in… She just…
Left him to be what remained, the echo of a final heart beat felt across the empire for what felt like an hour.
Tears hit the ground in a cascade........................
Back in the present, seven centuries from the first day he set foot in the Crystal Empire, Xenilla stood back up. A certain specific tea was placed upon the grave; before tall shadows picked up to begin a long walk back to the castle.
An hour later, a white and pink alicorn lurched up from her bed. Crystal Empress Mi Amore Cadenza the 5th hyperventilated, sweat pouring down parts of her body. She remembered the swirling darkness and gnashing of teeth. The old threats from her parents’ and ancestors’ days might be gone, but new things would always yet appear in some form or another. And she was never old enough that she would outgrow night terrors.
After a minute of heavy breathing, she finally swallowed and glanced at something that never changed. The near omnipresent red eyes in the corner of the room, draped in the shadows near the closet.
She considered another argument, considered feeling ashamed being seen having a childish nightmare. Considered it. And put it aside. After what she had been through, old comforts were a blessing.
Surge crystal tea was prepared. The recipe had always changed slightly from generation to generation, but it was to his pleasant surprise that she requested something that never got featured in any cookbooks. Something he hadn’t made for anyone living in centuries. The very first blend.
Sipping it and calming her nerves, Cadance leaned back in her bed; within the very same room her namesake ancestor took her last breath in asking a monster which had become her best friend to stay by her side. Hers and all those yet to come.
Her descendant managed to perk his ears with a whisper.
“Stay by me, please.”
The warrior Empress, the mighty champion for defense and hearth…let herself shiver in want for company. If only to keep the nightmares away. Wearing glasses upon her nose, she was the spitting image of who had come before, even with the different demeanor.
There is no way he could refuse.
Xenilla pulled up a chair and sat beside her, in the very spot he’d been in six centuries ago.
“As you wish, My Empress.”
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This is one of the most beautiful chapters you ever written, Tarb. I love the changing dynamic between Cadence and Xenilla’s interactions. First we start with Cadence being annoyed by Xenilla’s overprotectiveness with the traps and the steroid tea. However, as the story advances, Xenilla slowly becomes Cadence’s closest ally, protecting her people while she gives birth, being Flurry’s babysitter, teaching a growing Flurry Heart, and trusting Cadence enough that he shares his insecurities with her after Blade Dancer’s death. Cadence’s definition about soulmates and the way he encourages to move forward with life was beautiful, though I laughed when I found out that Blade Dancer could have hooked up with her under different circumstances. Xenilla becomes wiser and more devoted as the chapter advances, even becoming the guardian of Cadence’s descendants long after she passes centuries later. If there had been an Element of Devotion, then Xenilla more than earned it. Beautiful chapter, Tarb. I wish you a Happy Valentine.
Splendid chapter. I was especially touched by the scene were Xen is there for cadence in her final moments.
Finished reading. And I like this, the dynamic between the leads here was fun to read.
Love it
(Weeping) Damn It Tarb you just had to hit it where it feels didn't ya?
Great short chapter and Happy Valentine's Day.
Why don’t you like the name Spacegodzilla?
My God this hit me where I didn't want to be hit, if before I felt sympathy for Xenilla despite everything, this definitely made me love him more
With this I think I already know how this story is going to end if you have seen Amphibia and I can predict that I will shed tears like at the end of that series.
11825164
Tarb already explains it many times, it is annoying for him to write "SpaceGodzilla"
and he also doesn't want to confuse newcomers to the G-fandom by using a character with a name that was just another character's name with an adjective (I mean they weren't confused with Godzilla)
i.imgflip.com/2/6jwcyu.jpg
Welp. I'm balling my eyes out. Well written.
Though I personally hope the kaiju all get sent back to Earth after the final fight and Zenilla sets up a laboratory of sorts on the moon to connect to the Crystal Empire. At least as a test, make the real door on Solgell island or something. Hell, make it on Odo Island, or New Birth Island. That'd be a cool mix of history, destiny, and irony.
Is this canon?
If it is…it’s beautiful.
This is perfect. I'm glad we're seeing more of Xenilla and the Crystal Cast (ooh, that's a good name for a band) since we've mostly been focused on Terran Defenders for a while. Their relationship- especially later on- brought tears to my eye.
He never did call her princess, did he.
This has been a great chapter, the moment I saw the time jumps I knew xen was in for pain.
My reaction to time skip with long lived entity: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=[l
Xen living for 700 years 😱
My lord that would suck and most frightening detail about this chapter is everyone else died of old age,meanwhile Xenilla looks as if he didn’t age a day unless you know what to look for or look close enough to reveal his true age.
The major surprise that got me was how long he lived. I mean a creature such as xen or junior I simply don’t see dying from old age or natural causes unless they were really up there in their years. but even then this has been a great chapter.
I love friendship like this! So good and sad.
Right, Bridge, not Puppyverse. My first thought was Cadance and Chrissy were fighting over him for something. Yes, that story has a polycule of those three. If you thought Flurry Heart was rough, in this one she also has a half changeling brother.
Ah, Xen fully approves of Garrus and Zaeed's subplot during the party. And also drafted an entire research paper on how they didn't go far enough.
He's not wrong. And hey, at least it's a non lethal trap that just keeps the person helpless and disoriented to you can check on them.
Also, how long till Flurry starts triggering it just to go on the fun ride?
He's trying to see if he can trigger her to unlock alicorn laser vision, isn't he?
Okay Xen… at this point, we are likely so far past the point of Flurry being able to cause a local apocalypse, and into, she is going to be able to throw Uncle Goji over a mountain… when he's transformed. Also wait..... Ponies invented Pop Rocks? Eh, I'm sure Pinkie was involved somehow.
Only Cadance also getting the effect of those crystals is keeping this from being a much darker story at this point
He's slowly winning the war and wearing her down to just let him do what he wants.
Okay, who let Twilight visit the Empire on a Tuesday!?
Ohhhhhhh…. Okay, we better get something like this!
Ah, that's why he's not out there fighting. Higher priorities. Plus he's likely added so many reinforcements to this place it would hold for a few hours even after the Shield goes down… rest of the city is SoL.
Normal Flurry was already big enough that the fact Cadance was able to walk can only be taken as proof of how freaking durable an Alicorn is. Flurry hopped up on energy steroids? Just give the poor thing a C-section already!
Surprised it took that long for her to order this. Also, we better get to see this battle later!
This is your fault Xen, you are on permanent call to fix it!
Daaaaaaawwwwwwwww
More daaaaaawwwww…. Also, how many different ways of blowing up a large chunk of a planet has he taught her in the name of “self defense”?
She is only very mildly exaggerating.
Other than that one time his and Twilight's schedules were mutually exclusive. But everyone does their best to repress memories of that debacle. Helped by a good bunch of it no longer having had happened by the time they got done messing with the space-time continuum.
Ooookay, so something bad went down, and given how far in the future this is, doubt Bagan is involved… okay what massive evil being of destruction that Starswirl stuffed into his personal “not my problem anymore” closet was it this time?
Yeah….. ouch….
Not immortal alicorns? Or just a LOT of stress that isn't being directed at keeping all that cake metabolized like a certain other alicorn?
Oooohhhh… ohhh.. nicely done Cadance.
Whooooo!
Also, so when Cadance retires and let's Flurry Heart take over, she can just become P-Harmony and stay busy giving ponies matchmaking scores.
And I still maintain she is, and it's the “empire” that is misnamed!
Yeah, desperate attempt to save her. Sweet of him.
What are they fighting that could keep him down like that?
Wait but….. oh…. Ohhhhhhhhhh…. Going for quite the time skip.
Ah, okay, fair enough. I'm more with Xen on this one. I get the reasoning from Cadance, but I've never been a fan of the whole “immortality blues” thing.
…….. damn…… just…… wow…..
Yup, some things never change.
Awwwwwwwwwww……
Okay, this was incredibly sweet, and yeah, nice to focus on a platonic relationship, while still touching on romantic ones. Showing just how devoted Xen is to the Royal Line and to the Empire. Just, make sure he never goes near Sel, that amount of shear Devotion is almost certain to get him chosen by the Sheod, and we really don't want him adding full on Elantrian powers on top of everything else. Even among the bonkers power set in the Cosmere, they are just plain broken.
But, joking aside, this really was incredibly sweet, showing the levels of care, both in looking keeping them safe, but also, just being a good uncle, a teacher, a nanny, whatever is needed to care for the family. Just, I suck at not just using platitudes or jokes for stuff like this..... this really was just incredibly sweet all around, thanks Tarb.
That was heart wrenching...
Phenomenal little story between them. I've already been hooked on Cadance and Xenilia's interactions beforehand so it was nice to see something here now. As well, I do appreciate the message that you can move on from a past love. (No matter the circumstances) and that you shouldn't close yourself off to something new when it comes to love. So that was nice. Splendid special, Tarb.
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Yeah I think some of our talks about certain tropes got me thinking on matters like these. What this is, is essentially, in a roundabout way, a platonic equivalent to a romance arc. Especially by the twilight years of the former, Cadance and Xenilla certainly did love each other even if those feelings never turned romantic. But because of that dynamic, ultimately Xenilla was able to find both a new purpose and at least several future spouses over his very long lifespan. If she is supposed to be something of an avatar for love itself, it makes sense she wouldn’t be limited to just romantic guidance.
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Yeah it’s something especially true with the MLP villains is that even when treated more seriously, they ultimately come off a lot funnier than the others. Having Chrysalis and Sombra in this case is basically a Team Rocket duo given they are stuck together. And speaking of stuck together, having a lot of sniping between the two scholars and eggheads from the respective sides was just too funny to pass up. Makes me really wonder how, if I had written the plot differently, things would’ve proceeded if she had been stuck with him instead of Lea
Glad to see I got you hooked! Now to proceed
The new empire. Long live king of hollow earth
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We’re not to sure what happened between Luna and jr at mako but chibi I believe show up couple chapters after or before mako (someone do correct me for I may be wrong)