Previous Chapters Next
Close
Chapter 12,955 words
Chapter 22,768 words
Chapter 35,454 words
Chapter 44,056 words
Chapter 53,060 words
Chapter 64,035 words
Chapter 76,052 words
Chapter 83,210 words
Chapter 95,209 words
Chapter 102,558 words
Chapter 114,139 words
Chapter 123,962 words
Chapter 132,227 words
Chapter 144,838 words
Epilogue946 words

Chapter 10

Taking care of eight foals was work enough when they were all in one place, even with nearly as many adults to watch them. When going to a trip to a remote location that was sure to be filled with distractions, it proved to be a nightmarish prospect.

This is why they were grateful that they seemed subdued when they arrived at the train station that evening. Silver Spoon was delivered there by her butler, of all things, who made sure Twilight had her medical information and emergency contacts before bidding them goodbye, but not before giving her a look that Twilight was sure meant that he wanted to keep an eye on her.

She had spent the entire wait staring into town, not hoping Clear Glass would come back, but hoping Diamond Tiara would show up, saddlebags on her sides, ready to go. There were so many ways she was picturing it, most of which involved her marching up haughtily, claiming she was coming just to see the Empire, or acting like she was the one who had forgiven Silver, or perhaps like nothing had happened between them at all. A small part hoped there would be a genuine apology, but she was thinking it would be too much to ask.

“Come on, you two, everypony else is already inside.”

Silver Spoon gave a start, not just at Twilight’s insistence, but at the fact that Amethyst was waiting behind her.

“Silver,” Amethyst said, “I know you wish deeply for it, but the train is scheduled to leave in a mere ten minutes. If she were to arrive, I believe she would have done it by now.”

“But...” she said longingly, looking back at the buildings.

“Silver... I’m sorry, truly I am. But I do not believe she is coming. I believe it’s time we took off.”

Silver looked for a few more moments, then sighed. “Okay.”

It was a somber walk onto the train, even among the other foals, who had already set up their pillows, blankets, and snacks for the slumber party they were going to have on their way there.

“Hold the train,” a new voice said from outside. “Hold.”

Silver Spoon’s ears pricked up. She knew that voice.

“I’m sorry sir, these cars are reserved for guests of the Princess.”

“My daughter is one of them. Show him your ticket, Diamond.”

Silver Spoon raced to the door of the car like a shot. She couldn’t believe it.

Standing just at the entrance of the car was Diamond Tiara. She had her trademark tiara on her head with a saddle bag that was adored with pictures of her cutie mark. She looked up to see Silver Spoon standing before her, quickly lowering her head before turning away to the outside where her father Filthy Rich was standing.

“Bye Diamond, have fun!” He called out to her, waving to her as the conductor blew on his whistle to signal the train to move. Once it started moving, Diamond waved to her father before going inside the car and closing the door behind her. Once the lock of the door met the hinges, Diamond turned around just in time to be brought into a bear hug by Silver. Diamond’s eyes widened in shock for a moment before dilating and closing slowly. She reached for her friend with her forelegs and returned the hug.

Silver sniffed before letting go the hug and beamed with moist eyes. “I’m glad you came.” She told Diamond softly, sniffing again to hold back the tears.

“I-I’m glad I could come with you…” Diamond trailed off, looking away from Silver’s eyes. “Sorry for being such a jerk.”

“Well, Clear always said to me ‘Let bygones be bygones’,” Silver cheerfully replied, dragging Diamond Tiara off into the corridors of the car. “Come on! Let’s go where the others are, we’re having a slumber party!”

Diamond resisted for a moment. “You think they’ll really just accept me to that?” she asked skeptically.

“Hey, we invited you to join us on this trip and there’s no way you sleeping a car alone!” Silver pulled on Diamond with all her might. “Now c’mon! We missing out on the fun already!”

Twilight sighed in relief as she rested her head on the pillow of her bed. A broad smile was present on her face after she peered her head just enough to see Diamond Tiara arrive with her father and entering the car where the foals were in.

“Looks like everything’s worked out after all, huh?” Blaze commented as he loaded their saddle bags in the closets and closing them.

“Yeah,” Twilight replied before her smile vanished slightly. “I just hope this trip goes off without any surprises… nasty surprises, I mean.”

Blaze sat on Twilight’s bed, turning his head sideways to meet her eyes. “Well, the chances of things going peaceful are very slim since all of us are going.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight cocked her brow at her coltfriend.

“Trouble seems to follow us around,” Blaze said. “I bet by the end of this we end up with somepony else trying to kill us.”

“...True,” Twilight sighed. “How’d this all start? Before we got those Elements, Equestria was a peaceful place. The last thing that happened was the invasion, and that happened when Professor Inkwell was still young. Then, NightMare Moon returned, and it seems there’s something new every year.”

“Got me,” Blaze said. He draped a wing around her and pulled her close. “Nothing we can’t handle though, right?”

She smiled, though it was a weak smile, brought on through worry. “I guess...” She shifted and pressed her back up against his chest. He took this as an invitation to wrap his other wing, and both forelegs around her. “Still... sometimes I wonder if we just got lucky. If even one thing went wrong, we would have died...”

“It’s the same for the Princesses... defeating Discord the first time, sealing Sombra... it would only take one of those guys winning once to doom us. But it hasn’t happened yet. Don’t think it will, either. Think the Creator smiles on us.”

“Never thought I’d hear you be spiritual.”

“Guess it’s everything good that’s happened. Getting rescued, meeting you... it’s perfect. Even if we have to put up with unpleasant ponies.”

Twilight smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

“I think that’s supposed to be the other way around...”

“In your dreams, handsome,” she smiled, planting a kiss on his lips.

“You foals okay in here?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, Rarity,” the response droned.

“Rarity,” Sweetie said, “I thought you told me adult ponies don’t jump on beds.”

Rarity looked at her sister, perplexed by the random statement. “Of course they don’t.”

“But Twilight and Blaze do!”

“...I beg your pardon?”

“Yeah,” Spike said. “Me and Light hear creaking bed springs coming from their bedroom sometimes, and they come out all tired. When we ask them what they’re doing, that’s what they say.”

Rarity’s face turned crimson red as her lips started to quiver, with her eyes twitching. She forced a smile on her face and started to giggled nervously as she looked around. “They’re just playing a game… but I’ll tell them to be more quiet. Bye!” With that, Rarity zoomed out of the car, leaving the foals behind to ponder her words.

Sweetie just shrugged as she turned back to her friends. “So, what should we do now?” she asked curiously, not knowing what to do for fun on a locomotive.

“Well, how about we play a board game?” Light suggested as he raised his hoof in the air to gain the others’ attention.

“Last Ah checked, there’s no board game here,” Apple Bloom stated as she frowned to the suggestion.

“Check again!” Spike replied and pulled out a board game from his saddle bag, entitled ‘Crusaders’.

Pip beamed at the board game Spike pulled out, taking hold of it and inspecting it thoroughly. “Nice! Where’d you get this?”

“Mom got it for me when we were in Canterlot, said we’d have fun with it in case we were on long trips like these.”

“What’s it about?” Scootaloo asked, peeking her head over Pip’s shoulder to get a better look at the game.

Spike placed the game on the floor, with the foals encircling it. “Well in this game, you start out as a ‘Crusader’ and with one plot of land on the board. You roll two dice to move forward and conquer more land, each land holding certain riches and certain amount of ponies who join your cause. The goal is to reach the center of the board to gain the ‘Ultimate Treasure’.”

“Cool!” Scootaloo exclaimed, opening the board game and inspecting the contents. Her smile quickly dissipated when she saw how complex the game really was. “This isn’t like ‘Snakes and Ladders’, isn’t it?”

“Far from it,” Spike said with a smirk.

Spike began setting up the pieces, taking longer than many thought a board game should take. Scootaloo was the only one to voice these complaints, which wouldn’t have been a surprise on most days, but everypony present continued to look at Diamond Tiara, expecting her to, at any moment, crack a joke about what a nerdy game it was or that Spike was too slow.

Diamond was well aware of the glances she kept getting, stopping just short of outright stares. While she had always loved being the center of attention before, here they just made her uneasy. Even with Silver Spoon at her side, patting her on the back and assuring her that nopony was mad at her, she couldn’t help but feel like she had been sent into a manticore cave unprotected.

“Only four play at a time,” Spike said. “Who's it going to be?”

“I’m in,” Scootaloo said, surprising nopony. “And you better be playing, Spike, I want a real challenge.” That eliminated Light and Sweetie, neither of which wanted to play against their significant others.

“Right then, I’ll be player number three,” Pip said. “Who thinks they can take me?”

There was a pause. Then, after considering a moment, Silver Spoon raised her hoof just enough so nopony noticed, then pushed into Diamond Tiara’s back, sending her forward.

“Well, looks like you’re in,” Spike said, “here’s your development cards, and figures.”

“...Thanks,” Diamond said. It had been the first word she had said since getting on the train. She looked around. Spike seemed accepting, if a little wary, and Pip was trying his best to focus on his own pieces and pretend one of his opponents wasn’t Diamond. Scootaloo, however, was giving her a glare so intense it seemed as if it could turn her to stone. Giving a gulp, she returned to studying her cards.

Spike blathered off the rules, and in that time the remaining Crusaders took positions at the side of whoever they were rooting for. It was only after the rules were read that Diamond realized that she was the only one with two ponies in her corner. Silver Spoon was at her side, she had hoped that, but Amethyst was there as well.

A week ago, she might have bragged about this, but she merely returned to her work. As long as she looked at the board and her cards, she couldn’t look at the stares.

They all rolled and Pip got the highest, so he got to place his settlement first. Spike was next, then it was Diamond’s turn.

Diamond eyed each of her opponents and their spectators, and felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead as she swore they were eying her with contempt. She cleared her throat as she rolled her dice. “Well, it sure is nice going to the Crystal Empire…” she trailed off, looking to each corner if she got a reaction.

“Mum told me how beautiful it is, and how shining the ponies are there,” Pip muttered as he rolled his dice and moved his pieces.

Scootaloo grinned as she rolled a high number and claimed a few assets from the game. “The thing I want to see is the palace and those dark caves, must be so cool down there!”

“Not really…” Spike trailed off, shivering in the memory of when he was in the empire with his mother and encountering the dark crystal doorway and defeating Sombra. “The thing that’s really cool though is the castle and the stadiums.”

“How would you know of the stadiums?” Light asked curiously, as he leaned his head forward over Scootaloo’s back.

Spike rolled his eyes as groaned. “You do remember the pictures Mom and Blaze brought back together?”

Light’s eyes widened in realization before smiling sheepishly. “Right…”

“Well…” Diamond chimed in, silencing the group of foals. “I’m sure wherever we go, it will be fun at least.”

“Hmmm…” Amethyst lowered his head a little after his role, looking down on the ground. He let out a sigh before looking up to face the others, who were all looking at him with interest and concern.

“What’s wrong, Amethyst?”

Amethyst just shook his head, letting out a laugh as he forced a smile. “I’m just curious to know what the empire looks like right now.”

Spike scratched his head as he scrunched his lips. “Well, I’m sure it doesn’t look much different. Well, except for ponies being happy now, what with the Crystal Heart being found and purified,” Spike told, smiling smugly for a moment as he remembered how he was a catalyst in saving the day back then. His smile vanished as he saw Amethyst’s mood not lighting up.

Before any foal could speak, Amethyst just chuckled a little as he rolled his dice and moved his pieces. “Whatever has happened, I’m glad I have all of you coming with me.”

There was a smile, and the game continued. Nopony spoke, but it seemed like everything was okay in that instance.

After thirty minutes of playing, all nervousness was forgotten. Diamond Tiara was talking like there had never been any strife between her and the others, Scootaloo reserved her glares for whenever one of her opponents got the upper hoof, and all in all nopony really cared who won.

After the game, it was cards, then dice. Game after game was played, until finally, the lights were turned off, and they fell asleep without a care.

Shimmering Ruby didn’t sleep that night. She couldn’t hold in all her anticipation. It wasn’t as if she needed to sleep, she hadn’t since entering Sombra’s employ. All the same, she downed three pots of coffee to avoid suspicion.

She stood out on her balcony with her spyglass, looking in the distance. She could see it, see the train coming closer. Carrying the last crystal unicorn.

Her prize.

She laughed. It was like a foal on Hearth’s Warming morning. Soon enough, it would be time.

Soon enough.

2,804 views

231

Previous Chapters Next

Comments ( 13 )

Viewing 1 - 50 of 13
- Newest First
- Oldest First

mbpony 512

mbpony 512 #1 · Dec 23rd, 2013 · · ·

YAY, New update to the storyline.

Great job having Diamond Tiara join the foals on their adventure, maybe it could lead into a better friendship between them all.

HA, it seems that Twilight and Blaze's love life maybe getting a bit out of hand....that is if Twilight knows some Soundproof spells.

Once again, thanks for the terrific update towards this great storyline of yours. I cannot wait to see the how the foals react to seeing the Crystal Empire for the first time for some.

Infinite Carnage

Infinite Carnage #2 · Dec 23rd, 2013 · · ·

Rarity’s face turned blood red

I think the term, "Rarity's face turned crimson red" would work better here. Blood red makes it sound like she's bleeding.

Great chapter, I look forward to see what happens next.

Alchemystudent

Alchemystudent #3 · Dec 23rd, 2013 · · ·

*Sees Tiara coming* ok Diamond, I am happy to see you, but only for Spoon's sake, not you!

Oh, this is getting good and yet still have a slice of life feel to it. I love it, also I love the line Twilight gives, shows just how awesome our mare is.

Shader