Split Crystals

by Trickquestion

Declarations

The opening day of the Equestrian Games was rapidly approaching, and nowhere was this more obvious then the throne room of the pretty-pink-princess-with-a-rather-long-and-fancy-name-who-prefers-to-just-be-called, "Cadance."

The Princess in question was finally putting to use all those years of studying political theory and practice under her adoptive aunt, Princess Celestia of Equestria. While she had originally been reluctant to accept sovereignty of the recently time-locked nation, Cadance had quickly adapted to the flow of things, and with the help of a little love magic here and there to calm tensions, and the full emotional support of her beloved husband, she was now comfortable devoting her energy and time to helping these poor ponies recover from their time beneath Sombra's lash.

As such, Cadance held great anticipation for the upcoming Games, which would mark the full return of the Crystal Empire to the international political stage. She had just finished signing off the permit a bird nest peddler would need to set up a stand during the Games. Who would want to buy a bird nest during a major international sporting event, Cadance wasn't sure, but there was plenty of space available when the stallion submitted his application.

A few minutes after the nest crafter departed, Cadance's secretary nudged open the throne room door. "Your majesty? The next appointment has arrived, but ah, there's a bit of a problem..."

"Just send them in Cherry." Cadance said nonchalantly. While she loved her citizens, they could be a bit over reactive and unnecessarily nervous around royalty. "So this is what Auntie Celestia was talking about..."

Quickly recognizing THAT particular train of thought as leading only to despair, Cadance sought to reorganize her mind by looking down at the paper in front of her and reviewing next petitioner wanted. After scanning the document, Cadance did a double take, scrunching up her face and bringing the offending stationary closer to her muzzle.

The document was a list of requested musicians for the performances, filled with requests collected from within the Empire and the foreign nations competing in the games. Such a document would normally appear before the princess dozens off times, until every contention, scheduling change and last minute suggestion had been accounted for.

Except for the fact she had signed off what she knew was the finalized list about a week ago. It was a well known fact that the Games were too near for the list to be changed.

"Eh hem."

Cadance looked up to discover that her throne room was now full of Crystal Ponies, all of them wearing subdued frowns, with the exception of her secretary, who was quivering in the door frame.

At the head of this crowd was a Crystal stallion, his coat a vibrant ocean blue and mane a subdued ginger, a pair of circular rim glasses perched upon his muzzle. "I apologize for the deception, Mrs. Armor, it was the only means by which myself and my colleagues could achieve a face to face meeting with you." He then removed a neatly stapled stack of papers from his plain gray saddlebag. "Here is the correct document."

Cadance studied the papers intently, wanting answers to this strangeness. About midway through the cover page, her eyes had gone completely wide.

The head stallion cleared his throat, and spoke up in a bold, clear voice, that echoed through the palace halls.

"We have come here today, Mrs. Armor, to demand your abdication from the crystal throne, and the return of the Crystal Empire's sovereignty. We demand the freedom of the Crystal Empire!"

---

Two hours prior...

"Friends, ponies, lend me your ears! All is not well in our fair Empire!"

These words ring through the cold skyline dominated by the monolithic Crystal Palace. Though the Palace was far less intimidating without the general air of misery and oppression instilled by Sombra, it still maintained a feel of all seeing menace, as fully intended by its creator, who made a point of tearing down any equivalently sized buildings to ensure his point was conveyed.

The origin of this cry is a ramshackle stand on the side of a road several blocks from the palace. Little more then a collection of sturdy boxes glued together into a serviceable platform, it is never the less stable enough to support the speaker: Geode Striker, a stallion with a blue coat, ginger hair and glasses. In the immediate area around the platform, a stallion and mare were handing out fliers to interested pedestrians.

"Though the downfall of Sombra," Striker's use of the name elicited disturbed gasps from those around him. Most Crystal Ponies referred to their former overlord only as "The Dark One", out of a mix of fear and disgust. Anypony that was not motivated to leave quickly became intrigued by this seemingly fearless stallion, and stayed behind to listen. "...was perhaps the greatest moment in our nation's history, our victory has been sullied!"

"Be it through intentional machination or well meaning ignorance, Princess Celestia has denied us the freedom we yearn for! Our current princess is an appointee, who did not even know of our Empire's existence until she was sent to save it!" Striker continued. "Though Cadance and Shinning Armor are well intentioned, they do not understand the needs of the Crystal Empire! They do not know our culture, our history, or our people. Look at these decadent games you all scurry about in preparation for!"

Striker's voice adopted a lower tone, and his next words were delivered in a somber tone, instead of his previous outbursts. "The ponies of this Empire need food and warmth. We need to reclaim the land claimed by the frost and the mines for farmland. The ponies of this Empire need shelters, not stadiums. We need doctors, not athletes." His next words were loaded with anger however. "We need to be rebuilt, not made into a tourist attraction!"

His voice became soft once again. "That is not to say we do not owe Equestria a great debt. Without their help, we may never have defeated Sombra. However, that is a debt we will repay on our terms, as our own ponies, and with a Crystal Pony seated upon OUR crystal throne!"

At this point in Geode Striker's speech, very few listeners remained. Only a hooffull of ponies once present on the street did not regard him as a crazed, ungrateful trouble maker. The few that did remain eagerly added their signatures to the presented petition (which he had been quietly expanding for weeks prior to this event) and joined his march to the Palace.

As the minority mob disappeared down the street to the palace, a pair of pony eyes watch the mob through a window in the distance. The watching pony spoke. "You have made certain Geode Striker will reach the palace uncontested?"

"Yes." Came the simple response from the back

"Then we may begin."

Author's Note:

About calling Cadance "Mrs. Armor." I decided that for the purposes of this story, in Equestria, you address a married pony by their partner's last name. Shining would be addressed as "Mr. Cadenza." It's the only thing I could think of that worked with Equestria's fluid naming conventions.

Comments

[Adeire]

Its a pretty interesting point, I didnt even thought about the posibility of either a crystal king or even a crystal republic.
Keep up the good work.

[Shadow_Wolf]

I am intrigued