Bridging Ages, Bridging Worlds

by BlueDWarrior

CH 24: Understanding Self

=== BABW: A New Conflict ===

=== Chapter 24: Understanding Self ===

{ NOTE: This chapter occurs simultaneously with Chapter 22 within the overall timeline }

[ July 17, ???? + 1 -- Crystalia, Crystal Empire ]
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“So what do you think of the new name, Auntie Lu’?” Princess Mi Amore Cadenza asked of her Aunt and Senior Alicorn, Luna.

Luna looked with a bit of strange look of mild exasperation, not honestly knowing what to think of the nickname that had been bestowed upon her by her niece and Junior Alicorn. “I think Crystalia is a fine name for a city, though some might confuse it for Canus Crystalis at first blush.”

“I thought about it, but as I kept thinking on it, the name ‘Crystalia’ just kept speaking to me,” Cadence, as she was better known to the public, replied; understanding the concern of the indigo Alicorn on the magic-projection before her.

“Just so long as you understand that, admittedly minor, concern of mine; with that said, the rechristening should be approved without delay,” Luna replied, as her sister came into focus on Cadence’s end of the projection.

“In any case, are you sure you want to talk to the Conduits and Bearers now?” Princess Celestia asked of the Princess of the Crystal Empire.

“I do, Auntie ‘Tia. I want to get to know the ten of them like you all know them. I mean I’m only really familiar with Twilight because I foal-sat her for those years, and the other Bearers only a little from when they’ve come to the Crystal Empire. I know nothing of the Conduits of Terra other than what reports and what Shiny have told me over the last few months,” Cadence replied, her sense of exasperation starting to bleed through her words to some extent.

“It seems to me that you wish to involve yourself more in the geopolitical affairs that the now two of us constantly have to manage,” Luna mused, feeling around the edges of Cadence’s words to gauge her true intent.

Cadence only replied with silent quivering eyes.

“Oh come now, do not look like that, niece. I do not mean to demean your position, only to gauge it properly. Your youth has precluded you from being involved in the machinations of the government of Equestria and her commonwealths. But now that you are in charge of one of said commonwealths, I believe you deserve to be involved first-hoof in these affairs,” Luna clarified, not wanting to upset her niece unduly.

The Royal Sisters could swear they heard a quiet ‘yay’ escape the mouth of the junior Alicorn.

“Right, in any case, you are more than free to talk to the Conduits and or Bearers whenever you please. Even if you mean to speak of that… incident,” Princess Celestia concluded.

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on going too in-depth about it. But I think the others deserve to know my whole story if I’m going to ask similar of them,” Cadence replied as she cut-off the feed to Castle Canterlot.

=== --- ===

“And that is your proposal, Capt. Armor?” a Unicorn stallion roughly thirty years his senior asked with a gruff tone.

“Yes, General Titan Buster. After reading the reports from the Military leaders in the employ of the Human-Equestrian Alliance, and first-hoof testimony of Twilight Sparkle, I believe that we have no choice but to radically redesign the base structure of our body armor,” Shining Armor said, as he had his own feed to the Department of Military Affairs, on the outskirts of Canterlot proper, buried deep inside of Mt. Canter itself.

“Our armor has served us well against the Gryphons for the last century or so; so I would hope that you understand you would be upsetting the applecart quite a bit with these proposals,” a Pegasus general asked - a mare that was only a few years, apparently, younger than Gen. Buster.

“I understand, General Southern Monsoon, that we have our traditions when it comes to armor and weapon-craft; however, we are dealing with beings who, to be perfectly frank, are centuries ahead of us in terms of the root technologies of their armaments. Not only that, but their magic is heavily suited to integration into their existing technological infrastructure, from examples born by the Princess of the Moon in only a few months’ worth of research,” Capt. Armor replied, keeping his tone as even as he could manage, though he fretted as badly as anyone when it came to the health and safety of his fellow Guard-ponies.

“This much is true. The… Quantum Machine, as I believe Princess Luna calls it, is nothing less than a marvel of information processing. It would allow us to catch up very quickly to the Humans in terms of our communication technology. In addition, even the weak flow of magic that bathes Earth at the current day can produce such dramatic effects already. We could be looking at facing a military power far beyond our ability to cope with, should we remain rooted too deeply in our ways,” an Earth Pony stallion a year or so older than Titan Buster mused aloud.

“If I may, it is a bit ironic that an Earth Pony would warn of institutional stubbornness. However, you would be correct. We will have to dramatically improve the quality of our weapons and armor if we hope not only to restore the rightfully elected governments of Earth, but not leave ourselves exposed if we so choose to remain active on Earth,” Shining Armor replied, confident that going directly to the three highest Generals in the entire Royal Guard would net the most immediate impact.

“I know of our race’s hereditary stubbornness, but this is a problem that affects Equestria and all her commonwealths, and possibly all of Equus. I know… that it will anger several elements in the Guard hierarchy and the Nobility that we are absorbing so much of the Humans technology,” General Mountain Pass said, as he sighed heavily.

“What do you mean ‘several elements’, General Pass?” Shining asked, confused somewhat by the sentiment.

“Rumors are starting to percolate of elements in Equestria that are thoroughly rejecting all that Humanity is and anything that is Earth-borne. Thankfully we have not been able to find record of any criminal activity or harassment of Converts, though I can only imagine it would only be a matter of time,” Mountain Pass said, as he rubbed a hoof along his furrowed chin.

“I see. I will tell the Crystal Guard and the police to be on the lookout for anything in particular regarding the few Converts we are starting to see move out here. And that concludes my report for now” Shining Armor replied.

“Understood. You are free to go, Capt. Armor,” General Titan intoned, as Shining waved a hoof to cease the feed to the meeting room at the Department so many miles away.

“This isn’t good… I can’t imagine every Convert we get will be a kind soul and unwilling to unduly antagonize Natives. Eventually there is going to be an incident, and our commitment to tolerance is going to be tested. And I have a feeling some will fail the test miserably,” Shining Armor thought aloud as he ran his hoof along his forehead, brushing back some of his two-toned blue locks.

As the young Captain of the Crystal Guard began to try and rack his brain for a way to nip that particular problem in the bud, he heard a rapping from a lightly armored hoof at the door to his office.

“Shiny honey, are you busy?” he heard his lovely wife ask in that concerned tone that she took with him while he was on duty.

“No, not anymore, just got off a call with the head honchos,” Shining said, as his mood lightened some once he saw Cadence walk inside.

“Hrm, how odd, just got through talking to my Aunts as well. They said we will be able to go ahead with the rechristening for the city in a couple of weeks, once all the records have been updated,” the pink Alicorn said, a wide smile on her face.

“I know how much you’ve been looking forward to this. It’s time that the Crystal Empire truly began to re-integrate into the Equestria’s commonwealth system, and the world at large,” Shining said as he hugged his wife.

“Yeah, but that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about, at least not right now,” Cadence started, as she made sure that no one else was eavesdropping on the other side of the large oak door. “I want to go to Ponyville to have a nice day with all of the Bearers of Harmony and the Conduits of Terra.”

Shining Armor cocked his head to the side at the request of his wife. “Really? I mean we could just have them come up here. Probably a little more secure that way, anyway.”

“I know but I always ask the Bearers to come to soon-to-be Crystalia. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Ponyville besides that one time when we did the Whistlestop Tour, once we made sure that the whole Crystal Empire was anchored back to this plane of reality,” Cadence said, while making those puppy-dog eyes that always wormed their way into Shining Armor’s heart.

“That, and it would be nice to just see them and how they live in their own element, so to speak. Haven’t had much, if any time really, to talk to the Conduits of Terra either. I want to see where their heads are at now, given what has happened on Earth in recent weeks. Especially where that, Blue Vague’s, I believe, mind is at right now,” Shining Armor said, his tone less formal than it was with his superior officers, but still stern.

“Oh come on now, are you going to berate the poor stallion for putting your sister in harm’s way, even though it was clear he was acting under the influence of something else?” Cadence asked, her playful tone turning more serious.

“No… well not much. But I need him, and the other Conduits, to understand that they aren’t the only ones trying to help Earth. So they shouldn’t be driving themselves crazy trying to figure out how they’re, and by extension we’re, going to save everyone and their planet,” Shining Armor replied, making it clear that his anger had subsided in the last couple weeks, whittling itself down to concern for the new partners and friends that Twilight made over the last almost-year.

-= Later that afternoon, in Ponyville =-

Midori Hana lounged outside in the ‘backyard’ of the Greystone Conductor, the birds chirping in the less-intense summer Sun that shone through the clouds that dotted the skies over the fair town.

She leafed through a book of common and not-so-common Equestrian Plants, as she let her mind wander on good samples for a garden that she could start once the calendar completed its seasonal cycle. She looked in the sky, wondering if she could catch a gold-and-bright-blond streak in the sky, but couldn’t find anything but blue, white, and gray.

“I wonder where Storm flew off to, couldn’t think he go that far…” Hana thought out loud, as she continued to stare in the sky away from where the Sun hung.

Red Blaze overheard her as she looked out a window that was not too far from where Hana was lying in the grass outside the Conductor. “I have half a mind to ask Twilight to teach me a tracking spell, so I can figure out where he flies off to when he goes on these periodic jaunts of his…”

Hana chuckled a bit at the exasperation that Blaze was showing, though she wondered herself where Storm seemed to fly off to every couple of days since they returned.

--=--

“It’s so weird… still. I’m a small winged horse, that can fly, and literally lay on a cloud like it was actually made out of bedfoam,” Storm mused aloud as he and the cloud drifted inch by inch through the sky, pushed by the natural wind instead of his wings.

“I thought I felt a certain Wind Magic Conduit flying through here,” Rainbow Dash said as she landed on the opposite end of the long cloud.

“Oh hey R.D., honestly didn’t think you’d notice me way out this way, thought you would usually hang north of town where your Cloud-house is anchored,” Storm said as he craned his neck to look behind him, while still in a lying position.

“Yeah, usually I buzz around in the north of town, but this time I wanted to see what you’ve been up to these couple of weeks since we got back,” Dash replied, as she sat and looked down at the lounging gold-yellow Pegasus.

“Truth be told, just taking in the surrealness of this whole… everything.” Storm said as he continued to look out at the clouds that were above his and Dash’s at the moment floating by in the Equestrian sky-scape.

“Surreal how?” Dash asked, genuinely curious to how a Convert felt about the world she knew like the back of her legs and wings.

“I know the word ‘storybook’ gets thrown around a lot amongst us Converts, and those of us familiar with how Equestria, and well, all of Equus really looks. But, well, let me put it this way. Without magic, there is no way a virtual reality game could ever feel like this,” Storm said, as spread his front legs out wide and in an arc, to show he was talking about the whole of everything he could see both up, forward, and down.

“I’ve tried out a couple of them while I was Earth-side. They felt a little too intense to me, honestly…” Dash said somewhat tepidly, still not used to the onrush of visual and audio stimulus the non-integrated models provided.

“Yeah, you don’t get used to it until you spend quite a while in them. Just like how we were overwhelmed by the sensation of being here in Equestria until after a couple of days of being here,” Storm said, as he continued to lay on the cloud, his wings relaxed but still unfurled.

“That figures,” Dash replied, as Storm resumed speaking.

“But that’s why all of this is kinda surreal. To me, there was a clear delineation of what reality was. Reality wasn’t being able to fly under your own power unless you had some kind of exosuit, and then it was only a few dozen feet… really more like power-jumping now I think about it. Reality wasn’t being able to cast magic at ALL; the idea of using energy to literally change what was in the world, even if that was just moving the air a little bit here or there, was just pure fantasy. Frankly, the idea the some of the rich twits that ‘ran’ the world would actually depose sitting governments was as unrealistic as it got for me,” Storm said, as he finally sat up, now on his haunches, his wings folded back along his sides and back.

Dash looked at the stallion staring at the horizon, as if he was trying to see the future; so she stood next to him in solidarity.

“I’m nervous, Dash. I’m nervous, I’m frightened… but at the same time… I’m excited, I’m anxious, I’m anticipatory. As much as I hate the fact that blood will have to be shed to build a world for everyone, the fact that I have, and a whole lot of others have the potential for having, the power to actually change it is… it’s exhilarating,” Storm said, his body starting to waft with the golden mana that represented Wind Magic.

Dash just stood silently, as she took in the sentiment that coursed through the veins of the stallion next to her, or at least was standing next to her. Said stallion had already taken off, the streak of his brighter yellow magic forming the fringe along the gold-yellow streak his coat left as an optical illusion, much like the rainbow-colored contrail she left.

Don’t have to tell me twice, Storm… Dash thought as she took off herself, yellow fringing her own natural contrail as she mimicked Storm’s method of flying assisted with Wind Magic.

“So I guess we’re gonna have that little race that we never had Earth-side, huh Storm?” Dash shouted when she caught up with the gold-yellow stallion.

“Nah, just a pleasure flight, though that doesn’t mean we have to take it slow at all, do we?” Storm said as he laid his front legs along his body, and went into a minor dive to pick up speed.

“Sometimes speed makes ya feel just as good as anything else!” Dash shouted, as she mimicked Storm’s movements, though at a faster clip.

--=--

Vague sat in the living room in a meditative repose, one he learned from Spike and adapted to his equine frame.

“Not surprising you didn’t want to join your girlfriend and fellow Unicorn in their little chat,” Venome said, as she hung out in Vague’s soulscape, the meditative state allowing Vague’s consciousness to hear both real and the internal Astral space at the same time.

“Let the ladies have their own little time together, they’ll be fine and so will I,” Vague replied, speaking as if Venome was actually manifest in the living opposite him.

“Even if they’re talking about you behind your back?” Venome asked, speaking toward some of Vague’s impulse to eavesdrop on the two mares.

“Just so long as they’re not lying behind my back, they can talk all they want to,” Vague responded, not wanting to barge in, at least not without a good cause.

Just then his semi-internal dialogue was interrupted by the sound of the Conductor’s doorbell going off.

“Oh, I wonder who’s paying us a visit, do be a dear and open that~” Venome replied in her sing-songy tone she took when she wanted to be playful and teasing.

“Fine…” Vague responded, as he brought himself out of the semi-trance and walked over to the door to see who had rung the bell.

“Who is it?” Vague asked as he got to the door.

“It’s me, Twilight!” the mulberry Unicorn said through the door.

Wonder what she’s doing out here… usually she doesn’t pay us a visit here unless she has some kind of business to conduct… Vague thought to himself as he opened the door.

What he found was a rather excited Twilight Sparkle holding a rather fancy pink envelope in her mouth, one fringed in violet, magenta, and gold.

Colors that reminded him of a certain somepony he had only seen fleetingly when he was in Canterlot those couple of times he had been to date.

“Oh where’s everyone, I wanted to get you all together to tell you like I did with the others!” Twilight said, as she tethered the envelope in her telekinetic grip, the excitement in her eyes and voice not abating one bit.

“Hana and Blaze are in the back of the house, but Storm seems to have flown off on one of his little me-time flights,” Vague replied as the two Unicorns walked inside and Vague closed the front door.

“Ugh, sounds just like Rainbow Dash. I swear if she was a colt she’d be just like him!” Twilight replied as she rolled her eyes in frustration.

“The thought of two Golden Storms in the same room frankly scares the hell out of me, Twilight…” Vague added, shaking his head as he did.

The two of them talked a bit more before they reached the backyard, where Hana and Blaze were still chatting it up.

“Oh hey you two, so what do we owe the pleasure, Miss Sparkle?” Blaze asked as they saw the blue and violet-ish Unicorns exit the back door near the storm doors that lead to the basement.

“I wanted to find that coltfriend of yours before I delivered the news,” Twilight replied, a bit disappointed as she couldn’t spy the golden yellow Pegasus anywhere nearby.

“Yeah, we haven’t seen him for an hour or so,” Hana said as she eased over to her own coltfriend.

Twilight struck a thinking repose, before an idea flashed in her mind. “Say I always wanted to try this spell. Would you happen to have a hairbrush with any of Storm’s mane or coat in it, Blaze?”

“Give a few moments and I can get it for you,” Blaze said, as she trotted back into the house.

--=--

“It’s one of the greatest feelings I can think of, Miss Dash!” Storm said as the two Pegasi were still careening through the air with seemingly nary a care in the world.

“Yeah! Just you and the open sky,” Dash said as the two Pegasi continued to jockey for ‘lead’ position in the race that wasn’t a race.

The dual flight continued on apace, until Storm hear a strange sound.

“Say, Dash, you hear something buzzing, well besides the wind whipping over our ears?” Storm asked, as he could swear he heard something not unlike buzzing bees in his head.

“Not really, no” Dash replied, as she turned to look at the Pegasus, who in a literal flash (of what was apparently Explicit Magic) wasn’t there.

“Wait what?” Dash said aloud, as she pulled to a break and hovered in mid-air.

The cyan Pegasus replayed the last few moments in her head, before she realized something – there was a brief flash of violet that mixed itself with the gold-yellow of Storm before he vanished.

“Come on really?!” Dash said as she could only think of one Unicorn that would do something like that.

--=--

“Well, nice of you to join us again, Storm,” Blaze said with a non-plussed tone, as she was lying on top of her coltfriend, her belly to his back and wings.

“I can only guess who I have to thank for this rather… ungraceful landing…” Storm replied, mimicking Blaze’s tone of voice as he looked back at a certain violet-maned, mulberry Unicorn.

“What, I just wanted to try it out,” Twilight said, as she looked on with a bit of an apologetic face.

“Probably need to fix this ditch when we’re done,” Hana sighed, looking at the ditch-like groove the Pegasus carved into the ground as he slid and bowled over his marefriend.

“Now that we’re all here, more or less, what did you wanna tell us, Twilight?” Vague asked of the third Unicorn, as Blaze and Storm stood upright and walked over to the Unicorn still holding the pink envelope.

“Right!” Vague replied as she took the already unsealed envelope and carefully re-opened it and unfurled the letter written on the inside.

Vague noticed the seal at the bottom of the letter before reading the text, noting there was something there besides the seal of the Equestrian Government. I’ll ask about it after Twilight tells us what she has to tell us…

“My brother and his wife are planning to visit the ten of us in three days~!” Twilight said with great exuberance.

“Your brother… your brother…” Storm started… before he and the other three Ponies there all came to the same realization.

“OH RIGHT! You’re the sister of Shining Armor, Prince Consort to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” Vague finally recalled, as the image of the smaller (compared to Celestia and Luna), pink Alicorn and her smaller, white and blue-maned husband Unicorn re-solidified in his head.

“It’s funny, you’d think we wouldn’t let that slip from our minds, and yet it did,” Storm said, as he suddenly felt quite embarrassed about not realizing who the letter could have been from with such fanciful stationary.

“I don’t like talking about them like that. It makes it seem like I’m bragging or something. ‘Oh look at me, I’m the sister of the colt married to the third Alicorn!’” Twilight replied, before chuckling a bit.

Vague nodded, seeing Twilight’s point. “True enough. But still, this is a big occasion. I can’t imagine Cadenza gets much time away from the Crystal Empire that’s not state business.”

“You can just call her Princess Cadence, pretty much everyone else in the Kingdom does…” Twilight corrected mildly.

“We’ll remember that…” Hana said, as she looked at the fancy penmanship of Cadence on the letter.

“I’m guessing she’s giving us the lead time because she figured Pinkie is going to want to set something up,” Blaze figured aloud.

“And you’d be right! Oh you should have seen Pinkie’s face when I told her. I swear she was already in the kitchen at Sugarcube getting the cookies ready,” Twilight said, still giggling a bit at the thought.

“Honestly, I’m always impressed what she can pull off when she only have a few days… or hours… to have it done. Makes me wonder what she’d do if you say… gave her an entire month of prep time,” Vague thought aloud.

“I do too, honestly…” Twilight thought, as she felt a familiar voice resound in her mind.

You know you have to do a better job giving somepony a heads up when you do stuff like that… Rainbow Dash chided, communicating through her link to the Element of Loyalty to Twilight’s Element of Magic. Seeing as her flight partner was back in Ponyville proper, more or less, she began to fly northwest to the town limits.

It was the first live test. Trust me it’ll work a lot better next time… Twilight replied with a bit of a churlish tone, tired of being chided for the minor incident.

[ July 20, ????+1 –- Ponyville, Equestria ]
===========================================

The interior of the Greystone Conductor, by the time Pinkie Pie had gotten well into her party prep, had taken on a distinct ‘pink’ feeling. The numerous streamers and paper-chains in all the colors of Cadence’s coat and mane doing their damndest to give that affect.

“Once again, I have to reiterate – I wonder what she can do if you gave her a month instead of a few days…” Blue Vague thought aloud as he noted how different the normally wood-grain brown interior felt after Pinkie worked her magic on it.

“I don’t even know myseeelf~” Pinkie sung as she twirled around on her rear hooves, arranging trays of cookies, snack cakes, and candies along the serving tables.

“Figures. Anyway, anything I should know about Princess Cadence ahead of time, you all?” Vague asked of the other Bearers of Harmony, aside from Twilight, that were in the living room where most of the food trays were already set out.

“Hrm… she’s like Princess Luna and Celestia, in that she carries herself with a definite air of regalness. Though being so young, it doesn’t feel as overwhelming,” Rarity thought aloud.

“She’s very interested in the relationship between Ponies as well. And not just romantic relationships, though she really likes to ask about those,” Rainbow Dash added.

“She likes to disguise her words though. Hard to tell what she’s looking at if yer only takin’ her words at face value,” Applejack added as well.

“Even if she seems like she’s being snide and sarcastic, she means well. It’s how she is when she’s by herself,” Fluttershy mused.

“She can be so lovey-dovey when she’s around Shining, it’s almost nauseous though,” Spike added, even though he wasn’t prompted seemingly.

“Wonder why you decided to come along, Spike…” Blaze wondered aloud as she looked at the almost two-Length tall Dragon sitting next to one of Vague’s bean-bag chairs.

“Gets kinda boring sitting in Golden Oaks by yourself. Not really a heavy patronage day…” Spike replied, as he slowly ate one of the larger cookies Pinkie had baked.

“Spike, I don’t want you eating too many of those. You know how Dragons get when they get too much sugar in their system, right?” Twilight chided of her bigger, younger, adoptive brother.

“Yes ma’am, I remember. I’ll be fine…” Spike replied, as he rolled his eyes.

Twilight huffed in frustration a bit, but smiled as she walked over to go over all the arranged treats on the tables.

After a few more minutes of waiting, the ten Elements and Spike heard the Conductor’s door bell ring a familiar chime.

“They’re here!” Twilight shouted with a bit of a squeal, as she rushed to the front door to let the royal couple in.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if Twi is always like that regarding her brother and Cadence, no matter how old she gets,” Rainbow Dash said as the rest of them awaited the now two Unicorns and Alicorn to enter the living area.

A few moments later, Twilight did indeed return with a white Unicorn in red dress Uniform, and a pink Alicorn decked out in, what one could be referred to as, ‘casual’ regalia.

“Presenting Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and Prince-Consort Shining Armor,” Twilight announced with all due formality, which caused the two married Ponies to look a bit nervous and embarrassed.

“Come on now, Twilight. You don’t have to announce us to your friends like that,” Cadence said, as she tried to tamper Twi’s enthusiasm some.

“No… but I wanted to anyway,” Twilight said with a bit of a teasing tone as she rejoined the group of eleven opposite her former foal-sitter and elder brother.

“Right, so to what do we owe the honor, Princess?” Blaze asked of the Alicorn before them.

“Nothing in particular. I was talking with my Aunts and I figured that I needed to get the know the nine of you better,” Cadence replied looking at everyone except Twilight and Spike.

“Fair enough,” Blaze replied, as she levitated a cup of orange juice to her mouth.

“And I decided to tag along, for obvious reasons. That and I wanted to talk to you all as well,” Shining added as she ruffled Twilight’s mane a bit.

The afternoon progressed a little while, both the Princess and the guardspony Unicorn making small talk with the Elements and Conduits, until Vague’s mind drifted to a question that was rarely asked of either Cadence or the two Royal Sisters.

“When I’m around an Alicorn, I get this… odd feeling…” Vague started, not quite sure how to continue the question.

As Cadence’s interest was grabbed by the start of the question, everyone turned to hear what the two were about to talk about.

“So what do you mean by an odd feeling, Blue Vague,” Cadence asked as she sat near Vague on the floor.

“Ok, this is gonna sound a bit odd, because it’s hard for me to put into words,” Vague started. “When I’m around other Ponies, it doesn’t feel strange. Aside from having to remind myself that this is real life and not some kind of elaborate virtual reality game, maybe… that’s the worst of it. But when I’m around an Alicorn, there is just this weird… feeling that there is the physical ‘you’ that I can see and sense with my horn, and then there is you, like you are so so SO much bigger than you appear.”

Twilight and the others thought about what the Conduit of Water had said just then, and found they had similar impulses of standing next to something that was unfathomably huge.

“And I have had to live that feeling ever since I started dating her,” Shining Armor sighed. “I believe a more concrete, I guess, way to talk about that sensation is that the sense of presence generated by an Alicorn just simply dwarfs that of a normal, well anything else. Like, I walk into a room, and unless I start talking, I might turn a head or two but otherwise it’s just like if anypony else had walked in. Now let my darling walk into the room, and she will turn pretty much every head there toward her without even having to try.”

“I don’t like to draw all eyes to me, but what Shining speaks to I concur with. And if you all will care to indulge me, I think my little story can explain why an Alicorn just pulls so much attention to themselves,” Cadence added.

“Seeing as none of us have anywhere else to be, at least I don’t think, we might as well settle in,” Hana mused; no one else objecting to the sentiment.

==--==

“Alright then, since we’re all settled, let’s start at the present and work our way backwards some. My full title, as Twilight alluded to earlier, is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of the Crystal Empire – Commonwealth of the Kingdom of Equestria, and Alicorn of Love and Harmony,” Cadence started, before she was interrupted by Golden Storm.

“Excuse me, does that make you related to the Elements of Harmony that they use?”

“No, the Harmony in my title more or less refers to the whole concept of ‘Harmony’, and not the Elements of Harmony in particular. So the magic I specialize in is related to the Elements, but not the same,” Cadence clarified, to the apparent satisfaction of Storm and the other Conduits of Terra.

“So where was I, ah yes. Although I am an Alicorn, I am not able to make decisions that apply to the whole of Equestria like my two Aunts, and as a personal aside, I do not think I would be qualified to do such for some time, given I am still new to the whole ‘running a commonwealth’ deal, let alone a whole kingdom. My husband, as you know, is Prince-Consort Shining Armor, Commander of the Crystal Guard, and Captain of the Royal Guard Unicorn Division V, under General Titan Buster of the Unicorn Corps,” Cadence continued.

“So wait, Shining is Commander of an entire unit and a subordinate in another unit?” Vague asked, not understanding the hierarchy.

“It’s a temporary station until we can fully integrate the recovered Crystal Guard soldiers into the modern Equestrian military. I really hate all of the paperwork I have to do keeping everything coordinated, and I kinda want to keep on my current progression up the ranks of the Royal Guard proper…” Shining Armor replied somewhat sheepishly, not wanting to sound too ungrateful of the task he had been volunteered for.

“Given what we saw then, and what we read since of the Crystal Empire’s history, it might take some time to re-integrate, as you put it,” Fluttershy thought aloud, Shining nodding in agreement as she did.

“And that is part of my duty now, Element of Kindness: to help the population recover from their Limbo, lorded over by the dark cloud of Sombra. To this day I am still not exactly sure what Sombra was, in the end, but that is a discussion for another time.”

The audience of eleven shrugged a bit, as story was re-railed back to its original track.

“I met Shining Armor at first while we were both in a rather exclusive secondary school in Canterlot, I was there because I was related, albeit not by blood, to royalty, and Shining was there on an academic scholarship,” Cadence mused.

“Said I was gonna be on the fast track for either a long tenure at the University for Thamaturgic Studies, or Officer School in the Unicorn Corps for the Royal Guard. And honestly… I thought the latter would impress Cadence more,” Shining Armor said, blushing as he did; which earned him a nuzzle from his wife.

Wow, they’re high school sweethearts on top of everything else? The Conduits of Terra all thought in unison.

“I met the rest of Shining and Twilight’s family when her parents were in the market for a foal-sitter. Seemed like they had reached that point in their marriage where they had to take some active steps to rekindle the flame, so that meant a lot of nights where Twily and Spikey were by themselves,” Cadence said she giggled at the nicknames. Spike rolled his eyes and Twilight’s cheeks turned a flush red.

“Yeah, I was so tied down with all kinds of projects in school, and my own little nerd life with the little circle of colts I ran with, that Mom and Dad felt an outside babysitter would be a good idea. Imagine their surprise when a Princess-‘in-Training’ ended up answering the call,” Shining added.

“Back then, I really didn’t understand why I was being called ‘Princess’ if I wasn’t blood related to my Aunts. It wasn’t until my sixteenth birthday that I realize just who, and more importantly, what I was.”

Twilight and Shining nodded knowingly, as the other Ponies and one Dragon listened on in rapt attention.

“The months before my sixteenth birthday were some of the most rough in my life. While it wasn’t unusual for Unicorns going through puberty to have small outbursts of magic as their hormones tried to rebalance themselves, usually it was just limited to their talent or telekinesis. However, as it’s patently obvious to you all, I’m not simply a Unicorn with wings. I experienced days where it felt like my magical aura was whipping all around me, like one of those animations where a fighter’s battle aura would flare and whip the air around them. Other days, the weather would constantly change where I walked, depending on how I felt at the moment. Other days still, the pavement would crack with every step I took,” Cadence said as her voice became rather serious.

“The most disturbing thing was that I could never escape the attention of everyone around me, even when my magic was perfectly normal and in-check. It seemed like no matter what I did or where I went, everyone would just feel compelled to stare at me, as if my presence in a room or on a street-corner was overriding everyone else’s there.”

Cadence took a breath as she got to the thrust of her story.

“It was then, on my 16th birthday, that I learned the truth of what being an Alicorn, at least in this reality, is: you are an abstract power, a living force of nature, tied down and manifest in the body of a Pony that represents all three races at once.”

The thoughts of what that meant began to percolate through the heads of the eight Ponies that had never heard that statement before.

“And for me and my aunts in particular, our existence was catalyzed by a previously existing Pony whose soul fused with a source of power that was so pure, it was instantaneously reconfigured, or in a more concise sense, reborn as the being that I stated before,” Cadence continued.

“So who was the catalyst for your… existence, I guess?” Fluttershy asked of the pink Alicorn.

“A middle-aged Unicorn named ‘Heart Linker’, who was last seen, at least by official records some 25 years ago. Though, I believe you can put two and two together and see what the actual truth is regarding her,” Cadence replied.

“You were Heart Linker in a previous life, I guess…” Rarity answered, which got a nod from Cadence.

“Yes, and ‘previous life’ is more or less the correct way to refer to it. The Pony that was Heart Linker was utterly obliterated, the essence of her soul carried on by merging with a natural power in this world to give birth to myself,” Cadence said, the gravitas in her voice heavier than even Twilight could remember. “The only reason why I can speak with such firmness and clarity on what happened is the fact I was personally told of and shown all the events that lead up to my birth by other… well those on your side, Vague, would call them ‘gods’, we just simply prefer the term ‘Immortals’.”

Vague and the other Converts nodded as they filed away the clarification for later use.

“I’ve always wondered, is that what the Crystal Heart is, ultimately?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yes, which makes it similar to the Elements of Harmony. The Elements are a physical representation of Harmony and the power of Will that courses through all of the forms of Magic that permeate Equus. The Crystal Heart is a representation of the love for life and each other that flows through the world the same. That is why the legends were always related to the collective zeitgeist of the Crystal Empire,” Cadence continued.

“Right, if the Crystal Ponies were happy, then the Crystal Heart shone as a beacon through Equestria and the entire world. If the Crystal Ponies were sad or full of fear, then it would grow dim and no one would even know it existed. And if the Crystal Ponies were full of hate, it would produce a darkness that could enshroud the entire world and plunge it into grave despair,” Twilight recited, giving the vastly condensed version of the Legend of the Crystal Heart.

“Wait, so is that what the Summer of Love was 25 years ago?” Applejack asked, as she looked perplexed by the statement and how it seemed to line up with what she remembered reading in an old newspaper.

“Also correct, Bearer of Honesty. The Summer of Love was instigated by accident when Heart Linker fully fused with the nascent power of the soon-to-re-emerge Crystal Heart, thereby Ascending and being reborn as myself. I’ve made it a point to visit with as many of the couples who found each other during that summer and got married who were actually at the location near Los Pegasus, so I could see just what they could remember of those days,” Cadence replied.

“What did they tell you, in general, Princess?” Hana asked, genuinely curious.

“Mostly the same as the surviving media reports: a Unicorn mare of pink coat and white-mane with violet streaks wandering through the fair ground where a soft rock concert was being held. She got up on stage and gave an impassioned, but somewhat rambling speech on the nature of love and how it needed to be spread through the entire world. The next thing anyone could remember was a bright pink light enveloping the entire fairground, and the Unicorn evaporating seemingly into pure mana. What no one could remember was that in place of that Unicorn was a baby Alicorn – myself as a newborn,” Cadence replied matter-of-factly.

“If that festival was anything like the several Woodstocks that have occurred in America since the original in the last century, I’m willing to bet everyone thought they were on a massive, collective, drug-induced hallucination,” Vague figured.

“Even to this day, those who do not understand the nature of Ascension into Immortal-hood, which is to say, practically everyone, still claim the massive pink light, and instinctive finding of one’s soul mate because of it, was a post-event rationalization for a mass hallucination of some other kind. Though unsurprisingly, no one has been able to reproduce the catalyst for such a thing… aside from myself,” Cadence explained, chuckling at the end.

“Far out, man…” Storm responded, getting a knowing chuckle from Vague.

“So I say all of that to say this. If you want to know why it feels like Alicorns just draw all attention to themselves, even when they don’t really try to, it’s because we represent something much bigger than what you can see. And even if you aren’t told that, per se, you can just feel it. I’ve been told, and I’ve seen since I turned sixteen, that my being around, without even saying anything, tends to result in Ponies and others managing to smooth over whatever friction they are having,” Cadence said, as the realization began to wash over the eight Ponies that were the least familiar with Cadence.

“That would make sense. Whenever I’m around Princess Luna, there is this aura that she is cool, calm, and serene. Kinda like a clear autumn night,” Blue Vague said as he thought of how Luna literally seemed to cool things down a degree or two, both physically and emotionally.

“At the same time, Princess Celestia gives off an aura of gentle warmth and brightness, which can easily turn into searing heat if she truly got mad at someone,” Twilight concurred, remembering how she was sweating whenever she was in the presence of Princes Celestia after she got through berating somepony at the School for Gifted Unicorns.

“That is the thing the three of us have to manage at all times, and it’s a constant balancing act. One I’m still learning bit by bit,” Cadence concluded, as Shining Armor leaned into her.

“And if I may say, you’re making great progress,” he added, doing his best to support his wife.

Cadence giggled as she kissed Shining on the muzzle. “I don’t know where I’d be without you, Shiny.”

I see what she meant by lovey-dovey… Vague thought, as he briefly chuckled at the scene.

[ July 22, ????+1 – Everfree Forest near Ponyville, Equestria ]
===============================================================

I see that you have visitors on the way, dear...

Indeed mother... would you like to end this session now?

No, I have the feeling that the guests would like to speak to the both of us...

You always had a sense for other's intentions, mother...

Midori Hana, Blue Vague, and Twilight Sparkle were walking the now fairly defined path to Zecora's Hut within the Everfree Forest. They wanted to consult with the Zebra about Blue Vague and gauge just how far along he was in his recovery and reconciliation with himself since the Nightmare Ooze incident.

"You know as long as we've been here, I've never been this deep in the Everfree..." Blue Vague said as he was one part amazed by the vitality of the forest, and one part scared by the fact it was difficult to see anything through all the trees and foliage.

"This is place is just simply... amazing. I guess Earth Ponies would spend a lot more time here if it weren't a wild zone. I heard of all the predators and monsters that still make this area home, and this is just the area near Ponyville," Midori Hana added, invigorated by all the natural greenery surrounding her.

Twilight nodded as they got within eyesight of the simple hut. "I would imagine that's why Zecora settled in this clearing we're approaching. It's about the right spot in-between Ponyville and the deep Everfree, which I doubt anyone would want to call home, unless they were born there or were a bit cracked in the head."

As they all approached the hut, Vague and Twilight picked up a strange aura coming from the edifice. Taking some extra caution, Twilight knocked lightly on the door and called for Zecora. "Excuse me, Zecora. Are you able to receive guests right now?"

"Oh yes Twilight. You and your two friends can come inside," Zecora shouted from inside.

"How did she know there were two of us with you?" Blue Vague asked, not sure if he picked up any new magic aside from what permeated the area around the hut anyway.

"I don't know, Vague. I've learned in the last few years to not exactly question Zecora when she does stuff like that, though," Twilight said as she pushed the door open.

The three Ponies were amazed by the conditions inside the hut. The inside was almost totally dark, despite the fact it was midday outside. It also felt quite cool, despite the mild heat from the summer.

"So, um Miss Zecora... did we walk in on anything that we shouldn't have?" Midori Hana asked nervously, looking at the strange swirls of color in the black background all around them.

"Actually, this might be the best time for you to visit me, given the concerns you may have," Zecora stated, still not having opened her eyes since Twilight and the others walked in.

"Okay. Now how would you know that? And this might be the first time you've talked to me, at least, without constantly speaking in rhyme," Twilight asked, also a tad off-put by the environs they saw in the hut.

"Oh, I can answer that," a strange female voice in the background stated. It sounded a lot like Zecora, except quite older. "We Zebras have a cultural trait where we emphasize by speaking in lyrical rhyme. It comes from our proud oral tradition."

A lot like the African tribes back on Earth, at least historically... Vague thought to himself as they sat in the circle Zecora had drawn in white chalk.

"You always did have a bit of a habit of giving away trade secrets when you spoke to outsiders, mother," Zecora stated while chuckling a bit, finally opening her eyes.

"The Zebra Tribes cannot be isolated forever; the world is growing smaller, in a sense. We have to be prepared to receive guests far more frequently than we have been. And now an entirely new world has been joined to our own. The time will soon come where we will have to enter into alliance with the other major nations of this world," the female voice continued to speak.

"That is quite true, mother. And it appears we have two critical figures from the other world with us, given the extremely strong link with that new mana they possess," Zecora stated, as the common room of her hut turned from a strange black field to a more normal looking darkened room during midday.

"Um, not to be too forward or anything. But I don't see anyone else here beside us four, where exactly is your mother?" Midori Hana asked, looking around to see if she missed anyone.

"I am sitting before you, Green One," stated the female voice.

Twilight, Vague, and Hana reeled back a bit from Zecora in surprise. What they saw sitting next to the flesh and blood mostly monochrome Zebra, was the ghost of another Zebra that looked like a somewhat older version of Zecora, the main difference being that the ghost's mane was not styled into a mohawk, but more of a naturally flowing style, not unlike Midori Hana.

The phantom Zebra mare giggled a bit at the surprise etched into the faces and souls of the three Ponies before her. "It's always strange when outsiders react that way when a Zebra Phantom manifests. Anyway, my name is Zel'Ana, I am Zecora's mother, teacher, and in this form, mentor."

The three Ponies managed to gather themselves again, and formally introduce themselves as well. "I-i-i-I'm Twilight Sparkle, and the blue one is Blue Vague and the green one is Midori Hana." The other two Ponies waved nervously after Twilight stopped speaking.

"I see, you three are unfamiliar with the proceedings, which is understandable. When a Zebra faces death, they may join the Circle of Rebirth. However, I am one of a few who still feel they had worth," Zel'Ana said with the now trademark lyrical Zebra style.

“Though you managed to achieve Nirvana before reaching middle age,” Zecora clarified, somewhat wistfully. It was apparent to Blue Vague that Zecora still missed having her mother with her in flesh and blood.

The three Ponies finally began to relax, the Unicorns now used to the phantasmal presence of Zel'Ana. They then began talking for a while, getting Zecora up to speed on the goings on in Earth, or at least the details she might not have gleamed from her communion with the Spirits.

"That is quite troubling indeed. Now I see why mother figures that the Tribal Congress will be forced to enter into a pact with Equestria and the other major nations," Zecora reasoned aloud, with a hoof under her chin.

"And I see the Blue One, Blue Vague, has been touched by the inner darkness of the Pony race. Your mind and heart may be purged of its influence, but the scars are still fresh, are they not?" Zel'Ana also reasoned, looking much like her daughter.

"To be honest, yes. I wrapped myself up so tightly in my own depression and anger, I just... snapped. I don't really remember the specifics of what I did as Nightmare Ooze, but I can only conclude it was bad," Blue Vague started, before taking a breath to continue his thoughts. "I honestly don't know what to think about it. A part of me just wants to bury it, and pretend it never happened. Another part of me though... another part of me wants to find some way to confront it safely."

Zel'Ana began to glow an eerie green, as a strange circle appeared under Blue Vague. Vague, rather than freak out again, felt incredibly calm, instinctively knowing that Zel'Ana's phantom magic was in no way malicious.

Hey Vague? What’s going on? Are you doing something out there? Venome asked of Vague.

Vague for his part, couldn’t offer anything definite except the fact the two of them were in competent hooves. Just let the phantom Zebra do her magic, because I wouldn’t know how to stop her if I wanted to…

A few moments later, a flash of blue emanated from the same-colored Unicorn, as did a waft of blue smoke. Eventually the smoke coalesced into a figure, a figure that was most familiar to said blue Unicorn.

“Venome?” Vague asked, as he looked at the figment of his soul that resembled a near identical, feminine twin of himself.

“Vague? How did… I don’t…” the Unicorn asked, her voice deeper than either Twilight or Hana’s, but not quite as low as Zecora or Zel’Ana’s.

“Huh? This is the thing that caused us all that trouble?” Twilight asked, confused as to what she was seeing sitting next to the Conduit of Water.

“And why is she a girl?” Hana asked, confused as to what was sitting next to her coltfriend.

“It’s a rather odd excuse. And one I’m not sure I want to get into at the moment,” Vague replied, entirely unsure of what else to say given the situation.

“Your coltfriend didn’t want to admit he was harboring some dark thoughts about Humanity, so he made me look like a girl so he could pretend we weren’t one and the same…” Venome responded, her tone biting as she had great disdain whenever Vague tried to deflect from how he felt during those months.

“Gee thanks…” Vague replied, his nonplussed tone clear to everyone there.

Zel’Ana nodded sagely, as she looked at the blue Unicorn and his phantom false-twin. “This is what I meant, Conduit of Water. To truly move past your sin, with her you must begin.”

“Begin what?” the two blue Unicorns asked in unison.

“To understand where you are the same, and what similarities you cannot claim,” Zecora added, nodding much like her mother.

“Never a dull moment with any of us, right Hana?” Twilight asked, already feeling queasy at trying to separate Vague from Venome.

“Nope, not a one…” Hana sighed, wondering if there was something else her coltfriend was hiding in his psyche.

--- == ---

Meanwhile, back in Canterlot, the pair of Princesses were putting to paper the preliminary schedule for the negotiating session to come, having finally secured an agreement from the Dragons, Zebras, and Gryphons.

"So we are to all meet in Safe Haven at the end of September, according to the Earth Calendar, yes?" Luna asked, as she prepared to hold the evening and overnight session of court.

"Yes, Lulu. The exact date is tentatively set at September 28th," Celestia answered, still writing down the lineups of dignitaries.

"I am glad they also agreed to allow the Conduits of Terra and the Bearers of Harmony to spend some time in each of their respective Capitals learning a bit of each Nation's culture. It will be helpful for when they attend the final ceremony as audience," Luna mused aloud.

"Knowing the Gryphons, they might try to work over the Conduits especially. I have a feeling Converts and Humans might identify with the Gryphon mindset the most,” Celestia added, as she began writing some notes on a memo-pad in her telekinetic grip.

"So how long do you want them all to spend in each Nation?" Luna asked.

"At first I thought ‘three days’, but I want them to really get a good taste of the other nations, so I’m thinking more along a week. I'm also giving them memory crystals to record select writings so that they may study them after they leave. And speaking of 'memory crystals', how is our project with the Magical Computer coming along?" Celestia replied, then asked as she changed the focus of the conversation.

"The prototype is mostly stable now. There were some unforeseen issues where the artificial mind that runs some of the human's machines actually became a unique ego in her own right. So much of our time was spent trying to teach it ethical behavior and the like," Luna asked, as she thought back to all of the many incidents of Shift trying to ‘improve’ the function of the systems in Safe Haven.

"Do you think you succeeded?"

"I can only hope so..."

***** === *****

Comments

[Waterpicker]

I still find it funny that the new magitech computer was so overpowered that the AI running on it actually became sapient due to evolving so fast.