Crystal Empire Chronicles

by Northern Course

Chapter 1 - A Royal Foal-Sitter

The King led Crimson down several hallways. During the middle of the night these hallways contained little light to illuminate them, but for unicorns with magic it was simple to guide ones way through them without carrying a lantern of some sort. Crimson knew the castle much like the back of his hoof and knew the areas he was passing through.

At some point, Crimson realized where he was being taken. The area he was in was used as the living quarters for members of the royal family. The King opened one of the doors that led to his own quarters. The guards that followed them took position at each end of the door. Never were they allowed past into the royal quarters, unless under royal orders or situations to where the King’s life was in danger.

As Crimson entered the room, his eyes went over every small detail. As expected the room was exceptionally large compared to standard living quarters in the castle. Everything in the room was seen to be, for lack of a better phrase “fit for a king”. His eye however drew to another set of double doors within the room. These doors were horribly miscoloured compared to the rest of the room. Crimson however saw a name painted imprinted onto the top of the door, but before he could read it, his ears were drawn to the sound of the quarter doors slowly shutting.

As the doors to the hallway closed, Crimson looked back to see both guards peeking their heads through the small opening of the doors until they completely slammed shut. King Stratege walked over to the window on the other side of the room. Next to the window was a desk, and sat upon the desk were two pillows. One of them had the Queen’s crown sat onto it. “We can talk here” said Stratege.

“My King…” said Crimson, trying to get across an argument he know would fail to even convince himself.

“Crimson, what you said at that table worried me. Not because I didn’t understand your argument. It was because some would have no problem calling you out as a traitor for those words. I’ve always told you to watch your words, haven’t I” said King Stratege, hoping his words would bring Crimson to a calmer state of mind.

“I didn’t call you here for just that. I need your assistance. I will be assigning you a very important task here. A task of such importance I can only give to some pony I have complete trust in. My duties have far greater burdens to me in the most recent of times. This new task, if you choose to accept it, will however take precedence over your previous duties” explained King Stratege, making sure he was keeping constant eye contact with Crimson.

What important task takes precedence over the crystal heart research? Was the thought going through Crimson’s mind, as he pictured life threatening adventures over distant lands… perhaps to find a cure for the Queen?!

“Sire, whatever task you deem this important, I accept this task no matter how dangerous or life risking it may be” said Crimson as he bowed his head so far down as to touch the floor with the tip of his horn.

“Very well Crimson, tomorrow you will start as my daughter’s foal-sitter” proclaimed the King as he held his hoof over Crimson’s head, almost as if he was bestowing a sort of knighthood.

It took Crimson a few moments for his brain to process that statement. Once he realized what he had agreed too, his face created an expression, that was somewhere between confusion, shock and fear. He felt too embarrassed by the situation to even face his head.

Foal-sitter? He can’t be serious thought Crimson.

Once he felt that his facial impression did not contain any over expressive panic, he raised his head to the king and said “Excuse me… I may have misheard that. I thought you just said I would be foal sitting your daugh… the princess?” almost forgetting for a moment how he usually addressed royalty.

“That is correct” Stratege said, confirming what Crimson was thinking.

“Forgive me my King but my research for the crystal heart is too important to be taking care of… a princess.” Just by saying those last two words did Crimson realise how stupid that sounded.

Stratege took off his royal crown and placed it on a pillow that sat on a desk by the window. The King did not turn around but he took a very long and slow breath, in and out. After that moment he slowly turned around to Crimson “Crimson, this is not a task I would give to any servant, civilian or follower of the crown” the king said, hoping Crimson to understand.

There was a small pause. A drift of uncomfortable silence between the two held out for a while. “Crimson?” Stratege called out to Crimson, hoping to hear the response he was waiting for.

There was a lot longer pause before crimson responded with “Stratege?” To that response, Stratege smiled. It was something neither of them had heard in such a long time. Even Crimson felt a sort of delight.

“Why chose me?” asked Crimson.

Stratege continued to stare out the window, as he tried his best to explain why he chose Crimson, “My daughter will have a set of guards on her at all times like mine and Sky Handler’s. They are ponies I trust with my life and those of my family, but all would treat her like royalty and never give her a chance to develop outside of her role as a princess”

There was a brief moment of silence as Stratege considered how he was going phrase out his next words. “You knew me when I was still Prince Stratege… I was…” Stratege said, stopping again to remember how used to be.

“Greedy, rude, selfish, uptight and very easy to complain at the most simplest of… sorry” Crimson said as if he had a list of his friend’s original worst qualities wrote down somewhere.

“And that is exactly my point. She needs to somepony to help her grow upright… without Sky here” shouted Stratege as he agreed with everything Crimson had just laid out. Sky’s name was also becoming incredibly harder to say every time he used it.

“You still saved my life” said Crimson, knowing his life would have been much shorter if he had not met Stratege. His life also turned around that day, and he gained a true friend.

“Even that was for selfish reasons” Stratege said back. A hard to say, but he believed it to be true. Stratege took a moment to consider those words, whether or not they were too harsh. In the end he decided to ignore it and continue with his explanation.

“There are ponies I could hire to help raise her right, but few I trust enough to allow so. You have been a very good friend to me, and some pony I have full trust in. You seemed like the obvious choice.” Explained Stratege, making sure he left nothing out.

“If I was considered, then why not Head Strong? He’d make a much more suitable protector for your daughter” said Crimson. He understood why his friend chose him. The problem was not that he wanted to do it. He thought there were ponies much more qualified for such things.

“While Head Strong is another pony I trust to look after her, I fear the citizens and soldiers will be more on edge without the presence of their captain. He also lacks your experience with foals” Stratege explained.

Crimson stopped to remember his life before the Empire. For the most part, he did not like to partake in conversations regarding the connection these memories had to a very unforgettable event. There were a few happy moments, yes, and taking care of his little sisters was one of them.

“You once told me about the siblings you helped raised back in Everfree. When you talked about them, you had so much love for them. I want my daughter to grow up having some pony teaching her this, when I’m not there for her; I want her to grow up learning to love this world, to never fear it. Without the possibility of her mother awakening, and my duties as king, some pony needs to be there to show her all of that” Stratege explained. He then raised his left hoof and put it on Crimson’s shoulder.

“Will you be that pony for me?” asked Stratege.

“Well when you put it like that, how can I refuse? I have a lot of vacation days from my research after all. The other researchers can take over for me until the Sky Handler awakens” Crimson said with confidence.

It was clear Stratege was taken aback from that response.

“She will wake up” Crimson said with a smile. He was certain that Precise would find a way to wake her up. That and because the alternative was too hard to even imagine as truth.

“Did you know we talked about names?” said Stratege.

“What?” responded Crimson, with great curiosity and surprise in his voice with the uplifting nature of the conversation.

“Me and Sky. I would chosen a name from the list of my own, but without Sky, it just doesn’t seem right. Some of her choices would just make you rollover laughing. But, you know, one of them has grown on me” Stratege said with a certain joyful smile replacing all the sorrow that fell over him earlier.

“So you’ve given your daughter a name? I should properly know it if I’m going to be foal-sitting her” said Crimson, all while smiling a big grin. “I’m going to be the first pony knowing the princess’s name, this is so great” Was the very thought going through this head at the time.

“Her name… is Mi Amore Cadenza” said Stratege. The words felt very strange to him still. To name somepony, to define their life and who they could be was something truly… special.

“An interesting name… to say the least” said Crimson, holding back a chuckle. It would be a name he would have to get use to saying after all.

“You can laugh all you want. I know I did” said Stratege, expressing a chuckle, which caused Crimson to follow suit, which turned the whole conversation into a big laughing fit.

“Well… My King, I look forward to my new duties. I shall be looking after Princess Mi Amore Cadenza from tomorrow onward” Crimson said after the two had stopped laughing. He bowed and awaited his King to give some form of order.

Stratege then gave the standard hoof action indicating that Crimson could raise his head, and leave the room at his leisure. Crimson lifted his head up and nodded to Stratege, as he made his way towards the exit. As he readied to pull at the handle with his magic, he turned his head round to see Stratege had turned around towards the window again. He felt like saying something, but what? When Crimson decided he was taking too long, he finally decided to leave. He opened the doors and left towards his room.

As the doors shut to the room, Stratege whispered to himself, “It was a good talk, old friend”.

Stratege took a moment to breath. His eyes fixed towards the bed, he was tired and yet sleep was one of the last things on his mind. He felt the weight of it all when no pony was around. This room has never felt so empty he thought as he looked around the room, seeing the smallest of things that reminded him of Sky. His eyes fixed towards the other door within his room.

He opened the door as silently has he could using his magic, and peeked his head inside. It was quiet, but he could hear the sound of small light breathing. As his eyes fixed to the dimly lit nature of the room, he saw his daughter, pink and bright, who had her small body, wings and all covered by a blanket in her crib. She looked so peaceful. With his magic Stratege reached out to the blanket and fixed the corner that had slid out the bars of the crib, in hope she would be more comfortable. Stratege had very mixed feelings. He loved her, but at the same time he felt the pain and worry of what the future could bring for her, and everypony of the Empire. And with that he closed the door to her room. He pushed his head against the door, taking deep breaths trying to calm himself.

He took a moment to look over the door. It was painted with the most unintelligent scribbles and strange unknown flower patterns. It was covered in random splashes of pink and blue paint, but mostly pink. Many ponies had once asked about the door, and even asked at points to ‘fix’ the mess. All answers to that question were the same. Sky would feel like she had just been punched in the gut and would scream out:

It’s not a mess! Can’t I have a hobby?

He chuckled remembering that. “You always did have a way with words” Stratege sarcastically as he lifted his hoof to slide over the door. Touching the door with his hoof caused memories to come flooding back from a certain time, from a certain moment.

Stratege, how does it look?
What are those supposed to be? Spiders?
It’s a flower you idiot. Precise said it’s going to be a filly. Painting her doors gives me somewhere to start. I can’t just sit about
Now we don’t know that. She said the test had a one in six thousand chance of failing. What if it’s a colt?
Oh ponies will speak far and wide of the cruel king who grew up with pink flowers patterns on his door, oh the horror
Fine, but if I was to paint on HIS name… Proud Standing… what do you say to that?
I’d paint over it and write HER name… Amatista
Lightning Quartz
Diamond Plume
Shining jewel
Swan Song
Raining Shield
Sugar Heart
Stratege Jr
Mi Amore Cadenza…
Hahahahahahaha
Hahahahahahahahaha
This foal is doomed to have the worst name in history
Long live the rule of Queen and King Funny Name
Mi Amore Cadenza?
It’s a name meaning to love her, you idiot.
Did I mention how much I love you?
It couldn’t hurt to hear it a bit more

The King stepped back into reality, as a painful feeling washed over him, and he felt the slow flow of tears dripping down his face and onto the floor. Emotions of pain and sadness had reached him before in these days, but never were they as painful and clear cut before. He leaned his back against the side left wall, as he slowly slid down until he was sitting on the floor up against it. He covered his face and closed his eyes as tightly as he could. He wanted nothing more than to all of this pain to just leave. To rip out all feelings, may no pony not even his daughter see or hear him. No matter how hard he tried, a name still escaped his lips.

“Sky”