Dawn of Crystal Empire

by TopWanted

Applejack/Lullaby - Chapter 7

Applejack closed the kitchen cupboard with a satisfying slam as she finished rearranging the pots within.

“Honestly,” she said to the kitchen staff arranged behind her. “I don’t know how you were able to find anything before. You had your pots and pans all willy nilly. Not to mention the state of your pantry.”

“Uh, yes,” the head chef spoke up. “But if you don’t mind, Miss Applejack, we need to prepare for dinner.”

“Dinner?” Applejack smacked her face with her hoof. “Gah, I completely forgot! Here I’ve been working my flank off trying to rearrange the kitchen when I needed to be searching.”

“Yes, well,” the head chef gave her a forced smile. “We’re grateful for your contributions but if you could just-“

Suddenly he was cut off by a loud shriek that seemed to rock the castle to its foundations. Applejack and the staff had to cover their ears as she darted her head around trying to find the source of the incessant wail. She ran from the kitchen at top speed.

Out in the grand hall she noticed a sound far down it that quickly got closer. The windows began to shatter inward one by one until they reached where she was standing. Applejack held her Stetson steady above her head as she felt the powdered glass and shards rain down on her.

She looked out the window across the courtyard and noticed the windows to the throne room had been shattered as well. Two of her friends, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, held the sides of their head in agony. Fluttershy seemed to be moving towards something just out of sight behind the parapets.

Applejack didn’t waste a second and rushed across the grand hall until she reached the doors to the throne room. Just as she was about to buck the door down the shrieking stopped. Applejack lowered her hind legs and listened carefully. She could hear her two friends inside talking about something. Fluttershy was now giggling. Applejack furrowed her brow and opened the doors normally.

“What the hay was all that?” she asked as she entered the room.

Fluttershy immediately turned her body to face AJ and pulled in Rainbow Dash as well so they were shoulder to shoulder. “Nothing,” she said.

“Uh, yeah,” Rainbow added nervously. “Nothing.”

“You mean to tell me that the entire castle gets rocked to the foundation and you two think it’s nothing?”

“Uh, no,” Fluttershy replied. “I’m sure it was some kind of tremor.”

“A tremor?” Applejack raised an untrusting eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Rainbow waved a hoof in the air. “It was probably the castle that made that sound from the vibrations and stuff.”

Applejack wanted to refute this but she had to admit that she didn’t know enough about mineralogy to know the effect an earthquake has on a giant ten story castle made of crystal. She gave Rainbow a look that said “you win this round.”

“Just what in Celestia’s name is going on?” a shrill voice asked from behind.

Everyone turned to the open doorway again and saw Rarity enter with Pinkie Pie.

“That’s what we were trying to figure out,” AJ narrowed her gaze on the two pegasi still standing shoulder to shoulder. “Maybe you two wanna tell us something?”

“Did you find anything?” Pinkie asked enthusiastically as she bound over to her friends.

“Um, no,” Fluttershy replied.

“Really,” Applejack narrowed her eyes further, “Then you wouldn’t mind stepping to the side so we can assess the damage?”

Rainbow ‘s brow begun to sweat. “Of course not!”

The two pegasi gave each other quick looks and briefly glanced behind them. Then they split apart revealing nothing but broken glass behind.

Applejack walked over to it and gave her friends a pensive glare. “Alright,” she proclaimed. “Doesn’t seem like anyone’s hurt so that’s a plus.”

-

Elsewhere in a hospital bed in the castle infirmary, a pony lay contorted around the sheets twisting his legs and fore hoofs in outrageous positions to avoid being cut by the hundreds of large glass shards that had now pierced his bed like knives directly pointed at the ceiling. He let out a small sigh as he lay motionless and waited for his doctor to arrive to help.

-

“So did you find anything?” asked Applejack to Rainbow and Fluttershy.

“Um, no,” both mares said at the same time.

“What about you?” Applejack turned to Rarity.

“Oh, um, no,” Rarity replied and then pursed her lips.

“Did you find anything, Applejack?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh, uh,” Applejack recalled how she had spent the entire afternoon rearranging the kitchen. “No,” she said dejectedly.

All five looked at their hooves in silence for an awkward moment. Then Applejack spoke up again.

“Let’s call it a day, alright?”

“Sounds good to me,” Rainbow replied as they began to file out of the throne room.

Fluttershy cut a quick glance back and saw Applejack notice her. She quickly returned to walking out the door. Only Applejack stayed behind. She took one last look at the throne room.

“There’s something they’re not telling me,” she whispered softly as she turned back and followed her friends.

As the door closed a familiar blue glow appeared from the floor and a blue flame popped its ethereal head out.

----------

Snow drifted silently outside as Honey and Lullaby sipped from their steaming mugs. This wasn’t the first time Lullaby had been invited to Honey’s house but she still couldn’t believe the inside. Honey was praised among the citizens of Crystal Falls and the surrounding settlements as a master engineer and architect. Of course her own house would be beautifully built.

It was small, as most settlement houses were, but Honey had managed to separate it into a two levelled home using a scaffolding and logs made into ramps. The first floor had a table with two chairs set in the corner by the stove and ice box. In another corner was a small desk where Honey did most of her work. Blueprints and equations were scattered over it as well as a few compasses and tools Lullaby had never seen before. In the center of the room stood two large logs with thick planks connecting them. This ramp went diagonally up to a second floor made from hardwood rafters where Honey’s bed and Crisp’s crib was. In the corner of the first floor, Bedim and Crisp played on a blanket with a few blocks and sticks with notches in them.

“So,” Lullaby began as the two mares watched their foals play, “explain to me the purpose of the weird sticks again.”

“They’re a bit of an invention of mine,” Honey replied warmly. “They’re made so they’re easy to stack and connect. I want to encourage Crisp’s creativity as much as I can.”

Crisp seemed to have picked up the concept of the sticks quite fast since he was now starting on a second tier of a square foundation he had constructed. Bedim watched curiously as he played with a toy train.

“You want him to follow in your footsteps?” Lullaby asked.

“No, nothing like that,” Honey sipped from her tea. “I’d be happy no matter what calling he finds.”

“But there’s no harm stirring the pot?” Lullaby gave her friend a knowing grin.

Honey simply smiled and rolled her eyes.

Lullaby looked deep into her cup, a contemplative look crossing her face. “I really want to thank you for everything you’ve done.”

“There’s no need for that, sweetie.”

“Yes, there is,” Lullaby looked her friend in the eyes. “Where I come from, if someone helps you then you owe them a debt. As far as I know I owe you like, a hundred debts!”

Honey smiled again and placed a reassuring hoof on her friend’s. “Lullaby. Friendship isn’t about being even. It’s not even really about doing good things for each other. It’s about being there for somepony.”

Lullaby smiled, a slight melancholy still on her face. “I just wish I had something I could help you with.”

“Well,” Honey smiled as she rose from her seat and crossed the room to her desk. “There is something coming up that I could use your help on.”

Honey pulled open a drawer and retrieved a rolled up banner. She returned to her friend and held out the open end. “Would you?”

Lullaby grabbed the end of the banner as Honey pulled the other end back, revealing the message: “Honey Crisp for Mayor.”

“No way!” Lullaby exclaimed. “When did this happen?”

Honey’s smile grew wider. “The town council approached me a few weeks back about it. Though elections won’t be until summer next year.”

“There’s going to be elections?” Lullaby asked.

“Of course,” Honey began to roll up the banner once more. “Though the central Equestrian citystates might be controlled by the triumvirate, they’ve given their permission for us to participate in free elections here in the north.”

“That’s amazing!” Lullaby cried excitedly. “I’ve never seen an election!”

“I’ll admit it is more of an earth pony custom than any other. But it’s a real boost for any town’s morale.”

“I just know you’re going to win,” Lullaby assured her.

“Thanks, but I know I’d have an even better chance if I had several public endorsements. Yours is just one of them.” Honey returned the banner to its drawer and walked back.

“Public endorsements?” Lullaby furrowed her brow in confusion. “But I’m nopony important.”

“Are you kidding?” Honey sat down at the table once more. “You’re a hero. The ‘mare who stopped the griffin raids’ is almost a legend now among all the settlements.”

Lullaby blushed. “Wow, I had no idea I was so famous. I thought it was just the Wonderbolts who liked me.”

“You’re more important than you realize,” Honey guaranteed her.

A little yawn caught the two mares’ attention. They turned to the two foals as they began to rock back and forth, their eyelids slowly falling and rising in sleepy rhythm.

“Looks like someone needs to go to bed for the night,” Lullaby smiled. “I should probably get him home.”

“Nonsense,” Honey said. “It’s freezing out there. You two should just stay here for the night.”

“Are you sure,” Lullaby shot a concerned glance at the frosted window. “I mean, I need to get up pretty early still. I wouldn’t want to wake you.”

“Beddy is going to stay here for the day anyway. Might as well cut out the middle man.”

Lullaby smiled warmly at her friend.

“I’ll get the cot,” Honey said as she rose from her chair.

Lullaby walked over to Bedim and picked him up, cradling him in her hooves. She waited by the window as Honey scrounged through her things upstairs. There was a brief tap on the window pane behind her. Lullaby turned around to see a shadow duck out of the window’s sight. She raised an eyebrow in confusion and curiosity.

“I’m just gonna go grab something from the house real quick,” She called to her friend upstairs.

“Okay, be safe!” Honey called back as she continued to pillage through her things.

Lullaby set the now sleeping Bedim back on the blanket and gently stroked his mane. She gave him a smile and walked out the door.

The first thing that struck her was the cold. She really should have brought a scarf. Maybe it wasn’t too late to-

A rustle came from a nearby bush. Lullaby hesitantly moved toward the plant and noticed something sticking out of it. A rope? A cord? She tentatively stepped on it.

“You know that really hurts,” the bush spoke.

Lullaby reeled back lifting her hoof from the cord and watching as it raised itself off the ground and whipped back and forth. Then an array of yellow and red colored feathers appeared from behind the bush accompanied by the spotted flank of a lion.

“No greetings?” The griffin known as Dachuur asked. “I mean it’s been well over a month since we last spoke.”

“I don’t think we’ve ever spoke,” Lullaby said dryly. Her eyes displaying no reaction. “In fact, since when can you talk?”

“I don’t recall anyone ever saying I couldn’t,” Dachuur replied.

His voice was deep but not without a slight rasp that belied a youthful age. He was probably only slightly older than her.

“What did you come here for?” Lullaby demanded, returning to the matter at hand.

“Who says I came for anything?” Dachuur asked back.

“Then why would you be here?”

“Maybe I enjoy the scenery.”

“You can barely see two hooves in front of your face in this.”

“Maybe you cant.” He cut another devilish grin at Lullaby.

“Wait,” something occurred to her. “How did you know where to find me?” she asked.

Dachuur simply shrugged and looked at the sky.

Lullaby’s expression suddenly changed to anger. “You’ve been following me?”

“Don’t act so presumptuous,” Dachuur replied with a wave of his talon. “I follow lots of ponies.”

Lullaby let her anger simmer down. He wasn’t attacking so this wasn’t vengeance and besides, the griffins had agreed to a non-aggression treaty. At least until the date of the race.

“I’ll ask again and then I’m calling for the guard,” she said solemnly. “What do you want?”

“Is it so wrong to just talk with an acquaintance?” Dachuur shook his head back and forth slowly. “Why do you assume everything needs to have some sinister reason?”

“Why did you attack and hurt ponies?” she retorted.

Dachuur’s grin now faded. “I never harmed a soul.”

“Sure but you still broke family’s apart.”

“Those ponies were returned unharmed,” his voice now rose a level higher than before. “If you took a moment to actually meet one of them then you’d know they were treated extremely well.”

“Ah ha! So you have been following me!”

“Of course! I thought that had already been established!”

“Oh,” Lullaby recounted the past few lines of dialogue. “Right.”

There was an awkward pause as the two simply stared at each other. Lullaby felt the question bubble up inside her and pop the silence. “So why did you do all that?”

Dachuur’s grin did not return but was replaced with a melancholy smile. “Ask any griffin like Sariel or Soracen and you’ll get the answer ‘because of tradition.’ We’re descended from beasts of prey so it’s obviously in our nature to prey upon the weak. Me, I was always just looking for an opponent to match my skills. I was never interested in the sport of it all.

“We, griffins, are a proud race. Prouder than most others. We might attack and push our dominance on others but it’s all to prove a point of superiority. We know the harsh lesson of unjust extermination all too well to go back to those barbaric ways. That’s why when we give our words we mean it. You have nothing to fear from us.”

Lullaby continued to stare into Dachuur’s blue eyes, trying to find some hint of ill intent. She found none. “So it’s all just a game to you?” she asked dryly.

“Was,” Dachuur replied, the grin returning to his face. “But not now that I’ve found an appropriate challenge.”

“Just what makes you think I’m going to race you?” Lullaby asked, her own face revealing a grin.

“You’ll have to eventually, but I think you’ll come around before the race.” With that last note the griffin shot her a wink and flew into the snowy night air, out of sight.

Lullaby stood for a few moments in the cold feeling her body heat up. It was anticipation, she was sure of it. That’s what it was.