Chapter 12
From the journal of Gloomy August—
In the Crystal Empire, I saw a lot of things that changed me forever. Ponies suffer a great deal, and so do others that share our world. Princess Cadance helps them all and all are welcome. During my time there, and I spent a long time there waiting for my egg to hatch, I saw all sorts of creatures come to Cadance for help. Diamond dogs, griffons, minotaurs, chimerae of different sorts, crossbreeds that couldn’t find anypony that might love them. There was even a changeling!
Princess Cadance turned nopony away. Nopony? Well, you know what I mean. All were welcome. Each princess has their own way of running things, I suppose, and of all the different princesses that I barely know, Princess Cadance impressed me the most. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know very much about how the other princesses run things, all I do know is that Princess Twilight has turned Ponyville into a place of tribal openness, I guess, I don’t know what else to call it, and Princess Cadance has turned the Crystal Empire into Equestria’s hospital.
Is that the right word?
In my time there, I saw a lot of sick ponies and other creatures, and not just physical illnesses. Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor deal with sick minds and broken hearts, and the Crystal Empire has become a place of healing. I was sick too, at the time, and my mind got pretty messed up. I had some pretty bad nightmares for a time after what I saw.
I still have trouble talking about it to this very day, and it is hard for me when Silver Lining asks me questions. I try to be brave, I try to be plucky, I try to be the fearless pegasus pony that she believes me to be, but every time I think about it, my guts clench and I feel sweaty in my wingpits.
Sometimes, a pony sees things and it changes them forever. I know, this happened to me.
“What will be done with the little pegasus?” Gloomy asked as she watched Cadance open up a bottle of Twilight~Cola. With the cap off, the scent of lavender and cucumber filled the air, which made Gloomy want to sneeze.
“Oh, I plan to put him to work,” Cadance replied before she took a drink. Tilting the bottle back, she emptied half of it in just a few large gulps.
“What?” Distressed, Gloomy couldn’t keep her worry or concern out of her voice.
Cadance grimaced as she swallowed a few times, squinting one eye while the other opened wide. At the moment, she didn’t look very princessly at all, and it was obvious that she didn’t care. “He’s a dutiful little pegasus colt and he is going to go out of his mind if he doesn’t have something to do, so I am going to hold him to his word and put him to work. I’m not sure what yet, but something that will make him feel important and fulfilled so he can feel like he is keeping his promise to me. If I don’t do this, he’s going to have some serious problems. I’ve seen his type before, plenty of times in fact, and if I don’t keep him busy, he’s going to have a breakdown.” Drawing in a deep breath, Cadance punctuated her words with a loud, gurgling belch that made her lips quiver and flap. “‘Scuse me.”
“That was a good one,” Gloomy responded, not giving it much thought, but being a polite pegasus pony nonetheless. One always praised the summoning of the wind, or the breakage of it, it was the way of the pegasus ponies since time immemorial.
“I know, right?” And without further ado, Cadance emptied the rest of the bottle of Twilight~Cola. She grimaced again, her nostrils flaring, and stomped her hoof against the floor. “I swear, this stuff is the only thing that helps my stomach sort itself out. I get terrible tummy troubles from stress and something about this particular soda helps. Shining seems to think it is the combination of the cooling cucumber and the hint of ginger. He says his mother says that ginger is good for a pony’s stomach.”
“I wouldn’t know.” After a moment, Gloomy added, “So, putting that little colt to work really is the best thing for him?”
Belching again, which came out as a long, gurgling hiss, Cadance nodded. She walked and Gloomy followed along beside her. Turning to look at the smaller pegasus mare beside her, Cadance said, “I understand your concern, but after helping ponies for a while, I figured out by accident that you have to deal with special sorts in special ways. If I was to put him into a room with his little sister and pamper him, he’d go bonkers. I’ve had it happen in the past and I ended up doing more harm than good.” Cadance paused for a moment, eyed her empty soda bottle, sighed, then continued, “It’s been painful, but I’ve learned from my mistakes, and there have been many.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Gloomy replied. “So, you wanted to see me?”
“Yes.” Cadance made the empty bottle she was holding vanish with a flash of her horn and she nodded at a nearby guard who opened up a door ahead of them. “I wanted to check up on you and discuss a few things with you.”
“And those are?” Gloomy asked.
“First and foremost, I’ve spoken with one of the griffon ambassadors in Canterlot. She’ll be coming here soon by train. We’ve agreed to make you an official goodwill ambassador to Griffonstone and we’d like to milk a little bit of publicity from this if we can, with your permission of course.” Eyebrow arching, Cadance turned and gave Gloomy a questioning look.
“That’d be fine.” As she walked, Gloomy angled her head and looked down at the egg secured in the sling hung round her neck. “I suppose you want other ponies to adopt griffon eggs in need?”
“Yes.” The word almost came out as a sigh as Cadance exhaled. “Griffonstone is on the verge of total societal collapse and there is so much need for compassion. It pains me that we’ve done so little to help our neighbors.”
“We’ve been at war with them in the past—”
“That doesn’t matter,” Cadance said, a hard edge appearing in her voice. “We’re not at war with them now and they need to know that we have forgiven them and that they are our friends.” The large pink alicorn bristled a bit and the fine, silken hairs along her spine stood up. “This is why I’d like to have you as a goodwill ambassador and maybe parade you around a little bit, I want others to see what is possible when we put our differences aside.”
“I guess this is important to you, with you being the Princess of Love.” Gloomy’s muzzle scrunched up with many fine wrinkles as she thought about Cadance’s peace efforts and how difficult they must be for Cadance to be so emotional about this. Gloomy, who had learned the hard lesson of the difference of what just one pegasus can make, decided right then and there to throw in her lot with Princess Cadance. “Anything I can do to help, I will. Just let me know.”
“Good, I am relieved to hear you say that.” Cadance smiled, relaxed a bit, and her hackles began the slow process of smoothing themselves out. “Here we go, the sauna. Come with me, Gloomy, and let us continue our discussion in a place far more comfortable...”
Feeling refreshed and relaxed, Gloomy returned to her room to find a pile of nesting pillows, special pillows made just for pegasus ponies and griffons, creatures who made nests. Nesting pillows were long, noodly things, cylindrical, and there were buttons and loops on the ends to form rings. These rings could be stacked in a bed, forming a soft, comfortable nest.
Standing just inside her door, she thought of everything that Cadance had said, as well as the fact that she had a hard time seeing Cadance as a princess. In the sauna, Cadance was just another pony who had the same pony problems as anypony else. Not much was expected from Gloomy, other than what she was already doing, and what Cadance had asked her to do wasn’t arduous at all.
With careful, tender movements, Gloomy pulled the sling from her neck with her wings and placed it down upon the bed. It was warm from her body, so very warm, and after seeing that it was fine, Gloomy rubbed her velvety cheek up against it. She eased herself into her bed, and with the egg still in the sling, she wrapped her forelegs around it so that she might hold it close to her. The pegasus pony mare yawned a powerful uvula-waggling yawn that turned into a sleepy whine, held her egg a little closer, and then, closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep in no time, a contented smile of blissful, maternal peace upon her face.
A soft, insistent knocking pulled her from her slumber and Gloomy somehow found the strength to lift her head so that she might open her eyes. Much to her half-awake surprise, she was still sore from her trip, even after time spent in the sauna. Her eyelids fluttered like a pegasus foal’s tiny, stubby wings during their first attempt at flight.
“Yes?” After speaking just one word, she discovered that her mouth was far dryer than she liked and her throat felt sandy.
The door opened and a familiar figure came in, followed by a second smaller figure. Gloomy’s fuzzy vision took several long seconds before it focused, and she saw that it was the pegasus colt from earlier. He was little, he was cute, and he was wearing decorative guard armor, which made Gloomy wonder where such a small suit of armor came from. He looked so very stern and serious, and even though she wasn’t awake, Gloomy thought of Cadance’s words from earlier.
“Miss August, it is almost time for dinner,” Shining Armor said to Gloomy in a calm, smooth voice that sounded a bit exaggerated from his usual means of speaking. “Now, Mistral, how does one address guests?”
The little colt peered up at Shining from beneath his helmet with glimmering, adoring eyes. “Ma’am?”
“That works.” The praise in his words came from the warm intonation that Shining gave them. “Now, can you tell her that dinner is almost ready?”
The little colt swallowed, did his best to stand at attention, tried to salute with one stubby wing as he clicked his front hooves and his back hooves against one another. “Ma’am, dinner's almost ready. Ya hungry? I know I am. I’m dyin’ down here.”
Unable to help herself, Gloomy began to giggle, and when she looked at Shining Armor, she saw nothing resembling amusement or mirth upon his face, but there was something about his eyes. He was laughing, no doubt, but his training as a soldier allowed him to hide it. The egg was warm against her neck and her body had created an island of heat that had permeated her mattress.
It would be difficult to leave the bed, no doubt.
“After dinner, there will be a movie in the theatre,” Shining Armor said to Gloomy as she checked her egg over. “And if movies aren’t your thing, a new audio drama will be started tonight. The record is brand new and isn’t scratchy yet.”
“I like phonograph serials.” The little colt looked up at Shining, as if seeking approval. “It’s like somepony reading a book to you, but with sound-effects.” The colt looked troubled for a moment as a dark cloud passed over his face. “My parents would buy the new issue of The Silver Seeker the moment it came out.”
“Forty eight minutes of pure bliss, eh?” Shining Armor tilted his head down and looked Mistral right in the eye. “Can you sit still that long?”
“Sometimes,” was the colt’s honest reply.
“Cadance and I listen to those as well.” Shining Armor somehow managed to look sad and smile at the same time while he sighed. “I bet you’ve missed a few episodes, haven't you?”
The colt’s eyes filled with tears and he held them back with a sniffle. “Just a few.”
“You’ve done very well today, Mistral. Once your duties are done, you may sit down with your sister and listen together. We’ll figure out where you left off.”
Inside of her barrel, something went all squishy and Gloomy found it hard to breathe. “I’ve listened to a few episodes of The Silver Seeker…” Head bobbing up and down, Gloomy continued, “Rainbow Dash listens to those with her tortoise, Tank. Just an honest, hardworking earth pony—”
“ —and his faithful locomotive,” Gloomy, Shining Armor, and Mistral all said together as one.
“Heh.” Gloomy laughed a bit, then added, “He’s always facing some crisis on the line, the mail is going to be late, or some very important pony needs to be somewhere at a certain time, there’s always some challenge to face.”
“And he always stresses the importance of a job done right and on time.” Shining Armor looked down at the colt standing near his hind leg and saw that the tears had been held back. “Me, I like all of the train noises.”
The colt nodded, causing his armor to clank.
“Cadance is going to give me the business if I’m late for dinner. Come, Mistral, we have other guests to rouse. We must be going. Gloomy, I hope to see you at dinner. If not, food will be brought to you.”
“I’ll be there,” Gloomy promised.
“Good, I’ll see you there,” Shining Armor nodded, turned around, and departed with Mistral following on his heels.
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Wonderful concept for the Crystal Empire, very in tune with Competent! Cadance.
One thing though...
She looks that the sling is fine? Don't you mean the egg?
7885887
Whoops.
Why do I get the feeling that Mistral is going to be showing up in other stories now...
7885996
I hadn't planned on it.
You know I am very happy to see this story continuing, and I am curious to see how this will go with Gloomy being a Goodwill Ambassador! <3
7885887
7885899
To be fair, it's a really nice sling.
http://www.mistral.com.sg/about_us.html
History on a 'Masterly' French wind and a Fan company here.
Mistral is a very neat name.
And yup. If Magera's story told us anything, this confirmed it. The Crystal Empire is where the broken come to heal.
7890896
Gloomy found herself here too.
moar!
Because you don't become a good Princess without developing a few methods of your own design.
8036395 Ah, ok. Will he have a story, or will it be told through the other Weed stories?
8036418
He is a background character.
But he will show up in Dogged Determination.
this is a very good story and the 4th one I have read in the weedverse (I skiped quite a few to read when the consequences come home) I am sad it dosent update frequently but you cant have everything
8137066
Ponies do not have fur. They lack the follicle density. They have hair.
8137077
Well... hair, pelt or something ^^ just to avoid the repetition ^^;;;
Yeah hide is good ^^
8137400 Eh used Google and the result were not really enlightening...
This guy doesn't seem relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzy_in_Gondoland
And I don't have an (English) Dictionary at hand as I'm currently offshore.
8137645
**Types in: define muzzy**
Hmm, just what I thought! Results! Many!
8137690 Hmm if you search straight for muzzy you get totally other things...
I learned something today.
...
Those pillows sound awesome. I kinda want one now