The Winding Northward Road

by Rambling Writer

Day 37

Decided I’d leave the Crystal Empire tomorrow, so I took today to explore it a bit. Very pretty, very sparkly. Lots of angles everywhere: buildings, roads, signs, that sort of thing. Not a lot of curves. Keeping with the crystal theme, I guess; crystals don’t usually have curves unless you cut them like that. Not too threatening, though; you’d think all those angles would feel pointy and stabby, but for whatever reason, they don’t.

Found my way over to the train station and a tourist center. Figured if anypony knew what was up with the snow (or lack thereof), they’d probably work there. Asked about it at the front desk, got directed to a guide named Bravais (it sounds like brah-vai, and I only know the spelling from his nametag). He knew quite a lot about weather and said it was something to do with the Crystal Heart (a magical power source that protects the Empire or something, he wasn’t very clear). Said the energies from it are the source of the warmth in the Empire and what keep the land fertile for farming. I pointed out the warmth stopped right at the border of the Empire and asked whether the Empire stopped there because that was where it got cold again or if it got cold again there because that was where the Empire stopped. Bravais said he wasn’t precisely sure, but assumed it was the latter; if the Empire expanded, it would stay warmer further out.

While talking about the weather, I brought up the lack of pegasi (remembered to look up today, didn’t see any working the weather). Bravais said weather still changed here because of the way weather worked on a large scale; apparently, weather pegasi in individual towns and cities are responsible for shaping the weather sent out in larger, vaguer masses by “weather distributers distributors”. Cloudsdale’s the main distributor, but there are several others around Equestria. This far north, they just react with each other in the right ways to make the weather in this part of the world. Thought that was a bit strange, but Bravais just shrugged and said it worked.

Before I left, I asked Bravais why he knew so much about the weather. He said he liked knowing how weather worked. Kind of anticlimactic.

Saw the Crystal Palace next. Looks nice, standing up in the center of the city like it does, but it also seems a bit impractical. What’s with having the central plaza UNDERNEATH the Palace? Just getting into the Palace means you have climb up a lot of stairs. And it only has four legs holding it up; if one of them breaks, the whole thing could come crashing down into the city. The most open part of the streets isn’t visible from the balcony if whoever’s ruling wants to make announcement or something. Probably made by somepony who cared more for spectacle than sense. Still, there’s definitely a lot of spectacle. Saw what was probably the Crystal Heart right in the center of the plaza; it was a crystal, and it was heart-shaped, and it was magical and glowy and stuff. Couldn’t tell what it was doing, though.

Kind of hoped to see Princess Cadance, but didn’t get the chance. For some reason, I’m wondering if her marriage to Shining Armor was for political reasons, but I’m also wondering what those reasons could BE. He was the Captain of the Guard, so that’s high up in Canterlot, but living here with a princess is a borderline step down, considering he doesn’t have the power he used to. He’s Princess Twilight’s brother, but he and Cadance were married before Twilight became a princess, but Twilight was still a personal student of Celestia before she became a princess, so maybe her ascencion ascension or crowning or whatever was planned by Celestia well before the wedding, but then how would that fit into guiding Shining into marrying Cadance, and oh no I’ve gone cross-eyed.

No more speculation on stuff. Not here, not later, not ever. Speculation never does me any good. It just gets me confused.

The rest of the Empire that I saw looked nice, but wasn’t the most memorable. Splurged a few bits to see a jousting tournament, which was interesting. Kind of wonder what the point is, but you could say the same of all sports, and I’m not sorry I went.

Not much else to say here. Still staying with Skydale’s friend (I need to get her name), leaving early tomorrow. Didn’t like the snow; thinking about taking the train until everything stops being so cold.

A place of wonder,

This city in the nort far north;

A shining g

A glistening gem. (No, too obvious.)

Nothing li

Not a thing like it.

Just realized: could’ve said “empire” in the second line, not needed to add an extra syllable. But the Crystal Empire doesn’t seem all that imperial to me; you’d think it’d be bigger.