1 - Familiar
A hole in reality itself appeared just off the island’s shore and grew in size from there.
What looked like a blob of pure black hung just above the cove. It grew at a snail’s pace but never shrank in turn.
Several dark-coated ponies, who stood on that shore, backed away from the display while crying out in surprise. A flock of seagulls, which had been circling above the cove, moved en masse away from it. Fish, swimming in the water below, frantically scattered in every direction. The air immediately around the blob rushed toward it, scooping up loose water droplets along the way before disappearing into the black. The hole ate the rushing air like a vacuum, and the air roared in response.
The waves, still crashing and dying against the shore, turned erratic as a few vortices formed and churned below it. Trees, pulled and tugged by winds, swayed toward it.
A smaller hole appeared a few meters away from the first. A third hole, smaller than the first two, appeared just above them. The three holes expanded and eventually merged. Several smaller holes appeared around that, joined together, and grew on their own. And the process continued with no signs of slowing down.
* * *
The fireplace crackled as several logs split down their middles. Hints of orange and red light flickered off cool, crystalline walls. The darkness outside soaked up everything else, responding only with a steady stream of snowflakes against the row of grand windows and the occasional gust which rattled the glass.
Twilight Sparkle, of lavender coat and a mane and tail of blue with a pair purple and raspberry stripes, with several stars serving as the cutie mark on her flank, ruffled her wings and settled deeper into the cushion. A steaming mug of hot cocoa sat on a coaster by her side. Her moderately violet eyes followed several embers within the fireplace as they glided toward and ultimately perished on the pile of ash at the base.
She lit her horn, and her magic moved some logs within the fireplace into a new arrangement that she knew would maximize the fire. The flames, happy with the feed, grew in size.
She sighed, smiled, and took a sip of her cocoa. She licked the remains of the velvety beverage from her lips and hummed at the warmth that it gave her.
The door creaked open, and a mare with a pink coat and a triplet of violet, rose, and pale gold streaks for a mane and tail shimmed through. Princess Cadance pushed the door shut, making sure that it clicked into place, and then trotted over. “I just put Flurry to bed—finally,” she said with a sigh before flopping onto her own cushion.
Twilight giggled and replied, “I’m glad to hear that. Is Shining Armor heading out?”
“Yes.” Cadance turned her attention toward the window. “I hope those training exercises with the guard go well. It’s freezing out there.”
Twilight looked as well and noted the heavy number of snowflakes falling past the glass. “At least that’s pegasi-made weather and not, you know, ‘Crystal Heart got smashed’ weather.”
Cadance chuckled. “I know. I’m still getting used to it.”
“It’ll make for great training for sure. I bet Shining works them pretty well.”
“Yeah, when he’s not busy showing his daughter off,” Cadance said. When that prompted Twilight to raise an eyebrow, Cadance leaned forward and said, with a goofy grin on her face, “I’m not even kidding, either. He summoned all the guards together one time just to show them a picture.”
Twilight snorted and burst into laughter. “Hah, I would have liked to see that.”
“They were so mad.”
“That sounds so like him!” Twilight took a deep breath in order to compose himself. “Oh, but I love him anyway.”
Cadance nestled herself further into her own cushion and sighed deeply. She looked back over, her eyes fell on Twilight’s drink, and she pointed. “How is it?”
Twilight gave a toothy smile and lifted the mug toward her muzzle. “It’s delicious. Perfect for a cold winter’s night, if I do say so myself.”
“I know. I had a lot of reasons for marrying your brother. His hot cocoa was one of them,” Cadance said with a sly smile.
Twilight leaned over with a jesting smirk. “Well then, I’m glad his cocoa”—she raised her mug—“won you over.”
“For sure, that was my top reason for marrying him.”
The two laughed and then fell silent once more. The windows shuddered from the winds while the fireplace, still feeding on freshly organized wood, sizzled quietly.
“But really, it’s still so nice to be able to call you family,” Twilight said. “I mean, I’ve probably said this before, but I always thought of you as close as family.”
Cadance nodded. “I agree. The wedding was just the cherry on top.”
“Well, family or not, I’m always glad to see you. I know you and Shining are usually pretty busy running the Crystal Empire and all.”
“Definitely.” A warm smile spread across Cadance’s face. “So, thanks for coming up here. I really appreciate it, Twilight.”
“Not at all. You have to make time for the ponies in your life, after all,” Twilight replied. “That’s one thing I’ve definitely learned over the years.”
“Of course. They make life worth living, right?” Cadance asked.
Twilight nodded and took a sip of her cocoa. She found the taste convincing enough to take another. Her thoughts ran to years prior when her nose had been perpetually pressed into a book and when her social circle had been limited to her mentor, her family members, and the pony sitting next to her.
Now, faces of her five best friends sprang to mind, along with faces of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, her former classmates from Celestia’s school, the town of Ponyville, her friends from Canterlot High, and her own student. All were individuals, Twilight knew, that she wouldn’t trade for anything in any world.
“Yes. They do,” she finally replied. “I just hope that Flurry Heart will have those in her life; ponies that she can count on.”
Cadance nodded, offering a smile. “Me too. But I guess that’s the sort of thing you would worry about. Princess of Friendship, and all.”
Twilight nodded. “True. But I do think about her. She’s still a foal, but… even with that thing with Chrysalis...”
The wind rattled the windows, but it made Twilight flinch this time. Chrysalis had once gotten to Flurry—and the two of them and everypony else; Twilight’s friends and the other royals, for that matter—from within the safety of her own home. She felt like she could suddenly make out every little creak and groan and whistle too.
Cadance’s smile disappeared, and she nodded solemnly. “And who knows what else the future will bring?”
“That’s right, and so I worry.” Twilight stared at the flames. She eventually sighed and folded her hooves together. “I want a good life for her. I want her to have a life full of friends, and family… Some life where she never has to worry about facing the absolute worst. Some life where she has a good home, and is… I don’t know. Someplace where she’s happy.”
“She will be a princess, after all.” Cadance paused to stroke her chin. “Well… she is a princess now, but she’ll be a princess when she gets older. So she’ll have to deal with some pretty weighty stuff, and she’ll have to make some tough decisions.”
The wood shifted and broke apart within the fireplace.
“Yes, I guess there really isn’t any getting around that.” Twilight shrugged. “She’s been born into that much.”
“But I agree,” Cadance said, her somber tone matching the dulling of her face. She too turned to gaze into the fire. “I want what’s best for her. It’s… all a mother could want for their foal, I think. I know that Shining and I can do a good job of providing for her and hopefully teaching her the things that she needs to know.”
“I’m sure that the both of you will be excellent parents,” Twilight said as she draped a hoof across Cadance’s withers and pulled her close. “Anypony can see that.”
Cadance smiled but did not look up.
“If you raise Flurry Heart the way you foalsat me,” Twilight continued, “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“Thanks, Twilight,” Cadance said with some warmth returning to her voice. “That means a lot.”
“No problem!”
“And,” Cadance continued, reaching up to clasp Twilight’s hoof, “I’m sure that she’ll need a few lessons on friendship at some point. I can’t think of anypony else that I’d rather have show her the way.”
Twilight blushed. “Thanks, Cadance. I’d be happy to help.”
The two mares sat in silence and watched the flames together. Cadance remained mesmerized by the reds and oranges. Twilight took another sip from her mug, set it down on the saucer and moved it over, and tilted herself so that she rested against Cadance. Cadance, in turn, rested her head on top of Twilight’s. Smiles spread across each of their muzzles as they lay together.
Suddenly, the two heard what sounded like a muffled bang. Both mares jumped to their hooves and whirled around in search of the source. The castle grew silent once more. The fireplace crackled on, undisturbed.
Their eyes remained on the wall where the late sound had come from.
And then they met each other’s eyes, and Cadance said it: “That came from Flurry Heart’s room.”
Twilight gasped.
The two bolted toward the door. Cadance all but threw it off its hinges with her magic.
A hallway of crystalline floors, walls, and pillars greeted them as the two made haste down one end of the hallway. The rapid clip-clop from their hooves echoed within the tall and expansive corridors, and their hearts pounded within their chests.
Twilight hoped that Flurry was still there. She needed her to be there. The world would not be okay otherwise.
They rounded another corner into the corridor that contained Flurry Heart’s room, and there they had to stop in their tracks. Strange ponies, bearing black, swirling markings over their white bodies, lay crumpled against the walls. Twilight and Cadance counted three of them, all moaning and groaning and trying to find air.
Twilight could feel her heart sink. Who were these ponies? How did they get in? What did they want? A million more thoughts raced through her head.
The pair of purple double doors (each sporting a decal of a pink heart on their centers) lay wide open. There was a yelp from within the room beyond, and a body came flying out. Said body, another of the strange, black-marked ponies, slammed into the wall and fell unconscious. A dagger, clenched in his teeth, fell to the ground with him.
Twilight and Cadance stumbled their way past them and then dashed into the nursery.
Flurry Heart’s nursery looked humbly sized. Prints of fluffy clouds and trees, periodically broken by the occasional crystal pillar, lined the walls. Flurry Heart’s bed, which looked like an empty cloud, sat at the rear of the room.
Their eyes drew up from the bed to the figure standing beside it. The figure, facing away from them, wore a beige-colored cloak with several swirling patterns across it. Their horn poked through a hole woven into the hood. A light yellow aura surrounded said figure’s horn and carried a foal on the other end.
“My baby!” Cadance cried.
Flurry Heart cooed and reached toward the figure’s muzzle. The figure remained out of reach, but that only served to make Flurry giggle with her mouth wide open.
Warmth flooded through Twilight at the sight. A million ‘What-if?’s vanished, but as Twilight reaffixed her glare on the figure, a few then came back. She shuddered and ground her teeth together. “Hey! Let her go!”
The figure stirred and turned their head in their direction just enough to acknowledge their presence. Their gaze remained on the giggling foal in their magic.
“Get away from her!” Cadance yelled, coursing energy into her horn. “I’m warning you!”
The figure sucked in a breath through their nose, making a sound that sounded like an airy sigh.
“This one,” the figure said, their voice a velvety alto like a mare’s yet sharp like a pointed spear, “what is her name?”
Cadance shuddered and took a step forward. “If you dare hurt her—”
“I just saved her life,” the figure sharply replied. “What is her name?”
The two took a tentative glance back to the unconscious figures outside.
Twilight swallowed and placed a hoof on Cadance in order to steady herself. “What are you asking? Name?”
The figure turned to face the two of them. The shadows of the hood, combined with the room’s darkness, hid her face entirely, yet the two could make out two large, opal eyes squinting at them and the outline of a frown etched across the mare’s muzzle. “Her name,” the figure said again.
Cadance flinched and exchanged glances with Twilight. “F-Flurry Heart,” Cadance stuttered. “Her name is Flurry Heart.”
The figure hummed in response and glanced down at the foal. “Fascinating. It has been a while since I saw a Flurry Heart,” she said. “More often than not, she is named Prism, Winter Amore, or even Skyla. A Flurry Heart is rare.”
Twilight felt a shiver crawl up her spine. Rare? Twilight had questions.
“So that means…” The figure nodded her head from side to side in thought. And then a smile appeared on her face. “Ah… yes… This one shattered the Crystal Heart, and you put it back together. And… you did so with the help of Celestia, Luna, the other Elements, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunburst. I see it now,” the figure said, looking back up at them.
And now Twilight had too many questions. “Y… Y-yes,” Twilight stammered. “B-but…”
“T-there are only a select few who are aware of that.” Cadance shuddered. “Y-you just named them all.”
Twilight could feel her mental wheels jam. She shook her head and said, “There’s no way that you can know that.”
The figure turned her attention back to Flurry Heart and stroked her with a hoof. “And yet it is so,” she replied.
Cadance shook her head in disbelief and stamped the floor. “Who are you!? Reveal yourself!”
The figure stroked Flurry Heart’s curly hair, a gradient of cerise and violet with an arctic blue stripe. Flurry Heart giggled in response and looked up with large, opal eyes. And the figure poked Flurry Heart in her belly, drawing lines in her fuchsia-colored coat, prompting Flurry Heart to giggle even harder.
The figure then undid the seams on the front of her hood and hummed. “Very well.”
She lifted her hood and turned to them in full, staring with her own large, opal eyes which had a jagged scar across her right one. The mare’s muzzle, soft in its fuchsia complexion, remained scrunched together. Her curls, a gradient of cerise and violet, punctuated by a stripe of arctic blue, hung down past her withers.
And she was impossible. Both Twilight and Cadance backpedaled, and their jaws all but hit the floor. Their eyes flickered between Flurry Heart and…
Cadance swallowed. “F… Flurry Heart?”
The unknown mare’s piercing frown curled into a sly smile. “Hello, Mother. My name is Crystal Faire.”
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Damn, this is a good story. I look forward to seeing more! Have a like and a follow.
And so it begins, and with a bang! This is looking fantastic so far!
Very intriguing beginning. Looking forward to more!
As long as Shining Armor didn't assemble the troops just to show off a 20-foot tall picture of his daughter, he can't be as obsessed as a certain Colonel from an anime.
And so their family tree just got even more complicated, with an extradimensional relative.
8071719 ...
Nice start. I am interested.
Can't wait for the next chapter.
Wow.
Although the content is fun, I am much more impressed with the writing. You write so well!!!
The transitions were so smooth! And I feel that I can learn from your writing. :)
You are awesome!
8153680
I wouldn't say the transitions are smooth, but it's still great writing. The dialogue could use a fix in the middle chapters though.
You have my full attention!
Yes, yes, fear the best bughorse! Mwahahaha!
Maybe Flurry Heart just wants to sucker punch her past self?
Gentlemen, we have a winner.
Inter-dimensional (inter-time?) assassins? Oh my
Ah, so he's the Maes Hughes of this timeline..