The Paradox of Forgiveness
“Princess Luna?” Skyla's voice was as soft as the moonlight pouring into her room, and she was a little surprised at how far her words seemed to travel in the silent space. Every light in her room was dark, casting every last bit and bauble she possessed into familiar relief against the pale light of the moon.
“Yes, Skyla?” Luna's voice was so soft that Skyla almost didn't hear it, and she had to admit that if things hadn't been absolutely silent in her room, she probably would have missed it. I doubt a mouse could whisper so quietly, she thought with a wry smile.
“So, the plan is that you are going to enter my dreams with me, and take a look from behind the curtain..?”
“Behind the curtain of your dreams, yes.” Luna's smile was audible in her words, and Skyla grasped her covers a little tighter with her hooves.
“And by doing that, you'll be able to see if my nightmares are just nightmares, or if they're something else, right?”
“That is the hope.” She heard Luna sigh and fought the urge to turn her eyes from the ceiling to where the blue alicorn was curled up at the edge of her large bed. “If you do indeed have the same dream, it should be a simple task to determine its origins. Once its origin is known, then we shall make short work of finding a solution.” Skyla shifted in her bed, the soft, welcoming mattress beneath her conforming to the contours of her wings and body.
“Okay... and you think it'll work?” She tried to make her voice as confident as she could, but as soon as the question left her mouth she knew that it was a futile effort. When the question is worried, my tone hardly matters, she thought with a wince. To her relief, however, Luna merely chuckled lightly.
“I do, little one.”
Silence fell between them again, and the squirming, uncomfortable feeling that Skyla had been fighting for what seemed like forever forced words past her lips yet again.
“...Princess Luna?”
“Yes, Skyla?”
“There's one little, tiny, itty-bitty problem with the plan.”
She heard Luna sit up and shift, and when she spoke again her words were full of worry of her own.
“What is it?”
Skyla rolled over and met Luna's gaze, her lip quivering slightly. “I'm not sleepy,” she whimpered.
Silence again filled the room as Luna stared at her in momentary disbelief, the blue alicorn's left eyebrow arched incredulously. For her part, the smaller pink princess winced and tugged her covers up towards her snout, her heart pounding in her ears as she waited for Luna's reply. To her surprise, Princess Luna closed her eyes and chuckled lightly, a sound that spread through the silence like a soft mist and caused Skyla's cheeks to grow hot with embarassment.
“You cannot sleep?” repeated Luna, her ethereal mane shivering next to her as she laughed. “An inconvenient thing, when we are planning to see what your dreams are like.”
“Tell me about it...” Skyla grumbled as she squeezed her eyes shut. “This whole thing rests on me and my ability to sleep, but... here we are. I'm just not tired...” A sigh from Luna tickled her ears, and deep inside her Skyla felt a surge of irritation at the sound; after all, there wasn't anything she could do about not being able to go to sleep. It's not like I'm doing this on purpose, she lamented, her heart pounding in her ears as she felt the bed shift slightly. It's not like I set out to be wide awake when Luna decided it was time for sleep...
Skyla's hooves tightened on her sheets and she pulled them even closer to her face as memories of countless sleepless nights, both in the Crystal Empire and here, floated to the surface of her mind, stirring up her heart and causing her to groan. On nights like this, I'd usually get up and go sit by the window until Flurry Heart came to bother me, she thought. Ironic that her visits have become such a comfort to me... She squeezed her eyes shut a little tighter. But that doesn't help me TONIGHT, she thought as loudly as she could, her thoughts ricochetting off of the inside of her skull. Princess Luna specifically told Flurry not to bother us tonight, and if there's one pony that filly will listen to, it's Luna... which just means that I'm stuck with no way to go to sleep!
The smaller princess huffed loudly into her sheets and flopped onto her other side, her blankets billowing around her as she completed the maneuver; she grasped the edges of the billowed bedclothes once more and tugged them tightly against her body, her determination not to let Luna down overriding her understanding of how sleep worked. That's it – I'm going to lay here and not move until I fall asleep, she told herself firmly. I'm sure if I just stay perfectly still, and control my breathing, that I'll get to sleep eventually. Behind her eyelids she saw a vivid image of the sun, its glowing radiance peeking over the Crystal Kingdom with her still awake and staring at the far wall, and her nose wrinkled as she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. Nope! No no no, no way is that happening. I think I'd absolutely die if I couldn't go to sleep tonight...
Her thoughts spiraled off into the deep quiet of her bedroom, the form of the words vanishing even if the worry they had conveyed did not. Skyla's left ear flicked once as she listened in the silence as she strained to hear anything from Luna – a stirring, a sigh, whatever it might have been – to show that the other alicorn hadn't suddenly decided that tonight was a bust and left. After several long heartbeats, however, Skyla's question was answered; she felt the bed stir as weight shifted from the far end towards the middle, and she even felt her whole body tip back towards the other side of the room as the weight that she knew was Princess Luna moved closer to her. The weight shifted and settled next to her, and for the briefest of moments Skyla considered saying something; before she could do so, however, she felt a gentle pressure settle across her shoulders and upper body. Her brow furrowed and she cracked one eye open to peer at what is was that had covered her, and to her surprise she saw the midnight blue pinions of the Princess of the Moon herself.
“Be at peace, Skyla,” whispered Luna. “The night is long and full of fear, but you needn't fear anything while I am near.”
Skyla's cheeks warmed as Luna's words floated to her in the darkness and, before Skyla could even choose whether or not to reply, she heard Luna take a long, slow breath.
Then, she began to sing.
Skyla was no stranger to music, of course – her mother hadn't been called 'the Songstress of the North' for no reason – but the songs that her mother had always sung had been loud, outspoken ballads of the Crystal Empire's exploits, or fearful melodies that allowed her to commune with the Wendigos.
Princess Luna's singing was completely different from anything she'd ever heard, and for the first few moments of the song Skyla could feel her brow furrowing. I can hear things that should be words, she thought, her hooves tightening on her bedsheets, but I... I can't quite make them out... Her mind raced as she attempted to translate the sounds she was hearing together into words that she would understand, but after a few fruitless seconds she knew that trying to hear the words was irrelevant; the haunting, beautiful melody that Princess Luna was singing ever so softly did not appear to have any words at all – at least, not words that Skyla had ever heard before.
The lyrics of Luna's song wove their way into Skyla's mind, their ethereal tones drawing forth images inside her head that the young alicorn knew weren't memories or dreams of any kind; rather, as she listened to Luna's gentle voice, she began to see things that she'd never seen before – images that were coming to her directly from the song itself.
Behind her eyes, Skyla saw a lone blue alicorn sitting beneath a full and vibrant moon; the image didn't look real, by any means – the alicorn was stylized, with angled swirls in her mane and tail and small black dots for eyes – but as the tiny alicorn shifted and sighed, Skyla felt as though she were watching a storybook that had come to life. It's so small and precious, she thought, but even as she did so she could feel her conscious musings drifting away as she focused exclusively on the song and the images in her mind.
The small alicorn stood and moved away from the moon, her tiny wings fluttering against her sides as she took to the sky, drifting aimlessly into the heavens as Luna's song floated through every facet of Skyla's mind. The tiny alicorn flitted along simplified treetops and across abstract mountains, her flight leading her farther and farther away from the moon, or so it seemed. When she had flown for what seemed to Skyla to be hours and hours, the tiny alicorn turned back towards the moon and dismayed to see that she hadn't gotten farther away from it; in fact, the moon appeared to be chasing her, rising higher and higher into the sky as it pursued her. The little alicorn dashed across the sky, her tiny wings flapping as fast as they would go, but slowly, steadily, the moon overtook her and headed for the opposite horizon. Skyla felt a smile touch her lips as the tiny alicorn stopped at a cliff overlooking the sea, her mane blowing as she watched the moon slip behind the horizon, the sky brightening as dawn approached, and, as she watched, the little blue alicorn heaved a sigh and turned back the way she had come, a determined look upon her tiny stylized face as she took to the sky once more.
It was a variation of a story that Skyla had heard in her own world, but it had always been one of her favorites when she had been younger and she could still feel the same kind of unblemished enjoyment for it that she had back then. Her smile grew and before she knew it a laugh had formed in her throat and leaped upwards, bouncing off of her lips and into the room where it echoed no small amount of times.
The sound made Skyla clamp her muzzle shut and wince, her wings tensing along her back as she waited for the reprimand that she knew must be coming. Luna's been really nice to me, but even she probably won't sit idly by and not get after me about not going to sleep... The very idea that she may have irritated one of the ponies in this world that she had grown closest to made Skyla feel like she could throw up at any moment, and for several long heartbeats she thought it was inevitable; finally, however, she heard a sound – not the sound of her stomach finally making good on its threats, but rather the soothing, gentle voice of the Moon Princess.
“I'm glad that you found the story to your liking,” said Luna, her words filling the world around Skyla. “I shan't say if it was based upon true events, but I will say that the moon is quite fast when it wishes to be.” Skyla winced again, and a small, apologetic smile touched her lips as she turned towards where Luna had spoken, her eyes still shut.
“I'm really sorry, Luna... I guess I couldn't go to sleep after all,” she muttered with a sigh. A moment of silence passed once more, and this time it was broken by the clear ringing of Luna's musical laughter, its tone crisp, bright, and full of mirth.
“Oh is that so?” Luna's words were warm and relaxed, and full of more happiness than Skyla had ever heard. “Then perhaps you should open your eyes, and tell me more about how 'not asleep' you are.”
Skyla frowned. Why would she tell me to open my eyes if I'm supposed to be asleep? She wondered, but after a moment she let out another sigh and opened her eyes, sure that she was just going to be setting the clock back even farther on their plan.
As she did, however, she was greeted with a soft, ethereal light that seemingly came from nowhere, its glow luminescent enough to chase away even the barest hint of shadows on her body but gentle on her eyes. It was a good thing, too, because once she glimpsed the place in which she stood, she knew that there was no way that she could have closed her eyes again even if she'd wanted to.
She stood among the stars, their twinkling, ethereal beauty even more dazzling than they normally were; swirling galaxies of gold, blue, orange, and white all danced across a backdrop of deep blue and purple, the dance of the heavens set into vibrant motion all around her as she stared up at it, her words stolen before she could even think to say them. Finally, after several stunned moments of silence, she felt Luna step up next to her, and the presence of the other alicorn seemed to flick a switch inside Skyla that brought all of her words back.
“Where... where are we?” she managed to whisper as she turned her eyes to Luna. The blue alicorn smiled as she gave Skyla a coy glance, and for just a moment Skyla swore that Luna was going to ask her to guess. I am not about to start guessing – I really don't want to find out I'm dead. Thankfully, Luna chose not to keep the pink alicorn in suspense for long.
“We are in the realm of dreams,” said Luna wistfully, her gaze rising from Skyla to return to the night sky around them. “This is where all ponies come when they dream, and it is from here that I can reach the dreams of anypony.” She took her hoof from Skyla's shoulder and pointed to the stars above them, her smile broad and her eyes twinkling with life in a way that Skyla had never seen. “Every star is a dream, and into each of them ponies pour their hopes, their struggles, their needs – and it is with that in mind that I watch them and guard them.” She placed her hoof back down onto the darkness below them, and Skyla was surprised to hear a sharp clack, as if Luna had placed her sparkling horseshoe down onto black marble. “I brought you here first so that you would not panic, should I need to pull you from your own dream.”
“Pull me here?” Skyla tilted her head quizzically and arched an eyebrow at Luna. “Why would you bring me here, instead of just waking me up... y'know, just...” she lifted a hoof and waved it in a small circle, “taking me back to the waking world?”
“I could do just that, certainly,” said Luna with a nod, “but being pulled from deep sleep disturbs your rest for the entire night, and I would prefer not to do that to you if I do not have to.” The blue alicorn rustled her wings as she cast her aqua gaze towards the revolving stars above the pair. “If I were to bring you here and leave you – let us say, in a situation where I needed to traipse off further into the dreamscape – you would simply fall into a dreamless, comfortable slumber until morning. It is no danger to you, and you'll awake feeling refreshed.” She brought her eyes back to Skyla, and the smile she gave the smaller alicorn was full of determination. “Additionally, I would have to drag myself back to wakefulness just to wake you, and that would mean that I cannot follow whatever is plaguing your dreams.”
The blue alicorn lifted her horn high, and the deep blue of her magic pulsed to life around it. The color seemed to seep into everything, casting the entire universe into ten thousand shades of blue as Skyla watched. The filly felt a shiver trace its way down her wings as she nervously flicked her tail.
“If you say so, then I'll... I'll trust you.” She took a deep, steadying breath, and did her best not to panic as the starry sky around her began to dissolve into a blue haze, a shimmering, ethereal mist that slowly closed in on the pair. As it did so, a question tickled Skyla's mind, one that she had meant to ask before but had been lost upon her arrival in Luna's dream hub, and with a gasp she spun to face Luna once more. “Princess! What was that song you sang earlier?” she blurted as the galaxies around her faded from view. “I tried to hear the lyrics but I couldn't understand them – what was it?”
As the blue mist filled everything around her, Princess Luna smiled that mysterious smile that seemed made for her. “That song was in the language of the Ancient Alicorns,” she said, her voice growing farther and farther away. “It is magical by nature, and if you could see the story they told, then you understood it. But think no more on that, dear Skyla – your dream comes, and with it, answers.” She heard Luna smile. “I shall be watching over you, so do not be afraid.”
Skyla felt the ground beneath her disappear, but she didn't feel scared. She didn't throw her wings open and try to fly, either; instead, she felt her body lift upwards, seemingly of its own accord, and float towards what had once been the sky as the reality around her shifted and warped. A star appeared in the blue mist above Skyla, and in a flash she was enveloped by it; the mist disappeared, as did all sensation, and as darkness closed around her she felt a squeeze in her chest and, despite Luna's reassurance, a flash of trepidation that followed her into the void.
~*~*~*~*~
The scene around Skyla was hazy, like she was locked inside a snow globe, and everything that wasn't inside the small sphere around her was distorted and hard to see. Flecks of ice dropped from the sky and coated her mane and muzzle as she stared up into the heavy, steel gray clouds above her.
For the first time since she had started having this nightmare, Skyla could feel the pull of the dream around her, like she was laying atop a huge piece of fabric that was shifting and trying to get her to roll a certain way. She knew exactly what was supposed to happen next, and every fiber of her being screamed at her to fight against the flow of the dream. She shifted on her hooves and forced herself to look over to where her mother stood, the other alicorn's light pink coat resplendent even in the weak light of a winter sun.
To her shock and surprise, her mother was not staring up at the sky, as she had been every time before this; instead, the other alicorn's piercing gaze was locked upon Skyla, her eyes as hard as diamonds and as cold as any winter Skyla had ever felt.
“Have you thought about the math question I asked you last time?” Her mother's voice pierced the dream around her, filling up the hazy, snowy landscape of the Crystal Empire with the same kind of fear and power that had followed her in life. Skyla's ears flattened against her mane and she lowered her head on instinct, a supplicating gesture that she had learned very early in her life to placate her mother. As she did so, however, she glanced beyond the parapet towards where she knew the city should be, and saw that it was only the blurry boundaries of a dream: her dream.
With an audible swallow, Skyla slowly raised her head and forced her ears up and out of their hiding places, facing the specter of her mother with defiance that she could feel from her hooves to her eyes.
“I have, as a matter of fact,” she answered, her words as strong as she could make them. They still quavered at the edges, and she could feel her pinions shivering as she remembered the cold of the Empire, but she stood her ground as she stared up into Queen Cadence's frigid eyes. “It's haunted me every moment since you asked.” The Queen's lips curled into a smile, though it lacked any warmth to speak of, and for a moment Skyla saw the other Cadence standing next to the Queen, her smile as warm as the summer sun. “It has made me afraid, and even caused me to act poorly around those I've come to care most about.”
The Queen rolled her eyes and snorted. “Spare me the sob story,” she grumbled, and hearing such harsh words said in the voice of a pony that Skyla had come to know as kind and compassionate caused the hair at the back of her neck to stand on end. It almost doesn't seem real, she thought, even though I knew my mother for longer... it feels so unnatural to hear Princess Cadence's voice saying things like this...
“Oh I'll spare you the story,” retorted Skyla, her wings rising slightly off of her back as she took a half step forward, “but the only reason I'll do it is because I don't want you to know!” She finished her step forward and lifted her right hoof, swiping it through the air in front of her as her courage rose. “I don't want you to know the grief you've caused me, or the pain, or the sorrow!” Her hoof found the stone beneath her again as she took another step towards the Queen, her tail lashing at her flanks.
Luna told me to stay calm, shouted a voice from the back of her mind, and not to forget the reason we're doing this! It was right, of course – this whole setup was so that Luna could find out who, or what, was manipulating Skyla's dream and causing old nightmares to crop up once again – but for the first time, Skyla could feel the dream. She could do something other than be dragged along with it, and it was an opportunity that she suddenly realized she didn't want to lose out on. I'm never going to be able to tell my mother these things to her face, so I...
“I'll spare you the details of how scared I was when I was back in the Empire, or how I was desperate enough to escape that I literally tore a hole in the universe and escaped into a new reality!” She grated her hoof against the stone, her eyes burning hot as her vision blurred with tears. “I won't tell you how much I hate you! I won't tell you how much I despise you, or how much I...!” Her throat closed around the words, and she gave her head a shake as she hiccuped. “How much I just... wished that you would stop fighting with Aunt Twilight... how much I just wanted... to have a normal life, with you and Father...” The next hiccup became a sob, and Skyla squeezed her eyes shut as years and years of emotions suddenly came pouring out at this facsimile of her mother. “How much I hated you,” she whispered, “...how much I loved you...”
The wind swirled around Skyla as her words trailed off, her ears ringing as her pain and grief filled her heart, mind, and soul. She hadn't wanted Princess Luna to see her break down like this in front of some image of her mother, especially after all of the positive progress she'd made with Princess Cadence over the past few weeks, but finally hearing her mother's words, her mother's tone again, and having the stark juxtaposition of her behavior against Princess Cadence had triggered a response that Skyla hadn't even thought was possible.
Several long moments passed with nothing but the sound of Skyla's quiet crying atop the lonely parapet of the Crystal Castle, the wind and the snow all but silent counterparts to her heartache. She felt hot and weak, and she could feel her knees beginning to wobble as tears poured down her cheeks.
I thought I was beyond this, she thought from deep within herself. I thought that I'd made my peace with this, and had decided to forget all about mother and her awfulness... I guess I was wrong.
Finally she sniffled and lifted her head, swiping a hoof across her eyes as she did so. “Does that answer your question?” she croaked, her throat swollen even in her dream. “Are you satisfied?”
Around her, the wind slowed to a stop. The snow faded away and the chill of the north was replaced by a strange, almost overpowering warmth that caused Skyla to wince in spite of herself. As she forced her eyes back open, she watched as the hazy quality of the dream faded away into an image of sharp, crystalline clarity; in a matter of moments, she found herself standing in a much more realistic looking Crystal Kingdom, so crisp and clear that Skyla felt her chest tighten at the realism of it. With slow, jerky motions, she turned her gaze back to the parapet and focused her eyes back on the dream of her mother, who stood staring daggers into her.
No, not a dream of her mother.
Her mother.
“I am not satisfied,” she said, and this time her words were as sharp and clear as anypony that Skyla had spoken to in the past month. “The fact that you would speak in such a way to me, your own mother... it's unbelievable.” She jerked her head to the side and clicked her tongue angrily, a sound that made Skyla jump. “Impertinent girl...”
Skyla's eyes felt as though they would bulge out of her head, and before she could stop herself she scrambled backwards on the stone, her hooves slipping and sliding along the smooth surface. Queen Cadence straightened and stood tall, her cold, imperious smile returning to her lips as she took a step towards the smaller alicorn.
“I asked you how long it would take for the Queen to find her wayward princess,” she said, her words soft yet full of venom. “And the answer was simple: a much shorter time than the princess would have liked.” Her smile grew, and her blue eyes flashed eagerly as Skyla felt her stomach drop into her hooves.
“H-h-how..?!” she managed to wheeze, her tail tucking itself firmly between her hind legs as she backed further away from her mother. “H-how did you find me..? I... everything I did was perfect..!”
“Oh it certainly was,” agreed the Queen with a small nod. “In fact, I had all but given up hope of ever finding my precious little war leader ever again, but then, just like magic, my diviners were able to find you again!” She took another step forward, and this time the area around them shrank, pulling Skyla bodily towards the Queen despite her attempts to back away. “They said that it must have been that you opened yourself back up to me, or at least to the idea of me... is that what you did, you poor, misguided little girl?”
Skyla's eyes widened, and a veil of horror settled over her heart as she realized what her mother was saying. “Oh... oh by Saint Celestia... I...” She sat down onto her rump and lifted both of her front hooves to her head, pressing them firmly beneath her horn as her eyes filled with hot, angry tears yet again. “I didn't mean to, I..!”
The light of the dream suddenly grew dark, and Skyla felt herself be pulled towards the Queen once more. “But you DID,” the Queen sang, her words as cheerless as a funeral march and as dark as the hour before dawn. “You brought me right back to you, my stupid little daughter, and sooner than you think, I'm going to get you back into this world – YOUR WORLD – and you're going to finish what you started!” Her wings extended, the inner feathers of her once beautifully pink wings a marbled patchwork of white and black that seemed to draw Skyla deeper and deeper into their mournful depths.
“Soon..?” Skyla brought her gaze back to her mother's eyes, her throat as dry as any desert. “How soon?!”
Queen Cadence's eyes glowed a sinister blue, and her voice filled Skyla's world. “Within the week,” she boomed, her words seeming to draw Skyla closer still to where she stood. “Less than a week, my daughter, and you will be mine once more!”
Skyla skidded closer to her mother, unable to stop her momentum, and with all that she had she let loose one final scream, a cry of terror and agony that embodied the last hope that she had.
“LUNAAAAAA!!!!”
In an instant, she felt as though a rope had fastened around her middle and yanked her backwards, pulling her away from her mother, the parapet, and the Crystal Kingdom. She sailed into the sky, outside of the realm of crisp lines and back into the haze of dreams; the light grew brighter and brighter around her, then suddenly plunged into blackness as the feeling of momentum grew faster, and faster, and faster...
~*~*~*~*~*~
With an audible whump, Skyla slammed into her mattress and rebounded, bouncing her off the fluffy surface and directly into Luna, who caught her with both front legs outstretched. The pink alicorn's heart raced in her chest, and she could still feel the tears on her cheeks as she struggled against Luna's grasp and the wrap of the blankets still around her.
“NO! NO I WON'T GO BACK!!” she screamed, her words strangled and strained. “Sh-she can't make me!! I..!”
“Hush, child,” came Luna's soothing tones, her hooves holding Skyla tightly against her. “Hush... everything is fine... you're safe...”
Slowly, Skyla stopped thrashing. Her movements became lethargic, and after several tense heartbeats she stopped moving altogether. Silence fell over the the pair, but soon the sound of gentle crying filled Skyla's bedroom as Luna held her snugly against her, doing the only thing she could think to do. The blue alicorn stroked Skyla's mane as she whispered soothing words to her, her own eyes filled with tears as she felt the smaller alicorn shaking against her.
Finally, despite her rude awakening, Skyla soon fell back to sleep in Luna's grasp, and the blue alicorn decided that it would be best if she simply stayed there.
We have much to discuss on the morrow, Luna thought as she settled Skyla back down onto her mattress, the tracks of her tears still obvious upon her cheeks. The blue alicorn reached out with a hoof, hesitated, then stroked Skyla's mane once more, brushing it out of her face and back behind her ear and neck. There was so much trauma in that dream... so much pain and fear. She sighed. Do not fear, Skyla. Whatever happens... I shall not abandon you. Her brow furrowed into a frown.
I must speak to Celestia, and first thing on the morrow. There is little time... so little time.
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Oh shit
9868981
Double oh shit
I thought it was Twilight the one trying to find her. Turns out Cadence knew better how to manipulate the emotional connection between mother and daughter across worlds.
Well... damn.
Merciful Emperor....
I was hoping Luna would throw down with Queen Cadence right there, but it’s wiser to just observe and prepare.
I’m very excited to see another chapter. Skyla has suffered a lot, but she has powerful allies now. The throwdown shall be epic.
i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/027/475/Screen_Shot_2018-10-25_at_11.02.15_AM.png
ohdamn.
9869160
Agreed. If the Queen doesn’t know exactly what to expect, then it’ll be that much harder for her.
Never mind the facts of the situation; even if she is more powerful than Cadence, she’ll be up against the might of four alicorns, plus Shining Armor.
Or, we’ll... ok. For and a half alicorns.
I think Queen Cadance is going to be finding a big surprise coming her way and harmony, Celestia, Luna, and Cadance are going to be giving her a very nasty surprise.
Are you going to bring in the Elements if Queen Cadence invades? So far we've only seen Twi (from both worlds). i'm interested to see if Skyla has heard of the rest of the mane 6, or if Twilight is the only one in the world she's from
An invasion from another world merits the use of all available resources.
Four Alicorns, the other five Elements, and possibly Discord.
I wonder what this other Cadence will think when she goes to claim her daughter, and finds herself facing down the full wrath of Sol Invictus. (And, while she's reeling from the shock of seeing a dead god bristling with unbridled fury, Luna flanks her for a backstab.)
9869563
Eh, it'll be Flurry Heart that administers the coup de grace.
Remember who was powerful enough to break the Crystal Heart as a foal, when Sombra, for all his power, had to hide the thing away and hope it wasn't found.
This is getting real but one thing Queen Cadence missed is that she has family and friends that care for her and will do anything to protect her
9869563
Also worth noting? She'd have to invade a Cyrstal Empire shielded by a fully functional Crystal Heart. I know the show intentionally ignored it in order to give Twilight something to do, but an army of Wendigos isn't going to do much against a tool that seems to be tailor made to defeat them.
I mean, think about it. The Wendigos and the eternal winter they brought in this Equestria were defeated when the ponies found love and friendship with eachother. The Crystal Heart is a tool powered by love and light used to banish the eternal winter storms of the North. Sounds familiar?
9870525
True though that all may be, the Queen herself will get in just fine; it wouldn’t be much of a showdown if she couldn’t, after all.
9870529
It would be hilarious though.
Queen Cadance: "My daughter! The time has come for you to ret-" *THUNK*
...
Queen Cadance: *ahem* "As I was saying, the time has come for you to-" *THUNK*
Queen Cadance: "Okay, what is this?"
Princess Cadance: "Uhm, the Crystal Heart's barrier?"
Queen Cadance: "I can see that, why is it keeping me out?"
Princess Cadance: "Well, it's designed to be empowered by and amplify love and light, while warding creatures of hatred and spite. And you have a lot of hatred and spite."
Queen Cadance: "Huh."
Princess Cadance: "Yeah..."
Queen Cadance: "I don't suppose you would listen to my order to return to this side, daughter?"
Skyla: "Yeah, I'm gonna have to say no to that."
It lives!
Thanks for the update!
9870579
Queen Cadance: "please let me in, its cold out here"
Well, that was terrifying.
Luna and Skyla's interaction was sweet.
9869563
Plus the elements, which are probably way more powerful than the Crystal Heart and possibly the lord of chaos himself.
10150471
Exactly! The point is, she's clearly going to step in it.