Fractured Crystals

by Quick Fix

Reunified Crystals

"I need to ask something of you both." Citrine said as he fidgeted slightly, trying to wile away some more time before Flurry Heart arrived.

"Whatever you need." Fluttershy told him softly, Applejack nodding in affirmation.

"This may sound a little strange but, I want to try and talk to her by myself. I mean, you two are more than welcome to step in if I'm doing so badly that she starts on me again, but I started this problem with a simple mistake. I feel like I should be the one to right it."

"That's mighty respectful of ya," Applejack commented, smiling at him. "And you know that everypony here's got your back all the way to the end."

"I hope so..." He replied quietly, closing his eyes and sighing slowly.

"Citrine?" Cadance said from her throne, drawing everypony's attention. Though her expression was unreadable, it was a step up from how she had looked before. "Good luck."

"Thank you, your highness." He replied, bowing his head to her. Applejack couldn't help but smile more at that exchange. Despite them effectively being on opposite sides, there had been no dishonesty or sarcasm from either.

Any further chance to prepare passed as the doors opened behind them. Applejack, Fluttershy and Citrine turned to watch as Flurry Heart stepped into the throne room. On seeing the trio, she stopped and opened her mouth, clearly gearing up for a fresh surge of anger. One that died in her throat as Shining Armor motioned for her to enter properly. Applejack glowered at her slightly but remained calm, while Fluttershy looked to Citrine and nodded reassuringly, trusting he could do what he needed to when the time came.

"You wished to see me, your highnesses?" Flurry said as she stepped past them and bowed to the king and queen.

"Not us directly, but Citrine wished to discuss recent developments and asked for us to mediate his meeting with you to ensure both sides are heard fairly." Shining explained to her, watching her reactions as she turned back toward the crystal pony.

Flurry's mouth opened and closed wordlessly and she looked back and forth between her rulers and her 'opponents', eyes darting from pony to pony as she realised she was stuck. Aside from the fact that she would be effectively refusing a direct order from her rulers if she didn't give him the chance to speak, losing her temper like she had before would be even worse. Her eye twitched involuntarily and for a few moments everypony present wondered if she would be able to keep it controlled at all. Eventually though, she gritted her teeth and looked straight at Citrine.

"Alright, I see how it is. Say what you have to." She told him with a sigh.

"Flurry Heart..." Citrine took a step toward her, looking up from where he'd been focused on and meeting her gaze. He didn't look angered or saddened anymore. He looked weary. "I should say the most important thing first of all...I'm sorry."

"You're sorry." Flurry replied, loosening her jaw slightly. Her expression remained cold though.

"I'm sorry I was so thoughtless about talking about Onyx Dawn to you. I let my excitement get the better of my judgement and didn't even think about how you might think about them. I don't blame you for being angry with me, I hurt you badly by jumping into that topic like I did."

Citrine paused and rubbed his leg, taking the moment to check Flurry's reaction. She was looking back at Cadance and Shining, who were both watching the developments with quiet curiosity. She looked back toward him, shaking a look of confusion from her face.

"I made myself look worse too," Citrine continued, his voice gaining strength. "I sounded like I believed in them as strongly as the pony himself. I simply think that the crystal empire would benefit from a little more freedom, a chance to show what we can really do. But we need to cooperate with everyone to do that. The ponies, the yaks, the griffons, even those more distant like the zebras and minotaurs. I may believe in independence, but I will never believe in Onyx Dawn."

Applejack nodded slightly, while Fluttershy simply watched on with cautious optimism. So far, so good.

"But, there's something I need to know too..." Citrine stopped and took a breath before looking Flurry square in the eye, all his drained attitude burning away as he steeled himself for this moment. "You have every right to be angry at what I said, but the fury you showed toward me and Applejack today was far stronger than you showed before. Do...Do you hate me that much?"

Flurry recoiled slightly at the question, looking back at the thrones again. Though her eyes betrayed no clear expression, the small whimper she made as she looked down at her hoof gave a hint to her thoughts. She silently mouthed something and watched as her hoof shook slightly. Applejack raised an eyebrow at that but didn't comment, keeping her word to Citrine. Flurry bit her lip slightly and sighed.

"Because I had to..." She said quietly, wincing as her hoof shook more, caught between two great issues that she didn't seem to understand how to escape from.

"Flurry?"

"Because I thought I had to!" She half-shouted, the words echoing around the throne room. Citrine stared at her, jaw dropped at her words. Flurry didn't notice as she kept staring at her hoof, realising it wasn't shaking anymore. "I...No. No I don't hate you."

Still no shaking.

"Okay." Citrine sounded relieved as he took a step closer.

"But with where I am and who you were with, I thought we had no choice but to be enemies. I thought that anypony who stood alongside Onyx Dawn was a pony that sought to fight against everything I stood for. But we were friends, Citrine, even if I thought we weren't allowed to be. I thought that if I held nothing back then you wouldn't think we were friends anymore and that would be that and then..."

Flurry Heart stopped as her voice started to crack and she scrunched her eyes shut, unable to bring herself to keep talking. Applejack and Fluttershy looked at each other in surprise. The idea that a pony would think that they had to sabotage their friendships was almost inconceivable. Citrine slowly stepped forward again and placed a hoof on her shoulder, waiting as Flurry opened her eyes slowly and looked back at him. Now it was her turn to look exhausted, as though revealing the truth had take all her willpower to achieve.

"Citrine...I know it sounds impossible but, can we still be friends? After all this? All I did to you?" She asked quietly, tensing as he placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"You need to ask yourself that question..." He told her softly before pulling her into a hug. "Because despite everything, you never stopped being my friend."

Flurry gave a small sob and hugged him in return, unable to hold back the tears anymore. Whether they were tears of sadness or joy, nopony could tell. At the same time, Citrine flashed slightly and his body shifted into the full translucent form of a crystal pony. Neither of them seemed to notice that either. All that mattered right now was that the two of them had overcome the worst of their situation with their friendship intact. Applejack and Fluttershy looked at each other and gave a small nod, satisfied that all it would take now was a little time. Shining Armor got up from his throne and approached them, looking surprised at the turn of events.

"Impressive, both from him and you," He told them, AJ tipping her hat slightly in response. "So where do we go from here?"

"Now we just give them a little space to work everything out." Fluttershy replied, allowing herself to sit down and truly relax at last.

---

Flurry Heart and Citrine continued talking for hours. Applejack and Fluttershy eventually left them to it and joined Cadance and Shining Armor for dinner, satisfied that the situation wasn't going to deteriorate again without them watching over it. Night had fallen over the city by the time they were finished and the two ponies were still talking, though by this point they had simply moved to the hallway outside as the royal court had been closed for the day. As they couldn't think about heading back to Ponyville until they were certain their duty was done, AJ had elected that they remain in the castle for one more night and let her friend get some much needed R&R.

"You think that they're still alright?" Applejack said as she paced round the room, keeping her hoofsteps quiet so as not to disturb Fluttershy too much.

"I'm sure. I think if they were fighting again, we would have heard it by now." Fluttershy replied, sounding like the weight of the world was off her shoulders now that she was settled on the pillows she had laid out beneath her spot on the bed. Considering all she had been through and the extra effort she had needed to give, the chance to truly relax and give both herself and her foal some calm was all the reward she wanted.

"Maybe. Although maybe ah was just hopin' that Citrine might knock Flurry down a few more pegs."

"You really dislike her that much?" Fluttershy asked as she looked back over her shoulder, watching her friend stop and look back at her.

"After how she treated us earlier, ah can't say that I'd ever invite her to the farm." Applejack flicked her ears slightly and paused as somepony knocked at the door. She quickly walked over to the door and opened up to see Citrine and Flurry Heart standing there. Despite the concerns of how things might have gone, both of them looked relaxed and content.

"Hey. Sorry if we disturbed you." Citrine said in greeting.

"Not at all, what's up?" Applejack replied, doing her best to appear cordial to Flurry.

"Well, we just wanted to thank you. Thank you both," Flurry said, looking past Applejack slightly and over to Fluttershy, who was watching quietly from her position. "For bringing our friendship back together when we had thought it was gone forever."

"It's more than that," Citrine added. "You helped us see that our beliefs are no reason for us to stop being friends. I've spoken to Cadance about this as well and we think that there's a chance to ease the tension between the royal supporters and onyx dawn, help everypony regain that sense of peace that recent events have taken from us."

"Well that's mighty good to hear. I honestly hope you both manage to do some good." AJ smiled more genuinely at those words, a smile that Flurry Heart returned in kind to her.

"Despite the...Rough start we had, I know that this wouldn't have been possible without your help. Applejack, Fluttershy, thank you both from the bottom of my heart."

"Oh, you're welcome. We're just happy we could help, right Applejack?" Fluttershy replied. The way she said it simply sounded satisfied at a job well done to the two ponies at the door but Applejack caught the subtle hint in it and bit back the comment she had been about to make.

"Of course. Just keep doin' what you're doin' and everything'll work out right."

As Citrine and Flurry nodded and made their way to leave, still voicing their thanks, Applejack tensed slightly at a gentle thrumming sensation that had started up in her flanks. She didn't need to look to see what it was though, experience and Fluttershy's gentle gasp told her all she needed to know. The map was satisfied that the situation was settled and their work was done. Applejack felt a small rush of elation and was on the verge of letting out a whoop of joy at the success when she remembered the mare behind her. The sensation was helping Fluttershy drift into a well earned slumber and the earth pony settled for gently shutting the door.

After a mission like that, both of them had earned a rest.

Author's Note:

So, on a scale of Amy Keating Rogers to F.M De Marco, how did I do for writing an episode style piece? I like I think I was at least a Dave Rapp

Seriously though, I know it's not the best but this served as a world-building piece I've wanted to write for some time. I'm happy with how it came out and hopefully you all enjoyed it too. Let me know what you thought and hopefully I'll see you for my next fic, Secrets of the Heart!

Comments

[ididntthinkidlikethis]

This... has obviously gotten less attention then it deserves.

This is a nice little slice of life fic, and feels... well, it feels like something you could see in the actual show. It certainly leaves some questions that need answering, and I assume that has or will happen in other stories. Still, nicely done.

[Quick Fix]

8180591 I really appreciate that. Thank you!

A lot of the questions stem from the fact that this is an offshoot from a story I'm still writing at present. I'm hoping it'll be ready to upload next month.