Children of Harmony

by Pinkie Pie Sweets

Chapter 30: Tour of the Crystal Empire

On a nice day on the Friendship Express:

Sakura and her family are going to spend the week at the Crystal Empire with her aunt, uncle and cousins and to have a special birthday party. A few days ago Twilight got a little from her brother about Rose Crystal's Birthday is on the same day as Ame and Yuki, so he decides to have the kids birthday on the same day at the Crystal Empire. The letter says that it will be a good way to show Twilight and her family to the citizens of the empire and get to have some family time.

Everyone else is busy getting things for the part and won't be there until the party, which is the next day. Twilight and her family are going there now to do some family time.

Sakura and the twins are playing cards to pass the time while, Twilight is rocking the baby and he is sleeping peacefully. Of course they are very excited to go to the empire and can't wait to see what the empire is like.

Ame happily says "I can wait til we get to the Crystal Empire!"

"I know. I'm excited to see our cousin Rose Crystal," Yuki says happily.

"Don't forget Blue Quartz," Ame replies.

"And let's not forget Aunt Cadance and Shining Armor," Sakura happily.

Then as Ame is getting a card from the deck, he says with excitement, "Still, I can't believe that we're going to have the same birthday party as our cousin."

"I know. I can't wait!" Yuki says with excitement.

"I know you all are excited, but you all need to behave yourselves while we're here and listen to your aunt and uncle as well," Twilight said as she is rocking the baby who is still sleeping in his blanket.

"Yes mom," Sakura and the twins answers.

Sakura and her brother and sister continues playing a game of go fish. Ame and Yuki are curious about the empire and thinks Sakura might know something about it.

Then Yuki asks, "So Sakura, did you read anything about the empire?"

"Honestly, there wasn't much about the empire so I had to ask Princess Celestia and Luna about it during my lessons," Sakura answers feeling a bit skeptic about the details.

"What did they say?" Ame asks sounding curious.

"They told me that the empire is every beautiful and everything is crystal like, even the ponies. Princess Celestia even told me that the empire is protected by the Crystal Heart and it's powered by the love and unity of the citizens in the Empire in order to protect it from the freezing weather and anything else lurking in frozen north," Sakura explains, but still unsure about the information about the empire.

"Cool!" Ame and Yuki replies with amazement.

It was another hour or so until they reach the empire. At that time they play old maid and little Tsubasa wakes up from his nap.

Twilight looks at the window and can see the empire. Twilight happily, "Look! We're here."

Sakura and the twins look out the window to see the Crystal Empire. When they did, they can see the empire is so sparkly and crystaly. The train finally stops at the station after a long train trip.

When the train stops, Sakura and her family starts to get their suitcases and bags to take for their stay. As they exit the train, they can see their Aunt Cadance who is waiting at the station for them. Sakura is holding the baby and the twins are keeping close to her. Twilight see her sister-in-law and to her the best foalsitter ever again after a while since she's back in Equestria.

Twilight happily calls out, "Cadence!"

Twilight and Cadence gives each other a big hug and then they do their special dance and phrase.

Twilight and Cadence chant, "Sunshine. Sunshine. Ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake."

After their phrase and dance, they simply laugh a bit and it's because they haven't done it in a while. Sakura and her siblings laugh a happily and are glad their mother is happy.

Then Cadence says, "It so good to see you again."

"I'm glad to see you too," Twilight replies happily.

"You are you doing?" Twilight asks.

"I'm doing fine," Cadence answers happily.

Then Sakura still holding the baby and the twins come over to say hello to their aunt and are happy to spend some time with her and their cousins.

Sakura and the twins says, "Hi Aunt Cadence."

Then Cadence happily says, "Hi Sakura, Ame and Yuki. How are my nieces and nephews doing?"

"We're doing fine," Ame answers.

"And our baby brother is doing fine too," Sakura adds while showing Cadence the baby.

Cadence comes over to see Tsubasa. When Tsubasa see Cadence, he simply smile and try to reach out to her.

Twilight laughs and says , "I think Tsubasa wants you to hold him."

"Sure," Caden happily replies.

Cadence use her magic to levitate the baby from Sakura arms and into her hooves. Tsubasa is happy and trying to touch Cadence's face. Twilight and the others simply laughs happily.

Then Twilight notice that there are some ponies missing from Cadence's group.

Twilight asks, "Cadence, where's Shining Armor?"

Sakura and the Twins also notice that their uncle isn't here. In fact they also notice that Rose Crystal and baby Blue Quartz aren't here either

Yuki says, "Yeah, and where are Rose Crystal and Blue Quartz?"

"He's busy with some royal duties before the birthday party and is very busy, Blue Quartz is taking his nap, and Rose Crystal is getting her room ready." Cadence explains.

Yuki and Ame doesn't really understand it since they are too young to understand, but Twilight and Sakura understand that he has to make sure the Empire is doing well since he is the prince after all.

Then Sakura says, "Guess royal business comes first."

"Afraid so," Cadence replies calmly.

"But why is Rose Crystal getting her room ready?" Yuki asks curiously.

Cadence simply smiles and explains, "Well, Rose asked me if you and your brother and sister can stay in her room for the week."

"And you told her it's okay," Sakura guesses.

"Yes I did. Also, Tsubasa is going to stay in the nursery with Blue Quartz and having a crib for Tsubasa size made for him." Cadence adds happily.

Twilight is kind of surprised that Cadence is making sure that her family is settled in for the week and glad to be with them as well.

Twilight happily says, "Wow! Thanks Cadence."

"You're welcome," Cadence happily replies.

Then Cadence says, "Now, let's get to the palace so you all can settle in."

Cadence then starts to lead Twilight and her family to the Crystal Empire and to the Crystal Palace. As they travel through the empire, Sakura, her mother, and the twins are amazed to see the empire is crystaly. It's as if the whole empire is made out of pure crystal. They can even see the ponies looking so crystaly. As they pass the ponies, they can see how happy they are. Sakura remember that it wasn't always like this. She remember that Princess Celestia telling her what King Sombra did to the citizens of the empire, and how he was defeated twice and destroyed forever. She is glad that the empire and it's citizens are safe and happy now.

As they reach the palace, Yuki happily screams, "Look! There's a statue of Spike!"

Everyone turns to see Spike when he was a baby dragon. The statue of Spike is holding a crystal heart.

"Look more like a younger version of him," Sakura clarifies.

Then Cadence comes over to the statue and explains, "That is Spike from when the Empire returned, which happened 20 years ago,"

"Wow!" Twilight and her family says in amazement.

Then Twilight says, "So in a way, Spike is a celebrity."

"You can say that," Cadence replies happily.

Everyone simply laughs and continue to make their way to the castle. When they're at the castle. They notice a blue crystal heart spinning at the base of the castle.

Then Cadence says, "And that is the Crystal Heart."

"Wow!" Everyone replies in amazement to see the Crystal Heart.

"It's so pretty!" Yuki says with excitement.

"I know and it also helps to protect us from danger," Cadence adds.

Then Cadence says, "Now, let's go inside the castle and get you all settle in."

Cadence use her magic to make the doors open and help escort Sakura and her family inside the castle.

Sakura and her family are amazed to see that the palace is much bigger on the inside than the outside.

"It's big on the inside!" Twilight replies in amazement.

Cadence simply laughs a bit and yet so happy Twilight and her family get to visit them in the Crystal Empire. She is even more glad that after all these years, Twilight is feeling better and has children of her own.

Just then a cheerful voice says ,"Mommy!"

Cadence and the others turn to see Rose Crystal and she is carrying baby Blue Quartz on her back. Rose Crystal walks over to her mom and gives her a hug.

Cadence hugs her children happily and says, "Hi Rose. Hi Blue Quartz."

"So are they here?" Rose asks happily.

"We are," Sakura answers getting Rose's attention.

Rose comes up to her aunt and cousins and says, "Hi everyone, welcome to the Crystal Empire."

"Thank you Rose," Twilight replies.

Just then Sakura and her brothers and sister are with Blue Quartz and Rose Crystal. They are glad they get to be with each other for the week and can't wait to do stuff while they're here.

The Cadence comes to her daughter and asks, "Rose, why don't you show your cousins around the castle and help get their bags in their room."

"Okay mommy," Rose answers happily.

Rose then turns to her cousins and says, "I'll show you all to my room."

"Sure," Sakura and the twins reply.

"Can Blue Quartz and Tsubasa come with us," Yuki asks.

"Sure. As long as you keep an eye on them," Twilight answers.

"Yes mom," The kids reply.

Then they take the baby to the hallway so Rose can give them the tour. When they are gone, Cadence and Twilight are going to have a little chat in the throne room.

Twilight hugs Cadence and happily says, "It's very good to see you again."

"I'm glad too and I'm glad our children are getting along with each other," Cadence replies happily while hugging Twilight back.

"Yeah. I hope the citizens of the empire will like them too," Twilight replies feeling a bit calm and a bit worried.

Cadence put her hoof on Twilight and gives her a hug saying, "Don't worry, I announced them about you and your family's visit."

"Really?" Twilight surprisingly asks.

"Yes and they are very eager to meet you and your family," Cadence replies.

Twilight is kind of glad that the citizens of the empire wants to meet them. She hopes that her children will have new friends.

In the hallway:

Rose Crystal is showing her cousins around the palace. Sakura and the twins are amazed that their cousin has a big house and have a lot of room to play. After they put their things in their room, Rose continued her tour of the palace and they are like to see more of the empire later on.

Sakura asks, "So Rose, what kind of stuff you do in the Crystal Empire?"

"I do a lot of stuff. There's the Crystal Fair, pick berries, watch Ewes, and also go to the spa with my mom, Rose answers happily.

"Do you have sports?" Ame asks.

"We have sports here. One of them is jousting," Rose answers.

"Cool, but I don't think I can do that," Ame replies amazed and concern about jousting.

Sakura laughs a little and says "I don't think you'll be able to carry a big stick Ame."

"Don't worry Ame there's also a field to do hurdles, tacks, soccer, and other sports," Rose adds.

"Good," Ame replies very glad about the other sports the ponies do.

As they are looking around the castle, they start to hear someone arguing and sounding very upset.

Yuki asks, "What is that?"

"We must be near the meeting room. That's where my dad is," Rose answers.

"I wonder what's going on," Sakura replies sounding a bit curious.

"Let's see," Rose says.

At that point, Sakura her brothers and sister, along with her cousins are looking through the door to see what is going on. Shining Armor seems to be having a meeting with 8 crystal ponies. The ponies seems to be fighting about something. Sakura can tell that Shining Armor seems to be a bit tired and isn't sure about dealing with the ponies.

A purple crystal stallion angrily says, "I think we should continue to concentrate on the crystal berry production!"

"Why, that's foolish! We should try using apple as well. We did very well the past few years," A blue crystal mare says arguing with the other pony.

Then a green crystal stallion with glasses angrily says, "You two are always focusing on fruit! I'm here to discuss about the off key of the flugelhorns are!"

"But we really need to discuss something more important than fruits and flugelhorns," A dark purple mare replies.

Then the dark purple mare says, "Namely, the strange occurrences that continues throughout the castle, especially in my library,"

The blue mare sighs with annoyance and says, "Oh no. Not this again! Here we go…"

"Onix is right, though. I've been hearing strange voices and moans in the hallway," The light blue Stallion replies agreeing with the purple mare who they call Onix.

"It's true. We heard it too," The peach colored stallion with a red hat says.

"We also been hearing strange chain rattling every time we work," The peach color stallion with the green hat adds sounding scared.

Then Onix says, "And there's also the matter of the glowing eyes I've seen in the library, right before they vanished and all the books going missing every time they disappear!"

"That's nothing but a bunch of rubbish!" The Blue Mare yes.

"Then how do you explain about what's been going on in the castle," Onix adds angrily at the Blue Mare's face.

"I don't know, but you want to know something that is not rubbish," The Blue Mare says sounding annoyed,

"What's that?" Onix asks sounding frustrated.

The Blue Mare points to the door where Rose Crystal and the others are and says, "There are four strange pony like creatures along with the prince and princess behind the door, and they're also eavesdropping on us."

"Huh!" Everyone is the room replies sounding a bit confused and look to where the door is.

Rose Crystal and the other realized they have been found out and are not sure what to do in this situation. In fact, they realized they are kind of in trouble.

"Busted," The kids replies scaredly and quietly.

Just then Cadence voice comes out of nowhere and asks, "What are you kids doing?"

Sakura and the others turn around to see their mothers are behind them. When they are able to explain, they trip and fall behind them and causing the door to open. Tsubasa and Blue Quartz and save from the fall by Sakura's magic and slowly levitates to the ground. Shining Armor and the other Crystal Ponies are a bit confused to see them here right now.

"Um… hi daddy," Rose nervously says while waving her hoof hello.

"Hi Rosy," Shining replies, waving to his daughter.

Then Rose Crystal, Sakura, and the twins laugh nervously and feel embarrassed for eavesdropping on the conversation. Just then baby Tsubasa and baby Blue Quartz starts to make their way to Shining Armor and are glad to see him to.

Sakura calls out, "Tsubasa, come back!"

"Blue Quartz, wait!" Roze replies calling her little brother.

But so far they won't listen. The manage to baby walk and crawl to Shining Armor and and reaching their arms or hooves to him. Everyone else, except for Twilight, Cadance, and Shining Armor are kind of confused about what is going on here.

Shining Armor is happy to he his son and nephew. He says, "Hey little guys," and decides to pick them up.

The comes over with a confused look on her face and asks, "Uh Prince Shining Armor who is this creature."

Then Onix comes over and happily says, "He sure is cute."

"This creature is a baby," Shining Armor answers.

Then he turns to where the others are and says, "And they're my nieces and nephews. They're my sister's children."

"You can say that again," Twilight says happily and coming towards her brother.

Shining Armor smile to hear his sister. He is also glad to see here again.

Shining Armor happily says, "Twily, you're here!"

Shining comes up to her and he and Twilight give each other a hug. When they finish hugging each other, Twilight grabs hold of her baby so it will make it easy for Shining.

Then Shining Armor says, "It so good to see you again."

"You too BBBFF," Twilight happily replies.

As thing are getting good for the family, Sakura is kind of confused about this so called mysterious being that the ponies been talking about.

Sakura comes up to her uncle and asks, "So what this about this creature you're talking about."

"Oh! They're talking about the strange things going on at the palace lately," Cadence explains.

"The way you guys are talking, you guys might need some help," Sakura says.

"Yeah! I say we go on a creature hunt," Ame adds excited to get some action."

But Twilight says, "Now kids, I don't want you looking for creature that might be dangerous.

"But Sakura was able to deal with the shadow monster and the vines," Yuki replies.

"That was Sakura, Yuki." Twilight clarifies.

"Right," Yuki replies sadly with disappointment.

"Yeah. Sakura has powerful magic and can fly. She also got great fighting skills. So Sakura is able to take care of herself," Ame adds.

The crystal ponies are kind of impressed that a girl at Sakura's age is able to deal with some dangerous creature.

Then Shining happily says, "Sounds like Sakura is pretty capable for taking care of herself."

Then the blue mare interrupts and says, "Um, your highness."

Shining turns to see the other ponies. He then remember that he has some work to do still.

"Right," Shining says sounding sheepish.

He then turns to Twilight and the others and says, "Listen I'm still need to handle with the meeting right now, but I'll be done by tomorrow."

"We understand," Twilight replies.

Twilight then hugs her brother and says, "I'll see you later.

"I'll see you all after I finish," Shining replies.

Everyone says their goodbyes and starts to leave the room with the babies.

"Bye daddy," Rose says as she is leaving the room.

Then Shining Armor says, "Bye Rose and make sure you help watch your brother and cousins."

"I will," Rose replies happily.

After Cadence takes Sakura and her family out of the room and to the hallway, Shining Armor continue the meeting with the ponies and they are arguing among themselves all over again.

Then the green stallion says, "Now, enough of these silly ghost stories we need to get to important matters, like the flugelhorns!"

Sakura is kind of distracted about this mysterious being that was hiding in the castle. The way the ponies made it sounds it almost like there is someone that's been snooping around the castle at night, but none of them actually have a good at the creature. She can also hear the ponies arguing about their needs and thinks being royal has to deal some problems.

"Sounds like royal duties can be a big pain," Sakura says.

"I know they can be hard, but we need to make sure the empire is working along smoothly and without problems," Cadence replies calmly

Sakura thinks about and remember that Celestia and Luna also has their share of responsibility as princesses.

Then Sakura says, "I guess you're right."

As they are making their way through the hall, Twilight looks at the window and says, "And it looks like it's going to get dark soon."

"Aww, but I want to show them the Crystal Empire," Rose says sounding disappointed.

"Don't worry, we can show them the empire tomorrow," Cadence says reassuring her daughter.

"Okay," Rose replies feeling a bit better.

Then Cadence says, "Now I do believe it's time for dinner. I hope you love the food the crystal ponies make."

"I'm sure it will be delicious," Sakura replies happily.

Ame laughs and says, "Yeah. You not only love cooking food, but you also love eating them."

Sakura looks at her brother feeling angry and embarrassed. She asks, "Why did you have to say that?"

"Because it's trues," Ame says with a smirk on his face.

Everyone starts to laugh a bit after hearing that. Sakura feels a bit embarrassed about it and then starts to laugh with everyone else. During dinner, Twilight and the kids love the food they have and it's something they never tried before. During the time, Sakura is still curious about the creature the ponies are talking about and want to know what is this creature and why it's stealing books from the library. She also wonders why it's was shadowing the palace. She think the creature has a reason why, but doesn't know what it/ She then decides to put this mystery aside for now and enjoy some time with her family and can't wait for the part and the tour for tomorrow.

Author's Note:

Sounds like Sakura and her siblings and cousins are having a great time. But tonight, they are going to be involved in a mystery.