Crystal Note - Where life leads us

by TalkingToMyself

Family - Part II

Velvet Heart woke up when sunlight tickled her senses. With a blink, she was up and sneaked out of the bed without waking Sweetie Tooth and Glass Slipper, she had years of practice doing that.

Today, she felt better somehow. The sun was brighter, the air was warmer and she almost felt lighter today. Not in the mood to second-guess things, she just smiled and scampered down the stairs. Most likely Crystal Note would be up already.

As soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she froze in mid step. Her eyes opened up wide before she raced up the stairs again.

A few minutes later, two drowsy sisters found themselves nudged down the stairs by a nervous Velvet Heart. Just like the filly had done before, they stared at the strange thing in their living room.

Around the couch and the small coffee table, there was a pink dome made of light. It was a pale light. They could easily see through it and watch Crystal Note sitting on the couch with her violin in her hooves and her eyes closed. She was obviously playing a song, but the fillies couldn’t hear anything.

They looked at each other and shrugged

“Magic spell?”

“Seems like it.”

“What’s it for?”

The three fillies stepped a little closer to get a better look at the light

“What do we do now?”

“Ask her why she put up a spell in our living room, maybe?”

“And how do we do that when she’s inside that thing?”

“I dunno. Knock?”

Glass Slipper nodded and gently nudged Velvet Heart towards the dome

“Go ahead.”

“Why me?”

“You found her.”

“You’re the oldest!”

Sweetie Tooth rolled her eyes and walked up to the light when her sisters continued bickering. She raised her hoof and tried to knock, but passed right through the barrier instead.

“Huh?”

She looked back at Glass Slipper and Velvet Heart but they just shrugged again, she Sweetie Tooth took another step forward and poked her head inside.

As soon as she passed the barrier, she could hear the music. Crystal Note was playing a song she never heard before on her violin and hummed along as she did. Sweetie Tooth smiled and just listened for a moment. Crystal Note barely played music the sisters were around, so she seized the chance to hear some more of it.

Of course, she soon felt a poke on her flank from Velvet Heart, so she interrupted the song

“Um, good morning?”

Crystal Note opened her eyes and smiled at the filly who looked just a little disappointed when the music stopped

“Oh, hello Sweetie Tooth. Did something wake you up?”

“Not really. I mean, Velvet did. It’s morning?”

Crystal Note blinked and turned her head to look at the window. She saw the sunlight falling in, but just barely as she noticed her spell was still in place. Her eyes closed and a soft glow surrounded her horn, then the dome of light gently faded away.

Crystal Note carefully put her violin back in its case and turned to the three fillies who were still staring at her

“Good morning girls.”

They smiled back, but Crystal Note couldn’t find those carefree and happy smiles she had seen the day before. Sweetie Tooth’s smile was tinged by disappointment. Glass Slipper looked nervously at her. Velvet Heart had that defiant glare she usually used to hide her true feelings behind

“Did you stay up all night to play music?”

Crystal Note chuckled and nodded

“I guess I did. It’s been a while since I lost myself in music like this. But it helps me clear my mind.”

She walked up to the fillies and Sweetie Tooth who stood closest leaned into the hug and nuzzles they shared each morning. As the filly’s smile grew wide and genuine, most of the warmth she felt the other day returned.

She’d come to the conclusion it didn’t matter if Sweetie Tooth knew what she’d said last night or not. Right now, Crystal Note was their guardian and caretaker, because it was what they needed. If they’d need something more along the way, she’d become more for them. If she could be a mother for them, she just had to find out. Right now, she would be there for them and not let her worries distract her from the three fillies in front of her.

Glass Slipper bit her lip but after an encouraging smile from Crystal Note shared what was on her mind

“You never cast spells like that. So why did you put a magic shield around you last night?”

Crystal Note’s smile stayed warm and open, she could relate to how the crystal fillies would feel about this and went with an honest answer, as she found out worked best when taking about magic

“I just didn’t want to wake you girls. It was not a shield spell, it’s a spell called ‘bubble of silence’. I learned it back when I was a travelling musician and moved between towns all the time.”

Glass Slipper tilted her head and Crystal Note chuckled again when she realized her answer didn’t really explain too much

“It’s a spell that lets everything pass, except sound. You can be as loud as you want inside, but nopony outside will hear you.”

Glass Slipper nodded, more satisfied with that answer, but now Velvet Heart went on

“But why do you need a spell to keep your music out? I thought musicians want to have ponies hear their music.”

Crystal Note grinned a little

“Let’s just say when you’re in a hotel room and inspiration suddenly strikes you at three in the morning, the other hotel guests aren’t usually that happy when you wake them up, even if it’s with music.”

The girls giggled as they imagined that and Velvet Heart took Crystal Note’s other side as the mare walked them towards the kitchen. They prepared breakfast together but the fillies kept watching Crystal Note more closely as she picked up a knife with her hooves to cut some slices of bread on a plate, then carried the plate to the table with her mouth.

“Wouldn’t it be easier if you used magic instead?”

Crystal Note turned around and blinked slowly. She clearly felt the lack of sleep from two nights by now

“Huh?”

“All of this. You could just pick everything up with magic and set it up in a second. You carried me, so it’s not like it’s too heavy, right?”

“Or you could just poof breakfast on the table instead of making it.”

Crystal Note blinked again but then laughed out loud

“Or I could just turn everypony into princesses and every house into a palace and give everypony a huge mountain of gold so we’d never have a care in the world again.”

Three pairs of wide staring eyes fixed on her as Crystal Note laughed even harder, so much that she even had to wipe away a few tears before she could answer

“Magic doesn’t work that way, girls. There are limits, many different kinds of limits even.”

Completely ignoring breakfast on the table, the three fillies still stared at her and their eyes seemed to burst with curiosity. Crystal Note had seen those kind of stares before, being the only crystal unicorn made sure the topic of magic came up sooner or later with every pony she met, but she was glad that the fillies were lacking that tinge of fear most the usually older crystal ponies had.

She took a deep breath and started by answering their questions

“Yes Velvet, I could pick the plates up with magic, just like I picked up you. And you’re right, it depends on how heavy things are. I could carry a plate longer than I could carry you, though multiple plates at once are harder than carrying a single filly. I can lift heavy things only for a short moment or not at all if they’re too heavy. My magic isn’t very strong, compared to other unicorns. That’s my first limit”

Velvet Heart nodded but the small frown told Crystal Note she wasn’t completely satisfied yet. She turned to the other twin

“And no, Sweetie Tooth, I can’t just poof breakfast into existence. Unicorn magic can’t just create things out of nowhere. It a natural rule of things.”

“But I’ve seen Flurry Heart poof pillows for everypony to sit on into the big hall once!”

Crystal Note smiled and nodded patiently

“That’s something different, honey. She didn’t create those pillows, she just transferred them from one place to another. But to do that, she had to know where exactly those pillows were before she cast that spell. So I guess I could conjure breakfast, if I knew there was breakfast standing around somewhere for me to get. Not that I know the spell to do this, though.”

Glass Slipper tilted her head

“So that’s another limit? Knowledge?”

She had helped herself to a slice of bread and some berry jelly and now passed it to her little sisters.

“Yes, but not only that. Even if I know about a spell, I would need to learn the inner workings of the spell to cast it. That means I need to understand it, and I need to have the ability to cast it as well.”

She tapped her chin with a hoof

“It’s kind of like playing an instrument. It’s not enough to just know the name of a song. You need to know how to play your instrument in general, and you need to know how to play that song on it. You’ll get better with practice, but even then you might never be able to play it as well as some other pony who’s more talented. And some songs just might be too difficult for you to ever get down right.”

Sweetie Tooth sighed and mumbled through a mouthful of breakfast

“Gosh, that sounds really complicated.”

Crystal Note just giggled

“It is. That’s why most unicorns only know how to do a couple of spells, usually those that help them with their special talents.”
“But Flurry Heart…”

Crystal Note sighed and shook her head

“Princess Flurry Heart and Princess Cadance both are alicorns. Their magic is different.”

She made sure to put an emphasis on their titles in a vain hope to stop further questions, as it got more and more difficult to answer those without having to explain some things she’d rather not talk about.

“But how is it different? Flurry Heart used that same pick-up spell as you.”

Another sigh rose out of Crystal Note, but it came with a soft smile. She remembered being just as curious when she was a filly

“Okay, so imagine a spell is a song and magic is the instrument you play on. A unicorn has to learn and practice magic, but even if they practice all their life and master it completely, it’s still just one instrument they each play. And not every song can be played with just any instrument, you know?

When Princess Cadance uses magic, it sounds like a whole orchestra is playing, dozens of instruments perfectly in tune with another, so she can play almost any song. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.”

The fillies stared at her with amazed wonder and before she even realized her slip-up, Sweetie Tooth gasped out

“You can actually hear magic? That’s so cool!”

Crystal Note bit her lip and looked down at the cup of tea Glass Slipper had managed to brew for her while she was talking. She stared at the reflection of her horn in the amber liquid

“Yes, I can. As far as I know, I’m the only one though.”

There was an almost tangible sadness in her voice as she said those words and of course, the fillies noticed it. Sweetie Tooth walked around the table so she stood next to Crystal Note’s seat, the filly’s head coming to rest against her flank. Glass Slipper stopped eating as she recognized that kind of sadness.

Velvet Heart kept staring with wide-open eyes, but their shine had dimmed down completely

“Why only you?”

Crystal Note closed her eyes and her hoof rose to pat Sweetie Tooth’s head as the filly gently pressed her muzzle against her

“Because, Velvet Heart, I’m the only crystal pony who is also a unicorn.”

Her eyes opened again and she called a well-practiced smile to her face as she turned to Glass Slipper and Velvet Heart

“I’m different in more ways than just how I look.”

Both fillies could see that the smile didn’t really match the tone Crystal Note’s voice had taken. They shared a glance, unsure how to respond to this. Glass Slipper tried anyway

“Being different isn’t necessary a bad thing?”

Crystal Note chuckled softly a little bit of the sadness vanished from her eyes

“No, it isn’t. Everypony is a little different. It’s what makes us special.”

Her head sunk down until she was staring at the teacup in front of her again

“It’s how you use what makes you different that decides if it’s a good kind of special or not.”

Lost in her own reflection, Crystal Note only noticed the fillies had moved when she felt somepony touching her. Velvet Heart stood at the other side of her seat on her rear legs, her small hooves clinging on her for balance, and for a hug. Glass Slipper stood behind her and rested her head on the mare’s shoulder. Sweetie Tooth still nuzzled into her other side.

The fillies didn’t know what caused Crystal Note’s sad mood. But still they tried to comfort her. They would have every reason in the world not to care about it, especially since all three of them had to go through so much sadness of their own recently. Still they made this effort and Crystal Note knew that in their hearts, they knew it was the right thing to do. Empathy, sympathy and solidarity, those were the cornerstones that made the community of crystal ponies so strong and that were deeply inlayed in their own kind of magic.

And even so, Crystal Note felt something more than just that. She had been through many sad thoughts in the years after the curse. She had friends comfort her on many occasion, some of them even princesses. Somehow, all of those times seemed pale to the moment the three fillies embraced her like this. It was like she had seen only flickers of light before, but now she finally could see the sun behind them for the first time ever.

She couldn’t hold back a soft sob breaking out. Before any of the girls could worry though, she pulled them into a firm hug, as best as she could from her seat and with a big smile on her face. They stayed like this for a few minutes before Crystal Note released the fillies from her hold

“Thank you, girls. I really needed that.”

“You’re welcome!”

They exclaimed in unison and giggled. Sweetie Tooth leaned in for another nuzzle and added

“That’s what family does, right?”

Crystal Note froze for a second, but then smiled sadly

“Family…”

Velvet Heart and Sweetie Tooth looked at each other confused, but Glass Slipper again recognized this tone of voice and jumped in

“So, what other spells do you know?”

Crystal Note threw a grateful glance to the oldest sister

“Oh, only a few simple ones. Torchlight spell, campfire spell, ‘Forgot my tea and now it’s cold’ spell… um, that’s not really the name, but it’s what I call it. Essentially, it’s for heating up water.”

“Like the bath?”

Crystal Note nodded started picking up the dishes from breakfast. As she carried them to the sink, Velvet Heart frowned again

“I still don’t get why you don’t use magic more often.”

The mare smiled as she rinsed the dishes

“It’s normal for me to use my hooves. I’m still not that used to having magic yet.”

Again, the fillies fell silent and stared at her. It took Crystal Note’s sleepy mind a few moments to realize she had let something slip out again

“Not yet?”

The mare sighed and shook her head to deflect the question

“I’m sorry, I think I need to catch up on sleep before anything else. I need a nap.”

Just as she said that, a big yawn broke out of her. Glass Slipper nodded but Sweetie Tooth started to pout

“But we still didn’t learn all about magic yet!”

Crystal Note mumbled through another yawn

“It takes years to learn all of it, decades maybe. But, if you want to know more, you could ask Sunburst. He’s the one teaching magic to Flurry Heart and he knows a lot.”

Glass Slipper frowned and nudged the twins towards the door

“That’s a great idea! Come on, let’s go to the palace! We can visit Princess Flurry Heart when we’re there.”

Crystal Note climbed onto the couch and mumbled a soft “Have fun” before she curled up for her nap. Once the fillies were outside, Velvet Heart glared at Glass Slipper. She knew that frown her older sister meant something

“We’re not really going to the palace for a study session, right?”

Glass Slipper shook her head

“Yes and no. We’re going to the palace, but I want to meet somepony else than Mr Sunburst.”

“Huh? Who?”

Glass Slipper started walking towards the palace. The twins followed as soon as they got their answer

“Family.”