Fallen Queendom

by Zeroraid

19

She was singing again. It wasn’t a bad thing to be honest. It was becoming apparent that the Allmother, Gaea, liked singing, something about it filled the world with life, and something about it caused it to seem so much brighter.

It was a pleasant feeling.

Still Gaea’s song went mostly ignored by one; the bodyguard that seemed to frown at nothing in particular and repeatedly glanced off in another direction.

“That feeling…” The mare whispered as she again looked off in a random direction and started lagging behind her little group. ‘I want to write it off as my imagination, but that definitely felt like Sunset’s magic…’ The mare thought. “Or at the very least her dark magic.” The mare grumbled as she felt her frown deepen. “But that can’t be the case… Sunset… she’s” The mare thought to herself before closing her eyes and started to rejoin the group. “Sunset is dead.”

“At least, that’s what you were told.”

A voice echoed into the mares mind, and she honestly nwasn’t to sure if it was her own, or somepony else's’. Regardless of who it belonged to though, she couldn’t really find herself denying that thought.

What she had been told all those years ago, it didn’t necessarily mean it was the truth.

Everyone could lie; ponies, griffons, dragons… everyone had the power to lie. Just because Equestria was built up on the magic of friendship; the ideas attributed to kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty and honesty didn’t change that fact.

Everyone had the power to lie, not just her and others, but to themselves as well.

“Sunset…” The mare muttered as she took a breath. “Are you alive?” She asked, keeping her head low as she seemed to frown. “If that’s the case…”

“Do you want to head out?” Gaea asked looking back at the mare, her servant doing the same as well.

“Hm?” The mercenary turned bodyguard made a noise as she addressed the two. “Sorry, what was that?”

“Do you want to head out?” The Mother Goddess repeated. “Would you like to leave to pursue your own ideals?”

“My ideals align with his.” The bodyguard gestured to the stallion who remained silent, but the Mother Goddess just made a noise and seemed to think.

“Perhaps I am using the wrong words.” She muttered. “Would you like to go out on your own… to see if ‘Sunset’ is indeed alive.” The bodyguard frowned slightly.

“You heard me?”

“I am, quite literally, all around you.” Gaea stated. “There isn’t a voice on my soil I can not hear.” The entity admitted as the bodyguard seemed to think for a moment.

“Right~ forgot for a moment.”

“That’s quite fine.” Gaea whispered. “Still, you haven’t answered my question. Do you wish to be relieved of duty for a bit so that you might see if this ‘Sunset’ indeed lives?” The mare simply goes silent for a bit before making a face.

“Is she alive?” The mare asks. “If she is… surely you would be aware of her existence.”

“Indeed.” Gaea admitted as she seemed to look north. “And she indeed lives." The entity stated. "Do you want to go see her?"

"Maybe later." The mare mumbled to herself.

"OH?." Her client finally spoke up. "Why is that?"

"As I said, my ideals align with yours." The mare stated. "And if I step away, my ideals might never be made real." She told them. "Besides…" She paused. "I go where the money goes."

"I see."

---

Crystal Empire

Shining Armor couldn't help sighing in relief as he stepped into the bath. It was, for all intents and purposes, just what he needed after a long day. A chance to just lay back in the tub and relax.

Only thing was, this wasn't his bathroom. This place was much too fancy, and shined a little too much for his personal tastes. Still he'd let it go, after all, he'd been allowed to use the bath, and after a long trek through the snow, he felt like he needed it, and he didn't just mean that because it warmed him up.

Sitting in the royal crystal bathhouse, Shining Armor found his body relaxing. "This is nice." He muttered, more to himself than anypony else. Still he did kinda expect a response, especially since his wife was sharing it with him.

That said, the response he was expecting never came, and glancing to the side, he found out why.

Cadence seemed lost in thought, her attention not really focusing on anything even though she was staring in a single direction. It wasn't that often when he found Cadence so deep in thought. Sure he'd seen her with her 'thinking face' on before, but she never had it so… intense. Like she was thinking particularly hard about something.

"Cadence?" The stallion's voice pulled the mare out of her thoughts as she blinked a few times before looking at him.

"Huh? Oh Shining Armor." Cadence muttered. "Is something wrong?"

"I should be asking you that." Her husband muttered. "You're still thinking about what Pale Arts said." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah…" The mare admitted as she tried disappearing under the bath. “I just… was she telling the truth?” Cadence muttered. “That I’m the heiress of the Crystal Empire?” She paused. “That I’m from the past?”

“Cadence…”

“Shining, you remember what i told you about my past right? About how I grew up in a village of Earth Ponies? About how I never knew my real parents?” The mare muttered. “I was happy with my adoptive parents, but I always wondered who my real ones were. So, I… looked, I wanted to know why they abandoned me, but I couldn’t find anything related to them. And…” Cadence paused. “Sometimes… Sometimes when I would ask Auntie, she got this ‘look’. Like she knew something but couldn’t tell me.” The mare admitted. “If I’m really from the past and Auntie knew, does that mean…” Cadence paused again. “She was hiding it from me?”

“Cadence…”

“And if so… why did she hide it?” Shining Armor didn’t say anything, instead, just moving across the path and leaned against his wife.

“I don’t know.” He admitted. “I don't know if that mare was telling the truth, but I also don’t know if she was lying.” He told her. All I can say is… there's a lot about this situation that we don’t know. I’m not sure what’s going to happen. But… we’re going to figure this out together.” He told her. “I promise.”

“I know…”

---

Pale Arts found herself returning to the hall of stained glass as she looked at the old memories that were plastered on the walls. Memories that weren’t her’s reflected themselves back at her, but that was to be expected as they were presented for all the world to see. “So many events… , so many moments in time, just memories we may soon forget.” The mare whispered as she started walking down the halls, getting a better view of the Crystal Empire’s history. “At least, that is how it would be, had it not chosen to return. But now…” The mare muttered. “What will happen?” She asked. “One thousand years, that’s how long it has been since the Empire vanished. The world, Gaea has changed so much.” She admitted. “So much has changed since the old days, and…” The mare paused. “Things are going to change once again.” Whether that is for the better or for the worst that is uncertain.” The mare grumbled as she heard something walking up to her. Turning her head she saw that a small crystal spider, a golem was following her. It seemed to look to the left, than to the right before looking back at her and started skittering up to her.

She wasn’t worried about it attacking her. Since Gentle’s ‘episode’ not that long ago he had cleared out Sombra’s influence over them. They weren’t under his control now, but they weren’t hostile anymore. Anything they were as docile and curious as one could get.

“What shall we do with you?” Pale Arts muttered as she saw the spider-golem get closer to her before letting it follow after her. “I’m honestly not that sure yet.” She made a noise. “Well we have time to figure that out.”