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Chapter 36~1,335 words

Chapter 17~

-Crystal Empire: Crystal Castle-

A duo of joyful voices echoes down a crystalline corridor, causing the ears of stationed guards to flicker in response. The clopping of encroaching hooves soon accompanied the voices, followed by the forms of Princess Luna and Snowdrop as they turned a corner.

“Thou hath tempered thine senses well, Snowdrop.” Luna watched in awe as the blind light-blue-coated pegasus navigated almost flawlessly. “Truly, tis fascinating.”

Throughout their time together, the lunar princess was simply astonished by Snowdrop and how she used her remaining senses to detect and avoid oncoming obstacles, even during their talks while still in motion.

Snowdrop’s ears flickered in response to sounds even before Luna’s own could receive them, giving the filly a type of early warning system. Her sense of touch paired well with this, and although the pegasus couldn’t match the earthly connection of an earth pony, one could wager that her connection was far vaster than most, if not, all other pegasi.

But arguably the most reliable sense of all was the filly’s sense of smell, often flaring her nostrils and seemingly using her alicorn companion as a sort of focal point. If the distance between them grew, she simply needed to get closer to Luna’s casablanca lily fragrance—that was the best comparison she could muster, thanks to her visits to the Crystal Empire’s flower shops.

“And thou art self-taught?”

A guard salutes them as they pass, earning a nod from Luna before she sets her sights on Snowdrop, who, as always, kept her gaze forward for obvious reasons.

“Oh, Miss. Chestnut has been incredibly helpful.” the filly turns her head toward Luna’s direction, following those words to the source that made her feel…adored. Cherished. “Words can’t express how wonderful she’s been with my disability, so I can’t take all the credit, pri-”

“Please, confidant, just Luna shall suffice.”

Confidant. A word Snowdrop had only recently come to learn about, yet it was something she was grateful to have earned.

Snowdrop giggles, followed by a cheery grin. “Right. I’m sorry, Luna, it’s just that I’m not used to being around royalty this much. I’m…a little nervous.” She hated having to lie like that…

Those words caused Luna to pause in place with folded ears and a mildly pained expression. Having picked up on the change via her senses, Snowdrop stops a few feet ahead before turning back to Luna’s direction.

The duo then stood within the corridor’s epicenter in momentary silence. “Snowdrop,” Luna began, prompting the filly to tilt their head.

“Yes, Luna?”

“Thou hath spent ample time with Princess Amore, yes?”

The pegasus nods rapidly. “Mhmm. She’s really nice!”

“I see…yet thou sayeth that royalty makes thee nervous?” Luna’s eyes fell to the crystal floor, “Doth we incite such fear upon thee, confidant?”

The filly’s eyes widen in realization. “O-oh! No, I didn’t mean it like that, Luna. It’s just, well…uhm…”

Hesitation caused Snowdrop’s words to die in her throat, and her mind went to war with itself as she closed her eyes and lowered her head. Luna immediately picks up on this, but before the alicorn can voice her concerns, her ears twitch upon detecting the faint sound of a low-pitched sob.

Realization dawns on the alicorn, and she trots forth with pure concern plastered on her features. But Snowdrop’s head remained lowered, despite her senses screaming at her via Luna’s approach.

The encroaching clopping halts, and after a brief moment of pause, a tender hoof rests beneath Snowdrop’s chin and gently raises the filly’s head, whereupon Luna meets the pegasus’s tearful gaze. And it was at that moment that the alicorn saw a story of endless pain, sadness, and loneliness.

She understood the filly all too well.

“What troubles thee, Snowdrop? Speak truthfully and undeterred, and know that I, Luna, Mistress of the Night, shall listen.” her hoof lowers to the floor with a clank. “Thou ‘rt mine confidant, and I, thous. I… I want to be there for thee. Please, confide in me.”

-I don’t want to lose such a rare gem…- Luna was partly grateful for the filly’s disability, for they would’ve deciphered the wave of desperation upon the alicorn’s face. -In such a short time, thou hath given me something I thought would forever be out of my reach…hope.-

Snowdrop’s tears began to flow like a relentless river. “I,” she sobs, “I want you to…like me…”

“Wh-what…?” Luna inquired with widened eyes, taken aback as the filly continued to weep. “Snowdrop…I hath had a most wonderous time with thee. These last few hours hath been some of the greatest I’ve ever experienced. How could thou ask such a thing?”

“I-it’s much more than that…” Snowdrop tried to express it, but the ever-waging war taking place in her psyche got the better of her. She lost. “I-I…” her head once again fell downward, much to Luna’s bafflement.

There WAS something Snowdrop desired, but… No, she couldn’t ask for that. It would be far too selfish of her. But above all, she would be unworthy of Luna—an alicorn princess, for Amore’s sake—just as she’s always been for anypony else.

There were many reasons, of which she had long since surrendered to, but there was one that triumphed over them all: why would anypony, royalty or not, adopt a blind orphan? Thus, with that resignation, she acted.

Snowdrop suddenly kicks off and runs past Luna, much to the alicorn’s surprise. “Snowdrop!” Luna shouts, extending a forelimb. “Wait!”

“I’m so sorry!” Snowdrop cried out, tears flying in the wind as she ran down the corridor. “I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry! Please, just…just forget about me!”

“Wait, please!”

Luna called out to her, but she couldn’t go back. She had to run; she couldn’t allow herself to be a burden to the lunar princess.

The fleeing filly then turns the same corner she and Luna had previously traversed, prompting several guards and servants to gasp upon noticing her rapid form. At this point, she didn’t really have a planned direction, only a need to get further away from the alicorn. She could always find her way out once the coast was clear.

However, if the pegasus’s ever-trusty senses were to be believed, fleeing from Luna was becoming more complicated as she could pick up the sounds of approaching hooves coming from her rear.

“Snowdrop!” Luna exclaimed in worry, skiing to a halt as she came around the corner. “Away with this tiresome game and cease thine actions this instant! Please!”

Snowdrop ignores the alicorn, maintaining her lead and turning another bend.

“Woah, slow down there, kid!” a southern stallion’s voice beckoned. “Yer gonnah-!”

Sadly, the stallion’s warning came far too late. And Snowdrop lets loose a fearful shriek.

Distracted by her desire to escape from Luna and seemingly ignoring her senses urging their owner to take caution, Snowdrop slips and slides towards a towering, crystalline pedestal with a potted plant resting atop its spire.

Moments before Snowdrop turns the corner…

Radiant Hope laughs gleefully with two particular crystal guardsmares and a duo of saddle arabian warriors as they all stand before the dining room’s closed doors.

“It’s true!” Apple Crisp is exuberant. Head held up high. “We really messed up that day, didn’t we, Melody?”

“You messed up that day; I was damage control,” Musiqaa Melody corrects while rolling his orange eyes. “I told you that camel wasn’t a saddle arabian mare.”

“Well, she looked like one from behind at a certain angle, dangit!”

The two guardsmares, who Radiant Hope has often seen patrolling the empire, Opal Pie and Steady Grapevine, used one another as support while they laughed uncontrollably.

“Yeah, yeah,” Apple Crisp averted his gaze down the hall, “laugh it up, ya bunch ah rotten appl-”

Suddenly, a small presence runs around the corner, garnering the stallion’s attention. “Woah, slow down there, kid! Yer gonna-!”

The small pegasus slips and slides across the corridor, screaming while doing so. And to the horror of everyone else present, she was en route to a decorative potted plant resting on a pedestal.

Present…

Sadly, no one else in attendance could come to the filly’s aid in time. They tried. They so desperately tried, even calling out and praying for the filly’s safety while doing so.

Snowdrop collides harshly with the pedestal's base, causing it to wobble from the impact. She barely had enough time to process what was happening, the collision itself throwing off her senses as pain rattled her form.

“Snowdrop!” Radiant Hope’s voice called out on rapid approach. “Get out of the way!”

“Wh-wha-”

Suddenly, something fell upon Snowdrop’s head and shattered on impact, causing her to gasp and fall over as the smell of earthly material graced her nostrils. The same material that now covered and soiled her body.

There was another scent, too…one that she immediately recognized, having smelled it when she lost her biological mother on that fateful day to the invasive umbrum.

Blood.

The effect was immediate, and Snowdrop’s eyes rolled back into her skull as unconsciousness slowly staked its claim. And some of the last words her ears managed to receive were those of Apple Crisp, Radiant Hope, Opal Pie, Steady Grapevine, and one accompanied by hooves that came to a sudden stop.

“Snowdrop!” cried Luna, gasping after she turned the corner and rested her eyes on the horrifying sight. Then, she rears up and slams her forelegs with admirable force, cracking the crystalline floor as she's fueled by worry.

“No!” Luna roars out as her eyes become consumed in white lights, and her voice travels throughout the halls of the castle like a tidal wave, which jolts any who hears it to attention. And, likely soon, the entire empire would hear the night alicorn's coming proclamation.

“She is to receive medical care immediately!!! So declares the Princess of the Night!!!”

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