Chapter 4: A Crystal Retreat/Visions of Opaline
ENTRY 15
May 6, 2033
A full year has passed since the last time I wrote an entry in this Journal. I apologize for not regularly updating, but a lot of things have transpired since the last time I have felt the need to write. Due to my absence, you would assume that I am doing better now and you would be right.
Opaline has gotten so far in her training that it is unbelievable. She’s surpassed all of my expectations both in friendship and magic! I know that I should’ve had her graduate months ago, but it’s like me with Starlight. If I don’t have to send her away yet, I won’t. Whether I want to admit it openly or not, she’s a part of my family and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
She and I have grown a lot closer as a result of my constant presence. I can tell that she thinks of me as her own mother, even if she is too afraid to say it out loud. I’ve tried to give her the family that I know she deserves and I hope I have given her enough love because Celestia knows she needed it desperately.
Equestria is looking a lot better now too. Just when our international trade policy was on the brink of collapse, I swooped in and took direct action by repealing the heinous bill that I had accidentally unleashed. I still don’t know if Gallus forgives me though. Some rumors have gone around alleging that he had returned to Griffonstone with Silverstream. Others say that the two moved to Mount Aris.
Either way, we haven’t kept in touch and his last words to me still haunt every fiber of my being to this day. I’m still angry that he took it out on poor Opaline, but he had a valid point and I still contemplate to this day whether discharging him from the Guard really was the right thing to do.
Well today was a new day, and I decided to take Opaline to the Crystal Empire for a leisure trip. She had always wanted to explore places outside of Canterlot, so I thought why not take her there? After all, there was absolutely zero chance that she and Flurry Heart wouldn’t hit it off immediately. I asked Spike if he wanted to accompany us, but he had other things to take care of. He pointed out that someone had to hold down the fort with the Princess away and honestly, I couldn’t fault his logic.
So we took the train. I wanted to go there the old-fashioned way instead of flying as I enjoyed train rides. Plus, I had been a unicorn longer than an alicorn and taking a long, scenic ride was more of my style. Opaline stayed by my side the whole time. I could tell that she was scared of being on a moving vehicle and I didn’t blame her. For somepony riding the train for the first time in their lives, it can be nerve-wracking.
We arrived at around 2:00 PM. I made sure to bring plenty of scarfs and wool hats for Opaline to wear as I remembered trekking through the frozen north the first time when Celestia gave me that assignment to protect the Empire. Over 20 years later, it isn’t any easier. She was shivering the whole way there regardless, so I had completely failed to keep her warm in that regard.
When we reached the Empire, I gave her a self-guided tour of the city. Needless to say, Flurry had made a lot of improvements upon taking the reins from Cadence. The city was now much larger and more grand. In particular, we noticed that there was not only a live theater built for the annual Crystal Faire, but there were also other recreational avenues that the crystal ponies could indulge themselves in.
To the right of us on the way to the castle was a drinking and karaoke pub and beside it was a decently-sized children’s playground, which stood next to a small schoolhouse painted in solid gold. But the biggest thing that Opaline seemed to be interested in was the Crystal Heart. She just kept staring at it with a mix of awe and curiosity. I told her that she could look at it later and that we needed to see Flurry.
Needless to say, Flurry was really excited to see me. She had completely forgotten to do her mane, so it was all messy and frazzled when she came up to embrace me. We talked for quite a little bit in order to make up for lost time, and decided to stay for the night. Flurry was eager to get to know Opaline more. It took a while, but eventually Opaline warmed up to the young princess and the two of them were chatting it away.
I honestly have never seen her so happy around somepony before. The two got along great! Flurry had the exact amount of youthful energy to spark my apprentice up and she also knew exactly what to say to stimulate a long conversation. I left them alone for a bit to check on how Shining Armor was doing. He still lives in the castle, even though Cadence had since moved elsewhere post-coronation. To my BBBFF, the Empire was his home and he was never going to leave it, even if Flurry politely asked him to.
Shining now works as the official drill instructor of the Crystal Guard Academy, even if he’s not the captain anymore. Though he may be showing his age a bit in his movements, he still knows how to command absolute obedience and maximum attention from his recruits. Just ask the cadet who tried to prank him by stealing his badge. It did not go well for him whatsoever.
A lot of other creatures also now join the ranks of the Guard. No longer is the land simply protected by ponies. During one of Shining’s afternoon training sessions, I spotted a combination of hippogriffs, griffons, yaks, and changelings. It had only seemed like yesterday that Thorax was the boogeyman of the crystal ponies and now his subjects are a huge part of the military.
Later in the day, the Crystal Faire began after a short speech from Flurry, and it’s now a lot bigger and festive than it used to be. Creatures from all across Equestria now flock to attend the event and there is something for everyone now. The hippogriffs and Kirin now sing at talent competitions held at the theatre. The yaks and buffalo now have their own stomping and smashing grounds. Dragons now hold their own fire-breathing competitions that seem to be the most popular event. Griffons work admission stands for special historical museum tours, charging ponies out of their bits with ridiculous prices (within reason, of course). The changelings hold arts and crafts sessions for the little foals to express their creativity. Flurry explained it as part of her own inclusion initiative. As the population of the Empire was constantly growing in population, she wanted to make sure that there was room for everycreature to celebrate their own cultures. No longer was the Faire just about the Empire’s history.
It was now about everycreature’s history.
Opaline and I attended one of the talent competitions. It was a live performance of the play Haymilton put together by a very talented group of young Kirin students looking to express themselves. To say that Opaline got the songs stuck in her head would be an understatement. She was singing them all day and she couldn’t get them out of her head, much to her later annoyance. After that, we bought some ice cream and got our faces painted. She was initially a bit nervous to do so, but I assured her that the paint was washable, which got her onboard.
Following that, we enrolled in a free jousting tournament watched by thousands and she actually managed to beat me at combat! Shining Armor must’ve been giving her lessons behind my back. Thankfully, it was all fun and no one was allowed to take it too far. I then bought Opaline her very own flugelhorn and showed her how to use it. She didn’t end up mastering it at first, but watching the cool sounds she ended up making with it was interesting to say the least. When she finally got the hang of it, she couldn’t put it down.
She was that hooked.
Finally, the day concluded with everycreature gathering in a crowd in front of the Crystal Heart and pouring their light and love into it. The Heart spun and glowed with energy, sending a torrent of multicolored light out the top of the castle and cascading throughout the region. It was a truly magical experience and you would’ve had to have been there and see it to believe it. Opaline was glued to the whole thing. She raved about it to all of us at dinner faster than Pinkie Pie on fifty cupcakes. We all got a good laugh out of it and raised our glasses of water as a toast to the future.
It was a day of fun, a day of bonding, a day of friends…and a day of family.
“Ms. Flurry?”
Flurry Heart was interrupted from her happy thoughts by the sound of Opaline’s voice. She looked up, startled, and saw the young unicorn in front of her with a troubled expression on her face. She looked nervous and Flurry was concerned that something terrible had happened.
“Yes, Opaline?” Flurry greeted her. “What are you doing up this late?”
Opaline’s ears went flat in embarrassment. “I don’t want to disrupt whatever you’re doing…I-I’ll just leave now.”
“No no no!” Flurry shook her head, smiling. “It’s fine, it’s all fine! I was bored out of my mind anyways. Just thinking about…” She paused for a moment on how best to phrase her next sentence. “…you know. Ruler stuff. You know how Auntie Twi gets into that…zone.” She cringed inwardly for sounding so awkward.
Opaline nodded, not convinced.
“So…what do you need?” Flurry inquired curiously.
“I just…” Opaline looked down in shame. “You probably won’t let me, but…I want to see the Crystal Heart. Touch it, see it. I overheard somepony saying that it shows you what’s in your heart…and your future.”
Flurry nodded in understanding. “I’m aware of that legend. Some say that’s how King Sombra saw his future as a tyrant. I don’t think that’s real though. It always sounded too outlandish to me growing up, and that was 5-year old me talking.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Besides, we don’t usually let anypony near the Heart after hours anymore.”
“I just want to know…” Opaline stepped back a couple steps. “…If being Twilight’s apprentice is really in my future. I mean, I’ve done really well according to her, but…she is so much more powerful than I am. And I saw the way you used the Crystal Heart! How you poured your own magic into it! All of you are so much more powerful than I am. Even ordinary citizens are more powerful than me if they can influence an ancient relic just like that!”
“Power doesn’t always equal good, Opaline,” Flurry advised her cautiously. “And neither does knowledge come to think of it. Certain things are kept secret from us for good reason. In a way, if we knew everything about the world at such a young age…we likely would hate it. Same applies with magic. Some things like dark magic, forbidden spells, all that…they’re kept hidden for a reason. Even from alicorns like myself. You can learn it, but what’s even the point when good magic is so plentiful?”
Opaline nodded again. “I understand…I’m just…I don’t know, it’s stupid. Twilight tries to tell me to take things one step at a time, but I can’t! For some reason, I want to be as powerful and filled with confidence as she is. I don’t really have a lot of that…”
“I can relate,” Flurry stepped off the throne, gently gliding down in front of her. “Even now, I’m not the first pony you go to when it comes to confidence. As a ruler…” She sighed deeply. “I get scared a lot of times. Scared of messing up, scared of not living up to Mom’s legacy, you name it. I’ve always had a great support system, but I’ve never really mastered the confidence department, you know what I mean? I know how you feel.”
“Thanks…My confidence issues mainly stem from the fact that I don’t even know where I came from. Professor Cartridge always told me that I even never knew my family. A bunch of guards just found me alone in the Everfree Forest one night and then whisked me away to Magic School. I know nothing of my background, just that I’m extremely powerful.”
“I heard about you raising the Sun a year back.”
“Exactly!” Opaline exclaimed. “And before that, I severely hurt a school bully! I have all these weird abilities that I know nothing about! Twilight promised me that she would help me get to the bottom of my strange powers, but she hasn’t done squat about it in the entire time we’ve been together! I value her as a mentor…and a mother, but I want to know where I came from, what my future is. That way I…” She trailed off.
“Yeah…?”
“…That way I don’t end up hurting somepony I love…”
Flurry understood. She felt for Opaline. Her heart ached to hear the younger pony open up about her insecurities and doubts that reflected her own. In that moment, she knew that she had to do something. She felt that after getting to know Opaline like she did, she could trust her with the Crystal Heart. She could at least do well to soothe the unicorn’s fears.
Finally, she made up her mind and capitulated. The rebellious part of her took over any sense of logic and reason, and she threw caution to the wind. “Okay, Opaline…I’ll take you.”
Opaline brightened. “Wait, really?!”
Flurry nodded. “It’s the least I can do for a friend. The guards aren’t on patrol duty yet, so we can make a quick dash for it. Plus, I’ve always wanted to find out if the legend is true, sooooooo…yeah. But we gotta make this fast.”
Opaline was instantly by her side faster than she could blink. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you!”
Flurry giggled. “You’re welcome, Opaline.” She smiled mischievously as she let her inner child run loose. “Now…let’s go out the back door. That area is never guarded.”
The two ponies made their way down the halls of the castle and towards a double-door exit located near the large crystal staircase. As they were walking, Opaline admired the architectural design of the walls and floors. She thought that it was incredible to be walking inside a building made completely out of crystal. The amount of effort that must’ve gone into the construction process had to have been insane.
On the way out, she asked about the history of the Crystal Empire and Flurry regaled her with the story that Princess Cadence and Shining Armor had told her about the Empire’s founding.
The Empire had once been ruled by a benevolent unicorn named Princess Amore, her great great great great grandmother. However, she was overthrown by a recently-corrupted King Sombra, turned to stone, and her pieces shattered all throughout the world.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna then came in and took Sombra down with the power of the Elements of Harmony after a brutal battle. The Empire was then lost for a thousand years until Spike, who became known as “The Brave and Glorious,” saved the crystal ponies by restoring the Crystal Heart, which banished Sombra once and for all.
Opaline was fascinated by the story and she kept mulling it over in her mind as she and Flurry headed out the doors and to the outside. Once they were out of the castle, Opaline marveled at how beautiful the night sky was. The Moon hung in the air like a dazzling ornament in the center of the starry purple canvas that was the night sky. Glittering white stars burned in every direction, illuminating the city below it.
The city was deserted. The crystal ponies had all retired to their beds and the Crystal Guard was not scheduled to patrol the area until the next hour. They were completely and utterly alone, with only the faint sounds of the Arctic North in the distance as a constant source of ambience.
Flurry and Opaline took the long way around the castle to avoid detection, but they eventually reached their destination. Spinning on the dais inside the front of the palace was none other than the Crystal Heart.
“This is it,” Flurry Heart said proudly. “The Crystal Heart, our most sacred relic. The nighttime is the best time of day to look at it.”
“Wow…” Opaline breathed. She stared at it with a sense of childlike wonder and curiosity. What secrets lay beneath its surface? What history was hidden in its construction, yet to uncover by the brightest of scholars?
They walked closer towards it and Opaline felt the power of the Heart call to her. She heard a soft and angelic rhythm in her ears that enticed her to come closer. She smiled and began to walk up to it before pausing. She glanced back at Flurry with a nervous expression.
Flurry made a motion with her head for her to keep going. “Go on. I’m right behind you, okay? Trust the Heart.”
Opaline nodded and walked up as close as she could into it until she was right in front of the relic. The angelic choir was now blasting in her ears at full volume, reverberating and echoing throughout her entire being.
She smiled and placed a curious hoof on its surface, slowly closing her eyes. She could feel the light and love that radiated from it lull her into a sense of peaceful comfort.
That was when she was assaulted with a vision.
When Opaline opened her eyes again, she was back in Canterlot. She looked around, confused, looking all around to see where Flurry Heart was. Had it all just been a dream? Questions raced through her mind as she struggled to comprehend her situation.
She was sitting on a throne made of black steel. Looking down at her hooves, she saw that they were suddenly much larger. Green wristbands were on each of them and she was wearing Twilight’s crown.
She squealed in fear and jumped up from the throne. What was happening?! Why was she on Twilight’s throne?!! Why was she…a queen? Nothing made any sense and she feared that she had done something terribly wrong and she didn’t even know it.
She needed to find out the truth. Everything she had experienced in the Crystal Empire had vanished within a single night and she felt like crying and begging Twilight for help, wherever her mentor was. She was about to run as fast as she could from Canterlot and never come back.
That was when the cheering started.
It started off small, but it grew in intensity. It was a rhythmic chant that she had only heard one other time in her life. As the sound continued to grow, she felt oddly calmed by it, like she knew the source of the sound and that she was coming to reassure her subjects that everything was going to be okay.
Wait, subjects? The thought immediately stuck out to her. She had never called the ponies of Canterlot her “subjects” before. What was she thinking? No. The ponies needed their queen. She had to give a very important speech. Equestria was in danger and only she could reassure them.
That was when she suddenly found herself walking in the direction of the castle balcony. Curiosity took over her and she swallowed hard, her whole body trembling, as she stepped out into the light and looked down at the sight below her.
The crowd was made up of all unicorns and they were cheering her arrival. They were all screaming her name in a loud and reverent manner, the same way they did when she was apprenticed not too long ago. The sound was all too familiar to her and she knew it all too well.
“Opaline!”
“OPALINE!!”
“OPALINE!!!”
“OPALINE!!”
“OPALINE!!”
That was when she began to speak, except the voice was not hers. It sounded much older and she was not in control of what she was saying. She spoke in a sinister and devilish tone that she wouldn’t normally dare speak in to anypony.
“Citizens!!” Opaline boomed. “You have no reason to live in fear of that traitorous Twilight Sparkle!! She is gone and unable to hurt us!! I decree that we shall devote Equestria’s resources to the making of concentration camps!! TO THE BUILDING OF WALLS!!!! We must exterminate the plagues that are those other creatures!! Unity and equality is but a relic of the past!! EQUESTRIA IS PONY ONLY!!!!!!”
The crowd burst into applause once more, this time even louder than before. They were cheering her, celebrating her. But inside, Opaline felt sick. What was she saying?! This wasn’t her!! She would never say anything like that!! As her eyes frantically looked around for a way to escape her predicament, they suddenly narrowed on a sign that one fanatical unicorn mare was holding.
Written in black, bold letters next to a crossed out picture of Twilight was the chilling sentence:
LONG LIVE
QUEEN OPALINE!!
Queen. That very word frightened Opaline to her very core and suddenly everything started to fall into place. This was the Crystal Heart’s doing. It was showing her what she was going to become if she continued to hone her magic, if she continued studying under Twilight. This wasn’t her present.
This was her future.
“Opaline? A-are you okay…?”
Opaline whirled around, startled. Flurry Heart was standing directly behind her with a worried look on her face. She shook her head vigorously, her eyes full of fear. She didn’t know how to explain what she was seeing to the white alicorn, or even if she would believe her.
That was when the scene shifted and Opaline was suddenly at the School of Friendship, witnessing a bunch of masked guards brutally slaughtering a bunch of young hippogriff students with swords and chainsaws. They screamed in pain as they slumped to the ground in a bloodied and gory heap, their classmates running for the door as fast as they could with Starlight and Sunburst in the lead.
The scene shifted again and she saw a unicorn mare in Ponyville brutally slice open an earth pony stallion with her magic, guts and organs spewing out and splashing onto the former’s once pristine facial features.
The unicorn shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry, Storm Chaser. You don’t belong here anymore…”
The vision momentarily paused and Opaline looked back at Flurry Heart with wide and terrified eyes.
“What do you see?” Flurry asked fearfully.
“That’s the future, it’s coming…” Opaline whispered. “A mass genocide spreading across Equestria like unquenchable fire…”
The scene shifted again and this time, it was at night. A crowd of unicorns were all holding red and white banners with a black swastika in the middle. They all raised their hooves into the sky in a saluting manner, staring up at an airship with a pony in a black cloak in the front. Thunder boomed overhead.
It only occurred to Opaline in that manner that the pony in the black cloak was her. She stood tall, overlooking her fanatical subjects with an evil smile on her face.
“Opaline, you’re scared, I can see it!” Flurry whispered, momentarily breaking the vision. “Tell me please, what do you fear?!”
Opaline shivered, fear overtaking every inch of her body as the visions continued to progress in intensity. This was going to be her.
She was going to do all these terrible things.
When she looked upon the Heart once more, the scene shifted once more to she and Twilight battling it out with their magic in the sky, tearing through buildings and setting the city ablaze while ponies ran screaming through the streets.
“Somepony help me, please…” Opaline begged softly.
“Opaline…”
Opaline looked back at her with scared, haunted eyes. “It’s coming…I see myself commanding the mass genocide of all those innocent creatures across Equestria like unquenchable fire, unicorns fighting earth ponies and pegasi out of nothing but blind hatred!”
“Opaline-“
”Fanatical crowds of ponies cheering on the destruction of friendship while holding up banners proclaiming me to be their queen!!” Opaline screamed. “A WAR IN MY NAME!!!! EVERYPONY’S SHOUTING MY NAME!!!!”
“Opaline…”
Flurry Heart walked up to her. “Opaline Arcada, listen to me. You will not become that monster, not do any of those horrible things!! You have the power to control your own destiny! You’re not tied to any chosen fate-“
“GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!” Opaline shrieked angrily. “YOU KNEW WHAT I WAS GOING TO SEE, THAT’S WHY YOU TOOK ME HERE!!!! YOU KNEW THAT I WAS BORN A FREAK!!!!!! JUST LIKE KING SOMBRA WAS!!!!!”
Flurry stood there, motionless and frozen in fear. Nopony had ever yelled at her the way Opaline had just done. It wasn’t just fear she was hearing from the younger pony. It was anger, hate…vengeance.
Flurry Heart looked at her pleadingly. “I-I was afraid of this, Opaline…when you started talking about wanting more power, I…I don’t know, I didn’t want to take you. Even if the legend turned out not to be true, which it is, I didn’t want you to be traumatized like this…I knew that if what I was told turned out to be true, then the Heart would reflect your innermost desire.”
This caused Opaline to pause and look down at the ground. Tears of anger and grief started gathering in the corners of her eyes as she came to a heartbreaking realization. “So…you knew. I mean, you didn’t completely know, but you had a suspicion. Then why didn’t you tell me any of that?! If you were to just tell me, ‘hey, stop talking like that or you’ll become a monster,’ I would’ve shut up immediately!! Why didn’t you?!”
“Not saying something doesn’t change what’s in your heart,” Flurry told her. “You’ve always felt outcasted, so you’ve built up this internal rage that’s begging to be let out. That’s what the Heart reflected. I knew from the moment you talked about your past that was what you were probably going to see. But I took you anyway because you said that you didn’t want to hurt anypony. How could I refuse that?!”
“You still said nothing.” Opaline growled. “You could’ve said something, anything…Why didn’t you tell me? Why?!”
Flurry couldn’t respond to that. In the deepest parts of her mind, she knew that Opaline was right. She could’ve said something instead of simply outright dismissing the possibility. She knew that it was her fault and there was nothing she could say to apologize.
ENTRY 16
May 6, 2033
If only I had just been there.
So many regrets, so many what-ifs. So many things I wished she hadn’t seen. I was awoken by a scream coming from the outside window. It sounded like Opaline’s, so I instantly flew down from my room and grabbed Shining Armor and the Crystal Guards. For all I knew, it could’ve been an attempted break-in and my apprentice was in trouble.
Running as fast as we could, we ran outside the castle doors to the place where the Crystal Heart stood on its dais. I didn’t know what was happening, but I knew that I had to save my student. Whatever was happening, there wasn’t a moment to lose.
When we arrived, however, it was too late. Opaline was outright screaming at Flurry Heart, who was trying her best to apologize for showing her something that I did not yet know she showed.
Needless to say, Shining was downright furious that someone was allowed to see the Crystal Heart after hours. He was barking his head off at Flurry. It didn’t matter that his daughter was now the ruler of the whole Empire. She disobeyed the proper protocol and because of that, she was getting the full force of my BBBFF’s wrath.
I asked Opaline what had happened and that was when she explained to me through uncontrollable sobbing what she had seen in the Heart’s reflection. She explained everything in great detail, how she saw herself turning evil, instigating another race war between the ponies, commanding a mass genocide of the other creatures, and taking over Equestria. My heart sank further and further with each thing she said. In that moment, my entire world crumbled before my very eyes.
I knew what this meant.
My Opaline, the pony who I considered to be my own daughter, was destined to become a tyrannical monster that I would eventually have to defeat. I had turned her into this. With all my constant expectations and encouragement, I made her hungry for more power and more control.
I know now it won’t be long before either one of us betrays the other, but I’m trying to hold onto my sweet baby girl for as long as I can. I can already sense the beginning symptoms of darkness within her. Upon looking into the Heart, it was clear that a part of her died that evening, the part that housed her innocence and naïveté about the world, the part of her who wouldn’t even dream of hurting a fly.
In the place of my sweet apprentice was a bitter and angry unicorn who was moments away from taking it all out on her best friend who she had met earlier today.
Perhaps it was my ego, perhaps it was a mother’s desperation, but I promised her that I would not let that happen to her. I still don’t know if I can keep that promise, but I vowed that no matter what, I was going to save her from this fate. I was not going to lose her.
I was going to alter the course of fate. Quickly, we packed our bags and left at 3:00 AM in the morning. Opaline didn’t even say goodbye to Flurry as she was still angry, but I told her that I was going to fix this and that we needed to get to Canterlot as soon as possible so that I could start conducting some research.
Please, Opaline. If you happen to be reading this now, know that I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise. I love you so much, my sweet, sweet girl. You’ve given me hope when I’ve had none. When I was in my darkest days, you came in and saved me from myself.
It won’t be easy. But I’m not giving up. You’re more than just a faithful student to me, Opaline. You’re more than just an apprentice. You’re my daughter.
And I will not lose you.
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11599881
Yeah, I get that. And it does give the Mane 5 more of an incentive to take Opaline down. It just sucks that their rescue mission is gonna fail.
11599890
Yeah, it definitely does. But by the end of this story, trust me. That’s not the only thing they’ll have to worry about.
11599900
Beautiful animatic! I for one absolutely adore Hamilton, so getting to watch this was a treat. Thanks for sharing! Did you make this?
11599906
No, I just once came across this animatic while surfing youtube. With mention of kirins' singing of Haymilton I figured it would be appropriate to share this.
11599907
Well it is awesome! I now have another channel to subscribe to. That is some really impressive work.
11599892
Oh, I know. I read Can I Go, Mom?, so I know what else is coming
Gotta say this is fantastic so far.
11600015
You found the Titanic reference!! I’m so happy you did. I like throwing that line in there and seeing who could spot it. As for Sweetie Belle, she and the funeral choir were actually singing “The Long Song” from Doctor Who. You can kinda tell by the structure of the tune. Small opening and then choir the rest of the way through.
“Amazing Grace” actually plays on the way to the town square during the procession though as a nod to the funeral of Superman in BvS, so you weren’t too far off.
11599951
Fantastic!
11600009
Thank you so much!
11600028
Never a problem. Fimfiction is quite short of new G5 stories ATM, so it's awesome to see writers stepping up to the plate.
You know, if the Crystal Heart has the potential to turn anypony who touches it into a maniacal overlord by breaking their minds with visions of their future, maybe the Crystal Empire should have a strict "Look, don't touch" policy about it. Or maybe lock it away somewhere.
Reading on...
Maybe one day they will extend the railway to reach into the city itself.
I bet that only made her look better.
Okay, but where is Cadance these days, and what is she doing?
Growing crystal flowers and/or playing matchmaker?
I feel like I have heard something like that before...
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/12/23/1050756.jpg
Source.
Maybe you could simply ask the princess of the Crystal Empire for permission? Oh wait...
Good chapter!
I enjoyed reading it.