A Heart of Crystal and Glass

by Mani-Roar

Chapter 2

I spent the next few minutes thinking about crawling out of bed, but unable to find the strength to do so. I wanted to help serve this kingdom I was supposed to be ruling over. Unfortunately walking might prove to be too big of a challenge. Forget Princess duties. Maybe I was more injured than I thought? Physically I felt fatigued, sore, and overall just heavy. Mentally, well, I wish I felt more than… nothing. Guilt was certainly brewing, that’s for sure.

With a small, almost inaudible, creak of the door hinges, another pony walked into the bedroom. She didn’t look at me, she just went straight to the curtains and thrust them open in one motion. I looked away too late as the sunlight burned my eyes. I had been adjusted to a dark room for a week and the new incoming light was way too much. I cried out in a very un-lady-like manner.

“My Lady, it’s so dark in here. How can you even stand it? You need sunlight!” She said as she turned to face me. At least I think she did. I held my hooves over my eyes as they slowly readjusted.

“Wh-who’s there?” I said through my hooved defense from the light.

“Oh nopony important.” She commented with a bit of a drawl. “Just the glue that holds this kingdom together.”

My eyes finally stopped hurting as color and shape returned to the room. I looked at the mare who had invaded my room and almost gasped. She was glowing in the sunlight. Was it just my eyes? No, she was legitimately sparkling like… well crystal. The sunlight danced and sparkled across her coat. It seemed that “Crystal Ponies'' was a literal term and not just a national aesthetic choice. Shining, Twilight, and myself had a more matte pastel coloring. Did that mean none of the royals were Crystal Ponies? Or was this mare the exception and not the rule? Her teal fur was accented by her cream mane that stood up in a diamond shape over her hair. There was no way her hair naturally did that, it must have been styled. Did she style it herself?

“Are you… Pell- Pellu-said?” I struggled to remember the name of the servant Shining Armor had mentioned. The thought of having a servant was still weird to me.

“Pellucid, my lady.” She bowed to me, extending her head halfway to the floor. “Please call me Pell as you’ve always been terrible at pronouncing my name.” She stood back up with excellent posture. Apparently she was comfortable enough to speak frankly to a Princess, and Shining Armor did say she was well paid. Not a slave.

“Pell it is then.” I sunk down into the pillow. How many ponies would I have to explain my situation to? How many could I trust? Pell was my servant, certainly she was on the top of that short list to trust? I glanced at the crystal pony before me. Silently judging her. Weighing my options.

Oh, whatever. I needed friends, not enemies.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I’ve recently lost my memories.” I swallowed. Was I going to have to break the heart of everyone who knew me one by one? She stared at me blankly for several seconds. I could sense the gears turning in her mind, struggling to find what to say next.

“I’m sure I don't know what you mean by that, my lady.” She gave a knowing nod while claiming not to know.

“What do you mean you don’t know? I just told you my mem-” She interrupted me by gesturing with a slash in the air of her hoof to cut off my words. My servant was willing to interrupt and speak to me any way she pleased.

Okay, I think I liked her now.

“Prince Shining Armor has made it abundantly clear to me that nopony is to know the details of your condition.” She clarified. “Or that you have any condition at all. That includes me and any other castle staff. So with that said,” She smiled brightly at me, “I haven’t the slightest clue what you’re getting at. Don’t you recognize me, my lady?”

“Uh…” I sat dumbfounded with my mouth agape for a moment or two. “Right, Pell, it’s good to see you again, Pell.”

“Likewise.” She said curt and marched straight to the side of the bed. “Now let’s get you out of this bed and cleaned up. You look like an absolute wreck. Your bedhead is taking on a whole new fashion statement.” She reached out to grab my hoof and I let her. With some reluctance I allowed myself to be pulled to the side of the bed with my bottom hooves dangling off the edge.

“I-I may not be strong enough to get up just yet.” I stared down at the marble floor. It looked further down than it seemed just a moment ago. The thought of splatting on the ground filled me with dread.

“Well the longer you stay in this bed, the harder it will be to get up.” She stared at me with those bright mint eyes of hers. She looked older than Twilight or Shining Armor. Not ancient by any means. There was a natural strength to the way she held herself with just the slightest bit of aging lines around her eyes. She looked like a pony who had seen and experienced much in her life.

“What if I fall?” Slight vertigo blurred my vision.

“I won’t let that happen.” She declared with strict confidence as she wrapped my right hoof around her shoulder. “Let’s take it slow, alright?” She gently tugged on me as she leaned us forward. I felt my weight come down on my hind legs and left front hoof. Weight that I wasn’t ready for. I squeaked as my atrophied muscles gave out, closing my eyes waiting to feel the smack of the cold harsh floor.

Nothing happened. I stopped moving. I opened my eyes to see that Pell’s grip was holding me in place. She was incredibly strong for a pony her size. She wasn’t small by normal pony standards. However, holding a flopping Alicorn Princess in place from the side like that must have demanded incredible core strength. She had no horn or wings so that meant she was an earth pony. Earth ponies are naturally strong. I knew as much as that. I could remember things, details. Unfortunately, specific ponies, places, and events had been wiped from my mind. I suppose I was fortunate. Had all aspects of my memory been wiped I would have awoken with the mind of a newborn foal. I couldn’t imagine how awkward that would have been for Shining Armor and the entire Crystal Empire.

“You can do it.” She encouraged me. “Lean on me. Let your legs get used to weight once more. I’ll help you get to the bathing room.” I leaned all of the weight I couldn’t handle myself yet onto her. I let her strength guide me out of the bedroom and into the hallway. The Castle halls were filled with blue and white jagged crystal that served as both decoration and the support beams and rafters for the building. It was an impressive sight to behold with its high gothic arched ceiling and long tapestries.

We moved slowly down the crystal halls. I got used to the rhythm of our walking cadance, but we were still crawling along compared to the pace even the most meandering of tourists would have moved. Occasionally another Crystal Pony would turn a corner and see us. They shined just like Pell did, proving that she was the norm and the royals were the ones who stood out. Ponies would take one look at us and then turn around to walk a different way, pretending they didn’t see us. Shining Armor’s standing orders must have spread around fast. Looking upon their Princess’s weakened state was not allowed. I wasn’t sure if that was more humiliating than being gawked at. Ultimately, I appreciated the privacy.

When we got to the bathing chambers, I stared greedily at the giant spa tub built into the floor in the middle of the room. It was crystal because of course it was, and it was already filled to the brim with steaming hot water and flower petals. Bubbles packed along the side walls of the tub. There were probably bath bombs, and epsom salt, and essential oils, and who knows what else in there. All of it designed to rejuvenate my tired and achy skeletal corpse. It was the most inviting thing I’d seen since I had woken up. So basically the best thing in my new life so far.

Pell sat me down next to the edge and helped me get my hind legs in first. The warmth of the water rushed my senses, sending a rippling shiver of pleasure through my entire body. I squealed indecently at the ecstasy. My face went beet red, but not because of the hot water.

“If you like the bath that much, wait until you try the cuisine.” Pell just grinned and shook her head.

“The cuisine that I’m totally used to and eat every day.” I grinned back at her.

“Of course, my lady.” She raised an eyebrow back at me.

“Eat in the tub?” I asked.

“It’s one of your favorite pastimes.” She made sure I could maintain my sitting position before letting go of me. “You’ll need to soak for at least 30 minutes to get the full benefit of the bath. Once you’re done eating, we can get to the scrubbing and rinsing part.”

“I guess I’ll go ahead and eat then.” The suggestion of food made me realize just how hungry I was. I had a week of fasting to catch up on.

“What would you like from the kitchen?”

“I’ll have the uh…” I felt a little ridiculous. As if I was ordering from a fine restaurant while bathing. The visual of a bath in the middle of a dining hall made my lip curl up into a grin.

“Surprise me.”

“The usual then?” She looked amused at me.

“That’s literally the opposite of a surprise.”

“Is it though?” She tilted her head and we both laughed as we played chicken with who was going to bring up the memory elephant in the room. She left me alone in the tub, probably to prepare my meal for me. Or did other servants do that? With the size of this castle, there had to be many servants. Or employees. Yes, that was much better. I was more comfortable with the term employee.

I took a deep breath and leapt into the tub. Mostly just by letting my lower body slide down into it. The sensation of the water enveloped me. It was almost hot enough to be painful. I let another long and arduous groan slip from my mouth. This time I tried to sound less sensual with it. Tried and failed. I swear I heard Pell cackle all the way from the kitchen.

Screw it. I was a Princess. A Princess could do whatever they wanted in their own tub. I dunked my head underwater and let the bath consume me. The warmth on my face melted my troubles away. My starved muscles were soothed by the bath bomb cocktail. I let my mind slip as I exhaled a long stream of air bubbles under the water. I was nowhere and yet I was in my own world. No one could bother me or take me away from this feeling. I could have stayed there forever, drowned in it.

However, the nagging feeling in the back of my head reminded me that I had things to do. Princess-y things.

I pushed off the bottom of the spa, letting my head and shoulders break the water line. I whipped my mane behind me as a stream of water splashed backwards onto the floor of the bathing room. My long unbound hair came to a rest floating all around me in the bath. Pink, magenta, and cream stripes laid near me like festival streamers. My hair was gorgeous. Maybe that was a requirement of being a royal. You had to have superb hair. I took a deep breath and my senses filled with the smell of lavender, eucalyptus, and coconut. If only being a Princess meant ruling from this tub, then it would be the greatest job in the world.

Pell returned with a tray of charcuterie. A rainbow platter of cheeses, crackers, flat bread, fruits, veggies, hay, and oats. There were so many varieties of each, some of them I didn't even recognize.

“Oh my.” I marveled at the intricately laid out platter, sitting on an ornately carved silver tray.

“I thought we’d start with something light today. I don’t wanna upset your stomach with anything heavy or acidic just yet.” She placed the tray next to where I was lounging so I could easily reach it from in the tub.

“It’s beautiful.” I looked up at her smiling like a filly on her birthday. “Definitely fit for a Princess. Thank you. And thank the kitchen staff for me as well.”

Pell beamed at the compliment.

“I wish more royals and nobles were as complimentary as you.” She took a seat on the floor close to the tub, careful to avoid the water I had splashed.

“It’s probably just because I’m not used to it like they are.” I clamped my hoof over my mouth. I was openly talking about the forbidden topic again. Pell just ignored it.

“On the contrary, you’ve always said something to that effect every time I’ve served you.” She gestured to the meal. I placed some cheese on a cracker and took a bite. My cheek stung with a rush of flavor that made me flinch before I could finish chewing. I suppose hunger truly was the best spice. I began gorging myself on the platter in not a very Princess-like manner.

“Slow down, you’re going to upset your stomach.” She frowned at me.

“Mhmm.” I answered, but not slowing down much at all. The food was just too good.

“My lady, I swear on Celestia’s hind sun cheek that if you end up vomiting cheese and crackers on the royal balcony, I will make you clean it up.” She stared daggers at me and I paused my pigging out. I gingerly placed a grape on my tongue and chewed it slowly. “That is if Shining Armor doesn’t have my head for it first.”

My eyes bulged in terror.

“Is he really that strict? That cruel?” I asked, wondering just what sort of a husband I really had. Her brow stiffened as a darkness filled her eyes.

“Indeed.” She just barely allowed her chin to nod. “I serve the castle on a commuted death row sentence. I could be executed at any moment on the Prince’s whims. Or yours.” She pointed straight at me.

“What on earth? That’s horrible! I would never, and I won’t let him…” Before I could continue Pell burst out laughing. Nearly rocking back on the floor to do so.

“That’s not funny.” I pouted my lips, embarrassed as a foal made a fool of.

“Oh, my lady.” She gasped in a breath, still barely able to control her laughter. “If it’s that easy to mess with you, this is going to be one heck of a summer season.”

She wiped a tear from her eye as I narrowed my gaze on her.

“I order you not to mess with me.” I folded my hooves in protest.

“I refuse.”

“You can’t refuse your Princess.” I stuck my tongue out at her.

“Execute me then.”

“I said that wasn’t funny.”

“Then why are you smiling?” The side of her lip curled into a devious grin. For a moment, I wasn’t weak, or tired, or scared, or hungry anymore. I felt like myself. Whoever I was supposed to be, I’m pretty sure this was it. Abruptly, I realized why. Pell wasn’t treating me as a broken, memory deficit Princess. This was the first “normal” and unapologetic conversation I’d had since waking up. It was refreshing.

My dinner and soak time came to an end. Pell rushed over with a brush that looked way too firm to me. She brushed all of the tangles out of my hair, ignoring my cries of pain as the brush would stick on a really stubborn clump.

“Such a noisy filly.” She taunted me.

She stood me up and went to brush my back and hindquarters. My face went bright red.

“I can do that myself.”

She raised an eyebrow at me.

“Normally yes, but until you get your strength back I don’t want you to pull something trying to reach behind yourself.” She began scrubbing and my fur stood on end. “The soaking does most of the job anyway. Just a quick once over will be fine.”

She was true to her word and went to brush out my tail mane. Once she was done, she helped me out of the bath, toweled me off, and wrapped me in a bright fuzzy blue robe.

“Aren’t we going to do my hair too?” I asked. She simply gestured to the sink counter. There was a reclined seat in front of a sink with a cushioned opening for a pony to lay their neck. “Oh…” I felt a little silly as we moved over to the sink and she gently laid me down in the recliner.

She ran cold water over my scalp that took way too long to warm up. Whatever she rubbed into my mane felt really nice on my skin and smelled like shea butter. She lathered, rinsed, and conditioned my hair. Then she wrapped it all up in a towel and began working on my tail mane. The position I had to sit in for my tail was much more awkward and I was happy when it was all said and done. Once I was sufficiently dry we left the bathing room behind to go to an entirely different dressing room.

“Shouldn’t we clean up the bathing room first?” I turned around to glance back at the spa.

“Castle full of servants.” Pell simply stated.

“Oh, right…” This was going to take some getting used to. I suppose I should be grateful to be so pampered. Though I wasn’t sure I really deserved any of it. Some strength had returned to my legs and I was able to walk on my own again. Or perhaps the bath had soothed the muscles into bliss. Pell strode next to me as more ponies now filled the crystal halls. It was getting closer to the announcement time so there must have been a lot of preparations to get done. Fortunately, nobody was avoiding us anymore now that I didn’t walk like a newborn gazelle. They would smile and bow their heads to me as they passed us. Some of them verbally greeted me. I felt like a celebrity. I was a celebrity, and I was going to have to get accustomed to that. These ponies were counting on me and I hadn’t the first clue on how to rule them.

I was relieved to reach the privacy of the dressing room. There was a wall length mirror with a shining marble countertop to go with it. Not every material in the castle was made of crystal but the marble certainly shined like it. I wondered if ponies often got headaches from so much bright reflected light. There were racks of clothes littered all across the room in a well sorted, although chaotic fashion. Most of them were some kind of dress. They were all sorts of styles and shapes. A vivid spectrum of colors all, predictably, crystal themed. If crystal wasn’t so darn gorgeous, it would probably get old really fast. Maybe it would for me anyway.

I sat down on a wooden stool while Pell brought one of the dresses to me. It was sapphire blue that was speckled with stars that flashed in and out as you turned it in the light. Kind of like sequins but thicker. It poofed in the butt like a petticoat and had jagged magenta strips at the bottom that looked like layered gem swords.

“This is what you usually wear for formal announcements.” She held up the dress so I could see all of its parts. The collar was a deeper blue that accented the chest area in a sharp “V.”

“It’s decorative, but a little too involved for dances or balls. Not a lot of space to maneuver while wearing it. However, you’ll mostly just be standing upright so it’ll be a nice spectacle and should match Shining Armor’s suit quite well.”

I nodded as I studied the dress. I didn’t have any idea what was fashionable, but it certainly looked nice.

“Would you like to wear this one or something else?” She asked. I just shrugged and she rolled her eyes.

“Just make all the outfit decisions for me, Pell. Is that what you’re saying?” She raised an eyebrow at me.

“Please?” I put my hooves together in a prayer like gesture. “It all looks fine to me.”

“Very well, my lady.” She sighed. “You’re lucky that I’ve been doing this for so long.”

She helped squeeze me into the dress, which was more challenging than I expected. It was a good thing I could move on my own or we probably would have needed more servants and a construction crane just to dress me. Once it was on, I gave myself a look in the mirror and gasped.

I looked stunning.

It sounded vain to think, yet I was finally starting to look like royalty. Pell sat me back down on the stool and began working on my hair. She braided it in several separate strands, wrapping them around my ears like a headpiece. She managed to separate the braids into two chords of magenta and cream, and two chords of pink and cream. She pinned gemstones that hung like earrings into the strands and placed a golden tiara on the top of my scalp. The center of the crown had a baby blue heart shaped gem on it.

“I like the blue heart.” I finally said after a long stint of silence. I just wanted to let her work and the comment sounded dumb to me as soon as I said it.

“I imagine you would.” She smiled at me through the mirror. “It’s a replica of the Crystal Heart.”

“Oh yeah, the thing my magic uses to keep us safe.” A dark thought came to my mind. “How is it still working? What if it stops working?”

She held her hoof to her lips indicating that I shouldn’t be so loud.

“You’ll have to ask the other royals and the unicorn magic experts. I’m not sure exactly how it works myself.” She shook her head. “But I do know that as long as we have your essence, the Crystal Heart cannot fail. That’s how we know you are our Princess. Why we will serve you for as long as we live.”

The weight of her confidence hit me. Somehow I was operating this magical artifact. Or was I? I didn’t feel like I was doing anything or casting any spell. It must have worked passively with my “essence,” just like she said.

“Thank you.” I smiled back at her, looking at my royal visage.

“For what, exactly?” She asked with a tilt of her head.

“Everything.” I was at a loss for words. Hopefully I wouldn’t be so awkward at the public gathering. What was I even supposed to say? “When I woke up…” I glanced at the dressing room door to make sure it was closed and we were alone. “Nothing was right. I was blank, empty. Thank you for helping me to feel right again. At least a little bit.”

“It is my duty and my pleasure, my lady.” She bowed her chin. “But I should think your family will do a better job of that than me.”

“That’s the weird thing.” I shook my head, being careful not to mess up my intricate hair design. “I don’t feel connected to them. And that just seems shameful.”

“Give it time, Cadance.” She said my name for the first time. For once, it actually sounded like my name. “You royals are a very eccentric lot. Soon you’ll be reminded of the bond that makes you family.”

“That’s what Shining Armor said.” I bit the side of my bottom lip.

“He is a wise and patient stallion. You chose him well.”

I looked away from her feeling ashamed.

“I chose him once. A version of me did. But what if I don’t love him? What if I never remember how?” I expected her to chide me for bringing up the memories again. She simply stared lost in thought.

“You will.” she rubbed my shoulder.

“How do you know?”

“I just know.” She grinned. Before I could respond a knock came at the dressing room door.

“Come in.” Pell answered for me. A unicorn attendant entered the dressing room and bowed. He stood stiff and proper. He had the dignified stillness of a statue.

“Hello, Jadiz.” Pell greeted him. “What brings you here?”

“Pellucid.” He nodded to acknowledge her, before indicating to me. “My lady, Shining Armor sent me to collect you. It is time for the announcement.” He stood tall and regal with a calm expression on his face. Palace staff all seemed to have this royal air to them. I only hoped I could at least match it.

I grimaced a bit when he said “collect you.” Not the choice of words I would have used. Maybe those were his words and not Shining Armor’s.

“Then let's get on with it.” I said firmly and stood up to my full height. I looked at myself in the mirror one last time, and a Princess stared back at me.

****

Author's Note:

Best song to pair with this chapter:

Pony music and ThatMusicBrony- Equestrian Territory

Comments

[MooseWhisker]

Just the right amount of drama. Not so little that it makes the problems the characters are facing to seem trivial, not too much to come off as overly melodramatic. Looking forward to reading the rest of this!