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Prince Charming???764 words
Radiant Hope929 words
Bunch of Brats959 words
A True Prince and Princess1,090 words
Radiant's Secret1,165 words
Get Up!901 words
Welcome to the World1,806 words
Fate or Future?1,199 words
Flight or Fight1,582 words
The Warriors Return1,444 words
The Southerner2,000 words
The Crystal Faire2,070 words
The Crystal Ball1,072 words
The Aftermath1,183 words

The Southerner

With the Umbrum and Crystal Guard working together they found the intruder quickly. It was a unicorn, or at least what remained. They were brought to the castle and placed under guard until Amore could question them. Cadence accompanied her and Sombra agreed to watch Selena. When they reached the room where he was held outside stood Raksha, an umbrum general. He dipped his head in respect to the royals before he said,

"Tamaar is in there with him, the guy really likes to talk. I'd be careful."

Amore thanked him before they stepped inside. Tamaar as usual wore a face of indifference while he was laying across a bed reading. When he noticed Cadence and Amore he perked up.

"Finally some company who I can actually talk to!" He slowly rolled his eyes before glaring at Tamaar, who lightly growled in response, before he danced off the bed. "There were two of them in here but the one who could speak, or the only one who could hear me left," he leaned closely into Tamaar raising his hoof to his mouth and whispered, "can she hear me?" As he poked toward her. Tamaar snarled before snapping at him as he jumped back. He contorted his face in disgust at the umbrum guard.

"You are dismissed Tamaar." Amore said and she quickly left, slashing her tail left and right.

"That one seems feral, like a creepy little dragon. But anyways your majesties, might I say you both look fabulous, especially you miss queen...??" He looked over expectantly at Amore. Cadence thought to herself how right Raksha was. This guy could talk.

"Queen Amore, and this is my daughter Princess Cadence." Amore motioned for them to follow her to a nearby table. She sat down on one side with him on the other, Cadence on the side.

"What a beautiful and lovely looking daughter you have, Queen Amore. I myself am a royal as well. You may have heard of my mother," The intruder casually inspected his hoof, "Queen Nightmare Moon of West Equestria?"

Amore stared while Cadence's jaw dropped. Not only had a pony gotten in, a child of one of the queens at war got inside. Who knows how many others would be coming.

"You don't have to worry about others. We got in through the caverns a group called the umbrums lived in. We had been going back and forth for a while. Debated on asking them to join us in the war, but some very nasty dragons got them first." He frowned, his voice losing it's charismatic flow, "And unfortunately right before they also got the queen's dearest son's horn too. Mother wasn't too impressed and cut her losses. I came back through and by the time I found my way out, they were gone. Shortly after a group came back and I followed them here."

"How do we know you won't tell your mother about our kindgom?" Amore said flatly. She didn't seem very fond of the southerner.

"Hello? I just said the pathway is blocked and I'm the only one on this side. The dragons destroyed nearly all the caverns there."

"Your a son of Nightmare Moon."She said coldly.

He seemed to realize what she meant. "Dream Magic?" He raised his fluffy hoof up to his forehead and waved it back and forth over the broken horn left there. "I have no magic." He emphasized on the "no" before leaning back on his chair for the next question.

"Why did you follow them?"

He rolled his eyes. "I don't know if you have ever seen it out there, but there is a whole lot of snow, like mountains covered in it. I don't happen to like freezing to death. I see myself more of as the guy killed for his throne, maybe poisoned, backstabbed? I never saw exile though, never saw that one."

Amore and Cadence left the table to speak privately on the other side of the room.

"He doesn't seem dangerous?" Cadence pointed out.

Amore grumbled but ultimately saw her point. He hadn't done anything wrong and it wasn't like they could just throw him back out into the snow. Amore walked back over to him.

"Alright. We will let you here on a probationary period. But first, what is your name?"

"I'm so glad you finally asked," He held out a hoof for the queen to shake. "Shining Armor."

Shining Armor was given a room in the castle to stay in and was put on guard at all times. Cadence went back to find Sombra and Selena in Selena's room. Sombra was laying on a large rug while Selena played under a mobile-like toy. Sombra smiled when he noticed she entered.

"How was the prisoner?" He asked as she laid down on the rug, giving a gentle nuzzle to Selena. "He is not a prisoner, his name is Shining Armor and we are allowing him to stay under probation." Cadence said. Sombra raised an eyebrow and put his hoof on his chin in wonder. "Caught by guards, locked in a room under guard, being watched by guards?" Oh I know! He must be your guest of honor for the Crystal Faire?" Cadence scoffed and playfully pushed his shoulder. "You know what I mean! Besides I heard that they are doing your ceremony at the ball." Sombra's ears went back and he deadpanned. Clearly not liking the subject. "Don't remind me. I'm dreading it, Councilor Sombra doesn't quite have the same ring to it. After dad pretty much threw his crown at Queen Amore, Mom wants our last royal event to be special." Sombra dropped his head in his hooves and groaned. "She is having me wear king's attire in honor of it." Cadence chuckled to herself. The two of them spending some time with Selena before Sombra was to go get fitted for the ball. Cadence had plans to discuss with Amore and the councilors the plans for the Faire. Samaar agreed to watch Selena for her. He wanted time to get to know his new granddaughter. Rabia was filling in for Sombra on the council until the ceremony.

"Okay so the fair starts in the morning and lasts until the evening, then the ball lasts all night?" Rabia asked. This was her first fair and they wanted to go all out this year for the new umbrum subjects. Amore nodded, "We could make an area under the palace that is darker than the rest of the square for Sombra's ceremony?" She suggested. The councilors were writing every idea down, occasionally coming up with their own to add in. Cadence wanted to do a section on the moon side for umbrum traditions and stalls. Nearly all of their items were left behind so she felt it right to try and see if they could remake some of it here. Rabia was pleased with the idea and began listing off special items, places, and traditions they had to incorporate. One was the moon cave, a sacred place in the caverns that only the moon shown down into. Cadence suggested they make a version of it under the castle. The meeting lasted a little while longer, they had about a month before the faire.

Time went by in a blur.

Between Selena and the court Cadence's days went from predictable with her mother to she was constantly busy. Amore had started entrusting her with more tasks as well. Cadence was in charge of the fair preparations, Shining Armor's guard schedule, disputes between ponies, and other various tasks. Of course Sombra was there to help when he could. He was technically no longer a Prince and could spend his days doing whatever he wanted until the ceremony. Most days he assisted with Selena or joined Cadence. Rabia and Samaar had noticed the two's recent behavior and wanted to ask about it but Amore advised them to leave them alone. It was one particular day when Tamaar had interrupted one of their walks, very angry.

"I can't understand you when you sign like that." Sombra said to the very grumpy cousin. Tamaar was moving her hooves very quickly and small shadows disappeared as fast as they could appear. Cadence had learned a little bit of basics to understand Tamaar but being so busy she hadn't gotten a lot. She had no clue what Tamaar was saying but knew she was extremely unhappy with it.

Tamaar growled and made a tiny hornless unicorn on the ground before slamming her hoof down and smashing it. She then walked back towards the castle, her shadows flickering in annoyance. Cadence put her hoof on her head and said she would talk to Shining Armor. He had been a nearly model citizen since he joined the Empire. Aside from the fact he talked way too much and apparently had a bad habit of annoying Tamaar. When confronted Shining Armor told a much different story.

"I get I'm under watch but she follows me everywhere! None of the other guards are as diligent as she is. Not to mention she is constantly mad at me. Balcony, she's there. Bedroom, she's there. Bathroom? She. Is. There! I told her to make like a shadow and dissappear and she started smoking, literally smoking!" Shining Armor complained. Cadence agreed she would talk to Raksha and Tamaar about what to do but agreed to be a little more lenient about the guards.

A few days later she saw Tamaar chasing Shining Armor through the castle. After catching them both and hearing both sides, Shining Armor had made a comment along the lines of how do you tell if an umbrum is sad? (Their mood darkens) and Tamaar hadn't taken it well. After that Raksha removed Tamaar from Shining's guard list.

Cadence was telling Sombra about the incident over a puzzle late one night. Selena hadn't been feeling very well and was quite cranky. For a short time, she was asleep. Sombra and Cadence had developed a new hobby. Since starting Cadence now had eight new puzzles hanging on her wall. They were one of the few things that weren't pink. Now they were working on one that had a crystal cave.

"So I had a question I've been wanting to ask?" Sombra said as he slid her over a peice to the section she was working on. "And what is that?" Cadence said, not looking up. Sombra nervously started rubbing the edge of the table. "It's about the Crystal Faire." He admitted. Cadence placed her section onto the main part of the puzzle before turning to Sombra. "What about it?" Sombra was a nervous wreck inside but let out a silent breath before asking her. "I was wondering if you and me could go together?" He shyly confessed. Cadence rolled her eyes, "Of course we are going together." Cadence leaned down to start a new section and Sombra blushed. "Who else would take Selena?" She asked. Sombra grimaced, "I meant it more like-" but he was cut off by a screaming Selena. Cadence quickly headed into the room and Sombra laid his head on the table, both excited for the ball and ashamed at how much of a coward he felt like. When he went back to his room he sat in front of his mirror, frustrated.

"It's not that hard Sombra. Just tell her the truth." He groaned to himself. "Just tell her how her mere presence brightens your mood. How anything else from her is a gift and her company a privilege you could never lose. How much you enjoy the puzzles and walks through the empire. Tell her how much you can tell she loves Selena. Tell her how everyday you aspire to be just as strong and confident as she is." Sombra sighed and went over to his bed. Laying across it he muttered to himself. "Knowing her, if she did reciprocate, she would have had the confidence to tell me already."

Author's Note:

This one's a big one!

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