Chapter One: Past
Dearest Sharp Stone,
I know that you probably do not know me well. After all, how could anypony that is not one of my many guards or maids have knowledge of my true self? The things that I like are similar to you – yes, that is correct, I know what you enjoy. Please don’t be affrighted by this; I make it my duty to know everything about my subjects. But you…you are different. Special, even. I would like to schedule a meeting with you, hopefully sometime soon. Please meet me around
The lantern hanging above my head flickered.
I blinked, looking up at it as it twitched again, ever so slightly, before plunging my vision into darkness. A long sigh followed, followed by my hoof reaching up, tapping the glass ever-so-slightly. “Come on. Come on, work. Work.” Why did it have to go out? It had been providing a perfectly good steady stream of light before it had decided to just die out on me. I tapped a little harder, causing the lantern to swing back and forth on its hook, making a creaking noise; with a snap it suddenly fell to the ground, shattering into a million different shards. I cursed under my breath and levitated the glass pieces with my magic, an eerie, luminescent green in the dark. Lantern gone, I had no choice but to stop writing.
“Chroma!”
There was a call from outside my door; I recognized it as the heavily accented drawl of my personal guard and close friend, Marie Fauna. “In here,” I crowed back at her, still picking up the shards of the broken lantern.
“In where?” she screeched, like a bird yelling from the top of a tree. Her voice is loud and annoying. I shuddered.
“In the closet!”
“Ze closet?” The door is flung open by a puff of pure violet aura, and there is Marie, gaping at me. She trotted over, promptly levitated one of my hooves, and began to drag me across the floor. “You must get out of there, Princess Chroma! All zorts of nasty creatures could be lurking about!”
I winced as one of my hooves brushed a stray piece of glass left over from the explosion. “Marie, I’m alright,” I begged, trying to explain, but the unicorn wouldn’t hear a word of it. She was stubborn like that. Petite in size though she may be, a strong heart and fiery temper lay beneath the soft violet fur and cutesy pink-and-green mane.
“You had better be alright!” Finally she stopped, pulling me to a halt in front of my bed. Eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets, she gestured around her. “Look around me, Chroma!”
I did so, not quite sure what the purpose of this was. My room was actually pretty small for the room of the princess of Amera, blandly decorated. My canopy bed rested in one corner, while the small window across the room filtered in small amounts of light onto the sturdy wooden desk near my bed. Above the desk was a large, circular mirror bouncing the rays of light around the room. Nothing really that different about it.
“You see ze open space?”
I nodded.
“You see ze light?”
Once again, I nodded, wondering where Marie was going with this. She tended to rant sometimes. Maybe it was in her blood. Did the ponies of Prance rant a lot? And scream?
Marie’s violet eyes hardened. “Zen why do you not use ze space and ze light? Why must you choose to…as you say, stay in the dark?” She even stomped one of her hooves on the ground in irritation. I blinked at it, and then up at her.
“Marie, Marie. You worry too much.” With a delicate flap of my long ebony wings I landed atop my bed, relishing in the silky covers. “Come and lie down for a moment. I’ll take the stress away.”
She stared at me as if I was some sort of lunatic. “I am not stressed!”
“Could have fooled me.”
She stared at me for a few moments, as if questioning why I was defying her. But she knew she couldn’t win. She had tried this often, and failed every time. Hanging her head, Marie slowly trudged over to me, dragging her hooves along the ground in utter and obvious defeat. I smiled, welcoming her to sit next to me. “You worry about me too much, Marie. You take your job too seriously.”
“If you were not native to ze land and were offered such a…flattering title as ze Princess’ guard, you would be as stressed as I, oui.” Marie sighed and rested her head upon her hooves; I snatched up the opportunity to summon a brush from the nearby desk and begin stroking it through her mane, undoing the short ponytail and letting the individual strands hang free. “I just get to be so much of ze panicked over you, Princess.”
“Aww, Marie.” I placed a comforting hoof over her shoulder. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m fine.”
She lifted her head and blinked at me. “Zen why do you spend so much of your time in ze closet, where it is dark and dusty? Why not with your subjects, in ze light and ze daytime? Ze Princess of Love and Color cannot be kept away from Amera forever.”
I stopped combing her mane; with one hoof I propped her chin up so her violet eyes stared directly into my green ones. “Marie Fauna…you have to trust me when I say that there’s nothing to worry about. I stay in the dark because I like it. That’s all. I’m not ‘neglecting my duties,’ or whatever.” A deep breath shuddered throughout all of my body, all the way down to my wingtips, which fluttered a little. “No matter what, I will never abandon Amera, or you, or anypony, ever.”
Marie’s eyes glistened. “Ever?” she breathed, as if she was in a dream. “Promise?”
My tone of voice was strong and true. “Promise.”
Never had I been more wrong…
Used Up
By Drizzle Quill
Original idea by Spinner
My name is Chroma – Princess Chroma, if you will – and I am a princess of a nation.
It’s not really a big deal. It just means that I get a bunch of ponies helping me out wherever I go, bending and fawning to my will, which does occasionally get irritating, but I’ve become accustomed to it by now. Basically I just have to send a spell each morning that ensures that everypony feels love and that color reigns, and we’re pretty much good. It’s my destiny, anyways. I can tell because of my cutie mark – a rainbow heart topped off with a crown.
But even though I’m a big princess, that doesn’t mean I like being all princess-like; on the contrary, I like to lounge about in my room, sometimes watching my citizens through the window or conversing with Marie (who spends most of her time trying to convince me to come outside). That’s how I got to watching Sharp Stone.
Sharp Stone is the town’s fruit seller. He’s always there by his stands, morning, noon and night, right outside of my window and a little downwards. He’s not the best looking pony in the world, but I like his frame, and his light green coat and dark red mane somehow fit together perfectly. His voice is nice too; silky smooth and lighter than a normal stallion’s. Some days I just like to watch him out of my window as he sells the fruits that keep my citizens going.
Today I had finally decided to make my move and write him a note. And that stupid lantern ruined it.
What was in the past was in the past, though, and I couldn’t dwell on it. That was what Marie had always told me, and that was what I had always had to believe. So I made my promise and sat with head on the unicorn’s shoulder as she sighed, trying to relax.
Finally she looked up, violet eyes no longer angry or upset. “Would you like to know why I have come to see you today, Princess?”
“Because you’re my best friend?”
Marie laughed, but it wasn’t convincing. “Very funny, Princess. No, ze reason I have come here is that…” She took a deep breath, as if about to tell me something very exciting. “I have asked ze fruit seller, Sharp Stone, as you say, ‘out!’”
My heart falls. “You did…you…wait, what?”
“Oui!” Marie’s eyes sparkled like the stars. “And he has said yes, and it shall be a most wonderful of days!” She blinked at me, violet eyes large and hopeful. “Princess, are you not happy for moi?”
A forced laugh came out of my throat. It sounded like a goat bleating. I hated myself. “Of course I am! Congratulations, Marie!” My wings shifted slightly, and I silently begged them not to give my anger away.
“Oh, zank goodness,” the unicorn replied, relief showing clearly on her face. “Also, zere was another reason. A newcomer has arrived in ze country.”
I nodded, only half-hearing her words.
“He says zat he is a prince in his own country. A prince, Chroma! Can you not believe it?”
Something about a prince.
“He would like very much to meet you.”
Who? Sharp Stone? “Let him in,” I said, waving one ebony hoof at her. Marie stared at me, obviously surprised by this choice, though I have no idea why she would be.
“Let him in? Right now? Chroma, are you su—”
“Let him in!”
“As you wish, Princess.” Marie Fauna dipped her head ever so slightly and retreated out the door, closing it with the magical aura emitting from her horn. Then she was gone, and I was all alone, staring in the mirror atop my desk. A face stared back at me; a face with black fur, a long, luxurious silver mane, and green eyes. It was a nice face, but it didn’t quite seem like my own. But this was the face I needed to have. I am a princess. I must look nice for my beloved subjects.
My wings unfurl from my side; stretching them feels nice when they’ve been cramped for so long. I absolutely adore flying, but magic is probably more useful. That’s why being an alicorn is the best. You get a chance at everything.
A trumpet is suddenly blown; I jerked my head up in surprise, too lost in my thoughts to remember that Marie was coming back. And she was bringing somepony? Sharp Stone? I wanted to see him, but now at the same time I didn’t. Then again, he hardly knew me, and if Marie was often outside the castle, speaking with him in her Prench accent…I felt sick to my stomach.
“Presenting,” Marie’s voice trills over the loud fanfare. “Ze Princess of Amera, Princess Chroma!”
She brought a fanfare into my bedroom.
She brought a fanfare into my bedroom?
What the hay?
I stared at Marie, who was grinning like an idiot with head bowed. When she caught me looking in her direction, she winked but said nothing, head still lowered as the guards put away their trumpets and stood solemnly to attention as a final figure entered the room. Curiosity peaked, I watched with eyes half-lidded in irritation.
The stallion was large, quite muscular but not overly bulky, with a nice frame and dancing, dark blue eyes. He was a unicorn, with a horn a bit longer than Marie’s, but not as long as mine, and his coat was as white as snow. I lifted an eyebrow, not particularly impressed.
The stallion flashed a smile at me, showing white teeth.
Inwardly I groaned. A courter.
“Princess Chroma,” he gushed, tipping his head low to the ground as Marie had done. “How wonderful to finally meet you. I have heard so much of you and your kingdom’s success. My name is Isle, Cloudy Isle, or Prince Cloudy Isle if you will. I come from a kingdom not too far from here to warn you.”
“Warn me?” I snorted, wondering what this joke could possibly warn me of. “Of what?”
Cloudy’s eyes meet my own. “A dragon. A dragon is heading this way, and we have decided to warn you.”
We have decided to warn you. So there was an option to let us all die by fire? “Thanks,” I muttered sarcastically, flicking the part of my mane hanging over my face backwards.
Cloudy smiled, the grin climbing across his face like a pegasus streaking through the skies. Oh dear. By the way he looks now, he’s going to turn out being some sort of obsessive stalker or something. “You are dismissed,” I said, waving my hoof at him and pointing towards the door. Marie gaped at me, obviously awed by my sharp pointedness, but I don’t linger on it for too long. “Go on. Out!”
“As you wish, Princess.” Before the stallion left, he looked back over his shoulder and gave me a flirtatious smile. “I hope we get to speak again. I’ll be staying here for a few days more; the journey is long and my tired hooves need to rest.”
“Can’t wait,” I muttered, slamming the door behind him with a quick flash of green magic. The guards saluted me, faces remaining expressionless – they’ve always been good at that – before opening the large doors again and heading out.
Marie, however, stays, just like I knew she would. A quick look of concentration on her face and she appears by my side in a burst of violet sparkles, the same shade as her eyes, which are now staring at me in awestruck horror. “Chroma! What was zat?”
“Did you see him?” I stared at the doors, inwardly tracing each swirling, carved-in pattern with my eyes, following the trail without looking back at Marie.
“Handsome is what he was, Chroma.”
“Handsome, my hoof. He’s just another crazed courter, and you know I hate that stuff. I’m the Princess of Love, and I don’t intend to have all of it used up by crazed courters.” Eyes half-lidded, I pointedly glared at Marie, trying to signal that this conversation was over.
Apparently for her it wasn’t. “But I liked him! He was nice, and such a gentlepony to warn you of the upcoming threat!”
“I didn’t like him, Marie,” I said to her, placing one hoof on her shoulder and feeling it tremble. “Let’s just leave it at that, okay?”
She sighed and looked down. “…alright. But if zis Cloudy Isle comes calling, you will not turn him down, would you?”
“Nah,” I said, mind thinking the opposite. “Of course not.”
Earlier that day there was a letter delivered for me from the adorable filly who runs the mail, Bright Bubble. With a giggle she nudged the parchment onto my door, knocked a few times, and flew away before I could see her, probably to tell her friends she had touched the door of the princess’ room. I knew it was her, though. Her laugh is the only laugh that’s so bright and airy in all of Amera. Opening the door with my magic, I picked up the letter, unfolded it, and quickly skimmed it before slamming it down on my desk with irritation. “Argh!”
Instantly Marie is at my side – how that mare does it, I never will know – with eyes wide. “What is it, Princess?” she chirped.
“A letter.”
Dearest Princess Chroma,
I know that you and I have only just met, but I already feel the bond sparking between us. I would much appreciate it if you could visit me to discuss the upcoming dragon attack in a few hours? Five o’ clock should be suitable, as the dragon will be arriving in less than twenty-four hours.
Please and thank you,
Cloudy Isle
Marie’s eyes softened, gaining their usual sparkle. “Oh, Chroma! Zis is so cute, no?”
“It’s not cute.” I took a brush from my desk and began to comb out my long mane, staring off into the mirror like it was another world. “I hate him.”
“Chroma!” The unicorn mare glared at me through disapproving eyes. “Hate is a very strong word.”
“Okay, then.” I rolled my eyes. “I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really dislike him. That good enough?” I asked Marie, who was now glaring at me, her own eyes half-lidded now. “And I know I should probably go talk to him, because of the dragon and all…”
Marie nodded, hope returning to her gaze, nodding and prompting me on.
“…but I won’t.”
Her eyes returned to their annoyed state. “But Princess! It is for ze good of Amera! You simply must go and speak with him tonight!” Looking around her room as if for something else to do, she seemed to note that my bed was messy, levitated me off of it and onto the ground, and began to fix the sheets, trotting around the bed to make sure that each side was even.
For the good of Amera. I tossed that around in my mind a bit, thinking it over. Go and see a horrid courter to save my kingdom, or sit here and try to deal with everything on my own. I had to admit that Marie did make sense.
She must have seen the realization fall onto my face, because suddenly she squealed with excitement. “You’ll go?”
I rolled my eyes, getting a nice view of the ceiling. “Yeah…yeah, I’ll go. Sure.”
A few hours later I found myself sitting across from Cloudy Isle in his room, while he smiled at me with eyes half-lidded. I wanted to puke, but forced myself not to. Just be polite, Chroma. No matter how hard it is, be polite. “Does…does the dragon live near your kingdom?”
“Yes, yes he does.” Cloudy whistled, eyes shooting upward. “Big nasty thing, ‘e is. Scales like fire.”
“Uh-huh.”
The prince levitated a cup to me, filled to the brim with a strange pink liquid I had never seen before, much less drunk. “Would you care for some juice, Princess?” he asked, blue eyes hopeful.
“I’m not really that thirsty.” I pushed the cup away, countering it with my own magic and causing it to tilt; some of the liquid splashed onto my tablecloth and I stared at it in disgust.
“But I insist.” The cup flew in front of my face again.
“Well, I insist.” The cup spilled once more. It was getting the table wet and I really didn’t care, so I continued to fight the drink.
Cloudy sighed. “Please? Just a little sip? A toast to friendship between our two countries, how about.”
I was about to refuse again, but then I remembered what Marie had told me, or would tell me, and sighed. “Alright, alright.” Enveloping the cup in my green aura I lifted it reluctantly to my lips at the same time Cloudy did his. The liquid was cool, yet bubbled on my tongue.
“To alliances?” Cloudy said.
“To alliances,” I grumbled.
We drank.
The world went black.
When I next opened my eyes, the sun was high in the sky. Had I been knocked out for hours? What was in that drink?
I heard faint sobbing next to me, like it was from a dream. Squinting, I managed to make out the violet form of Marie Fauna, crying and shaking. “Marie?” I whispered to her. “What’s going on? Why am I not in my bedroom? What…what happened?”
She looked at me, gasped, and embraced me in a sudden and irritating hug; I struggled and panicked, flailing my hooves in an attempt to get her off. “Oh! Oh, Princess Chroma,” she sobbed. “You’re not in your bedroom because…”
“Because what?” My voice was hoarse, as if I had gone without water for many months.
She broke down again, squeezing me even tighter. “Chroma…your kingdom is gone.”