> "Princess Flurry Heart, Destroyer of Worlds!"
>  by Fluttercheer
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> Chapter 1: Good Morning, Sunshine!
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	It was morning in Equestria and like every morning, Celestia stood on one of the balconies of Canterlot Castle to raise the sun, so that its golden light could spread over Equestria and bring warmth to her kingdom. It was an important task, the light of the sun she was responsible to bring to the lands gave warmth, it let flowers and trees grow, banished away the cold darkness of the night and woke up ponies with its gentle rays when they shone into their bedrooms. For one filly, however, the sun failed to do this task, as it was always widely awake already when the sun began to rise.
For as long as she could think, Princess Flurry Heart stood up extra early in the morning, to not miss the first rays of the sun when they entered her room and got reflected off of its sparkling crystal walls.
As soon as Flurry Heart had opened her eyes on this morning, a bright smile on her lips greeted the beginning day and with one quick movement, she threw the blanket off, jumped up in her bed and over to the window to her left. Having arrived there, she eagerly placed her forehooves on the windowsill and eyed the Crystal Mountains in the distance.
Beyond her, the façade of the Crystal Castle and the ground were still dark, but that was not something Flurry Heart paid attention to. All her interest was for the mountains in the distance, that looked as dark as the rest of the Empire, but with an orange glow outlining them, now. Her eyes were fixated on them with an excitement one didn't see often in the Crystal Empire. And as the sun finally peeked over the Crystal Mountains and let its light wash over them to bring the day, the eyes of the little princess lit up and grew in size, together with the smile on her lips that still adorned them the whole time, and her fascination for the celestial event broke out in all its intensity.
It was the most beautiful sight Flurry Heart knew. There were many wonders in the world she didn't discover yet in the five years of her life so far, but this one had a special place in her heart already. She would never allow herself to miss it.
While the scenery under Flurry Heart slowly awakened by the light of the sun and ponies sleepily began to leave their houses to enjoy the first warmth of the day, she just stood there and took in the magic of the moment, her eyes following the light that spread out from the mountains to the houses on the ground. As the sun was up completely and the whole empire illuminated, a broad grin flashed over Flurry Heart's face, then she took a deep breath. “Thank You, Auntie Celestia!” she shouted in a volume that rivaled Princess Luna's Royal Canterlot Voice, but was bell-like and cheerful, instead of intimidating. These were the first words Flurry Heart spoke every morning. She was a polite filly and always made sure to thank her godaunt for the gift she brought her every day.
Upon hearing her grateful exclamation, some of the citizens looked up to Flurry and smiles flashed over their own faces as their eyes fell on the happy little princess. Seeing Princess Flurry Heart so jolly was a sight they looked forward to every morning, almost as much as Flurry Heart looked forward to see the sun rising over the mountains. While Flurry Heart had her personal morning ritual with greeting the sun, they had theirs with watching the energetic young alicorn at her window. It warmed their hearts even more than the sun could and gave them one more reason to start the day. If their voices would be a match for Flurry Heart's, they would shout own thank-yous up to the small window in the tower of the Crystal Castle. But since they weren't, they showed Flurry Heart their gratitude with their smiles. Since the newest princess of their kingdom had begun with her morning ritual, their mornings became even brighter than usual and all of them made sure that Flurry Heart knew how grateful they were every single day.
After Flurry Heart had answered the many smiles and waved at the ponies under her like she did every morning, she left the windowsill and swiftly turned around to the door of her room, more than ready to tackle the new day that lied ahead of her. Without a pause in her movement, she raced over to the door and flung it open with her magic. The clopping sound of her small hooves resounded through the crystal corridor outside of her room as she galloped through it with all the youthful energy she could muster. And for Flurry Heart, this was a lot of energy. Her destination was the same as every morning: Her parents' bedroom. And like on every morning, her parents were still asleep when she dashed into the room and jumped onto their bed.
“Mommy, Daddy, it's morning, wake up!” she yelled squeakily at the top of her lungs and jumped up and down on top of them.
Both parents let out a groan upon having been awakened so brutal. “Flurry..... It's still too early. Go back to sleep, ok?” Shining Armor responded to his daughter's energetic outburst, his head half buried in the pillow.
Cadance at his side yawned and rubbed one of her eyes. “Daddy is right, Sweetie, we don't have to get up yet.” She reached out to the little bundle of energy that stood on her body, lifted her up and rested her at her side so that she could face her. Cadance chuckled as she saw the broad smile on the lips of her daughter and the fire that was in her eyes. “You're making this every morning, Flurry.” She shifted her head forward and nuzzled her nose. The little recipient of the gentle gesture closed her eyes and a giggle escaped her. “Wouldn't it be better to sleep for a little longer after you watched the sunrise?” she asked rhetorically. “There's still half an hour until we have to wake.”
“No!” came the quick answer out of her daughter's mouth, followed by a giggle.
Cadance sighed a little, which Flurry noticed as a sign of her mother getting annoyed. A tiny frown appeared on Flurry's face, almost unnoticeable behind all the cheeriness. “But mommy, the sun is already up and the day has begun! That's no time to sleep anymore, I need to eat breakfast and pack my things for magic kindergarden and I need to meet Sunny and–“ Gently, Cadance put a hoof on the mouth of her daughter as she heard another groan from her husband.
“Darling.....” he said.
“It's okay, Shining Armor, I make her some breakfast.” There was a slight annoyance audible in her voice. Unwillingness in her motions, she slowly rose in their bed and removed her part of the blanket that was spread over her.
Flurry Heart jumped up from her lying position and then down on the floor, immediately as she noticed the movement of her mother, and before Cadance could leave the bed, she had already hurried out of the room and back into the corridor of the royal apartments they lived in. “YAAAAAAAAY!” A high-pitched exclamation of joy sounded back to Shining Armor and Cadance.
“Every morning there are a few moments where I almost regret this night.”
Cadance chuckled. “I'm sure you get used to it one day.” She got down on the floor and stretched herself a little, then she bent over the bed and gave her husband a kiss on the cheek. “Just get a little bit more sleep and I take care of our little fluffball.” Then she turned around and left the room, following her rambunctious daughter into the kitchen.
The corridors of the part of the castle they had their royal apartments in were a bit narrower than in the rest of the tall building. When Flurry Heart started this morning routine of hers, which was pretty much right after she had learned to walk, Cadance was always worried she could not turn around the corners soon enough and run into one of the hard crystal walls and hurt herself, but it never happened. Not only was her daughter very quick, it also turned out that she had excellent reflexes. Still, Cadance was careful and so she forebad Flurry to fly in this part of the castle, just to be safe, which was why Flurry Heart always galloped to their bedroom instead of flying to it. A smile flashed over Cadance's face while she was thinking about this.
A few years had passed now since she spoke out this flying ban here and even though Flurry Heart wasn't happy about it at the beginning, she never offended against this rule. She was a very obedient and well-mannered little filly, but also an energetic spirit who enjoyed her life to the fullest. Cadance was proud of what she and her husband had put into the world years ago, rightly so, and she knew that Shining Armor felt the same, even though the boisterous attitude of Flurry Heart was something his nerves didn't take as well as hers.
As Cadance entered the kitchen, her little pride was already sitting on one of the stools at the table, her hooves placed on the surface and a grin appearing on her face as she saw her mother. “Good morning, mommy!” she said, quieter now, but still with all that energy ringing in her voice. It was only now that Flurry Heart thought on wishing her a good morning. Even though she was polite, her hyperactive mind let her forget this sometimes and especially at morning, nothing could tame it.
Cadance approached her daughter and gave her a small kiss on the forehead. “Good Morning, Flurry!”.
A happy giggle sounded from Flurry as her mommy's lips touched her.
Having parted with her again, Cadance proceeded to the kitchen cabinets, opened them with her magic and hovered out two small plates with ornate crystal patterns and some slices of bread. She placed the bread slices on the plates, closed the bag with the bread and put it back into the cabinet, then she lifted out a glass with hazelnut spread instead. After she had opened a drawer and already wanted to lift out one of the crystal knifes in it, the knife she wanted to take was suddenly engulfed by a yellow magical aura and floated out of the drawer unsteadily and towards the glass with the spread. This was one of these moments where it became apparent that her daughter was very obedient, but not completely. Using magic was much more tempting than flying for little Flurry Heart and she could barely resist playing around with her magical abilities.
“Flurry Heart.” The voice of Cadance became admonishing now. The older alicorn grabbed the knife with her own magic, letting the yellow aura of the filly vanish in the process, and lifted it over to the glass with the spread herself, where she let it hover. She turned around and eyed her daughter disapprovingly. “You know that I don't want you to levitate knifes yet,” she reprimanded the young magic user, her voice slightly stern.
An unhappy expression appeared on Flurry's face upon hearing this and she pouted. “But I'm old enough, mommy!” She crossed her tiny arms to underline her indignation.
“Not yet,” Cadance answered her daughter's small rebellious act in the same tone as before. “You need more time before you can handle sharp objects like this safely.”
“But all the unicorns in magic kindergarden already do it.....” A frown was added to Flurry Heart's face. This time it was more noticeable.
“You are not a unicorn, Flurry Heart, and I want that you take more time with it.” The tone in Cadance's voice made clear to the scolded filly that her mother wouldn't tolerate any more backtalk. So she left it at pouting a little more and cocking her head to the side in an outraged manner, while keeping her arms crossed.
Flurry Heart knew that talking back even more now would result in house arrest, or worse, a complete flying ban for weeks! Flurry especially hated the latter, so she better kept quiet when Cadance had that special, stern and slightly strained tone in her voice. Yet at the same time, the stern reactions of her mommy when she tried lifting something sharp with her magic were something the young alicorn never understood. All of her magically gifted classmates were allowed to do much more with their ability by their parents, yet she always got so many things denied and was always reminded to be careful with her magic. And no matter how often she asked why, her parents always refused to give her a real explanation for their, in her opinion, completely exaggerated worries. They had no problems with her flying around as much and as fast as she desired, but when she used magic, it always led to raised eyebrows by them. It was a complete mystery to Flurry Heart, a mystery she just couldn't solve, no matter how hard she pondered about it.
Suddenly, she was thrown out of her thoughts by a plate with two slices of bread that had a thick layer of hazelnut spread on them being put down in front of her. Confused she looked up to see her mommy taking seat on a stool at the edge of the kitchen table to her left. She noticed Cadance reaching out to her with one hoof and then felt it ruffling through her mane.
“Now stop being sulky,” Cadance addressed her with a softer tone now. “I don't think you want that the bread becomes hard while you are busy with being offended.” She smirked slightly.
That was something Flurry Heart really didn't want. Her pout dissipated and she placed her hooves back on the table. She was hungry, so she rather ate something now than continue to ponder over the peculiar behavior of her parents. She activated her horn and once the nearest of the two breads in front of her was engulfed by her aura, she lifted it up and bit into it hungrily. Getting some breakfast now eased the little filly and soon, she allowed herself to have a little smile on her lips again and was chewing happily on her meal.
Cadance watched her with a happy smile adorning her own face as well. It was always like this. The little, joyful filly just couldn't stay mad for long. She took a bite from her own bread as she noticed that Flurry's eyes suddenly widened.
The filly gulped down the pieces in her mouth hastily, then she folded out her wings and flew over the table in the direction of the kitchen door. “Daddy!” she happily expressed and came to a halt directly in front of the face of Shining Armor, who had just entered the kitchen. “I wish you a good morning, daddy!” She stopped her hovering and fell around his neck, throwing the still slighty dazed stallion off balance.
A laugh escaped his throat, then he put a hoof on his daughter's back and buried his muzzle into her curly, lavender and blue mane, giving her a little kiss that made her squeal from joy. “Morning, Flurry,” he said as gentle he was able to with his tired voice. He approached his wife, with Flurry Heart still clinging tightly against him, and gave her a kiss too, which unlike Cadance's kiss for him earlier, landed on her mouth. They kept kissing each other for a few seconds, then they parted and Shining Armor proceeded to make some breakfast for him too. Flurry kept clinging at him while he prepared everything, though, to make things easier for him while preparing his meal, she changed her position and climbed up on his head instead, from where she watched him doing the task.
In other families this would have been a problem, but thanks to Flurry's persistent attitude of waking her parents up way earlier than necessary every morning, they could afford some more time together like this. Which was an improvement that even Shining Armor, with all of his grumpy mood at morning, couldn't deny. He looked up as he felt Flurry resting her chin on his mane and smiled.
As he and Flurry were back at the table, his little filly flew off of his head and returned to her seat where she finished her breakfast. Her bread was slightly crispy now, but she ate the remaining portion anyway to be properly sated for the school day ahead of her. Once she was done, Flurry drank a glass of milk that Cadance offered her, then she got up and made her way towards her room to pack her saddlebag, not without thanking her mother for the breakfast she had prepared for her.
As Flurry was back in the room that she had left so hastily about half an hour earlier, she lifted up the saddlebag that was lying on the floor at the hoofboard of her bed and levitated it over to her desk. The desk was packed with her utensils for magic kindergarden. She was up later than usual last night to get her homework done and so she didn't bother anymore to clean it up before she slipped under the covers.
There were some of her books; one about general magical theory, full with lessons about the different types of spells and in which situations they should be used and in which not, each type of spell with an own page that listed unwanted or dangerous side effects of it, and a book titled The History of Magic: From Starswirl the Bearded to Princess Twilight Sparkle. It was a recent edition that was published only a few years ago and updated with her aunt's achievements since becoming Princess Celestia's student and how she became an alicorn, as well as with the life stories of some other mages and wizards from the last years.
Even her Crystaller, Sunburst, got devoted a page for saving the Crystal Empire years ago as she was just a few days old. It was at this time that a monster had destroyed the Crystal Heart and almost sentenced the Empire to become buried under ice and snow. Her parents, together with her aunt, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and a mare named Starlight Glimmer, who was a student of her aunt at this time, were able to defeat the monster, but the Crystal Heart remained shattered. Until Sunburst came and figured out that her own Crystalling ceremony was the key to restore the ancient, magical artifact. It was an event she only heard about from her parents and which she later read about again in the book in front of her. She was too young when it happened so she couldn't remember anything about it. Flurry Heart shrugged, grabbed the books and put them in her saddlebag.
Removing the books from the desk revealed her notebook. It was surrounded by her pencils, her quill, an open ink bottle and her sharpener. She lifted it up to take a look inside before putting it into her saddlebag too. She skipped through the pages a little and moaned. They were full of red markings and notes from her teacher.
Flurry Heart was by far no bad student. Perhaps not the best, but definitely above average. She even got very good grades in most of her tests. And yet, her teacher, a stallion listening to the name of Austere Knowledge, called Mr. Know by her and her classmates by his insistence, always judged her homework rather harshly. He was nitpicking over small mistakes she made, criticized her hornwriting, that everypony else called beautiful, and basically never had a good word left for her. Sometimes she suspected that he just didn't like her, but then again, he was known for teaching his students in a very strict way, so maybe that was just him and she didn't live up to his standards. It was something she shrugged off most of the time as well. As long as her grades stayed as good as they were, Flurry didn't care too much about his nitpicking.
As the notebook had found its way into her saddlebag, she put the lid on the inkbottle and placed it inside the bag as well, together with her quill, her pencils and her sharpener. She was in no rush with all of this. There was plenty of time left for her to pack everything before she had to leave the castle to make her way to the magic kindergarden in the eastern part of the Crystal Empire and to meet her best friend along the way and have a little chat with her before class started.
As she was done with preparing for the kindergarden, she snappily threw her saddlebag on her back and cantered out of her room to her parents who were still in the kitchen, now drinking coffee to become fully awake for their royal duties. “I'm leaving for magic kindergarden now!” she announced as she bursted into the room, once more in a volume loud enough to make her parents definitely become awake if the coffee shouldn't obtain this result. She trotted up to Cadance first and gave her mommy a tight hug, followed by a kiss on her cheek, which was answered by the motherly ruler in the same way. Then she darted over to her dad and the farewell procedure repeated itself, with the only difference that Shining Armor answered the lovely gestures by his daughter with a kiss on her forehead, instead of her cheek. Standing in the doorway after the heartfelt goodbyes, Flurry Heart turned around to her parents a last time and waved at them. “Bye mommy! Bye daddy! See you in the afternoon!” She winked at them and then she hurtled off down the corridor and out into the huge crystal throne room.
She galloped through it in an unbeatable tempo, slid down the banister and motioned through the entrance hall with the same speed. Along her way through the castle, she galloped past a few guards and presented them with a quick wave, to which they answered with a smile on their lips upon seeing the wild foal and waves of their own, the latter of which Flurry Heart almost didn't see anymore in her tempo. Near the massive entrance door of the castle, she flared her wings and simultaneously activated her horn to swing the gate open. As she had reached the exit, she did a jump into the air, began to flap her wings and took off into the blue morning sky.
Flurry Heart felt the familiar breeze tugging at her mane as she soared through the air away from the castle and let out a loud cheer. She closed her eyes for a moment and just enjoyed the beloved feeling of freedom, then she shot them open again and made a sharp turn to the right before she was too far away from the castle.
Every morning, she flew a few laps around the castle, just enjoying the tempo and the cold morning breeze around her, before she really made her way to the magic kindergarden. This was Flurry Heart's second daily ritual and it was even more important to her than watching the sun rise up in the sky. She loved the feeling of tempo and the adrenaline pumping through her veins during her fast flight. It felt like adventure to her. What made it even more important to her was the fact that her best friend she went to magic kindergarden with every day wasn't a pegasus, so she had to trot to the kindergarden with her instead of flying to it. At best, she could hover a little at her side, but this was of course no replacement for real flying. So she had to get her flying fix before she would meet her friend. The only thing about this routine that she didn't like was that she would rather be flying haphazardly across the whole empire instead of flying the same laps over and over again. But this was bearing the risk to arrive late for school, so the laps around the castle had to do it.
As Flurry felt that she had enough – which was something the young alicorn had to estimate, rather than she wanted to, because there was not enough time for flying infinite laps around the castle, in fact, Flurry never wanted to stop – she came to a halt in the air and landed in front of the majestic crystal castle.
One would think that Flurry Heart was out of breath now, but no, the filly had an amount of energy most ponies would become jealous of and give everything for. All she did after her joyous and ecstatic flight routine was immediately reorientating herself.
Flurry Heart turned around and faced the numerous streets opposite to the castle now. Swiftly, her eyes darted over them.
Still a bit befuddled from racing around the Crystal Castle it took her a few seconds to make out the right street that led to her destination, like every morning, but once she got it, the little ball of energy set herself rapidly into motion again, this time on hooves, not on wings, and zipped into the street faster than anypony could have said “Crystals” to meet up with her friend.
> Chapter 2: Sunny Minds and Dark Flowers
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	The distance Flurry Heart had to cover until she would reach the house of the other young filly was not a long one, in fact, it was almost around the corner from the castle, which was a little to Flurry's dismay, because it robbed her off an excuse to fly all the way to her friend's house.
When Flurry Heart arrived there, her friend was usually just coming out of the door; as with living a little closer to the magic kindergarden than Flurry Heart did, she could afford leaving a few minutes later. And this time was no exception. As Flurry saw the blue crystal building coming closer in the distance, it was just in time to watch the door opening and her friend trotting out, with a lively swing in her movement that most fillies couldn't bring up at the prospect of having to attend the kindergarden so early in the morning.
“Sunny!” Flurry Heart shouted with her bell-like voice and was met with a glance by her friend that instantly filled her with a warmth that she usually only knew from her beloved sun.
This was something her best friend – her full name was “Sunny Spirit” – was amazing with. Everywhere she appeared, ponies felt good and all it needed for that most of the time was one look by Sunny Spirit or hearing her voice for just a few seconds. It was like a new kind of magic, mysterious and unexplainable, but Sunny Spirit was no unicorn, she was a crystal pony like most inhabitants of the empire. Even the colors of her coat, as well as of her mane and tail, were of a kind that had a positive effect on ponies. Her light-blue coat had something soothing when looked at and her yellow mane and tail were so bright that Flurry Heart couldn't help but comparing them with the sun in the sky.
Completed was her look by big, green eyes a pony could get lost in like in a lush, green forest, when looking into them.
She was a beautiful young filly and no small number of ponies compared looking at her with the experience of lying on a wide field of green grass while looking into the blue, cloudless sky and enjoying the warm rays of the sun. Being around Sunny Spirit was pure joy, both in regards to her personality and to her appearance.
After having put the last distance behind her, Flurry Heart came to a screeching halt in front of her friend.
“Hi Flurry,” her warm, soft voice rung into the princess' ears.
“Good Morning, Sunny!” Flurry replied, then she lifted her right hoof and after Sunny had done the same, their hooves met each other for a hoofbump.
Having retracted her hoof again, Flurry began to jump up and down, her big wings flaring so that Sunny was hit by a breeze. “Are you ready to go, Sunny? Come on, let's move!” she exclaimed, her voice a bunch of octaves higher now.
Sunny answered with a grin appearing on her face first, then she jumped into the air too, although just once, next she turned around, ran down the stairs of her house, down on the streets and towards the direction of their shared destination, a ringing laughter leaving her mouth.
“Hey, you're not faster than me!” Flurry shouted after her, then she flared her wings stronger and zipped at the side of her friend. She flew alongside her for a few moments until Sunny had stopped running, then she landed and turned her movement into a trot. “You're always trying to beat me in speed, every morning, but you never succeed!” the alicorn filly said a little cheeky, giving the crystal pony at her side a smug look.
All of a sudden, Sunny Spirit stopped in her tracks and gave Flurry Heart a frown, unhappiness clearly adorning her face now.
Flurry's smug expression faded upon this sight and was replaced by a tinge of concern. “Hey, you aren't mad at me now, are you?” Her mouth turned around, pointing downwards in a wide semicircle. Thoughts about having it overdone with her hyperactiveness for once rushed through her mind. She felt sweat appearing on her forehead.
Flurry began to flail her hooves around. “I just wanted to make a small joke, I wasn't serious, come on, Sunny, you know my humor, I would never–“
She was interrupted as a loud giggling suddenly came from her friend, who now held a hoof to her mouth, trying to hold back what would otherwise evolve into a minutes long laughing fit that would probably lead to it that both of them arrived late at the kindergarden. Flurry Heart looked at Sunny Spirit with a puzzled expression for a moment, then a small gear turned around in her head and she realized that her friend had just tricked her. She frowned at Sunny with a disapproving glare and wanted to say something, but before she could, she began to giggle too. She tried to hold it back, to call Sunny out for making her scared for a moment, but it proved itself to be useless. As the persistent giggling had gained dominance over Flurry, both of the fillies erupted into loud laughing.
Knowing that they would be late if they waited until they were done with it, the two fillies set themselves into motion but kept laughing along the way, earning amused looks by the crystal ponies around them, of which some began to laugh too. As their fits finally subsided, they could already see the building of the magic kindergarden in a few meters distance ahead of them. While they approached the building that looked like it was carved out of a gigantic, longish yellow crystal, with a tower-like shape at each side of it, they rubbed the tears out of their eyes. They could see clear again as they stood in front of the gate of the building. The two fillies exchanged grins, then they proceeded forward to enter it.
The entrance gate was directly in the middle of the massive building and stuck out from its structure, both in height and width. As the two friends laid their hooves on the door to swing it open, they got interrupted in their attempt by a voice suddenly sounding from behind and addressing them.
“Who do we have here? The princess and the filly that looks like a part of the sky has fallen down to earth.” Both descriptions for them would count as compliments in most cases, but the tone with which the young, squeaky, and yet impressively elegant-sounding, voice spoke them out sounded like it had just thrown the most cruel and tasteless insults at them.
The two fillies sighed collectively, then they turned around to face the pony that had just spoken to them in such a contradictatory way. And looked directly into the eyes of their nemesis: Magnolia Sunshine.
As their eyes fell on each other, Magnolia sported the same, hostile expression like she always did when she saw them since Sunny and Flurry had their first day in magic kindergarden. More precisely, it was Flurry Heart her hostility was aimed at mostly. Her pale blue eyes were fixated on the young alicorn, piercing into her like Magnolia would like to drown her in them. There was an expression of hatred in her face – one that always made Flurry shudder when she saw it – that didn't do her beautiful, pearly-white coat and her adorable light pink mane and tail a favor.
After glaring at Flurry for some seconds, Magnolia's eyes took on a haughty expression and her mouth formed a smug smile. Proudly raising her head, she struck a regal pose and unfolded her wings. Then she looked at Flurry again, some of the hostile glare returning into her eyes. She flared her wings gently and stretched them out a little more until each of the pristine white feathers could be seen, then she slowly began to trot towards Flurry Heart.
Magnolia Sunshine was a filly like them. Five years old. Student of the Magic Kindergarden. Not exactly a bad student, but not an incredibly good one either. And she didn't have a cutie mark yet. But she was also the only daughter and foal of the Sunshine Family, the most prestigious, aristocratic family in the Crystal Empire.
Magnolia was not a crystal pony, but her parents had moved into the Crystal Empire a few years before her birth, shortly after the Crystal Empire had returned from its thousand-year-long absence. There were rumors that Magnolia's parents had lost their good reputation in Canterlot and that they moved to another place to start anew. Some said that an empire made of crystals simply appealed their fine tastes and others again thought that  they simply wanted to expand their successful trade conglomerate in the newly appeared empire with its struggling economy.
And indeed, due to the many changes Equestria had seen in the thousand years the Crystal Empire was gone because of King Sombra's curse, changes that made many businesses and goods produced in it less important or even entirely obsolete, the Sunshine Family has bought up many of these struggling businesses and shops and gave them a new direction, something that saved them from getting closed down and it saved the economy of the whole empire in the process.
Economy-wise, this made the Sunshine's the most powerful family in the Crystal Empire, just one step beneath the royal family itself. There were some other rich families moving into the empire after it had returned, but since the Sunshine's were the first ones, they now owned most businesses that kept the economy of the small city state running. If it wouldn't be for Flurry Heart's parents being the rulers of the Crystal Empire, they would be the most influential family of it.
And Magnolia Sunshine was the heir of the Sunshine Family, the one who would one day take over the conglomerate her parents controlled, and this gave the pegasus filly a sense of importance and of superiority over her classmates. And yet, unlike with all the other foals in the school, Flurry Heart was a threat for her. For more than one reason, but for one reason more than for the other.
As Magnolia had almost reached Flurry Heart, the little princess winced and did instinctively a step back, which was noticed by Magnolia and acknowledged with a sly grin.
Despite her threatening and arrogant entrance, Sunny Spirit gave the rich filly a smile, as much as this was possible in this situation. “Hi Magnolia, how are you doing today?” Sunny asked with as much sympathy as she could bring up for her.
Magnolia shot her an angry glare. “As if you would care.” This was all she replied to Sunny's warm welcome.
Hearing this saddened Sunny and she sighed, followed by a roll of her eyes. Despite this filly's attitude that made it hard to be nice to her, she tried to be friendly and welcoming to Magnolia, but was rejected every time. Lately, Sunny often thought that the daughter of the Sunshine Family really was a hopeless case and this answer just drove the realization deeper into her mind.
Ignoring Sunny again, Magnolia brought her attention back to Flurry Heart. Flurry winced once more and shivered as Magnolia's eyes met hers again. The white pegasus brought the last distance between her and Flurry behind it and for a moment, she just stared into Flurry's face, her eyes as cold as frost. Flurry gulped and raised a hoof, her eyes taking on an intimidated look.
“Don't cause any trouble, Magnolia!” Sunny intervened now, the voice unsually stern for the positive filly she was, with a bit of nervousness in it.
“Oh, I'm not! What makes you think that?” Magnolia replied, cynicism cleary audible in her voice. “I'm just here to admire the princess and pay my respects to her!” Accompanying her words, she gently let a hoof glide over Flurry's face, a gesture that just made the filly shiver even more.
Flurry knew such situations well. She knew exactly what Magnolia meant with “paying respect” and even though it didn't happen in the same way every time they ran into the bully, it was never something pleasant that happened when they encountered her. Those encounters had left scars on Flurry, figuratively, and with each of those encounters, Flurry's fear that some physical scars were added to them increased. She was scared of Magnolia Sunshine a lot.
Magnolia moved her hoof under Flurry's chin, lifting it up for a moment so that Flurry was forced to directly face her nemesis.
“You have a beautiful face,” she commented on Flurry's appearance, the cynical tone still ringing in her voice. “Nothing extraordinary, like mine, but nice.” She retracted her hoof and walked up to Flurry's side, now fixated on her wings. Flurry Heart followed Magnolia's movements warily with her eyes. “But your wings.....” Now her voice took on a sneering tone that felt to Flurry like Magnolia was outright cutting her. “Your wings are a real miracle!” Reaching out with a hoof, she touched her right wing and stroke over it a few times, a longing expression visible in her eyes, then she carefully unfolded the wing in a way that could have almost been described as “gentle”, if it weren't for a slight, but noticeable, drasticness in the movement. Flurry Heart pressed her eyes shut. She could feel her heart beating stronger now.
And her friend couldn't watch anymore either. Sunny Spirit did a step forward, her face showing a mixture of concern and anger. “Magnolia, it's enough! Leave Flurry alone or I go and get one of the teachers!” Her voice was slightly shaking with fear now.
There had never been a moment where Magnolia had really injured her friend, but over the last few weeks, Sunny had noticed that her advances became more intimidating, almost scary.
Just two days prior, after Flurry gave a little flying performance for her classmates, Magnolia walked up to her right after she landed and, without any warning sign for what should follow, gave her a slap in the face. Then she walked away like nothing happened. Sunny shuddered as she thought back to this moment. There was no doubt that the bully had become more unpredictable lately.
As Sunny had expected already, Magnolia was ignoring her warning. Instead, she poked at Flurry's wing with her hoof a few times, clearly intended to mock the young crystal filly that was concerned for her friend. Not sure if it was really just mocking or an actual, implied threat, Sunny frantically turned around on the spot she stood on and proceeded to enter the school building to get a teacher for help.
Magnolia's only reaction to this was a pityful glance, then she looked over to a bush that was located just right of the entrance gate and raised her voice. “Dope! Dork!” was all she exclaimed, her voice having taken on a commanding tone now. And upon this commando, two colts suddenly emerged from behind the bush and one short moment later, Sunny felt being grasped and held in position by four strong, muscular hooves. She struggled to get out of the grasp, but it was to no avail. Looking left and right, her suspicion was confirmed, as she saw the two familiar faces of the Bulb Twins, going by the names of Dope Bulb and Dork Bulb. They greeted her with vile grins.
The Bulb Clan was a family of woodcutters. Same as Magnolia's parents, the clan had moved to the Crystal Empire shortly after its return. Despite the fact that the buildings in the Crystal Empire were all made of crystals, there was still a demand for wooden furnitures, among other things. All the other wood-selling companies in Equestria already delivered the rest of the towns and cities of Equestria with the natural resource and they weren't prepared for another one in need of wood. So the Bulb Clan decided to take its chance and got into the wood business.
The whole clan moved into the Crystal Empire, where they planted trees around the city-state, in the area that was still covered by the Crystal Heart and kept snow-free by it, and, due to their earth pony magic, began to cut down trees and harvest wood soon after. Selling the wood in the Crystal Empire let them accumulate some riches, not as much as the Sunshine's had, but enough to live and to acquire some luxuries here and there. And Dope Bulb and Dork Bulb were the youngest members of the clan.
The business of their clan wasn't owned by the Sunshine Family, yet they always accompanied Magnolia and followed each of her orders. The reason for this was simple:

Both of the brothers had a crush on Magnolia.

Being her minions and doing everything she wanted would, so they hoped, eventually lead to it that she answers their love one day and makes a decision for one of them to become her coltfriend. More often than not, this led to them fighting over Magnolia's attention and trying to one up each other in serving her.
Needless to say, Magnolia wasn't really interested, in neither of them. The filthy earth ponies, as she referred to them when they couldn't hear it, with their fir green coats, reddish brown manes and tails and their red eyes weren't to her taste at all. Magnolia would rather stay without a coltfriend for her whole life before she would allow any of the two brothers to kiss her. But she kept them around. They were loyal in their love for her and very useful for things she didn't want to make her hooves dirty with. They had often assisted her well in executing some of the more nefarious schemes against the little alicorn princess she hated so much. Schemes she didn't want to have her family associated with, in case their execution should create trouble. Two dirty woodcutters, however, were expendable, as she liked to say. Magnolia intended to use them for her plans until they eventually realized that she would never agree to any of them becoming her coltfriend and leave her, which she knew would take a while. Dope and Dork weren't exactly intelligent. Not entirely stupid either, but naïve, slow and easy to manipulate. The perfect minions for the rich filly. And those two minions prevented Sunny Spirit from getting help for her best friend now.
“Keep her in place until I'm done here,” Magnolia commanded the two colts.
“Everything you want, Magnolia!” the two brothers answered in unison.
As Sunny had realized that it was futile to try getting out of the grip of the two strong brothers, she addressed a desperate plea to leave Flurry Heart alone to Magnolia, but this time, the bully was just ignoring her.
Satisfied with not getting disturbed and distracted anymore, Magnolia returned her attention to Flurry Heart's wing, which was still in her grasp, firmly enough to invoke fear in Flurry Heart. Continuing what she had begun, Magnolia unfolded Flurry's wing more until it was stretched out to its full length. “Your wings really are an amazing wonder of nature,” she began to comment on it. “You are only five years old and you already have wings the size of a grown-up. I'm sure you're proud of them.”
Magnolia's continued remarks about her wings made Flurry just more nervous and afraid. A whimper left her mouth now and she began to break out in sweat. The little alicorn knew that she should say something, anything, to make the bully let go of her, but there was only a lump in her throat. Anything she would say, she feared, could make the bully do something drastic, so she could only be silent about it.
Magnolia, though, was anything but silent. And her voice became cold now. “I bet a lot of young pegasi would give, or do, anything to have such big wings as you.” She intentionally put a lot of emphasis on “do” while she was speaking. “Or maybe..... They would do everything to make your wings as small as theirs.”
Flurry's eyes shot open the moment her tormentor had finished her sentence. Gasping from shock, she tried to pull away from Magnolia, but her wing was still firmly in her grasp. Flurry Heart pulled at it in hope to get it free, but as it began to hurt from the traction, she let out a low-pitched scream and stopped her attempts. Terror on her face now, she eyed the bully that was holding her wing.
Magnolia answered the scared expression in Flurry's face with a vile grin that showed her teeth. Then, from one moment to another and to Flurry's surprise, the bully broke out in broad laughter. “Oh, I'm just kidding! How I could harm those precious wings of yours? It would be a crime.”
The terror in Flurry's face remained, though, as the voice of the sadistic filly was still as cold as the frozen wasteland around the Crystal Empire.
The expression on her victim's face amused Magnolia. “Still so afraid? Aww.....” Now her voice took on a mocking tone.
For a bystander, it wouldn't have been hard to see that the bully absolutely enjoyed it to torture her classmate like this. But the three fillies and the two colts were alone. It was not long anymore until the bell of the school would ring and all the other foals were already inside of the kindergarden. Nopony was here to witness the cruelty that happened in front of the building.
“Stop shaking,” Magnolia continued. “I already said, I won't harm those wings of yours.” To underline what she just said, she bent her head down to where the wing was growing out of Flurry's torso and gave one of the feathers there a gentle kiss. It was as effective to calm Flurry down and to take her fear away as trying to make a baby stop crying by yelling that it should be quiet. Receiving this gentle gesture by a pony that had anything but her well-being in mind irritated her and her heart just pounded even stronger in her chest. Another laughter came from Magnolia upon seeing that Flurry continued to be terrified. Then she bent down on Flurry's wing again and with one, rapid movement, she took the feather she had just kissed into her mouth and ripped it out. A small, red spot remained where the pink feather was. It glistened as a tiny drop of blood emerged from it.
A strong twitch let her wing almost glide out of Magnolia's hoof and Flurry Heart gave a painful whimper. Tears shot into her eyes now.
As Flurry felt that the grip of the pegasus filly on her wing finally loosened, she immediately flapped it out of the hoof of the dreaded bully and stumbled a few steps backwards, in the direction of her friend. At about the same time, Dork Bulb and Dope Bulb released their own grips and let Sunny Spirit go, like Magnolia had just given them an invisible signal.
The latter just stood there and watched the scene with a vicious grin, even though Flurry's feather was still in her mouth. The two other bullies didn't pay any attention to Flurry as they trotted past to take position at the side of their master.
As she was at the side of her friend, who already looked at her with eyes full of concern, Flurry Heart turned her head around to her wing, that she had stretched out still, and inspected it with a look of fear and grief in her eyes. The gap where the feather Magnolia had ripped out was once protruding from her wing was clearly noticeable. Flurry shivered as she saw the drop of blood sitting on the tiny hole in her wing that ripping out her feather had left. For once, her fears were confirmed. It was the first time that her nemesis had actually injured her wing.
Taking Flurry's reaction like a cue to comment on what she just did, Magnolia took the feather out of her hoof and eyed it admiringly. “But I guess keeping one of those won't be a bad thing. You have so many..... I'm sure you can agree to donate just one of them to me.” She snickered as she demonstratingly stuck Flurry's feather into her long, pink mane. Despite having the same basic color, the feather stuck out of it like a terrifying trophy, due to the slightly brighter shade it had. And of course the cruel bully made sure to put it where Flurry Heart could see it very well every time she would meet her from now on.
Flurry ignored what Magnolia had said and only paid attention to her wing. Now that her shock subsided, it began to hurt. She blew on the spot where her feather had sat.
Sunny Spirit looked away from Flurry Heart for a moment, directing her eyes at the filly who had just hurt her friend. “Why have you done this, Magnolia?” she asked her sternly. Her eyes were filled with anger, sadness and a bit of disappointment. Of course, Sunny knew why the other filly had done this. Everypony knew why she hated Flurry Heart. But such a cruelty just didn't have any place in the world of the positive, young filly.
Sunny didn't get an answer. Magnolia just demonstratively shrugged her shoulders, malice in her face, then she made her way towards the entrance gate of the magic kindergarden, the two colts eagerly following her.
“I'm going to tell the principal about what happened!” Sunny called after her just as she wanted to open the door.
The white pegasus filly turned around, smugness in her face. “What happened?” she repeated her words. “That our dear Flurry Heart here was clumsy while preening her wings and accidentally ripped out one of her feathers and that she said I could have it? Of course, go ahead and tell him this. I just don't think he will be very interested in such a mundane event.” She paused for a moment and looked from Dork to Dope. “This is all that happened here, right?”
The two colts nodded collectively. “Mhm. Yes, Flurry Heart was just clumsy, nothing else,” Dope answered the question then.
Satisfied, she looked back to Sunny Spirit again. “Well then, I hope you will have fun with your smalltalk with the principal. But we better head inside now. We don't want to come late.” She did a last look at Flurry Heart, whose eyes were still fixated on her injured wing, and gave her a smile. “Thanks again for presenting me with your feather, little princess. I will treasure it.” The last sentence was permeated with her trademark cynicism. Then she finally turned around again and opened the door. Elegance in her movement, she disappeared inside of the building, her two minions following closely.
With a bang, the door closed behind them, leaving Sunny and her now distraught friend alone outside the building.
Sunny Spirit just eyed the door the three bullies had disappeared in. She had felt her heart sinking as she had to hear how easily Magnolia talked herselt out of the responsibility of the events that just transpired. It was an audacity that made her speechless and she felt desperation and hopelessness rising in her heart.
In this moment, the bells in the towers above them rang, sending out gloomy, echoing clangs.
Flurry Heart sobbed.
> Chapter 3: Serenity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Above Sunny Spirit and Flurry Heart, the bells of the clocktowers continued their dark chiming, alerting the students of the magic kindergarden that their first lesson of the day was about to begin. And at the same time, it sounded like they were commenting on what cruel event had just happened in front of the entrance. Neither Sunny nor Flurry had ever noticed how grim and foreboding the bells of their school sounded, but now it dawned on them in a horrifying way. And yet despite that, both of them didn't really pay attention to the big, metallic structures and their scary play.
Flurry Heart was heavily sobbing, her eyes now turned away from her wing. Her heart was filled with fear after Magnolia's treatment and this fear used up all her concentration.
Sunny Spirit still stood at the same spot, eyeing the door with the same amount of disbelief and shock that appeared in her face moments earlier. She didn't have ears for anything right now, all that was going on in her mind was that she constantly asked herself the question why such things happen and why Magnolia managed it time after time to get out of it unharmed and unpunished. It was only as an especially loud sob escaped Flurry's throat that Sunny was thrown out of her state of shock. All of a sudden, she was aware of her surroundings again and felt the crying of Flurry Heart cut through her like somepony was just using a sharp knife on her.
Having been reminded on Flurry's condition again, she abruptly turned around to her and rushed at her side. The sight that greeted her was terrifying.
The young alicorn had crouched down on the floor, her face buried in her hooves, in which she was weeping uncontrollably. Her injured wing was still stretched into the air, the massive limb towering over her friend. It was twitching in the rhythm the pain from the small injury flashed through it and a thin trail of blood trickled down her wing and torso. The drops formed a tiny puddle of blood under Flurry, which soaked the coat on her belly.
Sunny Spirit shuddered as she saw what a picture of misery her best friend displayed right now. In this moment, she was anything but the cheerful filly that seemed to absorb every little piece of happiness that was in the world. Sunny choked, then she carefully reached out with a hoof and touched her friends' shoulder. “Hey..... Flurry?”
Hearing the voice of her friend at her side, Flurry Heart looked up to her. Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears that constantly ran down her cheeks in thick streams, only to be replaced by a seemingly infinite supply of new ones. And her face was distorted by distress and grief in a way Sunny had never seen it before. It was red and her cheeks were puffy and there were deep wrinkles on her forehead. The drenched coat added to the mysery that offered itself to Sunny in front of her eyes. Her mouth gaped open from shock and dismay.
Flurry Heart opened her mouth too and tried to say something, but before a word could leave it, she broke out in sobs again and buried her head into her hooves once more.
Upon seeing this reaction, anger flared up in Sunny Spirit and for a moment, all she felt was the desire to enter the school building, to go into their class and to pull Magnolia out of her chair and teach her a lesson. She clenched her teeth, her whole body shivering from the anger and hatred that was coursing through it right now. But she also knew this wasn't the right moment to give in to her negative feelings.
Sunny closed her eyes and did a few, deep breaths, then, as she felt her pulse returning to a somewhat normal speed, she opened them again, took position to Flurry's right, crouched down herself and wrapped her hooves around her friend. She rested her chin on Flurry's head and began to gently stroke her mane. “Sssssh,” she said calmingly. “It's all over now, Flurry.”
As she felt the gentle embrace, Flurry raised her head and brought her face out from under her hooves. Feeling how she was in need of it, she instinctively pressed it against Sunny's neck and continued her crying there, soaking Sunny's coat. After a few more sobs had left her throat, she found a little strength to speak.
“N-Now she really did it. I knew she would, S-Sunny. I knew she would hurt my w-wings and now she did it. S-She is really going after my wings n-now.” Behind her sobs, Sunny could hear her voice cracking from fear.
She intensified her embrace. “I know, Flurry. But we don't let this happen. Magnolia is so incredibly jealous of your wings that she doesn't know what she's doing anymore, but I'm here for you and I won't allow that she hurts you again. And you know that I'm not the only one who will help you.”
Flurry sniffled, then she retracted her face from Sunny's neck and looked her straight into the eyes. “What should we do? A-After all she did today.....”
“We go to the toilet. I need to take care of your wing first. Can you get up?”
Flurry Heart nodded weakly, then she slowly rose up on her hooves. They felt wobbly to her and she was shaking, but eventually, Flurry managed it to stand somewhat secure.
The little alicorn looked to her right and at her wing. Grimacing, she moved it a little and, as it didn't hurt too much, tried to fold it in, which was unfortunately only rewarded with another strong flash of pain. More tears shot into her eyes and she let her head hang, followed by a deep sigh.
Sunny rushed at her side and nudged her gently. Understanding the signal, Flurry Heart carefully stretched her wing over Sunny's back to rest it on it. She gave her friend a thankful smile, which looked anything but happy with the agonized expression and the tears still flowing over her cheeks. Noticing that, another wave of concern washed over Sunny. She put a hoof over Flurry's shoulders and gave her a smile on her own, a reassuring and motivating one.
Then both of the fillies sat themselves into motion and brought the small distance between them and the entrance behind. As Sunny proceeded to open the crystalline swing door, she felt her friends body vibrating under her hoof. A look at Flurry Heart confirmed her suspicion, she was facing the ground and her eyes were widely open. Sunny tightened the grip around her friend's shoulder and pulled her closer to her. “Don't worry, I'm sure Magnolia is in class already now. She won't be behind this door.” As Flurry still didn't move, Sunny dragged her forward, gently, but firm, while simultaneously pushing the door open. She could feel the resistance of her friend as every cell of her body seemed to strive against entering the building. After a little struggle between her and Flurry, both of them had finally managed to enter the magic kindergarden.
Sunny Spirit turned her head to the left and let her eyes wander over the long corridor observingly, carefully checking that their nemesis and her two henchponies weren't here. Then she turned to the right and repeated the procedure. As she had made sure that the corridor was clear on both sides, she turned her attention back to Flurry Heart.
“She isn't here, Flurry. Take a look.” As soft as possible she placed a hoof under the chin of the paralyzed filly and moved her head into the two directions of the corridor she had just checked out.
A relieved sigh left Flurry's mouth as she saw that Sunny was right. Taking the initiative again, Sunny Spirit directed her friend to the corridor to their left.
Now a little more confident, Flurry got into motion all by herself. Somehow, she felt eagerly to spend some time alone with her best friend in the small, quiet fillys toilet now. Still, while on their way, her eyes darted over the corridor, from the blue floor over the yellow walls that were adorned with pictures. She expected that Magnolia would suddenly stand in front of them, ready to continue her tantalizing bullying. Deep inside of her she knew it was unlikely. It was right that Magnolia wouldn't hang around in the corridor anymore, it was a few minutes past the beginning of their first lesson and she had said that she didn't want to come late. And on top of that, the toilet they were heading towards right now was exactly at the opposite side of their classroom.
Due to the longish shape of the building, it was separated into two parts. The classrooms were located in the right corridor, together with a set of toilets on their own, and the left corridor was reserved for the teacher's rooms, the office of the principal and the aforementioned fillys toilet, as well as an accompanying counterpart for colts. Even if Magnolia would leave the classroom right now to go to the toilet, she would visit the one at the far end of the school building. They were safe here, for now, but Flurry's fear dominated her mind.
Her eyes were carefully scrutinizing the walls, like she was expecting that the cruel bully would suddenly come out of one of them. The pictures on the walls showed classes that had graduated here before, as well as pictures of the teachers. The latter ones were hanging at the side of the doors of the teacher's rooms and as they came across a particular one, a new shudder went through Flurry's body. Before she could start to ponder about what the face that looked at her from inside the picture frame meant to her, she was thrown out of her trance by Sunny's voice.
“We're here.” The other filly pointed at a door with the red silhouette of a filly painted on near the top. “Now let's head in and take care of your injury!” She gave Flurry another reassuring smile, then she pushed the door open and they disappeared inside the room.
Sunny Spirit quietly closed the door, then she turned around and faced the inside of the room. To their left, a few lavatorys were attached to the bright, pink wall, just low enough that fillies could reach them without having to stand on something. At the opposite side of the room were the stalls, three in number, the doors and the walls of them white. Finally, opposite of the door was a window, the windowsill unfortunately too small to sit on it. Lacking a proper seat, Sunny Spirit directed Flurry Heart into one of the stalls. She put down the lid of the toilet and Flurry Heart took seat on it. Sunny Spirit lifted Flurry's saddlebag off of her back and placed it at the wall, followed by her own. Then she left the stall and headed for one of the lavatorys.
As she was alone inside the stall, Flurry Heart noticed surprised that there were still big tears rolling down her cheeks. She choked. Finally doing an effort to stop the crying, she reached up with her hooves and rubbed the tears out of her eyes. With small success, the little alicorn filly managed it to stop most of the flow, but a few tears still trickled out. Something else that she hadn't noticed so far, but that came to her now in the serenity of the fillys toilet, was that the pain in her wing had become significantly weaker since they entered the building. She did a few, tiny flaps with it and found it much less painful than before. It was probably still the best to not move it too much, though, she thought, so she let it carefully sink to the floor again after the short check-up.
While she was examining her wings, she could hear Sunny Spirit being busy at the lavatory opposite of her. The little crystal filly took some paper towels out of the dispenser to her right and held one of them under the water, making it soaking wet. She turned off the faucet and wrung the paper towel out a little, then she took it and the other, dry one and returned to Flurry Heart.
“Now let's clean up your wing!” she said with a cheer in her voice that made it seem to Flurry Heart like nothing bad has happened a few minutes ago. Her face took on a surprised expression for a moment as Sunny Spirit approached her injured wing with the wet towel. As she touched the spot where her feather had sat, Flurry Heart winced and let out a small whimper. The overall pain was much weaker now and it had almost stopped bleeding, but touching it still caused a substantial amount of it. New tears appeared in Flurry's eyes now and quickly streamed down her face, which Sunny noticed, but instead of frowning, she just smiled this time. “Be brave, Flurry, I'm done soon!” To highlight her words, she bent forward a little and gave Flurry a kiss on the forehead, right underneath her horn.
A gesture that caused Flurry to set up a smile too now, the first one she managed to make look somewhat happy since Magnolia's torture ended.
Noticing it with a satisfying nod, Sunny switched to the dry towel and carefully tapped the sore spot with it. Then she ripped the towel into two halves, folded one of them and held it against Flurry's injury. She looked into Flurry's face and gave her another one of her trademark confident smiles. “Try to tuck in your wing now.”
Flurry Heart nodded and slowly lifted her wing off of the ground, carefully doing the necessary steps to fold the big limb against her body. Sunny Spirit removed her hoof from the piece of the towel as she was almost finished and a moment later, it was sandwiched between Flurry's wing and her torso. To Flurry's surprise, she could barely feel the pain anymore now.
Another satisfied nod by Sunny. “That should take care of the rest of the bleeding! Speaking about blood.....” She pointed at Flurry's stomach, then she switched back to the wet towel and folded the side with the bloodstain on it to the inside.
Flurry Heart followed Sunny's hoof and gasped from shock as she found her coat being stained with blood that became a little brown already. “Wow.....” was all she could say at first. “Was I bleeding so much?” Her face scrunched a little in fear again as she thought on it that her tormentor had really injured her this time.
“Only a few drops, don't worry!” Sunny chimed in response. “And we have those stains removed in no time! Soon your coat will look as nice as before!”
With that said, she put down the wet towel on the blood-stained hairs, put pressure on it and moved it around in circles. As Flurry felt the towel tickling her belly, she broke out in faint giggles that soon grew louder, which resulted in Flurry trying to stiffle them to avoid that any teacher or the principal came to look what the commotion was about.
Sunny Spirit began to grin broadly. That was a true weakpoint of her friend, she was incredibly ticklish on her belly, even just a slight touch there could let her erupt, and right now, it came in handy after the gruesome experience Flurry just had to make. This was just the right moment for a little feel good torture, Sunny decided. She removed the wet towel from Flurry's coat, which gave the little alicorn finally time to relax and breath, then she switched again to the rest of the dry towel and wiped over the spot a few times. She let both of the towels drop to the floor, then looked up to her friend in a playfully malicious way.
“Sunny, what do you want to do.....?” A slightly clueless expression appeared on Flurry's face. “Oh no!” she exclaimed then as her friend's intention dawned upon her. She tried to get up from her seat to escape, but Sunny was faster and had quickly pinned her against the backwall of the stall, were she started to tickle her belly furiously. “S-Sunny..... no!” were all the words Flurry could manage to say, before another fit of giggles left her throat, louder this time, and she quickly put her hooves over her mouth again.
Needless to say that Sunny Spirit was merciless. She snickered and for a few minutes, she did nothing else than tickling her friend with increasing intensity while laughing herself, until Flurry Heart couldn't take it anymore.
“S-Sunny, please stop now! It's too m-much and w-we get late to the classroom if you continue!” The latter argument was of course just an excuse to get her friend to cease the incessant tickling, as they were already way too late anyway.
But Sunny listened and removed her hooves upon seeing that her friend had enough. With a satisfied grin, she sat down in front of the toilet seat and watched Flurry as she recovered from the attack.
Flurry Heart leaned back against the wall and breathed heavily. She closed her eyes and placed her hooves on her belly to protect it from another assault. “That was mean, Sunny!” she said after she had gained her breath back a little. After a few breathers more, she opened her eyes and gave her friend a glare, but then she laughed and her friend soon joined in.
Both fillies laughed without hesitation, now neither of them caring anymore that anypony could hear them.
As their fits had subsided, they wiped the tears out of their eyes and slowly calmed down. Sunny Spirit was the first one who found her speech back. She pointed again at Flurry's stomach. “So, that would be done!” she announced.
Flurry removed her hooves from her stomach and looked down at it again, her face lighting up brightly as she noticed that her coat was as pristine as before now. She darted forward and wrapped her hooves around Sunny's neck, a cheerful giggle escaping her throat. As she released her friend of the tight embrace, she rewarded her with a quick, but strong, kiss on her left cheek. Which she followed up with wrapping her tiny hooves around her friend again. “Thank you so much, Sunny! Sometimes I really wouldn't know what to do without you!” The other filly reciprocated the hug, then, after a few seconds in which both of them were quiet and just enjoyed the other's presence, they let go of each other.
The two of them exchanged smiles, that lasted for another few seconds, then Sunny took the word. “I'm so glad you feel better now!” But.....” Now her face became stern. “We really need to talk about Magnolia now.”
Hearing her tormentor's name changed the mood for Flurry immediately again. Like it was a magic word of a dark spell, Flurry Heart felt the fear rising in her heart again upon hearing it. Her lips pointed downwards, she leaned back and began to shake again. “I know.....” she pressed out between her lips. “What is it that we are going to do?” Hopeful, she looked up to her friend.
“Don't worry about that!” she began. “I already know something. But first.....” She sighed. This was probably going to be the hardest part. Now sporting an even more stern and very serious expression, she looked Flurry straight into the eyes. “You must finally stop being so afraid of her and defend yourself against Magnolia!”
For a moment it was completely silent in the room. The words Sunny had just spoken washed over Flurry like a wave of cold, arctic water. This was a sobriety she had never seen from her friend. It was something that made her speechless and she was looking at her with big eyes. It took quite a few moments until Flurry had found her speech back.
“You mean I should just..... snap back at her like I do with other ponies?”
The answer was a stern nod by her friend. “Yes. We know you can do that, Flurry. It's not the first time somepony bullies you and you can deal with it just fine. Every time some other foal bullies you, you are so snappy! You need to do the same with Magnolia!”
Flurry gave her a shy, intimidated glance. “I know, but–“
“And what's with that colt from the parallel class?” Sunny interrupted her. “How is his name again?”
Flurry waited, but soon realized that her friend expected to hear it from her. She sighed. “Swift Hoof.” She let her eyes wander to the ground as she began to remember what happened with him.
Swift Hoof was a bully as well, although, unlike Magnolia who preferred to torment her victims in more psychological ways, he loved it to beat his victims up. He was feared in his class. Because everypony was afraid of him, he didn't have any friends, but somehow, he seemed to enjoy it that everypony was shivering from fear when he approached them.
Swift Hoof seemed to see it as a hobby and the more foals he beat in a fight, the more it increased his ego. And since he was not only strong, but also a very fast fighter, nopony could stand a chance against him. Soon, he had beaten up every foal in his class, so he expanded his activities to other classes. And the first one who jumped into his eyes was Flurry Heart. He knew about Flurry's snappy attitude, her ability to beat a pony that treated her poorly or tried to get smart with her with apt, and sometimes impudent, remarks, and wanted to see if she was as good with her hooves as she was with words. And this was a mistake.
The young alicorn princess made short work of him. It was still an impressive and long fight, with losses on both sides. Both of them ended up with a multitude of scratches, bite marks and bruises and each of them received a black eye. Flurry Heart lost quite a few feathers as well and they both were punished with detention for two weeks. But Flurry Heart was the winner of this fight, her faster tempo was Swift Hoof's demise. It was a lesson for him and even though he didn't stop being a bully, he never dared to touch Flurry Heart again.
Everypony knew that Flurry Heart was, despite her fragile appearance, anything but a weak filly. She could stand her ground against most ponies, and Flurry Heart was well aware of this, and yet, it was different with Magnolia, and Flurry Heart knew that as well. She shot another shy glance at Sunny Spirit as her friend continued the talk with her.
“You know as well as me how you beat him up when he attacked you. And you must do the same with Magnolia if she gets more violent.”
As she heard this stern advice by her friend, the shivering continued and tears returned once more to Flurry Heart's eyes.
More gentle now, Sunny Spirit continued. “You saw it today, Flurry. Magnolia is getting out of control. I don't know why she's so jealous of your wings, but now that she attacked them the first time, she might do it again! I will always help you against her and you can tell your parents what she does, but your parents aren't at your side all the time. And what if I can't come to school one day? Or if Dork and Dope keep me away from you again like today? You can't always rely on other ponies to help you against her and if you don't defend yourself the next time, who knows what happens!”
All these words Sunny Spirit directed at Flurry Heart weren't really necessary and yet at the same time, they were. Flurry Heart knew all of these things. She knew how good she usually was at defending herself. She knew that Magnolia was acting up and would soon do very bad things to her, maybe even things that couldn't be undone anymore, if she didn't finally start fighting the rich bully. But despite all of this, she knew she couldn't do it.
Flurry Heart let out a sigh as new tears streamed down her face. “I know, Sunny, but it's not as easy with Magnolia. She's so different than other bullies. All the things she says..... The way she's saying them..... And the way she behaves..... I never saw that with another pony. I think.....” Flurry Heart trailed off for more than a few moments here, having it hard to take this word into her mouth, as it seemed so unbelievable and surreal to her. “I think she might be insane for real, Sunny. How should I know what she's capable of doing if I defend myself against her? I bet it's making her mad so much that she might.....” Unable to end the sentence, she just presented her friend with a scared look.
Sunny Spirit was already one step ahead of her. “I know, Flurry. But now that she went so far, she's maybe doing this anyway. I'm not saying you shouldn't be careful around her. And I really hope we're wrong. I don't actually think that Magnolia is an evil filly. Maybe she has some problems on her own that make her be like that to you. That's why I want that we talk with her today after what she did this morning. But–“
“Talking with her?” Flurry Heart interrupted her upset. “You can't talk with Magnolia!” she burst out. Flurry Heart rolled her eyes over the naivety of her friend. “Sunny, Magnolia won't listen! You said yourself that she is out of control, she either doesn't know what she's doing or she just doesn't care!” Now it was Flurry Heart who sported a stern expression, with some tears still glistening in her eyes.
But Sunny Spirit stayed calm. “I know she's a complicated filly and maybe even really dangerous, but..... She went too far today, Flurry. And maybe she knows that. It's right that she is a problem, but I don't want to believe that's her only side. Maybe even she has something good in her. She never did something so cruel before. Maybe she is shocked herself over what she did today and just needs an opportunity to show she's sorry for it. I want to find that out first before before we do something else.”
Now Flurry felt a slight anger flare up in her. “And what if not?” she asked Sunny and crossed her arms. “What if she isn't and she's really knocking me out from behind and cutting off my wings or worse one day?!” She almost snapped at her friend now.
Sunny's mouth gaped open and for a moment, she just stared at Flurry with an empty glare.
Flurry Heart noticed it and her heart sank. “I'm sorry, Sunny,” she said resignated. “But I'm really afraid of her.....” A slight whimper escaped her throat and she pulled up her legs and wrapped her arms around them. Flurry Heart fixated the ground with a similar emptyness coming from her eyes.
A compassionate expression appeared in Sunny's face. She got up and reached out to Flurry, lifting her head up. “I know, Flurry. I'm not mad, don't worry. I know that I could be wrong about Magnolia, but that's why I said you must start to defend yourself against her. We're going to talk to her today during recess, but if I'm really wrong and if you don't defend yourself, then she will do it anyway. You're becoming her doormat, Flurry Heart, and this is getting dangerous for you! And that's why you must finally stand up to her and fight her if necessary! Do you understand this?”
All of a sudden, Flurry Heart felt all the feelings of anger, desperation and fear vanishing. She suddenly felt confident. It was like a flame was now burning in her, a strong, hot flame. She opened her mouth and looked into Sunny's eyes, baffled about what just happened. And she felt that Sunny was right. It was the only right thing to do. She even felt silly now that she didn't realize this before.
“You're right!” she shouted into the face of her friend. “I can't be her pushover! I must stand up to her and hit her on the nose if necessary!” She threw a hoof into the air in an attempt to strike a victory pose.
“But there's something I don't understand,” she said as she took down her hoof again. “Why do I feel so confident suddenly? Just a moment ago I just wanted to go home and lock myself into my room and never come out again and now..... I feel like teaching Magnolia a lesson right now! How have you done this? How can you always make ponies feel so good again, Sunny?”
This question just caused a clueless expression in her friend's face and Sunny shrugged. “I don't know. I was always good at this. I guess I was just born with this ability.” She presented Flurry with a smile now, who reciprocated the gesture.
Then her face became more serious again. “But now we need to hurry! We are way too late for our first lesson and you know how much Mr. Know hates it when we come late!”
Flurry's face became pale as she heard this. With all the trouble with Magnolia, her hurt wing and the peptalk Sunny had given her, she had completely forgotten about it that class had already started. Now her usual energy returned to her.
Flurry Heart jumped off of the toilet seat and over her friend. “Come on, what you're waiting for?” she said. “We must hurry or we will be in detention today!” Her faced showed a frantic expression now.
Sunny nodded. At quick pace, she lifted the used towels off the ground while Flurry Heart used her magic to put their respective saddlebags onto their backs. In one fluid movement, Sunny Spirit left the stall in which she took care of Flurry's injury and threw the towels into the wastebin.
Once more using her magic, Flurry Heart threw the door of the fillys toilet open and both friends rushed outside and hurried down the corridor towards their classroom.....
> Chapter 4: The Failure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit arrived at the door of the classroom, they stopped for a moment. Both of them were a little out of breath now. Sunny wasn't as fit as Flurry was, while the latter's exhausted condition was more caused by the general flurry of activity they just went through, rather than the tempo.
As they were sort of rested up, they turned towards the door together, more or less ready to enter. Flurry and Sunny exchanged a glance and each of them could read the nervousness and fear in the eyes of the other. On their way, they were able to take a look at the school's clock, so they now knew that they were exactly twenty minutes late. Soon, their first lesson of the day would be half over. Sunny and Flurry gulped in unison, then they reached for the doorknob, turned it around and hesitantly opened the door. With ducked heads, the two fillies slunk into the room. It was only as a strong, well-known voice shouted their names, that they dared to look up.
“Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit!” It was ear piercing and went right through them.
They haltingly lifted up their heads. What, or rather who, they saw in front of them was their teacher, Austere Knowledge. A dark brown unicorn stallion with a black tail and mane, the latter of which cut short in an unstylish way. With a book in his hooves and his head turned into their direction, he looked down on the scared fillies with his cold, black eyes, radiating disapproval that was so strong that they felt like the darkness inside was stabbing holes into them. Not even his cutie mark, which was a blackboard with a pointer, was as dark as his eyes.
After a few seconds of just staring at them like this, he continued. “Both of you know that I don't tolerate latecomers. What have you to say for yourself?” His voice became slightly louder at the last words.
Flurry Heart and Sunny exchanged another glance, their teeth clenched and their eyes expressing a mixture of insecurity and fear. They knew that it wasn't their fault and that they could give him an explanation that would save them from punishment, but doing so was also easier said than done.
“We.....” Flurry Heart began, but trailed off before she could even really start the sentence.
Sunny took over for her. “It was just because of–“ A faint snickering from the rows of desks in the classroom let her interrupt her sentence. She directed her eyes where she heard it coming from and let them wander over her classmates, most of them crystal foals like her, with only a few unicorns and pegasi as exceptions, all of them staring at her and Flurry with widely opened eyes, until she had found the source of the snickering.
Unsurprisingly, it came from Magnolia Sunshine. Flanked by her two minions who occupied the desks to her left and right, their faces adorned with smug smiles, she sat at the far left corner of the classroom. She was holding a hoof at her mouth, glee in her eyes and what wasn't covered by her hoof revealed a malicious grin. Flurry's feather still stuck in her mane.
Sunny Spirit sighed exasperated. She looked back at Flurry, who had noticed Magnolia too. Without exchanging a word, they could see that both of them were thinking the same. Sadness was in Sunny's eyes as she looked at her friend, but Flurry Heart just gave her a small nod, not without a good amount of desperation in her eyes, though.
Sunny Spirit sighed again, then she turned her attention back to their teacher, whose own expression had just become more grim in the meanwhile. “Flurry Heart tried to preen her wings a few minutes before the bells rang. She wasn't careful enough and.....” Sunny stopped for a moment, presenting Flurry with another sad glance from the corner of her eyes. “And she ripped out one of her feathers. She hurt herself and was crying, so I had to calm her down first. I went to the fillys room with her and took care of her injury and that's why we are late.”
Austere Knowledge continued to stare down at the yellow-maned crystal filly for a few seconds, his expression a tad more soft now, but still with a lof of strictness emanating from them. Then he began to speak again. “So that's how it happened. I suppose it was a very admirable deed from you to help your clumsy friend. You are excused. But I still expect you to catch up with the first half of the lesson and that you understand it as well as the rest of your classmates. Now go to your desk.”
Sunny Spirit shyly nodded, then she made her way towards her desk, not without exchanging another glance with Flurry Heart, whose expression became bitter again now.
Austere Knowledge watched Sunny Spirit until she had taken her place and began to take her books out of her saddlebag, then he turned towards Flurry Heart and his eyes returned to their ice-cold expression. “However, princess.....” he began. “You are not excused.” His voice was full of disdain now. “Even though I can understand that a member of royalty like you is barely capable to do such a simple task by yourself,” – His lips began to form an amused smile while he spoke these words – “hurting your wing while attempting to preen it is not a reason to miss even just a minute of education, not by all means.” Another faint snickering came from Magnolia, followed by some other foals in the class beginning to laugh over their teachers' remark. All of this made Austere Knowledge's smile bigger and it added sneer to it. “You are in detention, princess. Three hours.” The laughing stopped abruptly and was replaced by audible gasps from the whole class. Only Magnolia continued her snickering unphased. “Now go and sit down and at least try to catch up,” Austere Knowledge commandeered Flurry, his hoof pointing at her desk, that was right next to Sunny's.
Head hanging low, without looking at her teacher again, she crouched to her desk through the rows of her classmates and took seat as she had reached it. With a depressed expression, she placed her face head-on in the desk's surface. “I hate him so much,” she said in a volume that only Sunny could hear.
Worried, Sunny put a hoof on the back of her friend and began to rub over it comfortingly.
“And the day started out so good.....” Flurry continued before she lifted her head again.
“I know, but don't worry too much. It's not over yet, right?” Sunny tried to cheer her up once more. She gave her a smile, the compassion that her eyes radiated at the same time feeling to Flurry like she was suddenly wrapped into a warm blanket.
“I guess you're right,” she said in a more hopeful tone. “A lot of better things can still happen.”
Sunny nodded happily and retracted her hoof from Flurry's back and both of them exchanged grins, before they returned their attention to their teacher as they heard his voice bellow across the room.
“Now concentrate on the lesson again, class! We have lost enough time thanks to our inept alicorn here and I don't want that anyone falls behind.”
Flurry Heart presented him with an angry glare for this statement, but didn't say anything, and so Austere Knowledge continued the lesson where he had left off.
And the first thing on the schedule for today was math class. A class that Flurry Heart didn't like, not because it was hard, but because it was just incredibly boring. All the other classes they had in magic kindergarden were a lot more exciting.
There was magical theory, which was all about how different spells work, what effects they cause and when unicorns use them. As well as how even non-unicorns could defend themselves against such spells and how to apply proper first aid to ponies who got accidentally hit by a certain spell, something that happened especially often with young, inexperienced magic users like the unicorns in their class.
Then there was magic history, which was all about powerful unicorns from the past who became heroes in one way or another and the enemies they defeated or how they contributed to make Equestria what it was today. A class whose purpose Flurry Heart never really understood, if a pony wanted to find out about the past it could just go into the local library inside the castle and read the books there. But it was a fun class, Flurry's second-favourite, right after flight class.
Sometimes after school, when magic history was the last class of the day, Flurry Heart just lay in her bed with closed eyes, imagining the heroic deeds of those saviors of Equestria and how she might do similar things in the future. After all, she was a princess of the Crystal Empire, so sooner or later, she would have to rule over it and this meant to defend it against enemies too. In these moments, she always desired to grow up quickly, even though being a filly had its advantages that she enjoyed as well.
But math class..... It was the exact opposite of that. In each and every lesson of it, she felt that math was just not aligned with her mind. Flurry Heart always felt dull when she came out of one, which usually resulted in a quick flight around the schoolhouse to get the numbers out of her head. If it wouldn't be for the fact that her teacher would probably torment her with even more math during detention today, she would happily accept staying three hours longer at school and doing her homework during this time for missing half of the dreaded lesson.
Flurry Heart groaned and got her notebook, ink bottle and quill out of the saddlebag. She placed everything in front of her, opened her notebook and started to copy the tasks and calculations from the blackboard into it while Austere Knowledge added another one to the bottom. The ones above it where already solved, judging by the different hoofwritings for each by the numerous students in the class, so it was one of those lessons where Austere Knowledge just chose a task from his book, wrote it on the blackboard and called any given student  to solve it in front of the class.
While Flurry Heart was concentrated on writing the calculations into her notebook, her teacher was calling another student to come to the front as soon as he had finished writing down the new one. “Starry Skies!” his voice shouted to the last row of desks and the mentioned filly twitched upon hearing her name. With slow movements, she got up from her desk and made her way to the blackboard, her eyes darting over her classmates, of which some looked at her while others were busy solving the task themselves.
She gulped as she had reached the side of her teacher at the blackboard and her legs began trembling. Hesitantly, she took the chalk her teacher offered her into her magic aura and hovered it in front of the blackboard. As her eyes fell on the task that was written down there, her pupils shrunk.


45 * 33 =


It was a multiplication of all things. Starry Skies gulped once more. She released the magical grip around the chalk and took it into her hooves instead. Shaking, she held it in front of her body and tried to solve the calculation. With multiplications anything but her strong point, she aimed for the easiest way to solve it.


45 * 33 =

13

Austere Knowledge coughed slightly, but audibly, and then put his hoof on the chalkboard right were Starry just wanted to write down the third number. “Not like this!” he said sternly. “This task is for mental math, don't write it down.” He sweeped with his hoof over the two numbers and wiped them from the blackboard.
Starry Skies shyly looked at him from the corner of her eyes, getting greeted with a strict expression that made clear what was expected from her better than the spoken words did. She looked back at the task and could feel her heart beating faster. Sweat broke out on her forehead. The filly with the dark-blue coat bit her lip while the gears in her head worked hard to let her find the right answer, all while she could feel the piercing look of her teacher resting on her. Eventually, she thought that she had found the answer and wrote it down.


45 * 33 = 565


A little relieved, she looked hopefully over to her teacher, but the dissatisfaction in his eyes showed her that she had missed the goal. “Wrong,” he said taut, disappointment clinging in his voice. He reached out with his hoof and sweeped the number away. “Try it again.” He retracted his hoof.
Now Starry's hooves were shaking stronger. She could feel her coat getting wet from sweat. For a moment she thought about turning around and doing a look at her classmates to check if somepony was laughing, but as this just caused a flash of fear spreading throughout her body, she decided against it and focused on the task again. As she once more believed to know the answer, she set the chalk on the blackboard again and wrote down the conclusion she had come to, the numbers looking more crude now.


45 * 33 = 273


Now wrinkles appeared on the forehead of her teacher. Austere Knowledge stretched out his hoof again, impatiently now, so that a faint bang could be heard as it touched the blackboard to wipe away the wrong numbers. Starry twitched and she did a half-step back. “Try it again.” She heard the same words repeated, more strained now.
Starry lifted the hoof with the chalk back to the surface of the blackboard, her whole body trembling now. “I..... I-I think the answer is.....”
“Now?” Austere Knowledge raised an eyebrow. “What is the answer?”
It was at this point that Starry Skies' nerves gave up. Resignated and with clenched teeth, she put down the chalk and turned around to the towering stallion. “I-I don't know it. I don't understand the calculation, Mr. Know.” Then she choked and a moment later, tears began to form in her eyes. She closed them and began to sob quietly, the tears trickling down her face now.
Compassionate looks from across the classroom rested on her. The strict teacher, however, just watched her crying, unimpressed and with his eyes expressing cold disapproval.
After he had silently watched her like this for a few seconds, he brought his hooves close to her face and clapped them together loudly. Starry Skies winced and opened her eyes again, looking at her teacher's face with teary eyes while whimpers still escaped her throat. “Look at the blackboard!” he exclaimed mandatory.
Starry felt another wince going through her body, but the fear she felt now made her somehow acting automatically, so she turned around at the command.
Once more, Austere Knowledge held his hoof at the calculation. “What is fourty-five multiplied by ten?” he asked the filly in a stern voice.
She jumped a little and taxed her brain. “F-Four hundred and fifty,” she said then, quicker this time.
“Now add up this number two times!” he continued.
“O-One thousand three hundred and fifty,” she answered, faster than before.
Austere Knowledge moved his hoof to the second number of the calculation. “And what is fourty-five multiplied by three?”
“Hundred t-thirty-five,” came another answer by the distraught filly between two whimpers.
“Now count one thousand three hundred and fifty and hundred thirty-five together, what makes this?” he bellowed a last time.
The initial answer were more whimpers before Starry managed it to press out the number between her teeth. “I-It's one thousand four hundred eighty-five.”
“Fine,” he said then, his voice sounding only slighter friendly now. “Finally the right answer. Write it down.”
The young unicorn did as she was told and lifted up the chalk again, her hoof still shaking. Barely readable, the right numbers finally landed on the blackboard.


45 * 33 = 1485


As she was done, he hovered the chalk out of her hoof, not without raising another eyebrow at her hoofwriting. “You can return to your desk now. But I want to see a faster result tomorrow. And work on your hoofwriting, young filly.”
Now that the task was solved and the shock over the harsh way her teacher addressed her subsided, the fear returned again and Starry Skies broke out in more whimpers, followed by more tears streaming down her face. Slower than before, she returned to her desk in the last row of the classroom, one hoof wiping over her left eye. As she had sat down, she noticed the stern look of her teacher aimed at her and, despite her distraught condition, hastily grabbed her quill and wrote down the calculation she had just solved into her notebook, while she continued to cry quietly.
Most of the class still looked at her in a compassionate way, their faces showing desire to comfort their classmate, but fear of getting called out for leaving their desks during the lesson as well. And of course, nopony dared to say anything. Nopony, except for Flurry Heart.
She retracted her eyes from the sobbing filly rows behind her and looked at her teacher, her brow furrowed. For a moment longer, she hesitated, but then she began to speak. She was already in detention anyway.
“Why are you talking with her like this?” The whole class turned towards Flurry Heart and gasped loudly. Even Magnolia looked at her with eyes full of disbelief, her mouth widely opened. Only Starry Skies continued to fixate her notebook while still crying.
Austere Knowledge had turned his back to the class to write down another calculation from his book as Flurry Heart spoke up to him, but now he spun around at the spot and gave Flurry Heart a glare that would be best described as “poisonous”. His face showing cold, unrestrained anger over being challenged like this, he countered Flurry Heart's question. “Is there a problem you have, princess?” he hissed.
Fear pierced through Flurry Heart and she looked down on her desk for a moment. Sunny bent over to her. “What are you doing, Flurry?” she whispered.
Flurry Heart gave her a short, nervous look as answer, but then she composed herself and looked at her teacher again. “Y-Yes, I have. Why are you talking with her like this?”
The disbelief Austere Knowledge felt upon this answer could be read in his face. Flurry Heart expected him to shout back at her now, but nothing like this happened. Instead, he raised a hoof and shot it at Starry Skies. The rest of the class followed his outstretched hoof, only Flurry Heart kept looking at him.
“Starry Skies!”, he now shouted at the other filly, who twitched as a reaction. “You have failed to solve your task today and you even began to cry when you couldn't solve it. In my class” – his voice became more sneering – “I neither tolerate fails nor weaknesses! Do you understand this?”
Starry Skies shot him a look, but instead of answering, she just choked and another sob escaped her throat.
Baffled over not getting an answer, Austere Knowledge became more impatient. “It seems my question didn't come across properly.” He raised his voice significantly. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I JUST SAID, STARRY SKIES?”
Now the whole class twitched over the volume of his voice, the filly who was screamed at of course the most. Like before, she managed to answer out of sheer fear. “Y- Yes, Mister Know! I-I understand!”
Now satisfaction in his face, he put down his hoof and returned his attention to Flurry Heart. “There you have your answer. Starry Skies is a failure and this is the way to deal with a failure like her and to stop the failing. This is why I talk with her like this. Of course, I don't expect a princess to understand this. For the likes of you, fails in life don't matter.” His voice was quieter and composed again now, but emanated a coldness that gave Flurry Heart chills.
As the word “failure” washed over Starry Skies for the first time, it sent her into another crying fit. It was stronger now. She let her quill fall and held her hooves over her eyes. Her sobs were audible in the whole classroom now. “I-I'm not a f-failure,” she managed to press out between two of them, luckily quiet enough that Austere Knowledge didn't hear these words.
Finally, a filly with a green coat who was sitting to Starry's left got up and went over to her, rubbing over her back with her right hoof as she had reached her. Then she dried her tears with a tissue in the other one while whispering something into Starry's ears. Starry nodded and her lips formed a small smile as she looked at her friend.
As Starry had begun to cry so loudly, Flurry Heart was retracting her attention from her teacher and looked back at the distraught filly. Now, shock was adorning her face, which Austere Knowledge noticed satisfiedly as she directed her eyes at him again.
“Now.....” he began and paused intentionally before continuing. “Is there any other problem you have? Anything else you would like to ask me now?” He looked at her smugly and with a sly grin.
And there was. A lot more questions were on Flurry Heart's mind after seeing this cruel display. She still didn't approve of this, even less so now, but also didn't dare to criticize her teacher more after what happened. She slumped down onto her stool. “No,” the little alicorn answered his question resignated.
The smug on his face deepened, then he turned around and headed back to his place at the blackboard. Flurry Heart made another look back to Starry Skies, a sorrowful expression in her eyes. Then she turned around, grabbed her quill again and looked back at her notebook. Having noticed the expression, Sunny bent over to her again. “Are you alright?” she asked her.
“Mhm. I'm fine,” she answered with emphasis. Understanding, Sunny Spirit did a short look behind her too, then she focused her attention on her own notebook, out of words for now.
As Flurry Heart had dipped her quill into the ink bottle and was ready to write up the rest of the calculations, she looked ahead to the blackboard, just to see something surprising and worrisome. Instead of having written another calculation at the plenty of space at the bottom of the blackboard, her teacher had erased everything on it.
“Everypony who has not written up all the tasks from the blackboard by now, make sure to have everything complete anyway. I will check your notebooks thoroughly in math class tomorrow.”
An exchanged look with Sunny Spirit showed Flurry Heart that her friend wasn't able to write everything down either.
Flurry Heart sighed. This was a long lesson anyway.
> Chapter 5: Schoolyard Talks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It caused a relieving feeling inside of Flurry Heart as the bells of the school rang out the third time on this day. The second lesson was over now and she couldn't wait to get out on the schoolyard for recess. Even though this lesson was about something she usually absolutely loved, this time, Magic History just couldn't capture her the way it used to do. Being around Austere Knowledge after what he did during math lesson continously broke her immersion on the interesting historical facts that he told about. The occasional sniffing from the last row of desks didn't make it any easier. She couldn't wait to get some fresh air.
As soon as their teacher released them, Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit got eagerly up from their stools, grabbing their saddlebags in the process, and headed for the door of the classroom. That Sunny Spirit had the same tempo in her movement as Flurry Heart did indicated that she couldn't wait getting out of the classroom either. They left the room at a smart pace, then proceeded down the corridor. Behind them, Starry Skies, who was still sniffing here and there even now, was supported by her friend as they left the room too.
Flurry's and Sunny's first destination was the cafeteria of the school. It was still on their mind to talk with Magnolia now, much more on Sunny's than on Flurry's, though, but before that, they wanted to spend some minutes in peace while eating their lunch breads and enjoying the fresh air. The cafeteria was in the middle of the long building, opposite of the entrance gate and directly under the clock the two fillies had hurriedly looked at on the way to their classroom almost two hours earlier. To its right was another set of toilets, to its left a door that led outside on the schoolyard that was located behind the building.
Now realizing how hungry they were, Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit increased their pace while entering the cafeteria and headed straight to the outer wall of it. On their way, they passed shelves with plates and tableware that were placed on the right side of the entrance door, followed by a counter from which the students got hoofed out food by the ponies working there. This was only for actual dishes, like soups and others, though, and the counter only opened around lunchtime and was therefore only used by students who had to stay longer. Right now it was closed, so Flurry and Sunny were on the way to the fridges that contained the sandwiches that were freshly-made by the staff every day. As they looked ahead of them, they could see that they were still full, apparently not many students had arrived before them yet, and their mouths got watery.
With an eager smile on her lips, Flurry Heart opened the fridge in the middle without hesitation as she arrived at it and pulled out a sandwich that was filled with peanut butter and tomato slices. Sunny Spirit chose a simple sandwich with cream, herbs and some other vegetables, that were neatly assorted in layers. As both fillies had their snacks, they turned round at the spot and galloped outside of the cafeteria, to the right and through the door onto the schoolyard.
The schoolyard of the Magic Kindergarden of the Crystal Empire was a beautiful place. It was unusually huge, with a wide open space in the middle of it that was used by many foals to play ballgames or tag or any other games that required such a big amount of space. The ground of it was made from the finest skyblue crystals and reflected the sunlight just enough to not blind ponies who walked over it. The sparkles it created could be seen over the whole schoolyard.
In front of and behind this free space were thick patches of green. Rows of all sorts of trees; oaks, firs, birches and many more that Sunny and Flurry couldn't identify, were planted on them. The ground they grew out of was covered with dense, lush grass and the thick leafage of the trees, some of which were massive, barely let the sunlight through and the ground was mostly covered in shadows. Between the trees, white benches were placed, some of which were already occupied by fillies and colts who were busy eating their lunches or chatting with each other. The cool shadows the trees cast over the benches and the grass were the perfect place to spend time in during hot summer days.
Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit had no eyes for all of these details right now, though, their grumbling stomachs controlled their thoughts right now, so the environment around them was merely a blur as they hurried under the foliage and sat down between the roots of a big oak.
Hungrily, both friends unwrapped their sandwiches and bit into them with greed. Only as both of them had eaten half of their respective snacks, the world around was recognized by them again. They let out a satisfied groan and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. For a few minutes, they just enjoyed the cold air in the shadows they were sitting in, while occasionally taking more bites from their sandwiches. Flurry Heart closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves above her, a content smile on her lips one wouldn't expect after some of the events today.
As Sunny Spirit had finished her sandwich, though, the peaceful silence was broken. She took out a bottle of soda from her saddlebag, took a few sips and then began to speak. “I still want to talk with Magnolia today, Flurry. There isn't much time anymore, so we need to do it right when you're finished with eating.”
Flurry Heart gulped as she heard this and instinctively started to eat slower. The way she looked at Sunny Spirit showed that she was anything but happy over what she just heard. She still didn't think of this endeavor as a good idea. Talking with Magnolia would probably just lead to some snappy, hurtful remarks by the rich filly and to them getting humiliated.
Flurry Heart was about to tell her friend that she wasn't up for this, but as she began to speak, she was suddenly interrupted by a voice that still rung in her head from earlier today. “Flurry?” the shy voice spoke to her and Flurry Heart looked up.
In front of her was Starry Skies, an expression of insecurity in her eyes and a shy smile on her lips. In her hooves, she was holding a notebook. Her friend who comforted her after Austere Knowledge's cruel treatment stood behind her, another notebook being clasped tightly in her hooves.
Reflexively, Flurry Heart got up as she recognized the filly that stood before her. She wrapped her hooves around Starry Skies, dropping the remaints of her sandwich in the process, and pulled her into a comforting hug. “I'm sorry!” she breathed into the long, purple mane of the unicorn filly. “I just made Mr. Know treating you even worse by talking to him!” Her voice was filled to the brim with regret.
But Starry Skies just shook her head and gently put a hoof on her. “No, don't be,” she said in a low tone. “I'm glad that you stood up for me, nopony else dared to do that.”
Her friend confirmed this notion. “Yeah, you shouldn't be sorry for what he did!” She flared her green wings in anger. “Nothing of this was your fault, Flurry, he is just a prick!”
Starry Skies winced. “Please don't talk like this, Fiery.”
Fiery Breeze crossed her hooves, disapproval in her eyes. “Why not? He deserves it! All the other teachers are nice, why can't he be nice too? If he chooses to act like a prick, then that's what I'm calling him!”
A shy, almost apologetic grin appeared on Starry's face, then she gently pushed Flurry, who was still hugging her, away and held her notebook in front of her face. “A-Anyway, I'm here to say thank you and to give you this.” She placed the notebook in Flurry's hooves. “I figured that you couldn't write everything from the blackboard into it before Mr. Know erased it, so you can have mine until tomorrow.”
Surprised, Flurry Heart looked around between the notebook and Starry's face. “But then you won't have it for the next lesson. This will just get you into more trouble, Starry.” Flurry Heart attempted to give the notebook back to her, but Starry refused to take it and stopped her movement.
“I know, but it's okay. I'm used to it and that's the best way to thank you. And I don't want that you get into more trouble because of how useless I am.....” Starry's voice became quieter and trailed off during these last words.
Fiery Breeze rolled her eyes. “Not this again!” Vigorously, she stepped forward and let her own notebook drop into Sunny Spirit's lap. “And here's mine! I wanted to give it to Flurry Heart too to thank her for helping Starry, but Starry was faster, so I give it to you. That's at least some way to express my gratitude for helping my friend.” Without awaiting a response by Sunny, she turned around and trotted past Starry Skies as vigorously as before. Not stopping in her movement, she put a hoof on Starry and pulled her unicorn friend with her. “And we're going to talk!” she exclaimed brash without looking at Starry. “I already told you a hundred times I don't want to hear from you that you call yourself useless! Especially not because of something this monster is doing to you!”
Getting dragged away from her, Starry waved at Flurry Heart. “T-Thank you, Flurry, but I-I got to go now. Just give the notebook back to me tomorrow before school!”
Flurry Heart just nodded in response, still in surprise over the unexpected, kind gesture, then Starry and Fiery disappeared behind a tree.
She stared at the spot where she had seen them last until she felt a nudge at her side that threw her out of her trance. Looking to her right, she saw Sunny Spirit standing at her side, her saddlebag already on her back. With a swift movement, she placed Flurry Heart's own saddlebag on hers. Sunny gave her a strong pat on the back. “Now let's go and talk to Magnolia! Recess is already half over!” she exclaimed full of energy and went ahead.
Her head hanging, Flurry Heart slowly trotted after Sunny Spirit. It was still a dumb idea, she thought, but she could also clearly see that Sunny was extremely motivated and by experience with her friend, she knew that a “No” was nothing Sunny would accept now. Sunny Spirit didn't exactly know where Magnolia was right now, she and Flurry haven't seen her since they left the class, but by a lucky coincidence it didn't take long for the leading filly to find her.
As they left the forest-like environment into the direction of the schoolhouse, they saw Magnolia standing near the back entrance, her two henchponies flanking her as usual. As Magnolia's eyes fell on them and she noticed that they headed straight towards her, her expression became stern and she turned to the Bulb Twins. “Dork, Dope. I'm still hungry. Go into the cafeteria and get me more to eat. You know what I like.” The way she talked sounded unusually clipped, but as always, the two colts didn't question their master and crush. Dork and Dope bowed in front of Magnolia, then they eagerly hurried into the building.
As Flurry Heart saw the stern and serious expression in Magnolia's eyes, she began to shiver. “We can still turn around and return under the trees, Sunny!” she began to beg her friend. “I can feel her eyes on my wings.”
Sunny Spirit placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “Don't worry, I'll do most of the talking. I just want to check out if I'm right.”
As they had reached Magnolia and stopped in front of her, Flurry did a step back and pressed herself tightly against Sunny's body, which caused a strange flicker in Magnolia's eyes. She looked away from Flurry Heart and turned to Sunny Spirit. “What do you want here?” she asked rude, but with a slight shiver in her voice.
Sunny Spirit had noticed it too, both the shiver and the flickering in her eyes before. “I think you already know what we want, Magnolia,” she replied, letting her voice sound as stern as possible.
For a moment, Magnolia didn't say anything. Sunny Spirit used the opportunity to examine the face of her opponent. Magnolia's face was strangely expressionless and in her eyes was something that Sunny had never seen in them before, something she didn't dare to call “guilt” just yet. Then suddenly, Magnolia spoke again. “I suppose I do,” she said taut.
Sunny's face became smug. “I knew it,” she thought to herself. But then she immediately returned to her stern expression. And now she confronted Magnolia with everything.
“You hurt Flurry Heart today. A lot. I don't understand why you hate her so much, but you have overdone it today, Magnolia. Do you have any idea how much she was crying after you left? And how afraid she is of you?” Flurry Heart gave Sunny a warning glance, but her friend continued. “Flurry told me that she is afraid you could knock her out and cut off her wings one day. She thinks you could be insane and she really fears it that you could do this one day. And today you really hurt one of her wings! That's no game, Magnolia. You went too far today.” A filly's voice couldn't be more filled with accusation as Sunny's was, now that she told Magnolia all of these things.
As Magnolia felt the effects of the word “insane” in connection to her name wash over her, anger rose in her. Her face distorted to a grim expression, she stomped her hoof into the ground. “I'M NOT INSANE!” she shouted. A few fillies and colts raised their heads and looked into her direction, a small amount of fright in their eyes. Flurry Heart did a few steps backwards.
“Maybe not,” Sunny Spirit continued calmly. “But what you did today really made it look like it you are.”
Of course this statement didn't do anything to quench Magnolia's sudden anger. Furiously, her mane shaking by the rash movement, she shot a hoof at Flurry Heart. “I hate her!” she exclaimed loudly. “I hate her wings for all they are and I hate her for having them! I'm not insane, however, don't expect me to be nice to her or to even become her friend or something like that!” Surprisingly, instead of talking herself more into rage, Magnolia's voice became weaker with every word she spoke.
Sunny Spirit wanted to address this furious statement with another counter, as Magnolia continued before she could.
“But.....” Her voice was merely a whisper now. She put down her hoof. All of a sudden, it was like Flurry and Sunny stood in front of a different filly.
Magnolia's voice began to tremble. “I-I shouldn't have done this. I shouldn't have ripped out one of her feathers. Doing that was w-wrong.” Magnolia's voice cracked and she stopped.
Now Sunny wasn't saying anything. Her mouth fell open and she just stared at Magnolia, her eyes expressing disbelief and shock. Flurry Heart reacted the same way, although her disbelief was of a more sceptical nature. She bent over to Sunny and whispered into her ear. “Is she just pretending?”
“I-I don't know,” the other filly replied. As a few tears appeared in the corners of Magnolia's eyes, Sunny Spirit's last doubt faded. “M-Magnolia.....” she stammered.
Magnolia visibly tried to compose herself, but she also visibly failed to do this. “I-I still hate her, b-but I would h-have never thought I c-could go so f-far to really injure Flurry H-Heart.” Her voice was constantly trembling now, making it hard to understand her.
None of the two friends knew what to say, they just continued staring at her, Flurry Heart still with a good portion of scepticism, Sunny Spirit still in shock and disbelief.
At the former one, Magnolia began to look now. “I-I'm sorry, F-Flurry.” Magnolia hectically did a step forward, her hooves stretched out at Flurry Heart. Her face was completely frantic now.
Flurry Heart did another step back, a fearful expression on her own face now. But Magnolia continued her advance at her. “C-Can you please f-forgive me, F-Flurry H-Heart? H-Here, I even g-give you back y-your f-feather!” With shaking hooves, she reached up into her mane, pulled out the pink feather and placed it into Flurry Heart's mane. Flurry Heart pressed her eyes shut as Magnolia's hoof approached her. “I-I would l-like to return i-it w-where it b-belongs, b-but I k-know I-I c-can't anymore! W-Will you f-forgive me a-anyway?” Magnolia's stammering has grown into unbelievable dimensions now.
As Flurry Heart didn't answer and just stared at her after opening her eyes again, Magnolia fell down on her knees. “P-Please, Flurry, f-forgive me t-that I d-did this!” Then she crouched down and cried on the crystal ground, in a similar pose like Flurry Heart earlier this day.
Now it was Flurry Heart's mouth that stood widely open. “I-I don't know. M-Maybe?” This was all the little alicorn managed to say upon this sight in front of her. Too big were the shock and the surprise.
But Sunny Spirit shook her head now and turned around to Magnolia. “We forgive you, but only if you promise that you don't attack Flurry Heart ever again!” Now that she had overcome her shock, Sunny was intended to use the moment to their full advantage.
Magnolia looked up and around to Sunny Spirit. Her face was one big, wet mess now. She wiped with a hoof over her eyes. “I-I promise, everything!” she breathed out, a little calmer now.
“Swear it!” Sunny replied unimpressed.
Slowly, Magnolia got up on shaking hooves. “I-I swear. I s-swear I will never h-hurt Flurry Heart a-again.”
Now Sunny's face softened, but only slightly. Making sure she retained some sternness in it, she replied “Okay, then we forgive you. But we will hold you accountable on that!”
“T-Thank you, I..... I-I won't do it again,” Magnolia promised a second time. Then she turned around and began to make her way towards the entrance of the building, still sobbing. After a few meters, her slow trot turned into a full gallop. Crying more intensely again, she galloped past Dope and Dork who just came out again with another snack and left them behind without a clue what happened.
Flurry and Sunny looked after the regretful bully until she had disappeared inside the school, then Flurry turned to her friend. “Do you think she will keep her word?”
“I'm not sure. But I hope she does,” was all that Sunny could answer.
> Chapter 6: Lessons in Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the bell rang again and the next lesson began, Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit entered the classroom to get ready for it. Coincidentally, Magnolia entered the room at the same time and the bully didn't pay them any attention, except for a shy glance she presented Flurry Heart with. Her eyes were still puffy and red.
The meaning of all of this was still a mystery to Flurry Heart. After Magnolia's teary breakdown during recess, she and Sunny had returned under the trees for the last few minutes to talk about the incident. Magnolia's reaction was aligned with what Sunny suspected, yet the intensity of it completely surprised her. She expected a reluctant apology out of repentance, though not without a certain amount of stubbornness that would let it shine through that she was still the old one. Now Sunny wasn't sure anymore if Magnolia was really still the old one.
There was the fact that she said that she's still hating Flurry Heart. It seemed to confirm that the bully didn't really change, but at the same time, what Magnolia did there was a confession. A confession about her feelings towards Flurry Heart, perhaps the first time she ever told somepony about them. There was something Sunny didn't want to just dismiss, the possibility that Magnolia confessed her hate because of guilt, that she just wanted to get it off her chest. Saying to still hate Flurry Heart did not necessarily mean that the hate would persist and maybe the pegasus filly would now work on it to leave this hate behind, after she realized what it could cause.
She had discussed these things with Flurry Heart before recess was over, but Flurry shook her head vehemently over Sunny's presumptions. Despite the heartfelt apology the bully made and all the distress she had demonstrated while doing so, Flurry Heart decided in the end to not buy it. Magnolia was always cunning and she liked it to play schemes, that's something both of them knew well from the past. Flurry was convinced it was a trick and that Magnolia was just a very good actor. Why she would do this, despite that nopony who could become dangerous for Magnolia knew about the incident with her wing in front of the school's gate, was something Flurry was as clueless about as Sunny was, but nonetheless, her decision was to continue to be careful around Magnolia and to avoid her path as best as she could. It was the one thing Sunny agreed with her on, yet she still continued to hope for it that Magnolia would change now, despite Flurry's persistent scepticism. The shy glance at Flurry Heart seemed to confirm her hope.
Smiling, she looked over to her friend as well, to see if there was a sign of her warming up for Magnolia, but she was met with a disapproving frown. It was something Sunny couldn't mind her for, after all that happened. She nodded at Flurry Heart as a sign of understanding.
As they were sitting at their desks, Austere Knowledge already entered the room, being early as usual, and without losing time, he began his lesson.
As on every Wednesday, their last lesson of the day would be Magic Class, the one lesson that was exclusively visited by unicorns and Flurry Heart, so it was now time for Magic Theory. The lesson about all the theoretical aspects of magic was placed at this time in their class schedule to serve as preparation for the lesson in which they would use magic practically. Often, the subjects of the two lessons would be connected in some way and build on each other, so when Austere Knowledge announced this theory lesson's subject to be about protective shield magic, Flurry Heart expected that this would be what she, the unicorns in her class and the unicorns from the other classes would practice next lesson. For now, it was just theory, though, and after announcing the subject, Austere Knowledge was busy with drawing a sketch of a magical shield from his book on the blackboard. As he was done, he turned around to his class and after igniting his horn, the aura surrounding it formed a black barrier around him. It was see-through, yet his dark coat color made it still hard to spot him inside of it. But his voice could still be heard clear, as became apparent when he started to explain.
“Shield Spell A,” his loud voice echoed across the classroom. “A light protection spell that is almost as old as magic itself. The inventor of this spell is unknown, but the spell's first mentions in history books date back as far as right after the founding of Equestria, so it is assumed that the spell already existed before Equestria was discovered by ponies. The shield that is created by the spell does not withstand magical impacts, but it is suitable to protect from the impact of small physical items, a fall from heights not bigger than thirty-five feet and it is often used to protect fragile items from breaking as well. A simple spark of magic shot at it lets the shield dissipate.” Done with the explanation, he turned his attention back to the blackboard and wrote on it what he just said.
While Flurry Heart was busy with copying the text into her notebook, the words of her teacher brought her back to a conversation with her mom she had some time ago. It was after she read about creatures called “Windigos” in a book in the castle's library and eager to find out more about them, she asked her mom for information.
It was this way that Flurry Heart heard about how Equestria was founded and what the windigos did to their former homeland their race originally came from. It was something that frightened her, so she wanted to know if the windigos could return and bury the empire too. In her fear, she was drawing connections to the cold weather around the Crystal Empire that was only kept outside by the magic of the Crystal Heart, assuming that they could already be here. Her mom just chuckled at the notion and clarified that the windigos were long gone and that they won't return as long as the ponies of Equestria would live together in harmony, which calmed Flurry Heart's worries. As she wanted to know why the Crystal Heart was needed to live here in these weather conditions, her mom explained her that the weather was just too strong up north to be controlled by pegasi, which was the reason why only powerful protection magic could make it possible to live here.
All these facts amazed Flurry Heart, yet what stuck in her memory the most from this conversation was a strange nervous reaction by her mom when she came to talk about the protection the Crystal Heart offered them. What she took away from that was the importance the Crystal Heart had for the citizens of the empire, so she didn't ask any questions about it.
The question Flurry Heart asked herself now, though, was if a pony could manage to cast a protection spell as powerful as the one the Crystal Heart created around the empire to protect it from the weather of the arctic north. While musing about it, she was thrown out of her thoughts again as Austere Knowledge continued his lesson. A magical shield bigger than the one before was now drawn on the blackboard and Austere Knowledge was already facing the class again, once more surrounded by a barrier. It didn't look much different, though it was slightly bigger and Austere Knowledge seemed to have completely vanished inside, if it wouldn't be for his voice that indicated he was still there.
“Shield Spell B,” his taut, stoic voice rang out to the class. “Allows protection from falling down heights not bigger than seventy feet and can reflect small amounts of magic. As the spell before, the inventor of it and the exact time of its creation are unknown.” Like before, he deactivated the spell and wrote on the blackboard what he just said, followed by his students copying the text into their notebooks.
This formula was continued by Austere Knowledge who explained spell after spell, until they were close to the end of the lesson. As Flurry Heart had already guessed, they would actually practice the first of the spells, Shield Spell A, as the book of her teacher called it, and learn how to use it.
Austere Knowledge shut his book and returned the piece of chalk he had used back to the blackboard. “Unicorns,” he said while he let his eyes wander over the unicorn foals in the class, without giving Flurry Heart any mention, “get ready for Magic Class now. I expect you in a few minutes in the schoolyard.”
The schoolbell rang the moment he had finished and the foals in the class began to pack their saddlebags after this announcement and as the first ones already wanted to leave the classroom, Austere Knowledge unexpectedly addressed them again. “And here is an announcement for tomorrow. Since we approach the end of the chapter about Starswirl the Bearded and his numerous contributions to the Equestria as we know it, I want you to contemplate what you can contribute to Equestria one day when you are older. To do this, I expect all of you to retrieve a certain information until tomorrow. I want that all of you who don't know it yet ask their parents about the origins of your name, which you will then recite in front of the class.” He paused for a moment to see if everypony in the class understood, then he continued to speak. “Everypony except for the attendees of Magic Class are dimissed now.” Then he left his position at the blackboard and headed out of class, the book about the magic spells hovering at this side wrapped in his black aura.
Immediately when Flurry Heart had heard what Austere Knowledge asked of them to find out until tomorrow, she looked up. For her teacher, it was just a method to hopefully get his students realize their special talents earlier, as names of ponies usually reflect those. But for Flurry Heart, it was an assignment that let her start pondering.
As curious as she often was, this was something she had never asked her parents about. “Flurry Heart” was just her name, what should be special about it? It never crossed her mind what it stood for, but now the alicorn filly was hooked. And now that she thought about it, she found that her name was a riddle to her. The meanings of the names of the ponies she knew were obvious, or at least easy to explain once you did some thoughts about them. “Sunny Spirit”, “Austere Knowledge”, “Shining Armor”..... All of them seemed to have to do with the special talent of a pony or at least their personality. But hers? What was “Flurry Heart” supposed to mean? Did it mean that she had a big heart? But this was true for a lot of ponies and this alone couldn't be everything that was to it. And she had never heard that having a big heart could be a special talent of a pony. And why the addition “Flurry”? This was a term that Flurry Heart had never heard of before, aside from her own name.
All these thoughts circled through Flurry's head and she couldn't await now to get home and find out what her untypical name meant. In her mind, she already spun an exciting story around its origins, after all, such a mysterious name had to have a big, epic story behind it!
Buried in her thoughts, Flurry Heart didn't notice the nudge at her side. “Flurry! Hey, Flurry!”
As she felt shaken, she looked aside, to see Sunny who had grabbed her at her shoulder.
“Sunny?” she asked, confusion in her eyes. Then she shook her head. “Sorry, I was just thinking about this assignment. Do you know what your name means?”
Sunny shook her head too now, although for a different reason. “No, but I have a hunch! What about you?”
“I have no idea,” Flurry Heart answered puzzled. “I never asked my parents and can't think of anything that 'Flurry Heart' could mean.”
“Well, you're going to find out soon!” Sunny replied cheerfully. But then she became stern. “But better hurry now! You know how Mr. Know reacts to latecomers.” Hearing this reminded Flurry Heart again on something that she had almost forgotten over the events of the morning:

She still had to face three hours of detention today!

A sigh escaped her throat. The happy mood she was in until now vanished in a matter of seconds.
Sunny Spirit noticed and lifted up her chin. “Hey, should I wait here until after your detention so that we can go home together?”
Flurry Heart gave her friend a smile, but then she shook her head. “No, it's okay. I don't want that you have any trouble because of me. I just see you again tomorrow!” She gave her a hug, then the two friends took their saddlebags and left the classroom together.
As they had also left the corridor leading up to it and entered the lobby of the school, the two fillies exchanged yet another hug, then both of them headed into different directions; Sunny Spirit to the entrance gate and Flurry Heart to the open door that led outside into the schoolyard. The two fillies waved at each other a last time, then both of them headed outside through their respective doors.
In the schoolyard, Flurry Heart quickly took a turn to the right and made her way through the trees to the center of it. The unicorns were already lined up, sixteen in total, as many unicorn students as the magic kindergarden of the Crystal Empire had, and waited for Austere Knowledge's arrival.
At the end of the row, Flurry Heart spotted Starry Skies, who glanced from side to side, nervously rubbing a hoof over her left leg. She galloped up to her and took place at her side. “Hey, Starry!” Flurry Heart presented the young unicorn with a smile.
Shyly, Starry Skies smiled back at her. “Hi, Flurry.....”
Flurry Heart noticed a slight shiver going through her body. “Is something wrong?” she asked her and her lips pointed downwards. She eyed Starry Skies with a sad expression.
“I-It's okay,” the other filly replied, trembling slightly more now. “I-I'm just nervous. Like always..... You know that Mr. Know always chooses me for the performances and demonstrations.”
Without speaking a word, Flurry Heart nodded. It was like this in every lesson. If Starry Skies attended Magic Class and there was a new spell Mr. Know taught them about, it was always Starry Skies who ended up on the receiving end. Flurry Heart didn't completely understand why, but after what happened today, she guessed it was another way to “stop the failing”.
It was true that Starry Skies wasn't exactly talented in a whole lot of things. For some reason, she was always very slow in learning, unlike her classmates, and while she was a cheerful, happy filly like all the others when she came into the school, this quickly changed over the course of a few months when she more and more realized that she wasn't quite as good as the other students. And the way her teacher treated her contributed to this.
Flurry Heart put a hoof over Starry's shoulders and pulled her close. “Don't worry, I'm sure it's going to be fine. It's not the first time he puts you in the spotlight like this and you always made it through!”
But the encouraging words didn't have the intended effect on the unicorn. Desperation in her eyes, Starry Skies looked down on the crystal ground. “Thank you for trying to cheer me up, Flurry. B-But.....” She stopped and closed her eyes. A single tear was dropping out of them. “It's really just hopeless. He will never stop with it and it gets harder every time. I don't know how for how long I can still take it.....” She opened her eyes again and looked over to Flurry Heart. Flurry felt a pain in her chest as she noticed that the unicorn filly's eyes were filled with tears now. “I-It's better you don't try to cheer me up, Flurry. It just makes everything worse.”
The concern in Flurry Heart's face turned into confusion. “Why? What are you talking about?”
Now Starry Skies looked back on the ground again, tears streaming down her face in thin rivers now. “I-It's because of Fiery Breeze. She.....” Starry choked. “She tried to cheer me up too today, right after we met you during recess, but it didn't work this time. Then she got mad and yelled at me and then..... Then she just left me standing and galloped into the schoolhouse. She hasn't talked to me since then and left without saying bye..... She hates me now, I know it.”
Flurry Heart increased the squeeze around Starry's shoulders and shook her head. “No, she was just angry. I'm sure she's sorry already and will talk to you again tomorrow. You are very good friends, Starry.”
Starry Skies let out a tear-filled sigh. “She even said that she's tired and sick of dealing with a wimp like me when she left. I don't think she likes me anymore.....”
Flurry Heart started with another reply, as she was interrupted by Austere Knowledge's sharp voice.
“Stand to attention, unicorns!” his bellowing voice washed over them as his towering appearance emerged between the trees in front of them.
Starry Skies twitched and instinctively, she rubbed the tears out of her eyes and removed Flurry Heart's hoof from her shoulders. Flurry Heart could see that Starry was trying to look as strong as possible. It didn't decrease her concern for the young unicorn.
Austere Knowledge took position in front of the row of students and let his eyes wander over them. He scrutinized them intensely before he continued to speak.
“As you are all here, we will start immediately, there is never time to lose.” He averted his gaze from them and trotted to a wooden box at the other end of the row, opposite from where Flurry Heart and Starry Skies stood. A low stack of paper was placed on it. To its right were a large number of round pebbles, all of them neatly arranged in perfect rows. He ignited his horn and hovered the stack of paper off of the box and let each of the papers fly into the unicorn foals' hooves. “These are your instructions. The illustrations and the text on the paper explain how you have to concentrate on your magic and horns to cast the shield spell I told you about earlier. Read everything thoroughly and then we start with the practice.” He took his position in front of the row again, from where he could overlook all the students that stood before him. “I expect everyone of you to give your all. Now start reading!”
All the students did as he had told them and took in the instructions. Austere Knowledge looked from student to student, observing them closely while they did so. Minutes passed and one foal after another looked up from the paper in its hooves and over to Austere Knowledge, signaling that it was done reading. Starry Skies was the last one who finished the task and looked up as well, yet didn't dare to look into her teacher's eyes. As he continued to speak it showed that he had noticed, though.
“Now that you are finally all finished, I want you to cast the spell so that I can see if you understood the instructions. Everyone at once first and then I will test for each one of you individually how stable your magical shield is.” He looked over the students to see if they were ready and as he found this confirmed, he gave them the final command. “Start casting!” he shouted.
All at once, the students ignited their horns. An assortment of differently colored magical auras flashed up in front of Austere Knowledge; blue, dark-purple, yellow, red and many others, that bathed the crystal ground into their multi-colored lights and were reflected by it.
Seconds later, all the magical auras formed a barrier around the foals like they saw their teacher demonstrating it in the last lesson. Her teeth clenched, even Starry Skies managed it to create the magical barrier around her body.
Austere Knowledge nodded satisfied. Carefully, he checked every student's spell. Then he nodded again. “Release it!” he commanded then.
The students let the magic around them dissipate, some of them breathing harder now. Exhausted from the exercise, Starry Skies had to sit down. “Are you okay?” Flurry Heart, who didn't have too many troubles with the spell, asked her worried.
“Mhm,” Starry nodded affirmatively, but her breaths were going strong.
Without hesitation, Austere Knowledge trotted over to the wooden box again, where he turned around to face his students once more. “And now I will test the stability of your spells.” Demonstratively, he hovered up one of the pebbles. “I will use my magic to throw these small rocks at you. The shields you cast will get weaker with every impact, unless you inject more magic into them, but you should be able to cast one that can take three impacts of an object with the size and density of these rocks without having to charge it again. If you can't do this, you need more practice. Did you understand?”
“Yes, Mr. Know!” it sounded across the row of students as all of them answered at the same time.
“Good, then we start. As always, we begin with the failure. Failure, come out and take position in front of me and the box.” He said these words without so much as looking at Starry Skies.
The little unicorn gulped, then she proceeded to leave the row and do what was asked of her, but Flurry Heart put a hoof on her shoulder and she stopped, looking at her curiously. Flurry Heart had her eyes closed, which gave her face a very serious expression, and slowly shook her head.
“Failure! I said come out and take position in front of me and the box,” Austere Knowledge shouted again as he couldn't hear any hoofsteps approaching him.
A few seconds passed and as there was still no reaction from Starry Skies, he turned around to her swiftly and looked in anger at the filly he assigned this cruel nickname to. “Starry Skies!”, his voice bellowed, noticeably louder now. “I was calling you two times and by now you should know who I mean when I talk about failure! Finally come here or you can join your princess in detention today!”
Now Flurry Heart nodded at Starry Skies and removed her hoof from her shoulder. She gave her a smile, then the unicorn made her way towards the teacher.
As she had taken position in front of him and the box, in some distance so that the pebbles could gather speed before reaching her, her knees were shaking.
Austere Knowledge addressed her. “I know you don't amount to anything, you never got much right in any of my lessons, but let's gets this over and done with for the sake of completion. Cast the spell again,” he commandeered the little filly sternly.
Starry nodded and gulped, then she concentrated her magic and, once more with clenched teeth, the magical shield of a dark-purple color built up around her. Without saying more, Austere Knowledge shot the first pebble, that still hovered in his own magical aura, at the shield around Starry. She closed her eyes and then with a pling, the pebble hit the surface of the shield. Some waves rippled over it due to the impact and the pebble fell down in front of it and hit the ground.
Unimpressed, Austere Knowledge took another pebble into his magical grip and threw it at the shield in the same way as before. Preparing herself for the next impact, Starry Skies closed her eyes again, but the pebble was prevented from reaching her by the magical shield once more.
Raising an eyebrow, Austere Knowledge took the first and last pebble that was meant for her and sent it into her direction. This time, Starry Skies had less luck. With almost the same amount of speed as it had when the aura of Austere Knowledge vanished around it – the shield was still strong enough to slow it down, although not much – it went right through the surface and impacted on Starry Skies' cheek. It slit open her skin a little and a scratch appeared. At the same time, Starry Skies' concentration vanished and the magical shield around her disappeared. Exhausted, she broke down at the spot and gasped for air.
Austere Knowledge's eyes were full of disdain as they fell upon Starry and the miserable appearance she offered right now. “And another fail,” he said casually, yet with slight anger sounding in his voice. “I am not surprised. At least you served as an example for how to not do it. Return to your spot and watch the other students from there. Maybe a miracle happens and you learn something from it.” The last sentence was finished with the attempt of a dry laugh.
Shaking and on unsteady hooves, Starry Skies slowly rose from the ground and began to make her way back to Flurry Heart. Her head felt hot and her surroundings seemed to pulsate and circle around her. Flurry Heart was worried she would collapse again, but eventually, the little unicorn had joined her side again, right when the next student Austere Knowledge had called was finished with his exercise.
Starry Skies leaned against Flurry Heart, still breathing heavy. New tears streamed down her face, the salt in them burning on her scratch. She sniffed. “Now I tried so hard and I failed again.” Unrestrained, she cried into Flurry Heart's coat.
For a few minutes, the little alicorn princess didn't say anything and just let her cry it out. As she began to calm down, Flurry Heart turned around gently and put a hoof onto Starry's mane. “You did great, Starry! Don't listen to him and don't push yourself too hard!” Flurry Heart bent forward and brought her horn down on Starry's cheek. A blue blob of magic left it at the tip and when it touched Starry's scratch, it closed immediately, leaving only a thin line of hairless skin where it once was.
As Starry Skies felt the burning suddenly stop, she looked up and over at Flurry Heart, astonishment covering her face. “How.....” she began, but couldn't finish the sentence in all her surprise.
“Just a little healing spell my mom taught me,” she explained. “But it only works for small wounds, so be careful when practicing!”
A tiny smile flashed over Starry's face, but it was soon replaced by more sadness. She let her head hang. “Practicing..... For what? It won't work anyway.....”
Flurry Heart moved a hoof under Starry's chin and lifted it. “Hey, your performance wasn't as bad as Mr. Know made it sound like! Just look!” She pointed with her hoof into the direction where another student had just taken position to get her shield tested.
The filly looked more nervous than Starry Skies and repeatedly failed to even cast the spell. As Starry Skies didn't move, Flurry Heart engulfed her in her magic and vehemently turned her around. The filly that stood at the spot where Starry Skies was earlier had now finally casted her shield and the first pebble was on its way to hit it. Starry Skies' eyes grew big as it didn't hit the shield, but went through it. The other unicorn filly ducked her head and managed it in the last moment to avoid getting hit by the pebble.
“See? There are foals who are way worse than you, Starry! You are not a failure!”
Unbelieving, Starry Skies turned around to Flurry Heart again, her eyes as big as plates. Then new tears formed in her eyes, this time, though, they stood for a different emotion. With an unexpectedly swift movement, she fell around Flurry's neck, crying more into her coat and uttering a seemingly neverending amount of thank yous.
Flurry Heart responded to the hug and embraced Starry with her hooves. The only thing that interrupted the stream of gratitude leaving Starry's mouth was another command by Austere Knowledge, this time when he called Flurry Heart over. Hesitantly, they released their hugs and Flurry Heart smirked. “He really knows how to destroy a great moment. Maybe he should have gotten his cutie mark for that.” Starry Skies held a hoof at her mouth and giggled, followed by Flurry Heart chiming in.
“Flurry Heart! Would you be so kind and lower yourself to do what the other students already did now or do you want to wait until I call you with your title?” Austere Knowledge's voice was full of mockery now.
Flurry Heart rolled her eyes, then she finally walked over to her teacher and took position where the other fifteen students stood before her. Her test went well. Although it seemed to her that Austere Knowledge was throwing the pebbles much faster and with more force at her shield, all three of them bounced off of it and fell to the ground, on top of a little mountain of pebbles that had grown there by now. Only the last pebble let the shield flicker a little when the impact happened, but in the end, it couldn't get through. As she was finished, Flurry Heart let the shield dissipate and made her way back to Starry Skies, who had a huge grin on her face, admiration clearly visible in her eyes.
Without acknowledging Flurry Heart's success, Austere Knowledge spoke to the class again, a last time on this day, as Flurry Heart was the last one who got her magical shield tested by the strict teacher. “Each one of you who doesn't have a strong enough shield yet, practice the spell with the help of your parents in the way I tested your shields with you. I expect better results from everypony next week. All of you except our princess are now dismissed.” The last sentence was wrapped in glee.
The foals started to move to leave the school and get home, all except for Flurry Heart and Starry Skies. The latter looked with sadness at the young alicorn. “I feel bad for it that you are in detention now. It's probably me who should be there, not you, I could need the extra lessons anyway.....” She dropped her ears and eyed the ground.
Making Starry Skies feel bad over something she wasn't even at fault for was of course the last thing Flurry Heart wanted, so she just laughed. “Don't worry, I can deal with it! I'm just happy that you feel better now.” A trace of doubt appeared in her face. “You feel better, right?” she asked.
Starry Skies' head shot up. “Yes. I do. At least a little..... Thanks for cheering me up, Flurry! But I got to go now. I really had enough school for today.....”
Flurry Heart nodded understanding. The two fillies shared a last hug to say goodbye, then Starry Skies joined the other students, leaving Flurry Heart alone with Mr. Know on the schoolyard.
As it was to expect, the teacher didn't wait long with beginning to torture her.
“And now.” He paused and approached Flurry Heart and then positioned himself in front of her. “Now it is time for your detention.” A smug grin appeared on his face. “Go and bring the material over there into the storeroom and then come to my office.” Without awaiting an answer, he turned around and trottted into the school building.
Flurry Heart watched him disappear between the trees, then she went to the box and turned it around. She rolled her eyes and groaned. Unwillingly, Flurry put the pebbles into the box with her magic and followed her teacher into the building.
> Chapter 7: The Strangest Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	With a heavy sigh on her lips, Flurry Heart trudged through the streets of the Crystal Empire. She had just left the schoolhouse, after three hours of tantalizing detention with the worst kind of teacher a filly would never wish to meet.
Of course it went exactly as Flurry had predicted it. After she had put back the box and the pebbles into the storeroom and entered her teacher's office, he punished her with countless mathematical tasks, only to nitpick apart each and every single one of them. Flurry Heart wasn't even sure if there were actual mistakes in her calculations or if Austere Knowledge just made it look like that to her to make her feel miserable. Considering how she challenged him today, the alicorn filly assumed the latter.
Now her head was feeling all dull, numb even. It was one thing to have one math lesson a day, but four? This was a completely different matter. Especially for a filly like her to whom all these numbers felt like a prison for her mind. It was freedom what Flurry Heart enjoyed and she felt the best when she could just let her thoughts wander around without limitations. During her detention, though, she was feeling completely trapped. And the feeling she had now was like the one of a prisoner who just got released from a dungeon after years without seeing the sun. Flurry Heart felt exhausted, unchallenged and bored. Lucky for her, this was something she should be able to resolve easily.
Flurry Heart stopped and looked up into the sky. It was decorated with a dozen of white, fluffy clouds, but not enough to call it dull, which was a nice contrast to the feeling in her head. Flying should do the trick, as always, yet Flurry remembered that her right wing was still injured. She looked at it with a frown on her face, then she slowly enfolded it, the piece of paper towel Sunny had placed there falling out in the process. There was a small blood stain on it, but when she checked the wound, she found it scabbed over, no blood was dripping out of it anymore. She flapped her wing a little to see how it felt. Relieved, she found it not hurting a whole lot anymore. The spot where her feather was felt a bit numb now and only a tiny amount of pain was left, in comparison to the pain she was enduring in the morning. It was still noticeable when she flapped her wing, but Flurry decided to ignore it, for the sake of finally being able to fly again.
Without giving it a second thought, Flurry Heart spread out both of her wings, flapped them and took into the sky. She soared higher and higher until the buildings under her began to become tiny. She looked down for a moment and upon discovering how high up she already was, she stopped in the air and looked around. She was at the same altitude as the clouds now, the alicorn filly discovered surprised. It was something she never did before, flying up so high. For a moment, she pondered how her mom would think about it that she was so high up in the sky. She never forbad it to do that, not even talked about the possibility. Flurry Heart figured that her mom just never thought that she could fly so high in the first place. And she decided to not tell her and to keep it a secret, just in case. Having become injured, getting yelled at and three hours of detention were enough trouble for today, she had no intention to take the risk of having to add “Getting scolded by her mom for flying into potentially dangerous heights” to this list.
With this thought settled, Flurry Heart flew to a nearby cloud and took seat on it. She looked down to the ground where the Empire was spread out and noticed with astonishment how small and far away it looked from here. It was a sight she never had before in her life. From her position, the city-state looked like a toy city that some filly had stand in its room. There was a toy model of the Crystal Empire even, but Flurry Heart never had any desire to have it. The actual city was her playground, flying at full speed between the crystalline buildings was impossible with a small toy. And the word “flying” was the cue for Flurry Heart now.
Quickly, she got up from the cloud all of a sudden and took flight again. She stayed at her current altitude and just enjoyed her newfound freedom between the clouds. Not only did she have a lot more space up here in the open, clear skies than down in the city where she constantly had to maneuver around buildings, it was also unlikely she would meet any other pony up here. That a pegasus would fly up so high at this time of day was very unlikely, except for when a rainstorm was planned for later in the day, but nothing of the sunny sky with its scattered white clouds indicated it.
Flurry Heart kept flying for a while over the wide sky wherever her mood took her, without giving it any thoughts. Only when she approached the protection spell of the Crystal Heart and could already see the wintery landscape outside she did a conscious turn around and flew back towards the center of the empire. Her mind was so engulfed with flying that she even ignored her grumbling stomach, a result of it that she didn't have lunch yet today.
As the dull feeling in her mind had subsided, Flurry Heart stopped flying around and returned to the cloud she was sitting on earlier. All that was left now was the feeling of exhaustion. Flurry let herself fall back into the soft, white mass under her and crossed her hooves behind her head. From here, she could see the sun and so she just watched the celestial body she loved so much with fascination. While focusing her attention on it, Flurry Heart realized that she was getting tired. Her body started to relax and she felt dozy all over it. She didn't want to fall asleep now, though. As divine as she imagined it to sleep on a cloud high up in the skies, she rather wanted to fly home soon; she was hungry, there was homework to do and of course she had to ask her mom and dad why they named her “Flurry Heart”, to fulfill the assignment of her teacher. She could sleep on a cloud once all of this was done. All she wanted to do now was lying awake on the cloud while letting her thoughts go adrift for some minutes.
Flurry Heart blinked a few times to chase away the sleep. All of a sudden, she felt something getting placed on her belly. Flurry felt confused by that, she was alone up here, after all. Yawning, she rubbed one of her eyes and opened them slowly, only to find her sight blurry. She rubbed over both eyes and eventually, she could see the sky above her as well as before. The sun wasn't exactly at the same position anymore, did she fall asleep anyway?
Flurry Heart was thrown out of her thoughts as she felt somepony moving to her right. Her view was still a bit obscured, so she couldn't see who was lying down at her side. All she could say right now was that the pony definitely wasn't shy, as the body of it touched against hers. There was literally no space between her and the other pony. Still sleepy, Flurry Heart averted her gaze from the sun and looked ahead. With disbelief, she found herself looking at a sandwich that rested on her belly. Peanut butter with tomatoes even, her favourite. It was at this point that she began to wonder if this was a weird dream, caused by her being hungry.
Dizzy, she turned her head to the right to see who had joined her. And instinctively started to squirm away as she saw that it was Magnolia Sunshine of all ponies! Unfortunately, the pegasus filly was faster.
“No!” she yelled and, turning over, she grabbed Flurry Heart with both hooves and kept her in place. Flurry Heart continued to struggle and tried to fight herself out of the forceful grasp, feeling panic rising in her. Magnolia proofed herself to be unexpectedly strong, though, her grip became even tighter the more Flurry tried to get away. Eventually, she realized that it was useless and gave up. Her heart beating faster and a fearful expression on her face, she eyed Magnolia. She tried to say something as well, but no word managed it to escape her mouth.
“Hey, I'm just here to talk, don't worry!” Magnolia did an attempt to calm her, an attempt that failed.
At least Flurry found her speech again due to it. “Why should I believe you?” she said in a low voice, trying to hide the fear in it.
“Because–“ the other filly promptly began, but then stopped suddenly. Yes, why? Why should she believe her? This was something Magnolia didn't consider yet. “Well..... I don't know,” she admitted as she continued again. “I guess it doesn't matter. I'm not here to ask for forgiveness. Your friend Sunny told me you have decided to not forgive me, so I thought you were still upset over what I did today and wanted to compensate you for it.”
The sudden friendliness of the bully just increased Flurry's scepsis and she lifted an eyebrow. Before she could say anything, Magnolia pointed at Flurry's belly. Still wanting to make sure that Flurry wouldn't just fly away she was using a wing for it.
“I even brought you a sandwich!” she chimed. “I figured you would be hungry after your long detention.”
“That was your fault,” Flurry countered grimly, but then immediately bit on her tongue as she realized that provoking the bully while being at her mercy like this wasn't a good idea.
She bit her lips while awaiting Magnolia's reaction, but the bully stayed nice. With an expression like she felt deeply hurt by that statement, she looked to the side. “I know,” she whispered.
Eyes full of suspicion, Flurry Heart turned her attention to the sandwich in front of her. She took it into her hooves as her stomach grumbled once more, but didn't bite into it. Dark thoughts caused by her distrust in Magnolia and the bully's former activities soared through her head and she sniffed at the sandwich. Then she opened it, carefully inspected the inside and sniffed at it again.
Magnolia had found her speech back in the meanwhile. “I didn't poison it, I promise,” she assured, seemingly able to read Flurry's mind.
Flurry Heart closed the sandwich and just looked at it, clueless about what to do. As her stomach grumbled again, louder than before, she gave in to the temptation and took a bite. Carefully, she chewed on it and rolled it around in her mouth, paying attention to it if any weird tastes came up. Only as the piece in her mouth was a complete mush and she still couldn't detect anything suspicious, she reluctantly swallowed it. She waited for a few seconds, then she took another bite and repeated the procedure. As she had eaten the whole sandwich that way, Magnolia gave her a smile.
Following up that smile, Magnolia suddenly snuggled against her, which made Flurry feel uncomfortable. The fact that the sandwich wasn't poisoned apparently – she would have noticed something by now if it were – let her trust in it that the bully wasn't trying to do her harm, at least not right now, increase a little, but she still felt weirded out by what Magnolia did. The whole situation seemed incredibly absurd to Flurry Heart.
“Why are you so clingy?” she asked Magnolia then, calmer than when she made that statement before, which was partially owed to it that the grumbling in her stomach had stopped.
“Well, I hurt you today, so I thought doing the opposite of it would be a good idea”, Magnolia explained.
Flurry Heart couldn't deny it, this reasoning didn't go without a certain amount of logic behind it, yet she still felt weird by the sudden physical intimacy that came from one of her worst enemies. She wanted to tell Magnolia exactly that, though her fear that she could get angry and do something to her again still persisted in her mind. Instead, she tried it with a less provocative approach.
Flurry Heart made her voice sound as friendly as possible. “Yeah, it's a good idea, but I don't really like it to get wrapped up like that. Can you please stop?” There was a slight shiver in her voice.
Unfortunately, Magnolia didn't budge. “Just enjoy it,” she said, an answer that gave Flurry Heart chills. “I know you need the comfort right now.”
Not knowing what else to say to get the bully away from her, Flurry Heart gave it up for now and decided to be content with the situation. There wasn't anything she could do at the moment, except for hoping that the unusually clingy pegasus would let go of her on her own. At least she wasn't hurting her right now.
For a few minutes, none of the fillies said anything. Flurry Heart spent the time with pondering how she could tell Magnolia that she didn't really enjoy what she was doing here without becoming the victim of a possible wrath by the bully. It was Magnolia who spoke next, though.
“Are you mad at me still?” she asked her with regret in her voice, while burying her nose into the pit between Flurry's chin and chest. Flurry Heart didn't give her an answer, which surprisingly led to another question by Magnolia, a question that made everything really weird then. “C-Can you..... I mean..... Would you spread your right wing over me like a blanket?”
Now Flurry Heart turned her head around abruptly and glared at Magnolia, completely forgetting her fear. “What? Why would I want to do that?! After all you did with it today?” Flurry's patience was used up now.
Magnolia twitched a little at the painful reminder, but answered. “I-I would just..... like to proof that I won't hurt it again. I want to show you that it's safe with me now.” A slight sob was audible in her voice as she addressed the last words.
There were a lot of different feelings Flurry Heart had over this awkward request. She felt weird, afraid because she didn't know what Magnolia would do if she denied this to her or, for that matter, what she could do to her wing if she decided to do it, and a little compassionate because of the sob. Playing it safe, Flurry decided to fulfill the request, but at the same time, she also saw a chance to finally get away from Magnolia.
“I do it,” she said to her, then paused a moment to achieve the intended effect. Only as she heard a relieved sigh from Magnolia, she continued. “But only if you let me go then.”
“I will, I promise!” the answer came faster than Flurry expected.
Sighing and trembling, Flurry Heart carefully stretched out her wing until it came to lie on Magnolia's body. Without hesitation, Magnolia removed her hooves from Flurry Heart's body and instead, aimed for her wing with them. Flurry Heart twitched and was already attempting to pull it away again, but Magnolia just peacefully placed her hooves on it. She even thought on it to only place them where it wasn't painful to touch it, much to Flurry's surprise. “Does it still hurt?” Magnolia asked her.
“A little,” Flurry Heart answered taut.
Apparently content with this answer, Magnolia closed her eyes and let out another relieved sigh.
Flurry decided to give Magnolia a few minutes. While the two of them were lying on the cloud like this, Flurry Heart thought about the school day that lied behind her.
She was tortured more than ever by the filly that bullied her, got detention for arriving late to school, stood up to her cruel teacher, faced a breakdown by the bully who just tortured her a few hours earlier, built up the confidence of a timid classmate and now she was lying on a cloud with the mentioned bully snuggled up to her. If it wouldn't be for the fact that she had fallen asleep a little just a few moments earlier, Flurry Heart would now deny the hours since she woke up this morning and be convinced of it that all was just a dream and that she would wake up for real soon. But since she knew it wasn't, all she could do was accepting what was the most strange day of her young life. At least, she thought, it was impossible for it to get even stranger from here.
After the minutes Flurry had given Magnolia had passed, she remembered her on her promise. “I did what you wanted. Now let me go.” No answer came from the filly, so Flurry Heart repeated her words. As she didn't get an answer again, she noticed that the breath of the bully under her wing had become more steady. Magnolia had fallen asleep. Flurry Heart couldn't believe her luck. She wasn't exactly sure if the pegasus would keep her word, but now that she was asleep it didn't matter.
Carefully, Flurry Heart retracted her wing and got up. With quick, but quiet, movements, she approached the edge of the cloud, where she spread her wings, ready to fly down again. She was about to take off as she got unexpectedly interrupted by Magnolia's voice.
“You are leaving? Can we talk again tomorrow? Please?” Magnolia's voice sounded strangely pleading.
For a moment, Flurry Heart didn't know what to say. Even though she didn't want to admit it in front of the bully, she felt emotionally conflicted now. The fear she still felt around Magnolia and compassion for it that she seemed to genuinely regret her actions were fighting with each other.
“Maybe,” Flurry Heart reluctantly said after a few moments. Then she finally took off of the cloud and flew down, towards the Crystal Castle, leaving the white pegasus filly behind.
> Chapter 8: Sins of the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As Flurry Heart saw her home coming nearer, she flew a curve and landed in front of the gate of the castle. The moment her hooves touched the ground, she sighed. While folding in her wings and approaching the gate to open it, a smile appeared on her face. Now that she was at home, she was relieved that this strange day was finally over for her.
Flurry Heart activated her magic and slowly opened the gate, hurrying inside it as the opening was big enough. She closed it again and for a moment, she stood there and just listened to the echo of the sound the massive gate made sounding through the crystal halls. She closed her eyes and breathed in for a moment, still a smile on her lips, then she made her way up to the throne room and from there to the royal apartments. Much slower than at the morning – Flurry Heart still felt tired despite her nap on the cloud – she trotted up the stairs. Her first destination was the kitchen. Magnolia's sandwich had helped, but it still hadn't been enough to fully quench the hunger that had become accumulated since her detention began.
On her way, she met the guards she ran past at the morning when she made her way to school again. She flashed them a smile, that was quickly reciprocated, and once she had made it into the throne room, she slipped through the door on the right side without hesitation and found herself back in the corridor of the royal apartments. Her mom hadn't been in the throne room, as she usually was during this time of day, so Flurry figured she would either be in the kitchen or in the living room. As she entered the former, she saw her mom standing at the kitchen counter, seemingly already busy with preparing something for dinner.
Flurry Heart watched her mom quietly for some seconds, a warm feeling of relief coursing through her body, as she was more and more hit by the realization that the horrors of this day were over now. It was finally time to relax.
With an even bigger smile on her lips, Flurry Heart quietly unfolded her wings and took a few inches into the air, then she flew towards her mother. As she had reached her, she landed softly on her back and, simultaneously, wrapped her hooves around her mother's neck. She buried her head into her mane. While doing so, she felt like a huge weight was dropping off her heart.
“Flurry?” Cadance asked surprised as she felt the gentle embrace and saw the tiny, pink hooves emerging from behind. “Where have you been?” A slight worry was sounding in her voice.
Flurry Heart moved her head away from her mom's mane so that her voice wouldn't be muffled and began to explain what happened. “I got detention today, for three hours even.....” she said with a clear regret in her voice. “I came late to school because Mag–“ Quickly, Flurry bit on her tongue and stopped herself. The last thing she wanted after this horrific day was reminding herself on what had happened in the morning and having to talk about it again. “I mean,” she continued “Sunny and I were talking about Magnolia a lot before school started and we forgot the time over it, so we got late.”
“And so both of you got detention,” Cadance finished for her daughter, now relief in her voice.
“Mhm,” Flurry Heart lied in response and nodded, with a satisfied smile on her face.
“Three hours just for coming late once is a lot, though.” Cadance turned her head around and looked at her daughter with a strict expression. “How much late were you and Sunny?” she asked in a suspicious tone.
Now Flurry Heart grimaced and turned her head away from her mother. “Just, uh..... twenty minutes?” she admitted hesitantly.
“'Just' twenty minutes, I see.....” Cadance giggled. “Well, at least you weren't alone and you didn't have to go through so much of the math lesson you hate.”
What was supposed to lift Flurry Heart's spirits let her frown, though. “Yeah, but I had to do math the whole time during detention!” she replied, in a slightly increased voice now. “I was so bored after it that I was just flying around for a while. And then I even slept in on a–“ She stopped herself again and hesitated for a moment before she continued. “On the roof of the schoolhouse.”
“I guess this explains why it's already four in the afternoon and you only returned now.” Cadance's voice became a little stricter again. “Even with your detention you should have been at home at half past two already, Flurry.”
Flurry Heart's eyes grew wide as she heard this. “What?! I thought it's not later than three!” she exclaimed with surprise. “And I still have homework to do!”
Cadance stepped away from the counter a little, then activated her magic and hovered her daughter in front of her. “Sounds like this really wasn't your best day, was it?” She hovered Flurry closer and gave her a tight hug.
Relieved that her mom could figure this already without her having to tell all the other gruesome details of this horrible day, Flurry Heart nodded in agreement. Then she felt herself lifted across the room and put down on the stool she had been sitting on in the morning during breakfast.
“Even though you still have homework today, I think it's the best if you eat something now. You must be hungry after all these hours. I make you a sandwich.”
The new grumbling in Flurry's stomach as her mom mentioned eating answered for the little filly, yet she replied to her mother with a nod.
Cadance looked into her daughter's eyes and smirked. “Peanut butter with tomatoes?”
Feeling reminded on her earlier, creepy meeting with Magnolia on the cloud, she shook her head. “No, I just want one with normal butter,” she gave her mom a surprising answer. “I ate two sandwiches with peanut butter and tomatoes during recess today!” Flurry Heart quickly added a made-up explanation as she noticed the surprise in her mom's eyes.
“Okay then, I take care of it!” her mom said then and turned around to the counter again where she began to prepare Flurry's sandwich. As she was finished with it, she hovered it over to her daughter and took seat opposite of her.
Flurry Heart greedily took the sandwich and bit into it with passion. As she had eaten half of it, she looked over to her mom and addressed a question. “Mommy? Where is daddy?”
“Daddy is just outside showing the empire to some delegates that came all the way from Coltkata. They are actually just here for negotiations, but for some reason, they insisted on a tour through the Crystal Empire and even interrupted the talks we had. Daddy offered to guide them around, so I could take care of dinner in the meanwhile. Do you need anything from him?”
Flurry Heart shook her head, satisfied with the answer, then she continued to munch on her sandwich. There were a lot of questions she had now, like, where Coltkata was and what the negotiations were about. More important than these two questions, though, was the assignment her teacher gave her today. It had left a question in Flurry Heart's mind that was circling through her head constantly since she got the assignment.
Flurry Heart put the last bit of her sandwich into her mouth and once she had swallowed it, reached out for a glass full of milk her mom had brought her in the meanwhile. As she had emptied it with big, greedy gulps, Cadance hovered it and the plate over to the kitchen sink and began to clean up what Flurry had used during her meal.
Not hungry anymore now and with a burning curiosity, Flurry Heart turned her attention back to her mom. “Mommy, why did you and daddy call me 'Flurry Heart'”?
Cadance's eyes dilated with fright as she heard her daughter asking this question. Frantically, she turned around. “Why are you asking this?” she replied to her daughter.
Flurry Heart twitched for a second over the sudden volume in her mom's voice. “I need to know it for school,” she explained with a not low amount of surprise in her voice as the slight shock had subsided. “Why are you yelling?” she asked then.
As she looked into the curious and innocent face of her daughter, Cadance tried to compose herself. She closed her eyes, breathed in calmly and held her hoof to her chest. Then she stretched it away from her body again and breathed out at the same time. She repeated the relaxation technique three times, then she opened her eyes and looked at her daughter again, who was wearing a completely puzzled expression now.
“Is something wrong, mommy?” she asked her.
Cadance shook her head. “No, Sweetie, everything is fine. The talks with the delegates have just been hard so far, that's all.”
“Are you sure, mommy?” Flurry Heart raised an eyebrow as she noticed the still nervous tone in her mother's voice.
“Yes, I am,” Cadance replied, trying to sound as confident as possible. “I'm sorry for yelling at you. It isn't your fault that the talks don't go well.” She trotted up to her daughter and ruffled gently through her mane, who smiled and giggled in response.
“So, why did you call me 'Flurry Heart' now?” Flurry asked again as her mom had retreated her hoof. She noticed beads of sweat appearing on her mom's forehead and raised another eyebrow.
“That's a really long story, Sweetie,” Cadance began to explain while trying to keep her composure this time. “What do you need it for exactly?”
Flurry Heart shrugged. “I'm not sure. Mr. Know just said we should find it out and then tell it in front of class.”
Seeing a chance, Cadance grasped for a straw. “That sounds like a big task for so many students as there are in your class, isn't it? I'm sure it will take a few days until everypony could talk to their parents. And daddy and I thought for a very long time about how to call you. It's very complicated and will take quite some time to explain everything. When do you need to know it?”
“Tomorrow,” Flurry Heart answered swiftly.
A curse rang out in Cadance's mind. “Tomorrow.....” she repeated her daughter's word in a low voice as her face grew pale. With stiff movements, she motioned to a stool to her right and let herself slump on it.
Once more, this raised concern in Flurry Heart. “Are you alright, mommy?”
Cadance sighed, avoiding to look at her daughter. She didn't answer Flurry Heart's question and her thoughts only circled around one task. She needed to make something up and she needed to do it quickly. Not under any circumstances could she let her know the truth of what she did to the Crystal Heart years ago.
Cadance's mind raced. “What could I tell her?” she asked herself repeatedly. “'Flurry' and 'Heart'..... Maybe something with snow, just without the destruction, for 'Flurry'. And 'Heart'? Maybe something about love? No, she wouldn't believe this.....” Her brows furrowed more and more. Many ideas rushed through her head. Eventually, she decided that “Flurry” could just be a reference to the many snow that was up here around the Crystal Empire. But providing an explanation what the second part of Flurry's name was supposed to mean was exceptionally harder. Cadance continued to tax her brain for more minutes, as a light went on in her head suddenly. She knew something. It might be a kitschy explanation, but one that would work.
With a kind of relief she never felt before wash over her, she finally returned her attention to Flurry Heart again, but before she could begin to tell her this made-up story for where her name came from, her daughter spoke up to her first.
“Mommy!” she yelled and Cadance twitched. “I was calling you five times, why are you not answering?!”
Sheepishly, Cadance began to smile. She hadn't noticed that so much time had passed. For a few minutes, she had completely passed out with thinking all these thoughts, it seemed. Cadance apologized to Flurry Heart with embarrassment, then she began to explain. “So, you want to know why me and daddy called you “Flurry Heart”, right?”
A bit of the concern vanished from Flurry Heart's face, but a good amount of it remained, paired up with confusion over her mom's weird behavior and some scepticism. “Mhm,” she said taut and looked at her mom expectantly.
“Well, then let me explain.” Cadance smiled at her. Now that she had an explanation it was easy. Everything would work like a hitch, she would answer Flurry Heart's question and she would never find out the truth. With a relaxed voice, she continued. “As you know, your name consists of two parts: 'Flurry' and 'Heart'. We chose both of those for different reasons, but all of them have to do with snow.”
Cadance waited a little to increase the suspense for her daughter, yet as she couldn't see any excitement in her face, she quickly proceeded to continue.
“The first part of your name stands for the snow of the Crystal Empire. I think I never told you this, but another word for 'snowflake' is 'snow flurry'. And a few days before you were born, daddy and I saw a snowflake falling from the sky that had the shape of a heart. We still didn't know how to call you at this day, but this snowflake inspired us and so, we decided to call you 'Flurry Heart'.”
Finished with the story she had thought up in the last minutes, Cadance smiled at Flurry Heart, glad over it that she could find something that let her avoid it to tell her daughter the truth. She expected satisfaction to see in her daughter's face now, a smile maybe, but nothing of that happened. Instead, Flurry Heart was frowning.
Hoping that it was just disappointment that plagued Flurry Heart now, Cadance spoke up to her again. “I know, this isn't a very exciting story. I'm sure you expected more from your name's origin. And I'm sorry I can't offer you something better, but that's really all that is to it.”
Sporting another smile, she reached out to Flurry to ruffle through her mane again, but this time, she found the gentle gesture rejected, as Flurry Heart vehemently shoved her hoof out of the way. There was anger in Flurry's face now.
“Is something wrong?” Cadance asked her. Her voice trembled. She began to become nervous again.
Without directly addressing the question, Flurry Heart answered “Why are lying to me, mommy?”
Trying to hide her fear that once more began to rise in her, Cadance set up a pokerface to the best of her abilities. “Lying? Why would I be lying to you, Sweetie? That's all that happened when daddy and I decided for your name.”
This answer just deepened Flurry Heart's frown. “I don't believe you,” she began anew. “You said it's something that is complicated to explain,  but this didn't take long. And I know that my name should describe me somehow, that's how it is for everypony, but 'Flurry Heart' doesn't describe me.”
Cadance opened her mouth for another answer, but Flurry Heart interrupted her before she could say the first word.
“And you said you and daddy saw a snowflake in the shape of a heart a few days before I was born, but how? It's impossible, the Crystal Heart doesn't let any snow into the empire!”
The more Flurry Heart had confronted her mom with those holes in her story, the more pale had her face become again. Once more she searched for an explanation for all of this, but this time, her brain only produced incoherent nonsense. Things that her smart daughter would look through again immediately, much easier than she did just now even. Cadance had to admit it, she was defeated.
“I want to know the real reason for my name!” Flurry Heart demanded now, her anger not having gotten any smaller.
Cadance looked at her daughter with sad eyes, which turned Flurry Heart's expression to a concerned one again.
“Why don't you tell me? What is wrong with my name, mommy?”
“T-There is nothing wrong with your name, Sweetie, but.....” Cadance trailed off again, struggling to find the right words. “It was true when I said that it's complicated to explain why we gave you the name 'Flurry Heart'. It just won't take long to explain it, it's only that.....” She hesitated again before she continued. “It's just that daddy and I have decided that you shouldn't know it, at least not until you are older.”
“Why?” Flurry Heart just asked. It was utter confusion that spoke out of her now.
Cadance didn't answer. Instead, she just stared at Flurry Heart, unable to tell her the truth. But when she saw the curious, demanding face of her daughter who had just uncovered her lie, she felt every defense break away and found herself unable to deny her the true story any longer.
With strong hesitation, she began. “You remember how daddy and I told you that a monster had destroyed the Crystal Heart a few days after you were born and how we could restore it?”
Flurry Heart nodded quietly.
“This story..... It isn't completely true.”
“Does this mean the Crystal Heart wasn't destroyed?” Flurry Heart asked her mom.
Sadly, Cadance shook her head. “No, it got destroyed, this is true.” She breathed in deeply before she continued. “Right after you were born, it showed that your magic was already very strong. You couldn't control it and every time you sneezed, you damaged the castle or you just shot holes into it for fun. At one point, you got upset over something and then.....”
She gulped as she saw the pupils of her daughter shrink, the sign of a realization starting to build up in her mind.
“You got upset and started to cry. Somehow, your crying created magical sound waves and those sound waves..... When they touched the Crystal Heart..... It suddenly shattered.”
Having admitted everything, Cadance just watched Flurry Heart, ready to be there for her daughter now that she knew the truth. She expected her to cry over this horrible reveal, yet nothing of this happened. Instead, Flurry Heart was frozen, her eyes big as plates now and the shock about what she had just heard written all over her face.
In an effort to calm her, Cadance continued. “We didn't tell anypony, Flurry. We knew it would bring problems, so we hid the truth, not just from you, also from every other pony in the Crystal Empire. Your daddy and I decided together with Sunburst to spread the lie that a monster managed to sneak into the Crystal Empire on the day of your Crystalling ceremony and that this monster destroyed the Crystal Heart. Nopony knows it was you, Flurry Heart. And we will continue to take care of it that nopony will find out.”
Instead of calming Flurry Heart down, her mom's words achieved the opposite, though. “T-This means I'm the monster that destroyed the Crystal Heart,” she muttered with bewilderment.
“No.” Cadance got up from her stool quickly and approached her daughter. “You are not a monster! You haven't done it on purpose, it was just your magic that you couldn't control, Flurry. We don't know why your magic was so strong already, but Sunburst gave us a spell to bring the outbursts under control. There is no danger that you could destroy the Crystal Heart again, don't worry about it!” Having finished her speech, Cadance wrapped Flurry Heart into an embrace.
For a few moments, Flurry Heart wasn't saying anything. “What should I do now, mommy?” she asked after seconds had passed. “If everypony finds out, then–“
Cadance interrupted her. “Nopony will find out! I know what to do. You won't have to tell anypony about your name, Flurry Heart.”
Surprised, the little alicorn looked at her mom. A few, tiny tears glistened in her eyes now. “How? Mr. Know will insist on it that I do. He hates me and he won't allow to make an exception for me, mommy.”
It were these words that let Cadance's face become grim for a moment, but she calmed down for the sake of her daughter immediately. Carefully, she dried her eyes, then she continued to explain. “It is me and daddy who rule over the Crystal Empire, not your teacher, Flurry Heart. I will send him a royal decree and he will have no choice but to allow you to not tell the story of your name.”
Having said that, Cadance activated her horn, concentrated on a piece of parchment and a quill in the living room and let both appear in front of her. She hovered everything down on the table and wrote the decree in quick, clear words on it. As she was done, she rolled the parchment in and called for the castle's messenger. After she had told the messenger for whom the letter was, it immediately left the castle to deliver it to the house of Austere Knowledge.
Both Flurry Heart and her mom watched from one of the kitchen's windows how the mare disappeared in one of the streets around the castle.
Flurry Heart looked up to her mom. “Are you sure it will work?”
“It will, Flurry Heart. I know that your teacher is not an easy person, but even he can't do anything against a royal decree.” Still noticing worries in Flurry Heart's face, Cadance put a hoof on her chest before she could reply more. “It's better if you get some rest. It wasn't an easy day for you and I want that you get some sleep now.”
It was only now that her mom said this that Flurry Heart noticed again how tired she still was. Finding out what she had done to the Crystal Heart let her forget her exhaustion completely, but now she could feel it again. Flurry Heart yawned and with how tired she was, she didn't struggle against it as her mom wrapped her into her magic, placed her on her back and carried her into her room.
Having arrived there, Cadance gently lied Flurry Heart down on the soft bed sheets and pulled the blanket over her.
Flurry Heart felt more calm again now, and if it was only for her tired state. “Thank you, mommy,” she spoke in a low voice.
Cadance bent over her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Just rest now. You will feel better when you wake up. I promise that everything will be fine tomorrow.”
She gently stroke over Flurry's mane as she noticed that Flurry Heart had fallen asleep. Quietly, she tip-hoofed out of the room, turned off the light and closed the door behind her.
> Chapter 9: Witchhunt
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As Flurry Heart heard her name getting called from the front of the class, she twitched. Her face distorted in an expression of shock and every muscle in her body was tense. Even though it was clearly her turn to step out to the blackboard, Flurry Heart just sat frozen on her stool. Maybe she heard wrong? Maybe it wasn't her name that was called? Maybe she had just understood “Flurry Heart” because of being so nervous and in reality, it was another student's call to tell how he got this name.
The thought eased the little alicorn somewhat. Surely it wasn't her name. Of course not. If it would have been, her teacher would stand in front of her desk now, demanding from her to finally step out, with how long she already hesitated. No, it was definitely not her. A moment later, though, Flurry Heart's hopes were crushed.
Her name sounded across the classroom again, louder this time, impatient. The sound of the voice crawled into her ears, like thick, slimy worms. Thick, slimy and hungry worms, with sharp teeth, who were in this moment busy with eating the insides of her ear canal. Flurry Heart knew this wasn't true..... But this was exactly how it felt to her.
No matter how terrible the voice felt in her ears, Flurry Heart knew this was something she couldn't do. A request that she could not fulfill, she just couldn't. Instead of giving in to the voice and do what was asked from her, Flurry Heart tried to turn the situation around in her favor. In an unusually intimidated way, she addressed her teacher. “Mr. Know? I-I can't tell how I got my name today. I-I'm sorry but it's impossible.”
Austere Knowledge raised an eyebrow while he looked at her with eyes that seemed to pierce right through her. “Can I take from this that you are the only one who has not retrieved the information?” his voice bellowed over to her.
“Y-Yes,” Flurry Heart lied. “There was too much homework yesterday and I was busy. There was no time to ask my parents.....”
Her nervous state made speaking this lie easier than Flurry Heart thought. It was easy to believe if one just closely observed her. Flurry Heart expected a disappointed sigh, more yelling and perhaps more detention from her teacher. But all of this was better than the other option. The consequences of telling the origins of her name would be far worse, Flurry Heart was well aware of this. For a second time this morning, though, she was wrong in her hopes.
With rapid movement, Austere Knowledge dashed in front of her desk. His forehooves crushed down on either side of Flurry Heart's desk and he planted himself in front of her threateningly. When he opened his mouth, there was just one word that he roared at her.
“LIAR!”
Startled by the loud voice right in front of her, Flurry Heart slid away from her desk, attempting to hide herself between the other students. Austere Knowledge, though, was faster.
His hoof darted forward and one second later, Flurry Heart felt a sharp pain in her ear as her teacher's hoof squashed it. She tried to get away, but his grip was too strong. “I know everything, little princess,” his sharp, condescending voice rang out again. “I know that you asked your mother and I know that she was telling you everything about your name. She was even lying about it at first, I can see where you have this attitude from.”
The heart of the little filly almost stopped as she heard these words. “How can he know?” she thought in distress. “Who told him about it?” Before she could speak out these questions and address them to her teacher, she felt pulled out of her seat by him and dragged in front of the class. “But now the lies are over!” he hissed again. “Now it's time to be honest, princess! Now you will tell everypony what happened! They all have the right to know it, the time of royal secrets is over!” He gave Flurry Heart a last push, then he let go of her ear finally and just looked at her with a smug, expectant grin.
In a last attempt to avoid the horrible situation that was looming for her, Flurry Heart turned to the right and galloped in the direction of the classroom door, but found herself wrapped in the black aura of her teacher almost immediately.
Harshly, he dragged her back to her former spot and put her down with such speed that her hooves made a loud, thumping sound on the floor and started to hurt. “There is no escape, princess,” he mocked her. “You will tell everypony the truth now. Your parents have hidden it for too long. Everypony should finally know what you are!”
Flurry Heart's whole body began to shake. Carefully, she looked over the classroom, trying to delay the inevitable and considering her options. Only to realize that there weren't any. Her excuse had failed. Her attempt to escape as well. And now she was still wrapped in the black magic of her teacher, tightly kept in place by it in a way that made it impossible to try another attempt to gallop away. Everything was over and Flurry Heart knew that her teacher was right. The only thing left now was speaking the truth.
“I..... My name.....” she began in trepidation. The mouth of her teacher formed a broad grin.
Again and again Flurry Heart tried to speak out the horrible truth about herself, in a way that made it sound less awful than it was, and every time she tried it, her attempt fell flat. There was just no way to make everything sound harmless, she realized, and so, she decided to just say it as directly as she could. The longer she stood in front of the class, the more the situation was wearing at her. By now, Flurry Heart was so desperated that she just wanted to bring it behind her. She took a deep breath, then she revealed the horrible truth about herself:

“I have destroyed the Crystal Heart when I was a baby. That's what my parents named me after.”

If there was any reaction Flurry Heart didn't expect after this confession, it was the insufferable silence she was greeted with now. Nopony spoke a word, not even her teacher. And it also wasn't necessary. By looking into the faces of her classmates, Flurry Heart could see what was going through their minds as they tried to process everything.
All of a sudden, she felt the magical grip around her vanishing. Unsure what to do now, she looked up into the face of her teacher, who responded her glance with an icecold expression. “Go to your desk,” he said taut, in a way that made Flurry Heart shudder.
Still perfectly aware of it that trying to flee was useless, she did as she was told and made her way back to her desk at the side of Sunny Spirit, who was now looking at her like all her other classmates, except for a strange glimmer in her eyes that Flurry Heart couldn't explain. She expected Sunny to find her speech first, but instead, it was a filly who sat in the row behind her.
“Did you really do this?” she asked her in a shock-filled voice.
Flurry Heart didn't answer. Incapable of speaking now, she turned away from the filly and dropped her head. But apparently, it was all the answer the filly needed.
“Then you are dangerous,” she continued.
This sentence brought the rest of the class out of its shock state. A murmur went through the classroom and soon, many voices rang up to Flurry Heart.

“Yes, she's dangerous!”

“I bet she has dark magic!”

“Lock her away!”

The shouting of the voices grew louder and Flurry Heart began to shiver as more and more statements and accusations were thrown at her.

“That she destroyed the Crystal Heart must mean that she's a monster!” the filly behind her began again.

“Or a witch!” another filly chimed in. “That's it, just think about it! She is an alicorn and can use magic! She has destroyed the Crystal Heart and what else than dark magic can do this? And dark magic is only used by evil sorcerers and witches! Flurry Heart is a witch!”

Another murmur followed and the fillies and colts around Flurry Heart nodded in agreement with what the filly said. Soon, another filly repeated the words.

“Flurry Heart is a witch!”

“Yeah, a witch!” a colt in the last row shouted as answer and pointed his hoof at Flurry Heart.

More and more foals of the class began to use the terrible word and it took mere seconds until the whole classroom was shouting and chanting while repeatedly pointing at her.

“Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch!”

The voices around her became like a roaring thunder and as Flurry Heart couldn't take it anymore, she pressed her hooves on her ears in a desperate attempt to block out the chanting, but for some reason, the words still came through.

“Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch!”

As her ears began to hurt, she got off of her stool and attempted another escape, though like before, she felt wrapped up in Austere Knowledge's magic. Some of the unicorns made their way to her desk and used their horns to burn the word “Witch” into its wooden surface. Soon, the desk of Flurry Heart was cluttered with the accusation. As they were finished, they joined the other foals again and all of them gathered around Flurry Heart. Forming a tight circle around her, they didn't leave her out of their sight, all while she couldn't move away due to her teacher's magic that kept her in place. Instead of chanting, they began to attack Flurry with questions and statements now.

“Do you even understand what you have done? We need the Crystal Heart to live here!”

“Why did you destroy it? Are you working for somepony who wants to harm the Crystal Empire?”

“How did you do it? Tell us so that we can protect the Heart from you!”

Several times, Flurry Heart attempted to explain the exact circumstances that led to the destruction now that she was confronted like this, but every time she tried, another foal interrupted her.

“Tell us who you work for!”

“Are you already planning to do it again?”

“We can't trust you anymore, Flurry Heart!”

While the statements continously rained down on her, the foals drew ever nearer and the circle around Flurry Heart became tighter and tighter with every new statement or question. Helplessly, Flurry Heart looked around, trying to find at least one foal who was willing to stand up for her.
Her eyes fell on Magnolia Sunshine first, but as always, the rich filly with the white coat just looked at her with a mix of disgust and jealousy. And of course, she wasn't doing any actions to help her.
The next filly her eyes fell on was Fiery Breeze. Flurry Heart hoped that Starry Skies' friend with her strong sense of justice would talk some sense into everypony, but this time, nothing of the sort happened. As soon as she had set eyes on the filly, Fiery Breeze huffed. She spit into Flurry Heart's face. “Don't look at me, witch!”
At her side stood Starry Skies, who averted her gaze as the spit of her friend hit Flurry Heart. Flurry looked at her pleadingly, giving her the signal that she begged her to say something, anything, but Starry Skies just shook her head sadly, then she turned around and disappeared behind the other foals.
With tears forming in her eyes now, Flurry Heart wiped the spit off her face, as she noticed somepony approaching her from the left in the corner of her eye. A sudden feeling of hope emerging in her, Flurry Heart turned her eyes into the direction she heard the hoofsteps coming from. It increased as she saw Sunny Spirit.
“Sunny!” Flurry Heart reached out to her immediately. “Please tell them to stop! I didn't destroy the Crystal Heart on purpose!” Flurry Heart's voice was completely frantic now. “You are a crystal pony, Sunny, if you tell them to stop then they will–“ She was cut off by Sunny's hoof covering her mouth.
“No, Flurry,” she said, while slowly shaking her head, her eyes closed. “I won't tell them anything. I am a crystal pony, yes, but that's why I won't do it. I was born here, Flurry Heart. My parents were too. Even my grandparents were born here. And all my other friends too. You tried to destroy our home, Flurry.”
Terror building up in her face now, Flurry Heart pleaded Sunny more urgently. “But we are friends, Sunny! We always helped each other! Please, Sunny, tell them to stop!”
But once more, Sunny Spirit shook her head in the horrifyingly slow tempo. “Not anymore,” she answered. “It can't be excused what you did, Flurry. I can't excuse it. My parents had to live through King Sombra's reign and they suffered so much..... I can't sympathize with another villain that might let them suffer again.....”
“But I'm not a villain, Sunny! You know this! I didn't destroy the Crystal Heart on purpose, I would never do this! It was an accident, Sunny!”
“It doesn't matter if it was an accident or not, Flurry,” Sunny coldly replied. “My parents rely on the Crystal Heart. Everypony here does. I do. You could destroy it again one day and then everypony loses their lives. We are no friends anymore, Flurry Heart. Something must be done about you.”
Without paying her former friend any more attention, Sunny Spirit turned around and walked away, joining the other foals again.
“So, what should we do about the witch now?” the filly who had started it all asked.
Another filly, the one who had assigned the cruel term to Flurry Heart, answered. “Let's bring her outside. Outside of the protection spell, into the cold. We just leave her there. Then she will know what she caused and how the cold death she almost brought upon everypony feels!”
Whispers were exchanged between the foals, then most of them nodded.
The next one who spoke up was Sunny Spirit. “I don't think she has to die. But she can't be allowed to live in freedom anymore. Flurry Heart must be locked away in the dungeons deep under the ground, as far away from the Crystal Heart as possible.”
Another round of nods happened, although with smaller participation this time.
“But what if her parents refuse?” the filly who called Flurry Heart a witch asked with worry.
The answer from Sunny Spirit gave Flurry Heart chills.
“Then we will force them. Flurry Heart is a danger for us all, if her parents refuse to lock her away for our safety just because she is their daughter, then they aren't good rulers. We will tell them what we want and if they don't do it, we will inform everypony and then storm the castle and lock up Flurry Heart by ourselves. They can't stand in the way of all of us.”
This suggestion of a possible rebellion found broad approval again. Nearly everypony was nodding now, Austere Knowledge even sported a massive grin over the imagination.
The only one who didn't seem to be particularly happy about it was Magnolia. She stepped up to Flurry Heart and enfolded her wings. “I will agree, but only under one condition: Slice off her wings. That way she won't come far if she should ever manage to escape the dungeon. And I always wanted to have them anyway.....”
The suggestion once again found bround approval, only Sunny Spirit's face showed a slight expression of shock. She sighed. “I don't want that Flurry Heart gets hurt, we were friends once. But at least this one time you are right with something, Magnolia, and I agree with you. We must do everything to take care off it that she doesn't come anywhere near the Crystal Heart ever again.”
Flurry Heart's eyes dilated and she began to squirm around, desperately trying to break free from the spell. “No, Sunny, please! I-I promise, I won't try to escape! Please don't do this! Please don't do what Magnolia wants!”
But this time, Sunny Spirit just ignored her desperate pleading and so did the other foals.
The only reaction came from Austere Knowledge. The foals parted and let him through as he approached their circle. In a steady pace, he aimed for Magnolia, a big, sharp knife hovering in his magic in front of him. As he had reached her, he let it glide into her hooves, a gift that the pegasus filly happily accepted. “Do it,” he said in anticipation. “Her wings must become removed before we bring her into the dungeon.”
Magnolia didn't hesitate. She brought the knife into position, then moved it slowly down to Flurry Heart's wings. “Now your wings will be mine! Where you are going now, you won't need them.”
The terror in Flurry Heart's face grew. Streams of tears ran down it now. She could see how Magnolia came ever closer to her wings. As she had almost reached them, Flurry Heart tried to avoid her fate in a last, desperate attempt.
“Magnolia, please don't! I know you aren't evil! You were crying on the schoolyard yesterday! And you proved me that you won't hurt my wings anymore on the cloud! Do you remember?”
Magnolia ignored her questions, though. “Oh, of course I'm not evil! I know this. But you are, Flurry Heart. You are evil!”
She grinned diabolically and without giving Flurry Heart another opportunity to reach out to her, Magnolia finally let the blade of the knife come down on her wings and cut into them.
Flurry Heart started to scream, but before she could feel the pain of the knife cutting off her wings, she suddenly found herself sitting upright in darkness. In an unbelievably loud volume for her small lungs, she continued to scream into this darkness. Her scream was so loud that it startled the pony at her side.
“Hey, everything's fine!” a soft, yet slightly deep, voice rang out to her from the darkness.
Flurry Heart heard hoofsteps rushing towards her, then a bright, blue light shone into her face. She felt two big hooves grabbing her and shaking her little body gently. Panicking, she tried to get the hooves off of her, all while she continued her screaming unwaveringly loud.
“Hey, calm down, everything is okay!” the voice spoke to her again, slightly more hectic.
It was only now that Flurry Heart realized to whom the voice belonged. As sudden as it started, her screaming stopped and she turned her head into the direction from which both the voice as the hooves that were holding her came and found herself looking into the face of her dad, who smiled at her in a gentle, yet worried, way. Flurry Heart needed a moment to process what she saw in front of her, then her eyes teared up and she fell into her dad's arms.
Gently, he wrapped them around her and stroke over her mane, letting his daughter cry on his chest. “I guess you were dreaming about what your mom told you earlier.”
A muffled confirmation came from his chest in between the crying.
“No reason to worry about it anymore!” Shining Armor replied to it. “The dream's over, it's all fine.”
Flurry Heart moved away from him. Sniffing, she dried her tears, then she looked up to him with a haunted expression. “Only until tomorrow,” she said. “Then everypony will know and once they do, I can't show myself outside anymore.....” New tears appeared in her eyes.
Seeing the distraught face of his daughter almost broke Shining Armor's heart. For a moment, he let his head sink, eyeing the bedsheets.
“I guess in the end it was a really dumb idea to call you 'Flurry Heart' based on what happened. We both regret it. I found your mom crying in the kitchen when I returned after the delegates had retreated into their guest rooms.” Hearing this let Flurry Heart almost cry again and a pained expression appeared on her face.
Shining Armor looked up again. “But we're going to fix it, Flurry! The royal decree was delivered on time, the messenger told us when she returned a few hours ago! Nopony will find out.”
Instead of seeing the face of his daughter lighting up, she just cast a sad glance aside. “I'm not sure.....” Her voice sounded weak.
Shining Armor set up the most confident expression and voice he could muster. “Hey, we already altered schoolbooks to cover it up! We can deal with a school assignment!” He playfully nudged her shoulder with his hoof.
Now Flurry Heart looked up to him, giving him a thankful smile. Just a moment later, though, her eyes dilated in shock and she became frantic. “No!” she exclaimed. “How late is it? I still have a lot of homework to do and now there's probably no time anymore!” Hectically, she attempted to jump out of her bed, but Shining Armor held her back.
“Don't worry about this. It's already taken care of!”
Flurry Heart stopped in her movement and looked up to him with big, curious eyes. “How?” she asked. Her face was full of riddles.
“Horn writing imitation spell.” He grinned and gave her a smirk.
Now his daughter's face was finally brightening up, both from being amazed that such a spell existed as from relieved that she didn't have to care about this problem anymore at least. She twined herself around him again, laughing in his coat. “Thank you, daddy!”
“Don't mention it.” He gently put a hoof on her mane. “But now you should go back to sleep. You still look tired.”
At first, Flurry Heart wanted to protest, but then she yawned, which was when she realized that her dad was right. She lied down again and Shining Armor tucked her in carefully. As she was covered by the blanket, Flurry Heart's face grew worried again and she shivered. Shining Armor noticed it.
“Don't worry about any more nightmares. I'll stay at your side and wake you up if you have another one!” He bent forward and kissed the spot under her horn.
Flurry Heart shot him another thankful smile as she felt her eyes getting heavy. She closed them, but was still noticing the bright, blue light from her dad's horn under her closed eyelids. “Don't turn off the light until I'm asleep, okay?”
“Don't worry!” her dad answered and Flurry Heart smiled again.
Shining Armor watched the peaceful, but frazzled, face of his daughter. As her breath had become slower and he heard quiet snoring noises, he stopped casting his light spell and sat down at the side of his daughter's bed again. Only the moon that shone into the room was illuminating it now, softly casting its silver light on Flurry Heart's face.
Wearing a stern expression, Shining Armor watched his daughter's sleep, paying close attention to detect any possible signs of Flurry Heart having another bad dream.....
> Chapter 10: The Destroyer of Worlds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	When Flurry Heart woke up the next morning, the first thing she could see after having fallen asleep while looking into her dad's face was a blinding light that pierced into her eyes the moment she opened them. Still weakened by the horrors of the night, Flurry Heart groaned and turned to the right, showing the sun rays that entered her room through the window her back. They felt warm on her skin, yet Flurry Heart couldn't enjoy the feeling. Another groan escaped her mouth as she realized that the sun was already up. She had missed seeing the sun rise!
Agitated, Flurry Heart sat up on her bed and looked over to the window. She could still feel some of the chill morning breeze waving through it into the room, but the sun was undoubtedly in the sky now. A sad expression adorning her face, she sighed, then she got up and moved towards the window. Flurry Heart placed her hoof on the windowsill and looked out to the streets under her.
The ponies of the Empire were already busy with their morning duties, yet as they saw the little princess at the window some of them waved and greeted her anyway. There were expressing concern over it that she didn't speak to them as she used to do right when the sun started to rise.
This time, only a faint smile flashed over Flurry Heart's face and she just raised her hoof for a barely unnoticeable wave once. She did not answer their pressing questions, though, and just retreated from the window again after a few seconds, leaving the citizens on the ground look at each other in confusion.
Flurry Heart yawned. She rose to her hindlegs and stretched herself. She found her body aching today and no matter how much she stretched it, the feeling did not go away, and so she trotted out of her room unusually slow this morning. A short glance as she passed the bedroom of her parents confirmed what she had already reckoned with; through the open door, she could see that the room was empty. Her parents were already awake and, so she figured, probably waiting for her in the kitchen. She yawned again, then she continued her trot into the kitchen. As she entered through the door, both her parents looked up immediately.
“Flurry! Finally you're awake! I was about to go looking for you,” her dad spoke up to her.
Flurry Heart only gave him a weak glance as answer to his statement, then she motioned towards the stool at his side. Her saddlebags were hung over its backrest, judging by their looks apparently already filled with everything she would need for school, and sat down on it. Her mom approached her and wrapped her hooves around her for a gentle hug. “Good morning, Flurry Heart!” she said. Then she released the hug and looked stern into the face of her daughter. “Are you feeling better this morning?”
Slowly, Flurry Heart nodded, but not without some concern in her face. Cadance could see what was on her daughter's mind, but before she could speak out her thoughts, Flurry Heart already did so herself. “What if it doesn't work, mommy? What if Mr. Know just ignores the decree and demands I tell about it anyway?”
“He wouldn't dare,” Shining Armor spoke up, his face slightly grim. “It is your decision if you want to talk about your name and if he ignores the decree, I'll be the first one who gets him into trouble because of this.”
Flurry Heart's eyes grew wider as she heard this statement. She had never seen her dad being so stern about something. Then an admiring smile appeared on her face.
“Daddy is right, Flurry. If your teacher should really ignore the decree and expects you to tell the origin of your name, you can just refuse. He can't do anything about this then and if he tries something, just tell us and we take care of it.” She reached up into her daughter's mane and ruffled through it, then placed a plate with three big slices of bread, all covered with thick layers of hazelnut spread, that almost seemed thicker than the breads themselves, in front of her, together with a big glass of milk.
The answer to this was a grumbling of Flurry Heart's stomach. She only realized now that she didn't have dinner last night, thanks to her exhausted state and her nightmare, so she didn't waste time, greedily grabbed one of the slices and bit into it with a passion like there was some tasty deluxe food in her hooves. She started munching on it and with every bite, Flurry Heart felt some of her energy returning. Occasionally, she used her magic to hover the glass over to her and took a big gulp out of it, spilling a few drops of milk on the table from being too hasty, then she resumed eating.
In record time, the hungry, little alicorn had finished her breakfast. For a last time, she hovered the glass over to her and eagerly gulped down the rest of the milk, followed by a satisfied groan as she put it down. Flurry Heart wanted to say something, but when she looked into the faces of her parents, she relinquished these plans, as she saw both of them looking at her amused. Her mom was even trying to stiffle a grin, which failed, then she broke into giggling all of a sudden.
“What?” Flurry Heart asked irritated. “What's wrong?”
Still giggling, Cadance hovered a small mirror in front of her face and as Flurry Heart looked into it, it was like the reflection showed her a different filly. Her mouth was smeared with the hazelnut spread and had turned the coat around her lips from a bright pink to a dark brown. Drops of milk were scattered over the brown mess. Her dad erupted into loud laughter as he saw the confusion on his daughter's face when she witnessed the result of her messy, hunger-induced eating and drinking.
Flurry Heart pouted a little first, but then couldn't hold herself back and she broke into laughter as well. As it had subsided, Cadance hovered a wet paper towel over to her and Flurry Heart began to wipe her face, until it was as clean as before.
“It's good to see that our daughter finally laughs again!” Shining Armor bent forward and gently ruffled through Flurry's mane as she was finished with cleaning and had tossed the now used paper towel into a bin nearby.
Flurry Heart giggled, then flew over to her dad, landed in his lap and responded with a thankful hug, relieved that she finally felt better after the horrible day and night she had to go through. Shining Armor embraced her gently, but when his eyes fell on the clock on the wall, his face took on a more stressed expression. Still making sure to stay calm, he addressed his daughter to remind her that it was time to go. “Flurry? It looks like it's gotten late and you need to leave for school now if you want to be there on time.”
Flurry Heart's ears flattened as she heard this and she looked up to her dad with new worries on her mind, but tried to set up a confident expression. “Okay.....” she said quietly.
Shining Armor ruffled through her mane once more, then she left his lap and flew back to her seat again. She hesitated for a moment, then she hovered the saddlebags from the stool and on her back. She jumped down on the floor and turned around to her parents a last time.
Cadance approached her daughter again and wrapped her into another hug. “Don't worry too much about today,” she said. “Daddy and me have taken care of everything, so you will be fine today. It will be a normal day like any other.”
Flurry Heart looked at her, still forcing a confident smile, and nodded.
Suddenly, she felt wrapped up by her dad. “Keep your head up, okay?” he said. “If anything goes wrong today, let us know, and we are going to take care of this too.”
Then the parents let go of their daughter and Flurry Heart hesitantly trotted towards the kitchen door. Like the day before, she turned around again and presented them with a short wave this time, then she left their sight and trotted through the corridor. She didn't meet any guards on her way out of the castle this morning and so her path was uninterrupted until she had left the castle through the gate, yet still slow, as Flurry Heart did not exactly desire to go to magic kindergarden on this day. It was only as she had brought a good distance behind her on the streets that she began to quicken her pace, because the detention from yesterday had entered her mind again.
As she could see Sunny's house in the distance, the crystal filly was already sitting on the stairs leading up to it, waiting for her. Relieved, she smiled at Flurry Heart and waved at her as she saw her friend galloping up to her quickly. The two fillies only exchanged a quick hoofbump, then, without speaking a word, both of them galloped towards the schoolhouse in fast tempo.
In a rush, Flurry Heart swung the door open with her magic as they had reached the school and without pausing, they continued their dash until they were at their classroom door. They entered it in the literally last moment and just one second after they were inside, the bell rang out from the school's tower. Glad over having arrived in time, the two fillies sat down at their respective desks and took out their school utensils.
Only a minute later, Austere Knowledge had arrived as well. He was wearing a stressed expression on his face, in addition to his usual stern and strict look, and the first thing he did was shooting Flurry Heart an angry glare that was full of hatred. Flurry Heart, knowing as the only one what the reaction of her teacher meant, twitched slightly. But she reminded herself on the words of her parents and reinstated her composure. If she did anything, she definitely shouldn't appear weak to Austere Knowledge now, so she hid her nervousness.
The first lesson of this day was Magic History, the very lesson Austere Knowledge had planned the task Flurry Heart dreaded so much for, so there wasn't much time until she had to deal with him. While Flurry Heart was pondering strategies on how to approach the situation depending on the exact reaction of her teacher, Sunny Spirit bent over to her.
“Is it just me or is he angry for some reason?”
Tentatively, Flurry Heart nodded. “He is,” she answered taut. “I can explain you why later, Sunny, but you're going to see the reason soon anyway.”
The mysterious answer made Sunny curious. “What did happen, Flurry? Does he try to bring you into trouble?”
Flurry looked at Sunny and scrunched her face in worries. “Maybe..... But I hope not.”
“What is it? You have to tell me, Flurry, maybe I can help you!” Sunny Spirit probed further.
But Flurry Heart shook her head. “Not now, Sunny. It's something I can't tell you about here in class. And maybe I can't–“ Flurry Heart bit on her tongue before finishing the sentence, which caused more confusion in Sunny.
“Flurry? What's wrong?” she asked again for the reason of her behavior.
This time, Flurry Heart didn't answer anymore. She turned away and brought her focus on Austere Knowledge and the task ahead. Sunny poked her a few times, but Flurry didn't react anymore, until Sunny gave up, her face showing utter confusion about the peculiar behavior of her friend.
What Flurry Heart had almost told Sunny was that she maybe couldn't tell her what happened at all. With shudders, the filly thought back on her nightmare. Even though it was just a very bad dream, some elements of it were true. Sunny's parents did witness King Sombra's reign and they were suffering from it that he took the Crystal Heart away from them. Flurry Heart knew it would be anything but unrealistic if Sunny Spirit would react to the origin of her name in a similar way like she did in her dream. She knew she couldn't tell her and at the same time, that she had to sooner or later. Sunny was her best friend and concerned for her and so eventually, she would get the information out of her. This filled Flurry Heart with fright of an intensity that King Sombra himself couldn't do it better if it would be in his interest to sow fear in her.
Yet she didn't have time to ponder how she could get Sunny to stop asking or at least how she could cook up a lie for her friend, because Austere Knowledge took the word and finally began with his lesson.
As Flurry Heart had figured, he immediately began to speak about the task he had assigned to the class yesterday. Everypony should now step out in front of the class and recite what it had heard from its parents; where its name came from and why its parents named it the way they did. The whole time while Austere Knowledge explained these instructions, he did so without so much as looking at Flurry Heart and he didn't mention the decree sent to him either. As he had finished his explanations, the first foal he commandeered to the front of the class was Starry Skies.
The timid filly gulped, but still remembering how Austere Knowledge hated slow or delayed reactions, she hurried out of her stool and towards her teacher. She took position to his right and breathed in deeply.
“Now, finally tell your class how your name came to be,” Austere Knowledge ordered her with impatience as he saw her hesitation.
Immediately after he had said that, Starry Skies began to blush. Very hesitantly, she began to tell the tale.
“Well, m-my parents always liked stargazing. A-And in one night, they went outside for it. T-There were more stars in the sky than usual, s-so they could make some interesting observations. A-And then.....” Her face blushed more brightly. “W-Well..... It was a beautiful night and they were so happy and so.....” She gulped. “A-And so they made me in this night and..... that's why they had decided to name me 'Starry Skies'.....” Her face was deep red now and she looked down on the floor, suddenly heavily concentrated on the pattern of it.
Confused over her weird choice of words, the other foals looked at her for a moment. Then it dawned upon them and many of them held their hooves in front of their mouths and began to giggle, some of them slightly blushing as well.
Starry Skies ducked her head between her shoulders and crouched back to her desk slowly, not daring to look at anypony in the class.
As she had taken seat at her desk again, where she proceeded to stare down at its surface, still not daring to look around, Austere Knowledge called the next foal to the front.
One student after another came to the blackboard and told the story behind its name. Some stories were boring, some were more exciting than anypony of them reckoned with and there were also a few more embarrassing ones. The latter ones eased Starry Skies somewhat, as she saw that her story wasn't the only one that caused giggling in the classroom and when it was the turn of her friend Fiery Breeze, she received a reassuring pat on the back by her on her way out, which finally resolved the embarrassment Starry had felt up until this point.
After a few more foals had informed the class about the origins of their name, it was Magnolia who was called to the front. Regal as always, she made her way through the rows of desks. Striking an elegant pose, she took position at the side of Austere Knowledge, cleared her throat and began to talk.
“Well, my name is easy to explain. My parents named me 'Magnolia' to show how important I am.”
A collective cringing went through the class and Magnolia pretended to not notice it.
“A 'magnolia',” she continued “is one of the biggest flowers that exist. My parents chose that name because one day, I'll be a big flower myself when I control the business empire of my family!”
The story she told caused an honest smile of admiration to appear in the face of Austere Knowledge and he started a short speech. “Class, don't forget what Magnolia just told you. She has already the determination to become a successful business pony one day and this is the only way to achieve something in life; working hard and never resting. Unlike some other ponies who have no idea what it means to work for their success–“ He paused for a moment and shot Flurry Heart a glance. “–Magnolia will be able to be proud of her achievements when she is older. Take her as an example and be like her, then you will be a successful member of society too one day!”
Raising her head proudly, Magnolia looked around in the class to bath in the admiring looks she would undoubtedly get for having such an impressive name. As she didn't receive any, except from Dope and Dork of course, she raised her head even more, not showing her disappointment, and cantered back to her desk in the same regal way as before.
Another few stories later, Flurry Heart sighed relieved. That was it. Almost all of the foals, including Sunny Spirit, had now told how their name came to be. She was the only one left, and Austere Knowledge had never called for her once.
As the last foal who told his story had taken seat again, Austere Knowledge swiftly approached his desk and sat down on it. For a moment he didn't say anything and just eyed the class. Then he began to talk.
“Now that we are almost finished with today's Magic History lesson, there is only one of you left who hasn't told us the origin of her name yet.”
Without having to say who it is, the eyes of all the students immediately became rested on Flurry Heart.
“That's right,” he continued, noticing the reaction of the other students. “Our dear, beloved, magnificent, royal Princess Flurry Heart.” His voice became more mocking with every word. “It is now her turn to tell us how her name came to be, like all of you already did. Unfortunately“ – His voice became sneering now. – “it seems that our fine princess is above telling us the origins of her name.” His horn began to glow black and a piece of parchment was hovered into the air from behind his desk and placed in front of him.
“Yesterday, I received a letter. It was sent to me by a royal messenger.” He cleared his throat, then he set his eyes on the parchment and began to read the text that was written on it.



Dear Mr. Knowledge,

this is an official royal decree sent to you by me, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.
Through my daughter, Princess Flurry Heart, it came to my attention that you tasked her and the other students in your class to explain the origins of their names at school tomorrow.
I appreciate your dedication and enthusiasm when it is about teaching your students; learning about the meaning of the names of their classmates and their own is something that can prove very valuable in their later lives, and I commend you for this idea.
However, Princess Flurry Heart expressed the wish to keep the origins of her name a secret and as mother, I respect the wish of my daughter.
Therefore, I decree upon you to make an exception for my daughter and to spare her from participating in the task you have in mind.



From the royal desk of the Crystal Empire,

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza



As Austere Knowledge had finished, a murmur went through the class. The foals were looking at each other, curious and surprised expressions on their faces, and already exchanging theories what was so unusual about Flurry Heart's name that she didn't want to tell it and even got her mom to send a decree so she didn't have to. As Flurry Heart looked over to Sunny, the expression in her face showed that she now understood why Austere Knowledge was so angry. And like it wouldn't be clear enough for her already, his next reaction hammered it into Sunny's mind even more.
Austere Knowledge looked up to his class again. “Well, this is unfortunate.....” he began, a cynical hiss in his voice. “The princess does not agree with the way I shape my lessons. The princess wants to have an exception for her daughter because the origin of her name is apparently an embarrassing secret. The princess commands me to change my plans. The princess is telling me how to do my job.”
With every sentence, Austere Knowledge's voice grew louder. His hooves began to shake.
“The princess wants to manipulate my education. The princess wants to dictate me.”
The shaking of his hooves grew stronger the more the talked himself into rage. “The princess is taking decisions I should make for my class into her own hooves. The princess wants to influence my class.”
He moved one of his shaking hooves up and rubbed his temple, his eyes now closed. Then, after just a second, he opened them again abruptly, his face now distorted in complete anger.
“THE PRINCESS IS TRYING TO CONTROL MY LESSONS!” His hoof came down on the surface of his desk, leaving a crack in it and sending a loud bang through the classroom.
The foals flinched. Some of them sank further into their seats, trying to make themselves as small as possible. Others just sat there and watched their teacher with widely opened eyes, their fear making it impossible for them to move.
Austere Knowledge's face softened again somewhat after this outburst, not without keeping a hate-filled expression, though. He activated his magic again, lifted up the parchment with the decree that was making him so furious and crumpled it. Then, with a calmer voice again now, he continued to speak.
“Unfortunately for her,” he began threateningly “I don't let royalty dictate my lessons and control what I'm doing.” The parchment that was still held crumpled in the air by his magic was suddenly engulfed by bright, orange flames. The fire devoured the unwanted piece of vellum and a steady stream of black, burnt flakes rained down in front of Austere Knowledge, while the fire shone an eerie, flickering light on his face, that now showed a malicious grin.
The class was, despite the fear of the foals, simultaneously gasping over what they saw. The shock over it that their teacher just dared to ignore and destroy an official, royal decree from one of their rulers was written all over their faces, yet none of them dared to say something after the infuriated outburst of Austere Knowledge.
As the parchment had gone up in flames completely and nothing more than a small pile of black ashes on his desk was left of it, Austere Knowledge had his famous satisfied and smug grin back. He looked over to Flurry Heart.
“You are not escaping this, little princess. No matter how embarrassing your story is, you will recite it like everypony else. Being a member of royalty does not get you any privileges in my class.”
Flurry Heart couldn't say that she was surprised. She had hoped for it to work, but in the end, it was just to expect that it wouldn't be so easy. Nonetheless, a decree was a decree, and she remembered her parents' words. It was her decision if she wanted to tell the origins of her name and she could refuse if he should insist on it. And that's what Flurry Heart did.
“No,” she said, looking at her teacher as calm and confident as she could muster.
The other foals sank even further into their seats. Austere Knowledge's left eye twitched.
“What did you say?” he asked, his voice revealing that Flurry Heart was entering very dangerous territory.
Flurry Heart took a breath, then she repeated it. “I said no. I have decided it, I don't want that anypony knows about it, it is.....” She trailed off and stopped for a moment. “It's just too awkward. And you have a royal decree from my mom. You can't force me to tell it.”
To Flurry Heart's surprise, Austere Knowledge did not erupt into another rage fit. He stayed calm and just looked at her, with a mock, yet still believable, clueless expression.
“What decree are you talking about, princess? I don't have something like this. All I have here is a stubborn, little filly who thinks she can disobey her teacher because she is a princess.”
Flurry Heart's face broke over the display of such an obvious lie, as well as complete carelessness about it. But only for a moment. It was now Flurry Heart who had a smug expression on her face.
“But you have,” she countered. “You just read it in front of the whole class. Everypony here knows about it.”
But Austere Knowledge kept his clueless expression and stayed calm. He shrugged his shoulders. “I was not reading anything, princess. This is something that everypony knows.” He lifted a hoof and moved it over the rows of students, who still sported fearful expressions, and many of them still crouching behind their desks. “I am sure nopony knows what you are talking about, princess. Is this right?” He slightly increased his voice when asking this question, once more letting his students flinch.
They still didn't speak a word, but quiet nods were making their rounds in the class. Nopony, though, dared to point out the truth. Starry Skies in the last row flashed a hateful glance towards Austere Knowledge for a moment and opened her mouth, only to immediately close it again as a cold wave began to spread from her heart, robbing her off the courage immediately, which Austere Knowledge noticed amused. He returned his attention to Flurry Heart again.
“See, princess? There is no royal decree that tells me what to do. Nopony here knows about such a decree. You are making this up again to get it your way.” The snide expression on his face showed how thoroughly he enjoyed the situation. Until it turned into surprise for a moment, as finally, one of his students spoke up for Flurry Heart.
“But I do!” Sunny Spirit shouted at him, gathering all her courage. “You read the decree out loud to all of us and then you used your magic to crumple and burn it. I have seen it and I will tell the principal and the other teachers about it.” Sunny eyed her teacher with a fierce expression.
“Oh, this?” Austere Knowledge replied mockingly and pointed at the pile of ashes in front of him. “Just a burnt piece of empty parchment. It can happen to a magic user by accident. This is nothing out of the ordinary. But I suppose as the best friend of our little princess here, you feel obligated to come to her aid.” He presented Sunny with a scornful smile. “But I fear this won't be of use, for neither of you.” Once again he pointed at the class. There are twenty-eight other foals who have not seen me do such a thing. And they won't pretend that I did to make me look bad. Right, class?” Once again, he raised his voice to create the necessary impact.
The whole class gulped and nodded once again. Only Starry Skies looked away, yet did still not dare to say something.
Comfortably, Austere Knowledge leaned back in his chair. “See? Nopony.” His voice had become cold now. “Now, princess, would you please come out and stop with this nonsense? Abusing your royal status to skip an assignment by your teacher is grounds for getting expelled from school.”
Now it was again Flurry Heart who countered his statement. “You can't do this,” she said. “My parents won't allow it.”
A victorious grin built itself up on his face. “You should stop now, princess. You continue to dig yourself a hole. You already refused to follow an assignment by me with the reasoning that you are a princess and above it and you even lied about a royal decree to weasel yourself out of it. If your parents would try to prevent an expulsion based on the grounds that you abused your princess status, they would make themselves guilty of power abuse as well. This school may be a public institution, but I'm sure your parents don't want to appear as dictators in front of the parents of all your classmates and the rest of the students here.”
Flurry Heart was about to launch a sharp answer to this implied threat, but then her spirit sank when her mind began to put together what her teacher had just said. The mixture of horror and understanding on her face was all that Austere Knowledge needed to know that he had won. Smugly, he addressed her again.
“So, what is it going to be now, princess? Do you want to finally share with us why you are called 'Flurry Heart' or do you prefer expulsion? This is of course something you can decide.” The tone of his voice mocked her once more.
Now Flurry Heart had lost her courage completely. Unsure of how to handle the situation, she turned towards her friend. Her voice shivered. “What should I do, Sunny? He has thought on everything.” In her desperation, she completely forgot that she hadn't told Sunny yet why she had such problems with the simple task assigned to her, so she didn't expect the answer her friend gave her.
“Just go out and do it,” she said. “I know that Austere Knowledge is a jerk“ – This statement caused the teacher to raise an eyebrow, but with how far everything had come, Sunny didn't care anymore – “and that he hates you. But there's nothing you can do right now, Flurry. You would just make it worse if you continue to refuse now.”
The logic in this advice was something Flurry Heart couldn't deny and she knew that Sunny just meant well, but nonetheless, hearing these words from her best friend felt like betrayal to her.
As she didn't move, Sunny nudged her comfortingly. “Just get it over and done with. You are not the only one whose name origin is embarrassing, Flurry. Just think on Starry Skies. You know how shy she is, but she did it. And you're always so brave, Flurry. If she could do it, you can too!”
As Flurry Heart still refused to do just one step away from her desk and began to shiver, Sunny played out another card. She took her hoof. “If you are really so afraid, Flurry, then I'll join you!” Holding her hoof firmly, she dragged Flurry Heart with her, out in front of the class. Flurry Heart tried to withstand the attempt, but ultimately, Sunny succeeded.
She took position with her at the blackboard and gave Flurry Heart a confident smile, all while still holding her hoof. “Just tell it,” she encouraged Flurry again. “It's only hard before you do it. Once you have told everypony, it's going to be easier, trust me!”
Flurry Heart looked away from her friend and faced her other classmates. Some of them gave her similar encouraging looks, smiled at her and prodded her to be brave and do it. Even Magnolia shot her a smile, which still rather creeped Flurry out than proving helpful for her. The other foals just looked at her curiously, obviously wondering why she was making such a secret out of her name's meaning.
The longer Flurry stared at the foals, the stronger her heart was pounding in her chest. She could see the looks of the other students resting on her, expectant and so eager to find out. She could feel Sunny's hoof on her own. She could sense the piercing looks from her teacher without even looking at him.
Flurry Heart broke out in sweat and started to clench her teeth. She did a step to the right, intended to just leave the classroom and accept the expulsion, but Sunny was holding her in a strong grip, not allowing that her friend would be expelled for something that she saw as just a silly, little secret, a secret that was embarrassing and everypony would laugh about for a while, but ultimately become forgotten again rather quickly. The truth wasn't so easy, but this was exactly what Sunny was expecting, as a look into her face made clear to Flurry Heart. Another confident smile was displayed there and Sunny gave her once again a nudge, prodding her to finally tell.
All of this; the prodding by her best friend, the encouraging looks and curious expressions of her classmates, the menace to her left, came on top of Flurry Heart's nervousness and the remnants of her nightmare that still lingered at the edges of her mind.
In this terrible situation, Flurry Heart now began to break out in panic. Her breath and the urge to flee became stronger with every minute. Grasping for the last straw that came to her mind, she decided to at least try to buy herself time. Now shivering, she looked over to Austere Knowledge and addressed him with a question.
“I-I can tell everything, b-but can I do it tomorrow? I-I'm going to need more time and it would be easier if I can talk with Sunny about it first.”
Austere Knowledge only rolled with his eyes. “Now!” he demanded. “No privileges, princess.”
Flurry Heart looked away from him again, having gotten exactly the answer she had expected, but not hoped to get, and she felt her face becoming hot. It started around her eyes – for a moment she reckoned with it that she would break out in tears, but then she didn't – and quickly spread out over all of her face until it felt like her head was glowing.
All of a sudden, the sound of the schoolbell rang into Flurry's ears, signaling the end of the lesson, and Flurry Heart saw her chance coming. She could leave now, the lesson was over!
But nopony was moving. Her teacher did not call an end to the lesson and no other foals were doing any attempts to head out a little or to get prepared for the next lesson. And since nopony moved, Sunny just kept holding her hoof and prodding her more.
Flurry Heart shut her eyes and her whole body began to shake, signs for it that the pressure became too strong. Then it was Austere Knowledge's voice that sounded into her ears.
“Are we going to tell it today, Miss Princess, or should we stay like this and wait until tomorrow?”
As no answer came from Flurry Heart, he got up and took position in front of her, but in a way so that she would still see most of her classmates.
“You're overstraining my patience, princess. I will count to three and if you then don't speak what's on your mind I will personally take care of your deserved expulsion. One!”
Flurry Heart's eyes shot open again, now indeed with a few, small tears glistening in their corners.
“Two!”
Flurry Heart's breath began to increase in rapid pace. Her mouth opened, she now started to breath in an audible manner, akin to a pony who had problems getting air into its lungs, which earned her a concerned look by Sunny. Her chest was rising violently now and as her teacher had finally spoke out the dreadful, last number, she could not endure all the pressure and just shouted out the fateful words that were wearing at her mind like a heavy weight:

“My parents called me 'Flurry Heart' because I destroyed the Crystal Heart as a baby and allowed the snowstorm to cover the Crystal Empire in ice and snow!”

Now that the confession was made, the tears began to stream over her face and she was sitting down, no longer able to stay on her hooves.
The initial reaction on what she just said, was one Flurry Heart did not see coming.
For a moment, the whole class was staring at her with widely opened eyes, then every foal broke out in loud laughter. And Sunny was just shaking her head, not angry about what she had just told, but not amused either.
Once more, Austere Knowledge rolled his eyes. “The real story, princess. We want to know what really happened.”
Flurry Heart sobbed and all she could press out between her lips was a weak and quiet “It's true.”
“Exemplary nonsense!” her teacher shouted. The class stopped laughing. “Everypony knows that no one can destroy the Crystal Heart and especially not a newborn baby. But I see how it is, our usually so impudent princess is now suddenly a coward and invents exciting stories to cover up the true and embarrassing meaning of her name.”
Now it was Austere Knowledge who was laughing loudly. But this was not the worst thing, the worst thing was the look Sunny Spirit gave her. Her forehead was wrinkled and she looked clearly unhappy, her eyes emanating sternness that Flurry had never seen in them before.
“That's not funny, Flurry. I know you are afraid of telling the truth and even though I don't know what you want to hide, I don't blame you for it. But the Crystal Heart is important to everypony, nopony wants to hear such a horrifying tale.”
Between two sobs, Flurry Heart continued. “It's true, Sunny. I did it. My mom told me yesterday. I was born with a magic so strong that nopony thought it would be possible for a newborn foal. I was crying sometimes, and at one point..... At one point.....” More heavy sobs interrupted her confession and she closed her eyes before she continued. “At one point I became so upset over something that my loud cries produced a kind of magic nopony had ever seen before and this magic.....” At the end of her nerves, she forcefully freed herself from Sunny's grasp and her hoof lunged forward. “And this magic destroyed the Crystal Heart, Sunny! I destroyed it with my voice alone and I destroyed almost our home with it! Our history books are lying! There was no monster that destroyed the Crystal Heart! It was me! I am the monster who did it, Sunny!”
Now Flurry Heart's body gave in completely and she sank down on the floor, lying flat on her belly, her hooves covering her face and she was crying into them in a volume so loud, they could impossible muffle it. Her incessant crying sounded across the whole classroom. The shock was written all over Sunny's face as the realization hit her.
“You're not making this up, are you? This really happened?” Shaking herself now, she did a few steps away from Flurry Heart, her mind trying to process what she had just heard.
This display took care of it to convince the rest of the class. Now, in a disturbingly familiar scenario, several voices rang out to Flurry Heart.

“You really destroyed the Crystal Heart? But how is this possible? Nopony could ever do this, not even King Sombra!”

“Yeah, how, Flurry? Explain us!”

“Why explaining? What's to explain there? Don't you get it? This means she's dangerous!”

“You really think she is? Do you think she could do it again?”

“Maybe!”

“What should we do? We can't allow that something happens to the Crystal Heart!”

“She must be brought to the dungeon!”

Soon, a tumult broke out in class. More and more foals talked about what they had just heard; expressing worries and concerns, making suggestions what to do or simply bombarding Flurry Heart with curious questions.
The voices grew louder and louder until Austere Knowledge raised his own voice and drowned out the discussions between the foals.
“QUIET!” his voice bellowed across the classroom and immediately, the students did as they were told and waited for what he had to say. Austere Knowledge's face showed belief too now, but unlike the foals, the expression was more of glee than serious concern. He smiled down at Flurry Heart.
“Now I see why you wanted to hide it.” He turned around, looked at the class and spoke again, with the most mocking tone Flurry Heart ever heard in his voice. “Our princess! Always nice and always perfect! Always caring about her classmates and trying to help them! And now it turns out that she is just a destroyer!” Another set of loud laughters sounded from his throat, one that expressed honest happiness over the mysery of the filly he hated so much. He turned back to Flurry Heart again, not paying attention to her distraught state. Another gleeful grin appeared on his face. “Our perfect, little princess..... Just a monster. A monster who had almost wiped out the Crystal Empire forever. A monster that could do it again any moment. And who knows..... With such a powerful magic, she could be able to destroy other parts of Equestria in a matter of seconds.”
A worried murmur went through the class and some foals began to shudder in fear over this imagination.
“This is what you are, princess. A destroyer. A destroyer of worlds!” He broke out into another laughter, which caused Flurry Heart to whimper more.
“And since our princess here is so dangerous,” he continued “it is my duty to report everything I just heard. Your parents, princess, have covered all of this up, even though they knew how dangerous you are. They even altered books to protect you. This fits very well into the definition of a dictator, to endanger the lives of many to protect their royal offspring, don't you think?” He turned around and faced the class again. “I will cancel the next lesson to have talks with the principal about what just occurred and to make a decision about what do do now with our monster here. Spend the time with something useful and keep an eye on the princess. We don't want that she causes the same disaster again.”
Keeping an eye on her, though, was something the students wouldn't be able to do anymore. Having seemingly calmed down, Flurry Heart was suddenly getting up, without being recognized by her teacher. For a moment, she looked around with her tear-filled eyes. She was hoping to see some consolation, but all her eyes fell upon were looks of distrust, of worry and of fear. Even in Sunny's face was a strange expression she couldn't interpret; her friend just stood there, staring at her with her mouth wide open, not saying anything, her eyes looking empty.
Flurry Heart tried to speak out to the class again, but found herself unable to say anymore words. She looked around for a moment longer, new tears shooting into her eyes and running down her cheeks, followed by more sobs, which finally let her teacher hear her and turn around to her.
Before he could say anything or stop her, Flurry Heart turned around at the spot and galloped out of the classroom, only leaving behind the sound of her thundering hoofsteps and of her sobbing.....
> Chapter 11: Conversation in the Clouds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	While Flurry Heart galloped down the hallway of the school, everything around her seemed to blend together. All that her distraught mind could perceive were her sobs and the sound of her hooves.
For a moment, Flurry Heart thought she had heard another set of hooves approaching her quickly from behind, but she didn't bother to turn around and check. All she could think about right now was what terrible event that just happened in the classroom minutes earlier. There was one thing that was clear as crystals to her in this moment:

Life as she knew it was over for her.

From now on, she would be known as the monster, the insufferable being, the threat that destroyed the Crystal Heart and that could do it anytime again; dooming the empire she lived in to become buried under tons of ice and snow. And she knew, with the truth revealed now, she would be hated. Over the days were the citizens of the empire smiled up to her at the window after her daily greeting of the sun, gone the moments of spending time with her best friend. All of this was in the past now and would never return.
Those thoughts circled around in Flurry Heart's mind as she raced down the hallway. As she had reached the entrance of the school, she slammed it open without even really looking at it and took flight, leaving a trail of tears in her wake.
“Hey, don't go alone! Take me with you!” a voice rang out behind her, but Flurry Heart didn't listen to the plea.
Harder and harder she flapped her wings as she soared higher and higher into the sky, until she had reached a familiar altitude. The sky looked different than on the day before, but nonetheless, it was not completely free of clouds, so Flurry Heart approached one of them.
As soon as she had landed on it, she let herself fall into the soft, white mass and buried her face into it. More tears streamed down her face now, soaking the cloud and getting mixed with the water that was stored in it, and her sobs were noticeably louder. For the glimpse of a moment the thought occurred to her that she was probably crying so loud now that, without a doubt, ponies passing by below her would stop in their tracks and curiously look around, puzzled about it where the cries came from. And just like somepony had read her mind, she suddenly felt the presence of another pony nearby her.
Flurry Heart felt hoofsteps coming closer, then a pony sitting down at her side. She twitched a little as a pair of hooves gently stroke over her right wing, but kept her head buried in the cloud, while more sobs rang out from her throat.
“You shouldn't have gone without me,” the voice she had heard at the entrance of the school sounded over to her.
Alarmed, Flurry Heart's ears finally perked up and she lifted her head and turned around, looking at the pony that had joined her.
At her side sat Magnolia, wearing a stupidly, sheepish smile that didn't seem to fit at all into the face of the usually so regal-looking filly. “You shouldn't have come here without me,” she repeated again. “You can't be alone right now.”
Flurry Heart sniffed, wiped over her nose, while still more tears soaked her cheeks, then she shot Magnolia a glare filled with hate and disgust. Her eyes didn't hide that this was definitely not the moment where she wanted to put up with the rich filly.
A shocked expression appeared in Magnolia's face. She gulped, yet she stretched out a hoof anyway, attempting to dry her former victim's tears. It didn't come far. In an instant, Flurry Heart pushed Magnolia's hoof out of the way, in a tempo and with an intensity that let Magnolia gasp in surprise.
Striking another blow, Flurry Heart let a hoof come down on Magnolia's chest, letting the other filly tumble backwards a little. “I didn't ask you to come! Do you really think I would like to see you now?!” The stress in Flurry's voice was impossible to miss.
“I-I just wanted–“ Magnolia began to stutter, but was cut off when Flurry Heart stretched out her hoof and pointed at her.
Shakingly, Flurry Heart got up on her other hooves, driven by an unexpected strength now. Forcefully, she did a step towards Magnolia. She was ready to bury Magnolia under a barrage of words; telling her how much she hated her, that she didn't trust her and that she should stay as far away from her as possible. But as she opened her mouth to let the words rain down on her opponent, another sting flashed through her heart and all of a sudden, she felt anemic again and no words left her mouth. Her hoof trembled for a moment, then she shut her mouth, only to open it again and let out another sob.
Her body erupted into another crying fit as an avalanche of grief washed over her and, now suddenly not paying attention to Magnolia anymore, she broke down again, right in front of the other filly's hooves, and was burying her face into her own, soaking them on the inside.
With a slow movement, that seemed even more unfitting to her than the smile from earlier, Magnolia let herself sink down on the cloud at Flurry's side and gently, she put a hoof around her body, pulling her slightly closer. Now more driven by her desperation than her anger, Flurry Heart reacted to the gesture and leaned her wet face against Magnolia's chest, where she kept crying without hesitation.
The hesitation she felt towards the filly who used to bully her, though, was not fully gone, so Flurry Heart still questioned the attempts of Magnolia after a few more sobs. “W-Why are you even d-doing this?” a question rang out between her whimpers.
“I..... It's because.....” Magnolia began, but had to stop in her sentence. She bit her lip, nervousness in her eyes now, then she continued. “I-It's just the least I can do after what I c-caused you, right?” The sheepish smile returned into her face, which Flurry Heart couldn't see. “A-And.....” Magnolia trailed off again and breathed in deeply. A feeling told her that Flurry Heart already knew why she had decided to follow her up here. “And it's true, I'm just using the opportunity right now.” Suddenly, her voice sounded guilty. “I thought if I follow you and be there for you while you are so distraught, you can finally forgive me for what I did.” Seemingly lost in thoughts, she stroke over Flurry Heart's wings.
The sudden amount of honesty washed over Flurry Heart like a cold wave. “I-It's Sunny who should be here, not you,” she stuttered.
“Well,” Magnolia replied, “you know she can't get up here. And–“ She hesitated to continue. “And even if she could fly, I'm not sure if she would come here. She looked very angry when I left the classroom to follow you.”
Now Flurry Heart's eyes shot open and she abruptly lifted her head, looking at Magnolia with tear-filled eyes. “Sunny is hating me now?” she said and choked.
Magnolia shrugged. “I don't know. She just didn't look very happy when I left.” She stroke over Flurry's wings some more. Noticing Flurry Heart's face breaking even more now, she added “But I'm here! At least..... And I won't leave. I mean, if you even want me to stay.....”
Flurry Heart had her answer on her tongue already, as another wave of desperation went through her, so all the answer Magnolia got was that Flurry Heart wrapped her into a hug as she was overwhelmed by her emotions once again.
Magnolia felt Flurry Heart's head moving at her neck and, unable to tell if it was a nod, she just answered the hug, holding the sobbing alicorn filly tightly in her grasp.
Eventually, Flurry Heart stopped crying and both fillies parted, now sitting side by side on the cloud, Magnolia's hoof stretched over Flurry Heart's back and wings.
Flurry Heart wiped away the last of her tears, then she looked Magnolia into the eyes. “Why did you do it?” she asked.
Magnolia repeated the look, a slight surprise in her face. “Why I came up here? I already told you, I–“
Flurry Heart cut her off. “No,” she said. “I mean, why did you do all of this to me? Why did you bully me and why did you take one of my feathers?”
Now Magnolia's ears dropped and her hoof that was around Flurry Heart's back sank slightly. “Oh..... I-I don't know. I can't really tell why. Ever since I saw you for the first time, I felt so angry when I looked at your wings. I guess, maybe..... I was just jealous of them all the time?” She took a look at Flurry Heart's wings, then winced. “And I guess I still am.....”
Flurry Heart inched away a little, but Magnolia continued quickly. “But I..... I felt afraid of myself suddenly. I.....” Now she avoided eye contact with Flurry Heart and looked down on the landscape underneath them. “I-I never lost control like that before..... Not once! I-It wasn't regal and..... not nice either, I guess.”
This was something Flurry Heart could only confirm. “No, no it wasn't,” she said. She already wanted to begin to go into more detail about the events and to tell Magnolia how exactly she felt about everything, as she saw some tears dropping out of the former bully's eyes. Flurry Heart sighed at the sight. “Will you do this ever again?” she asked, her voice strict.
Magnolia's head shot up. “No! I wouldn't! I promise, no, I swear I won't do something like this again!” The stress and nervousness were written all over Magnolia's face.
Instead of giving another answer, Flurry Heart just gave a nod, a silent sign for it that she was satisfied with the promise and would let the past slide. In response to it, Magnolia's ears returned to their former position and her hoof got moved up on Flurry Heart's back again.
For a while, the two fillies just sat there, both visibly exhausted, both of them for different reasons, until Magnolia spoke up again. It was something Flurry Heart did not expect to hear.
“I-I don't like Mr. Know. Not at all.”
Gasping, Flurry Heart looked at Magnolia. “You don't? But you always seem like you do. You always seem so happy when he praises you.”
Magnolia nodded. “I am. I mean, I like it when he does that. It feels good and..... I like it to get respected and when other ponies look up to me. Is this wrong?”
Flurry Heart shook her head. “No. At least as long as you're not so smug about it all the time.”
Now Magnolia blushed. “You're right. But sometimes I can't help it.....” She stopped for a moment, then she continued in a more serious tone. “I like it when he does that, but I really don't like him. He..... He is a real dick all the time.”
Flurry Heart's eyeballs shrunk and her mouth gaped open. She held a hoof at it. Almost unable to comprehend what unexpected word she just heard out of the noble filly's mouth, she was speechless.
Magnolia blushed brighter now. “I'm sorry. I guess Dope and Dork are rubbing off on me, they always talk like this. I probably spend too much time around them.”
This admission gave Flurry Heart opportunity to ask another question.
“You don't really like them, do you? Not any of them?”
Magnolia shook her head. “No, I don't. I just wanted to have them around because they are useful sometimes. So I led them to believe that I would choose one of them as my coltfriend one day if they do everything I want..... That's not nice either, is it?”
Flurry Heart shook her head. “No. No, it isn't.”
Magnolia nodded. “Mhm. I guess I should have a talk with them later.”
Flurry Heart nodded as well now, a smile on her face. A moment later, though, it turned into grief, as the memories on the events from earlier this morning entered her mind again. She looked down.
“I wish I could just stay here on this cloud for all times,” she quietly began. “Now I don't have anything to lose down there anymore..... I know that everypony is hating me now. And Sunny too.....”
Comfortingly, Magnolia increased her embrace around Flurry Heart's back. “I don't think so,” she began.
Flurry Heart looked at her unbelievingly.
“I don't know about other ponies, but I know that Sunny won't hate you now. After all, I did much worse things than you and you don't hate me now, is it?”
It did nothing to stop Flurry Heart's disbelief. “But I destroyed the Crystal Heart!” she suddenly yelled. “How could this not be worse than anything that any pony could ever do?!” A few tears trickled out of her eyes again, but Magnolia wiped them away, not without a bit of hesitation.
“Because you didn't do it on purpose. You were too young and you couldn't control your magic. But I did everything on purpose. I hurt you and I wanted to do it. That is worse than what you did.” After a short pause, she continued. “And now you can control your magic, right? You won't destroy the Crystal Heart again by accident and you can just tell her that.” She gave Flurry Heart an assuring smile.
But Flurry Heart shook her head. “I don't know. I don't know if I have my magic under control. Maybe it could happen again.....” Flurry Heart looked away. Then, hit by a sudden realization, she added “And my parents always remind to be careful with my magic and they don't let me use sharp objects like other foals do..... I don't think I can control it enough yet.”
Magnolia's face became dark, but a bit of confidence remained. “But you still didn't do it on purpose. I know that you and Sunny are friends for a long time now. I'm sure she will forgive you.”
The rest of the words Flurry Heart could produce came out as a mere whisper. “I hope you're right.”
Magnolia tightened the grip around Flurry Heart even more. Flurry Heart's wings twitched slightly and as Magnolia noticed, an eager expression appeared in her eyes. “C-Can you put a wing around me again? Like yesterday?”
While expecting a strict no, what Magnolia instead received was a giggle. “Fine,” Flurry Heart said. “I guess you really like them way too much,” she teased, but her voice had something playful. Slowly, she enfolded her right wing and put it around the pegasus filly.
A smile appeared on Magnolia's face. “Thank you,” she expressed her gratitude. “I would do the same, but I can't do anything with those stupid, little things.”
“It's okay,” Flurry Heart answered. “Maybe one day.”
For a few minutes, the two fillies just stared down on the ground.
“Should we just stay up here until school is over?” Magnolia suddenly asked then.
Silently, Flurry Heart nodded, then she giggled a little again. “It's not like I could get into worse trouble than I already have when I skip the rest of school today.....”
> Chapter 12: Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was late into the afternoon when Flurry Heart and Magnolia trudged through the streets of the Crystal Empire, towards a destination Flurry Heart would rather like to avoid more than any other place in the world. Thinking about where they're headed to right now, a deep shudder went through Flurry Heart's body. Magnolia put a hoof around her neck, trying to stabilize her. “Are you okay?” In her eyes was honest concern, something that Flurry Heart still wasn't used to from the former bully. Yet, she nodded, acknowledging Magnolia's worried question.
“I'm fine,” Flurry Heart answered taut. As the towering building came into sight in the distance, though, another shudder emerged, stronger this time. Flurry Heart almost stopped in her tracks.
“Should I go in alone to get our stuff?” the rich filly at her side asked as they approached the building.
Flurry Heart gulped, then nodded again, thick sweat on her forehead now. This time, she stopped for real, unable to move just one more inch nearer to the building.
Magnolia nodded in response. “I'll be quick. Just wait right here, okay?” Without awaiting an answer by Flurry Heart, Magnolia hurried to the entrance gate, opened it and slipped inside. It closed behind her with a bang that made Magnolia twitch. Hectically, she looked around while clenching her teeth. Much like Flurry Heart, she was leaving the school just after the first lesson this morning, and if she should meet Austere Knowledge or the principal now, she would definitely get into trouble for it.
For a few seconds, Magnolia just stood in front of the closed gate, ears moving around, trying to catch any sound. In case of approaching hoofsteps, she was ready to slip back through the door and hide with Flurry Heart outside. But nopony came. After waiting for another bunch of seconds, just to be sure, Magnolia eased up and breathed a relieved sigh.
“Maybe they aren't even here anymore.....” she whispered, then set herself into motion again. After barely a few steps, though, she heard somepony cough behind her. It was a quiet sound, yet it seemed ear-piercing to Magnolia. She froze in her step, then turned around slowly, once again ready to gallop back to the gate and slip outside. But behind her, was nopony. She heard the cough a second time and it was only now that she noticed an open door in the corridor at the other side of the lobby. Yellow light shone out of it into the dark corridor and now that she was paying more attention, she could hear the sound of hooves scraping on the floor, accompanied by somepony scribbling on paper. The sounds came from the principal's office. Magnolia listened to the sounds for a minute, then she turned around again, slower and more careful this time, and continued to make her way to her and Flurry Heart's classroom.
The principal did not leave his office to check who had entered the school at this unusual time. Or maybe he was so busy with his work that he didn't notice the bang. Either way, Magnolia was alleviated that he did not come out and found her sneaking around in the now mostly dark building.
As she had reached the classroom door, she saw with satisfaction that it was still open and, happy about one source of unwanted sounds less, she flitted inside and straight to her desk at the back of the classroom. Her saddlebags still rested on the floor to the right of the desk. She snatched them up and put them on her back, then motioned towards the front of the classroom, where she did the same with Flurry Heart's saddlebags, and in less than a minute, Magnolia had left the classroom again and was sneaking through the corridor back to the exit of the school.
The situation in the lobby was still the same, everything was dark, the light shone out of the principal's office and she could still hear the scraping and scribbling sounds, occasionally interrupted by coughs. As fast as she had slipped into the building, as fast she was slipping out of it now. Not intended to make the same mistake again, and to alert the principal of her presence after all, she closed the entrance gate quietly this time, and only as she had shut it completely, she turned around to where Flurry Heart was waiting for her.
Flurry Heart, though, was not alone anymore. And as Magnolia saw who stood there in front of her, every signal in her body told her that more trouble was ahead of them and that this complicated day was far from over.
There, in front of the young alicorn, stood Sunny Spirit. Wearing a grim expression that indicated nothing less than that she was enraged beyond imagination. And if witnessing this sight wouldn't have been frightening enough already, what Sunny Spirit said as she opened her mouth let Magnolia freeze completely.
“Why did you come back?!” Sunny spew into the face of her friend. Her voice was full of disgust and hatred, a way Sunny had never talked to Flurry Heart before. The latter was frozen as well, not being able to say one word to answer the offensive question. 
Attempting to prevent the situation from escalating more, Magnolia rushed at Flurry Heart's side and then between her and Sunny. “Just leave her, okay? I know that it's shocking, but Flurry Heart is your friend, isn't she?”
Sunny Spirit huffed. “My friend? I don't think so! Not anymore!”
Upon hearing this exclamation, Flurry Heart twitched and finally awoke from her trance. She did a step forward and approached Sunny, stretching out a hoof to her. “But we are friends, Sunny! You are not going to lea–“ Before she could finish her sentence, Sunny slapped her hoof away.
“Don't even dare to touch me now, Flurry Heart!” A wave of anger washed over Flurry Heart, whose eyes had tears appearing in their corners now.
“Sunny.....” she began again, but this was all she could say after the harsh rejection. She whimpered a few times, then tried it again. “I'm sorry, Sunny, I never wanted–“ But promptly, Sunny was interrupting her again.
“I don't want to hear any excuses now, Flurry. I know what you did to the Crystal Heart. You almost let my parents suffer as much as they suffered from King Sombra's reign again when you destroyed the Crystal Heart. I don't want to stay with somepony who could do something like this to them again!”
She shot a hoof at Flurry Heart, who was now all in tears and unable to talk, even if Sunny would let her. “Even your name reminds me that you could hurt my parents, Flu–“ She stopped for a moment and bit her lips. “I hate you, princess!”, she then continued, her voice being louder now. The harsh words hit Flurry Heart like a hammer and her face froze in shock, the only thing moving in it being tears that emerged from the corner of her eyes. “I don't want to see you anymore!” Sunny Spirit continued. “And I don't want that you come near to me or my parents ever again!”
With this last sentence spoken, Sunny Spirit turned around at the spot and galloped away through the broad streets of the Crystal Empire, leaving Flurry Heart behind, who was now nothing more than a bundle of misery. Like on the morning of the day before, Flurry Heart had reason to break down in front of the school's gates. Unlike on the day before, though, her best friend wasn't with her anymore to calm her, only a filly she wouldn't even have considered her friend just a few hours ago. And unlike Sunny Spirit, Magnolia did not really know what to make of the situation.
She took off Flurry Heart's saddlebags and put them, as gentle as she could, on the back of their sobbing owner. Clueless about what to do now, Magnolia just said the first thing that came to her mind. “W-We should go now, Flurry. I-I heard the principal inside, if he hears you out here, he might come outside and I don't want you to get into more trouble today.”
As Flurry Heart didn't react, Magnolia grabbed her and, using all her strength, brought Flurry back on her hooves and dragged her along as she moved away from the school building. Flurry Heart followed the movement along, but merely due to the force the pegasus at her side put on her. Energy to walk on her own was nothing that Flurry had anymore. In this moment, she felt as broken as her heart. And although Magnolia knew she had to say something, there was nothing she could think of to comfort her new friend. Which was something she cursed herself for innerly.
While dragging Flurry through the streets into the direction of the castle, Magnolia cast a glance at her wings. Those wings were all she ever cared for. Those big, beautiful wings..... And she still did, this was something Magnolia could clearly feel. But now, since the incident on the day before, she wasn't sure anymore.
“If it was always just for admiring her wings, then why did I feel so bad yesterday after hurting her?” she thought to herself. “Was this just because I damaged her wings? Was I afraid of it that I could have ruined their look? Or did I really feel sorry for doing this to her?” Magnolia let her eyes wander over Flurry Heart's wings, particularly, over her right wing this time. Sunken deep in thoughts, she clumsily unfolded the wing in search for a specific spot. The absence of the feather she had ripped out the day earlier was still noticeable there. A brown scab was covering the wound now. Magnolia eyed the gap in the feathering. Moments passed, while Magnolia searched her feelings. “It doesn't really matter, does it?” she finally thought to herself. “I'm not worried about how the wing looks.” She folded the wing in and having done so, increased her efforts to drag Flurry Heart with her again.
“But it still hurts to look at it.....” she pinpointed the observation of her feelings. A tinge of pain flashed through her heart as she did so. “What's this?” she thought. “Do I still feel guilty for it? Does this mean I'm really caring for Flurry Heart? But why do I have no idea what to say then? Why can't I cheer her up? I should do this, as her friend.....”
This was a question Magnolia couldn't find an answer for. Silently, she kept dragging Flurry Heart ever nearer to the castle. Having averted her gaze from Flurry Heart, Magnolia looked around now. The streets around them were all empty, which was strange for this time of day. Even though it was late afternoon, there should be bustling activity around them still. But there was nothing of that sort. The streets were devoid of other ponies, they were all alone. And even more strangely, quite many windows were shut and covered by thick curtains. Magnolia flashed a look at Flurry Heart, concern in her eyes, then looked back to the houses.
It was only now that she noticed how dark it was. Putting one and one together, Magnolia looked up and indeed, the sky was full of thick, dark clouds. As if her look was a cue, a raindrop landed in her face. Another one followed soon, then, all of a sudden, the clouds let a barrage of water rain on her and Flurry Heart. It wasn't long until both of them were soaked. The cold rain mixed itself with the salty tears of Flurry Heart that continously streamed down her face, but the young princess did not react to it. Nervously, Magnolia looked around to find a place for them to stand under, but all she could see were the many houses around them and, so she figured, knocking on one of the doors would prove useless right now. There was no choice other than to keep trotting, until they were at Flurry Heart's home.
As Magnolia finally saw the Crystal Castle in the distance, though, her movements became more hesitant, and a completely different thought as the ones before entered her mind.
“What if they don't want to see me? Flurry's parents..... I'm sure they know everything.” Magnolia bit her lip, then looked into Flurry Heart's tear-stained and from grief distorted face. “And if they see her crying like this, they will think I'm at fault for it. What are they going to do then?”
Pictures of her getting yelled at by the rulers of the Crystal Empire, of guards pushing her down one of the castle's corridors and finally, of her rotting in some dark oubliette deep below ground level, without food and only foul water, and with rats as big as her head who just waited for her to fall asleep flashed up in front of her inner eye.
Vigorously, Magnolia shook her head, chasing those dark thoughts away. “Now I'm stupid..... They would never do this. At least not for something like this and not to a filly.....” The fear, though, remained in her heart. Said fear emanating from her eyes, she looked down on Flurry Heart. The castle wasn't far away anymore now. “Hey, do your parents know who I am? Have you told them about the bullying?”
Flurry Heart gave no answer. Even her sobs were quieter now and those quiet sobs were the only sounds she produced.
Magnolia wrinkled her forehead. She looked forward to the castle and bit her lip again, with more force this time. It was hurting now, but she didn't care. The castle drew nearer in the distance and with every additional step, her heart was bumping faster in her chest. Magnolia went over different things she could say to Flurry Heart's parents, but nothing seemed good enough to her and nothing was able to reassure herself that her parents wouldn't be mad at her. In all her anxiousness, Magnolia wished for the castle to just disappear, but of course, this didn't happen. The reduction of the distance that became bigger with every hoofstep she made was merciless.
Finally, Magnolia had reached the castle. Frantically, she looked around, and felt relieved as no guards were to be seen anywhere. Exhausted now, she dragged Flurry Heart, who was still unable to move on her own, up the small stairs to the castle's main entrance. The whizzing sound of the Crystal Heart nearby felt like torture to Magnolia's nervous and agitated mind.
Not knowing what to do, now that she stood in front of the gate, Magnolia let her head hang and just listened to the sounds of the Crystal Heart and the rain. She knew she should knock on the door, but also didn't dare to do so, fearing what could await her inside of the castle. Minutes passed and none of the two fillies had moved, as a sneeze left Flurry Heart. Magnolia could feel her shuddering at her side and noticed how cold her body was. She bit her lip again, then she removed her hooves from Flurry Heart and carefully placed her in a somewhat comfortable position on the ground. Tears glistened in the corners of Magnolia's eyes now.
“I'm sorry, Flurry Heart,” she said. Then she faced the door again. Breathing in deeply, she gathered all her courage, then knocked on the gate, with all the force her tiny hooves could bring up, hoping that it would be loud enough for somepony inside to hear it. Then she turned around, stretched her wings and took flight, high up, then with a sharp curve to the left side of the castle. As the castle's gates opened and Shining Armor stepped out of them, looking for who the arrival was, Magnolia had already disappeared between some of the crystal buildings.
As Shining Armor saw who sat there in front of the gates; crying, shuddering and freezing, he gasped from shock. “Flurry Heart!” his voice rang out to her agitatedly and without wasting time, he wrapped her into his magic and carried her inside, closing the gates behind him.
With the quickness of a concerned father, Shining Armor galloped through the castle and throne room into the royal apartments, rushing past Cadance. As soon as she saw the reason for his hurry, she jumped up from the throne and followed her husband. “You will stay here and inform us immediately if something happens!” she commanded a guard before she disappeared inside the royal apartments as well.
Still carrying his daughter, Shining Armor rushed into the bedroom of him and his wife, pulled the blanket off the sheets and wrapped Flurry into it. Not any less fast, he then made his way into the kitchen, rushing past Cadance once more, and sat Flurry Heart, who still shuddered from cold, on the nearest stool.
Cadance entered the kitchen right after him. “What happened, Shining Armor? Where did you find her?” Agitated, she rushed in front of her daughter and put a hoof on her forehead upon seeing her condition.
“I don't know what happened. She was sitting like this in front of the entrance,” he answered grim.
“We must warm her! I go and make some tea and you bring more blankets for her!”
Like she wanted to underline what her mother said, Flurry Heart sneezed again.
Shining Armor rushed out of the kitchen again and came back with two more blankets just moments later. Carefully, he wrapped his daughter into the soft and warm fabric, concern on his face as he had to see how his daughter continued to shudder and sneeze. The moment he was done, Cadance had the tea ready. She joined her husband and hovered the cup in front of Flurry Heart's face. “Open your mouth, Flurry, if you drink this you will soon feel better!” Stopping to clatter with her teeth for a moment, Flurry Heart did as she was told, almost mechanically, and Cadance poured the hot tea slowly into her mouth. With the how brew running down her throat, Flurry Heart felt a part of her spirit return.
As Cadance had put the cup down again, Flurry looked at her mom. When more tears left her eyes, it was when her parents realized that her face was soaked not just because of the rain. “Mommy.....” Flurry Heart said weakly, but before she could continue, Cadance put a hoof around her shoulder.
“It's okay, Flurry, you don't have to explain anything. We already know what happened. We were just worried where you had been the whole time, but now everything is fine. Just rest and don't talk now.”
Shining Armor at her side nodded. “We got the news a few hours after you left for school. The principal himself told us what happened and how they found out.”
Flurry Heart's eyes widened as she heard the principal being mentioned and she shuddered again, this time not from the cold. “Am I–“ A cough interrupted her. “Am I expelled from school now?”
Shining Armor put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “No. No, you aren't. But.....” He trailed off, having trouble to find the right words.
Cadance set up a comforting smile and continued gently. “But we were asked to take safety measures once you return to school. The principal was not as furious as you fear, Flurry, but he told us how he is concerned for the safety of the other students. We explained that the magic you used to destroy the Crystal Heart is sealed now, but he did not believe us because we tried to cover it up.” A tinge of guilt flashed over Cadance's face, but she hid it quickly. “He demanded precautions as requirement to let you attend school again. That's why we will send one of the guards with you to school tomorrow.”
The last sentence raised doubts in Shining Armor's face. “But can she go to school tomorrow? You see how sick she is. Maybe it's better if she stays here and rests.”
“She doesn't have fever, it's just a cold,” Cadance calmed his concerns. “If she rests today, she should be fit enough to attend school tomorrow.”
Suggesting to send a guard alongside her to school did not go down well for Flurry Heart. “I don't want to be accompanied by a guard,” she protested, still somewhat weakly. “I'm not hurting anypony.....”
“We know that your magic won't cause any trouble,” Cadance clarified gently while she took a tissue and wiped away her daughter's tears. “But it's to your own safety as well, Flurry.”
Shining Armor nodded affirmatively, his face showing a serious expression now. “The news about what really happened to the Crystal Heart spread quickly after it got out. While you were gone, many of the citizens came to the castle and demanded explanations. A lot of them were angry and demanded from us to do something about it. There was a riot and we and the guards had our hooves full to calm the crowd.” His face became more grim. “We had to impose a curfew until tomorrow morning to prevent the situation from escalating. It probably made them more suspicious, but in this situation, we had no other choice.”
Now, Flurry Heart's face showed terror as she began to understand the implications in her mother's sentence.
Noticing the fear in her face, Cadance wrapped her hooves around Flurry Heart completely now and pulled her into a hug. “Don't worry about it too much. We still have this situation under control, Flurry. And as long as the guard stays at your side, you will be safe.” She squeezed her gently, then let go of her. “But now, tell us where you have been.” Against her will, Cadance's voice sounded stricter now. “Daddy and me were worried when school was over, but you still didn't come home.”
Feeling reminded on the events from earlier in the afternoon again, Flurry Heart's body began to shake and a new stream of tears started to flow down her cheeks. She sobbed a few times before she found the strength to explain.
“I–I left school right after it happened. I flew up to a cloud and stayed there until it was late into the afternoon with..... With a friend.”
“'A' friend?” Cadance asked surprised. “What about Sunny? Was she not with you?”
Another shaking, a lot stronger this time, went through Flurry Heart's body and she erupted into a series of sobs upon hearing Sunny's name, stuck for an answer to the question of her mother.
Once more, Cadance wrapped her daughter into a hug. Softly, she stroke over her mane, while Flurry Heart was crying into her chest. “What happened, Flurry?”
The answer came muffled. “S-Sunny..... I-I'm not her friend anymore, mommy.” Driven by the sudden desire for comfort, Flurry Heart twined her arms around her mother's body.
Cadance and Shining Armor exchanged a glance of concern and bitter understanding.
“She hates me now, mommy,” Flurry pressed out between more sobs. “S-She said she never wants to see me again!”
Shining Armor's face turned dark. “I hate this bastard. The next time I meet Austere Knowledge, I will make him regret all of this.”
Cadance shot her husband a glance. “Calm down, Shining Armor. We can't solve this situation with violence.”
“I know,” he repeated defeatedly and clenched his teeth. “But I can't just stand here and do nothing.”
“And we won't. But we need to stay calm to find a solution.” She addressed her daughter again. “We're going to talk with Sunny Spirit about everything, Flurry. I'm sure once she finds out that you are not dangerous, she will change her mind again.” Cadance pulled away from Flurry Heart again and took the same tissue to dry her tears once more, then she let her daughter blow her nose into it. “But now you should try to sleep a little.” She crumpled the tissue with her magic and threw it into the bin that was nearby. “It was a hard day and you are exhausted, Flurry. You need rest now and tomorrow, we are going to find a solution for everything that happened together.”
Cadance got up and, gently embracing Flurry with her hooves, placed her on her back. Accompanied by her husband, they made their way towards Flurry's bedroom, while Flurry Heart was clutching Cadance's neck tightly.
Having arrived there, Cadance lifted her off her back and lied her down on the pillow. Their magic combined, the two parents spread the blanket over Flurry Heart, who was still wrapped in the other three blankets.
Cadance bent down to her daughter and stroke over her cheek, then did another check of her forehead. “Are you still feeling cold?” she asked her.
Slowly, Flurry Heart shook her head, but how she was clasping at her mother's hooves demonstrated that she had other concerns.
Cadance was holding Flurry Heart's hooves with her own and ruffled through her mane with the other one. “Don't worry, I will stay here while you sleep.”She bent down again and gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead, as suddenly, loud bangs sounded through the castle. Startled, Cadance's head shot up. “What are these sounds?”
“It's the gate,” Shining Armor answered, vigilance in his voice.
“Mommy?” Flurry Heart asked, her voice shuddering from fear. “Who is this?”
The banging returned, louder and more urgent this time. Cadance and Shining Armor exchanged a glance, yet didn't say anything to not worry their daughter even more.
Setting up a confident smile, Cadance looked down at her daughter again. “Everything is fine, Flurry. It's probably nothing to worry about.” She squeezed her hooves gently.
“I will go and see who it is,” Shining Armor said. “You wait here until I'm back.” He bent forward to his wife and brought his mouth close to her left ear. “In case anything happens, you know about the secret passage in the corridor and how to open it.”
Cadance nodded sternly.
Shining Armor trotted to the door of the bedroom and turned around. He gave Flurry Heart a last, reassuring smile, then he went through the door and headed through the corridor towards the castle's main entrance, from which more loud banging sounded into his direction.
Despite the attempts of her parents to calm her, though, Flurry Heart kept shuddering, her young mind busy with imagining all sorts of worst case scenarios. Cadance kept holding her tiny hooves and repeatedly stroke over her mane, while eyeing the door with a mix of anxiety and concern.....
> Chapter 13: Strong Words
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“And I don't want that you come near to me or my parents ever again!”

Even with a few hundred meters distance from the schoolhouse now, this sentence still rang through the mind of Sunny Spirit as her hooves thundered across the crystal pavement. And her hooves weren't the only things that thundered.
The light-blue filly clenched her teeth while galloping through the streets of the Crystal Empire and her face still wore the same hateful expression like when she left Flurry Heart behind minutes earlier.
A thousand thoughts soared through her mind, but one of those was always dominant over the others:

“How could she never tell me what she can do to the Heart?!”

Out of breath, Sunny Spirit stopped under a crystal gazebo that was built between two houses. While she stood there, heavily breathing, she noticed that she apparently had lost complete control over where she was galloping towards. She was not on the street anymore and neither on the path to her home. By looking at the buildings around her, she figured that she was at least three blocks away from her home.
As she finally felt fit again, her thoughts wandered back to the encounter from earlier and she felt her heart getting constricted by invisible strings again. Never, not in a thousand years, she would be able to forgive Flurry Heart! Her face distorted in anger once again, she turned around and bucked the pillar behind her, leaving a small crack in the crystalline surface.
For a moment, a few small tears trickled out of her eyes, more from anger and exhaustion than from anything else, but Sunny wiped them away quickly. She huffed, then she turned around to the gazebo's pillar.
Sunken in thoughts, she held a hoof at the pillar and moved it along the crack she had left in it. Pictures of a shattered Crystal Heart and of her parents having to leave the Empire flashed in front of her eyes and her hoof began to shake. Biting her lips in anger, she smashed the hoof against the surface and turned around once more, leaving the gazebo in hasty steps.
Going back the way she came and finally heading towards her home, Sunny now continued her path in a slow trot. Her mind was empty at this moment. To her, it felt like a strange, fluffy cloud had occupied the inside of her skull, making her unable to form any complex thoughts. She felt tired and her heart was hurting. “Maybe it's better like this.....” she muttered the only thought she could produce.
It was only when sudden rain set in that Sunny Spirit moved faster. Instinctively, she quickened her pace to avoid getting soaked. As she had finally arrived at her house, her coat, mane and tail were mildly wet. “At least not as wet as Flurry's coat must be now, she has a longer way home, after all,” a thought crossed her mind as she lifted a hoof to open the door. A cold feeling washing over her, she stopped mid-movement. Anger started to build in her face again, but then she shook her head.
“No,” she thought. “It's time to let go of old habits. And it's pointless to get angry about her all the time.” Instead, she put up her usual, happy smile, which looked a bit forced this time, and then finally proceeded to open the door. “Mom, Dad, I'm back!” she yelled happily into the inside of the house as she stepped in.
“Sunny?” a voice sounded from deeper inside the house.
A blue-maned mare with a yellow coat trotted around the corner. Her green eyes radiated worries as they fell on her daughter in front of her. Sunny Spirit closed the door and turned around to her mom. Noticing the expression in her eyes, her own turned into one of concern.
“Mommy?” Her voice became soft. “Are you okay?”
Incredulity appeared on the mare's face, washing away the worries. “That's something I should ask you, Sunny,” she said strict. “Where have you been the whole afternoon?” As quickly as they had vanished, as quickly the worries in her face returned again.
Sunny Spirit bit her lip sheepishly and rubbed over her hoof. “I just lost track of the time while I was out with a friend,” she lied.
As her mother heard the word “friend”, her face lit up. “Flurry Heart?” she asked, with cheer in her voice.
Sunny's face turned dark, but she allowed this change of her expression only for a moment. “No, not Flurry,” she said. Back was her fake smile.
“Oh?” her mother responded surprised. “Who was it then?”
“Magnolia,” Sunny answered with the first name that came to her mind, only to curse herself for it a moment later. But now it was too late. “I was out with Magnolia.”
“The bully?” Now a big frown appeared on her mom's face.
Sunny Spirit did not need the unbelieving tone in the question of her mom to remind herself on it that she didn't yet tell her about Magnolia's change of heart. Feeling that she was caught with the lie, Sunny's face reddened. Nervously, she looked down to the ground, rubbing her hoof again.
Her mom was about to ask how that came to be, but before she could, a thought entered her mind. If Sunny would have looked at her in this moment, she could have practically seen the lights that went on in her mom's head after that explanation. The mare snickered, then she went at the side of her daughter, who was still blushing, and nudged her slightly. “Making new friends is always important, Sunny,” she accompanied the gesture, the tone in her voice unmistakenly clear.
Sunny's head shot up. She gave her mother a glare, while her face became even more red as it dawned on her what she was implying. “Mom!” she yelled at her. “I don't have a crush on Magnolia!” With fury, she stomped a hoof on the ground, letting a thunderous sound roll through the house. The crystals vibrated slightly, a faint melody ringing out from them that was a stark contrast to the sound that Sunny's hoof had produced.
From upstairs, a strong voice sounded over to Sunny and her mom, slightly startled. “What is wrong?” her dad asked. Loud hoofsteps came down the staircase.
Having witnessed the angry reaction of her daughter, Sunny's mom composed herself, having gotten the hint that this wasn't the time for teasing. Wearing a genuine smile now, she bent down and pulled Sunny Spirit into a hug. “It's fine, Sunny,” she said gently. “This is not a reason to be embarrassed.”
The warmhearted gesture had a different effect on Sunny than her mother had intended, though.
Harshly, Sunny Spirit pushed her away, right in the moment when her dad appeared in the foyer of their small house. The push was so strong that her mother stumbled back a few hooves, a shocked expression on her face.
“You don't understand anything!” Sunny Spirit exploded, her face distorted in rage now. “You have no idea what happened!” Once more, she stomped with her hoof on the floor, causing the same interplay between sounds like before. Then she turned away from her parents and dashed into the living room, leaving the trace of a sob in the air behind her.
Her dad looked at his life partner. “What's the matter today?” he asked. The question betrayed his feelings, though. He never saw his daughter acting like that before.
Caring, he helped Sunny's mom back on her hooves, then they joined their daughter in the living room.
Sunny Spirit was sitting on her haunches in a big armchair, her forelegs placed between her hindlegs, big tears running over her face and her body trembling by sobs. Her tail was wrapped around her hindlegs.
Sunny's parents took seat on a couch opposite of her, eyeing her with concern. Before they could say anything, it was Sunny who started speaking.
More surprising to them than her emotional outburst was her next reaction when she wiped the tears from her face and eyes, stobbed sobbing like on command and was all of a sudden unexpectedly composed and focused. For a moment she looked like she was searching for the right words, then she addressed her parents.
“Mom. Dad,” she began in a serious tone “You are in danger.”
Collectively, her parents sighed. Her mom even suppressed an eye roll in the last moment, not wanting to be so rude after the distraught reaction of her daughter from earlier. Neither of them could hide a certain annoyance, though. “What is it, honey?” her dad asked in his deep voice, another sigh ringing in it.
“It's..... It's because of.....” Sunny struggled for words again. Then she focused her concentration, too important was what she had to tell her parents. “It's Flurry Heart,” she said. “She is dangerous for you.” She looked at her parents, grim-faced and stern.
The reaction of her parents, after an incredulous look, was laughter. It was loud and vigorous. But even though it was said that laughter was contagious, it did not have that effect on Sunny Spirit. She remained stern.
“It's not a joke,” she said calmly. “She is dangerous for you. She is dangerous for me too, for the whole Crystal Empire even.”
The laughter died.
“Sunny.....” her mom carefully approached an answer. “Don't you think you ex–“
“No,” Sunny interrupted her, predicting what she was about to say. “I'm not exaggerating something. She told me. She told it the whole class even.” Sunny's face became dark at the memory.
Her mom and dad looked at each other, frowns appearing on their faces now. The sternness of their daughter started to unsettle them. Slowly, her father got off the couch, and took position at his daughter's side. He placed a hoof on her hindleg. “What happened, Sunny?” he asked in a calm, neutral tone.
For a moment, Sunny presented him with a desperate glance, then the stern expression returned into her face. In careful words, making sure to not leave out any details, she told her parents what had happened this morning. Their own faces grew darker as her particularization progressed and their pupils shrunk more and more. At the peak of her description, her mom held a hoof at her mouth.
“Then Flurry Heart ran out of the classroom and disappeared.” Sunny Spirit had ended her narration of the events.
Silence filled the room. It took a few minutes until her parents found their speech again. Both of their faces expressed deep sadness now.
“How can a teacher of young foals be so cruel?” Sunny's mother asked, her voice sounding absent.
Her partner was shaking his head slowly, his eyes closed.
Only Sunny Spirit didn't share their sad sentiments. Instead, her face was still dark and serious, the worry for her parents shining out of her eyes.
“You must be really careful around her,” she began again. “She is able to destroy the Crystal Heart! And who knows what else she could do.....” Her voice became quieter as she progressed.
Save for a knowing glance exchanged between them, her parents ignored their daughter's warning.
“What happened after that?” her mom asked concerned.
Sunny Spirit nodded, deciding to tell her parents the rest of the story. “Flurry Heart was gone for the rest of school. Nopony knew where she had gone too. And Mr. Know was talking with the principal for the next hour, but I don't know what the principal decided to do. After school was over I left and..... was hanging out with Magnolia.”
The tone in her voice revealed that this wasn't everything that happened. It wasn't hard for her parents to notice.
“And then?” her mom asked.
“Then I met Flurry Heart again, a few hours later,” she picked up the question of her mom seamlessly. Her voice was cold as ice now. “I told her that she should stay away from us and that we aren't friends anymore. Then I came here as fast as I could.” The part with the shattered crystal pillar in the gazebo was something she left out on purpose.
It was only now that Sunny Spirit noticed that her parents were still relatively calm. Dread came over her, she felt that they weren't taking the situation seriously enough. Jumping up from her sunk down position, she started to talk insistently to them.
“You must stay away from her! She is dangerous for both of you and she could let you suffer worse than King Sombra did!” Panic was ringing in her voice as she tried to make her mom and dad realize the danger she saw them in.
But her parents shook their heads.
The mouth of her mother was thin now. “Sunny, why did you abandon Flurry Heart? Me and daddy always thought you were such good friends.”
“We were!” Sunny answered and emphasized on the same word her mom had used. “But not anymore! I won't be friends with someone who could hurt you!” She was yelling now.
It was her dad who said something now. Gently, but still firm, he placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Sunny, I want you to calm down,” he commanded her sternly.
Sunny Spirit huffed, but she did as told and sat down again.
He nodded satisfactory. “Good. Now listen to me, Sunny. I want that you apologize to Flurry Heart tomorrow and make up with her.”
Sunny Spirit looked at her dad with eyes big as plates. The command felt like he had just pulled out the chair under her.
“WHAT?!” she burst. Sunny Spirit looked over to her mom, who signaled with a nod that she agreed. “But..... But Flurry Heart is dangerous! Didn't you hear what I told you?! She destroyed the Crystal Heart!”
Calmly, her mom nodded. “Daddy and I did understand, Sunny. But we don't think that Flurry Heart is a threat.”
Sunny Spirit gasped in surprise. Then anger appeared in her face. She jumped up again.
“But you don't understand!” she exclaimed, much louder now. Flurry Heart. IS. Dangerous.” She said the sentence as slow as she could. “You can't trust her! I couldn't trust her! I know her for a year now and she never told me what she did to the Crystal Heart!”
Sunny Spirit stopped for a moment, trying to catch her breath. It gave her mom opportunity for another attempt to calm her daughter, but Sunny Spirit recovered quickly. Furiously, she pointed a hoof at her mom before she could say anything.
“How can YOU trust her?” She looked around between her parents, her face showing a mix of anger and disbelief. “You are completely gullible! What if she destroys the Crystal Heart again and you have to leave the Empire because of it? Or worse, what if her magic gets out of control and kills you both?!”
Sunny's voice sounded hysterical now. Her breath had become stronger and her tiny chest was raising and sinking at an alarming pace.
Her dad touched her shoulder again. “Sunny, you have to calm down. It's not good for you to get so distraught.” He appealed to his daughter's rationality, more worry than strictness in his voice now, but Sunny Spirit was pushing his hoof away from her in an outraged gesture.
“Why don't you understand?” she asked, desperated. “Don't you remember anymore what King Sombra did to you? Flurry Heart can do the same and more! And King Sombra was a monster! She is a threat for you, you need to realize it! Why can't you see that Flurry Heart is a monster too?!”
It was only a small hint, a slight twitching of a muscle barely recognizeable in her dad's face, that signaled that the patience he had with this overprotective daughter was over.
Before she could start the next sentence, Sunny Spirit felt a sharp pain on her cheek and her head getting yanked to the side. She remained like this, not saying anymore words, and sat completely still.
Her father took down his hoof. “King Sombra was different!” he bellowed at her. Sunny did not answer.
In a quieter tone, he continued. “It's true that both your mother and me suffered from what he did. But we know the difference. King Sombra was a tyrant and murderer, but Flurry Heart has not destroyed the Crystal Heart on purpose. I am ashamed that my own daughter stops being loyal to her best friend so quickly.” He looked away from her, disappointment in his eyes.
Sunny stayed in the position that the slap of her father had left her in, stock-still and not making a sound. Nothing happened for a few moments, then, quiet whimpers started to leave Sunny Spirit's throat. They grew in volume, very slowly, and eventually developed into sobs that soon were so loud that they filled the whole house. Tears came into Sunny's eyes and were quickly flowing over, drenching the coat in her face.
Her mother got up from the couch and trotted over to her. As she was at her side, Sunny threw herself against her, wrapping her hooves around her and crying into her chest. The young mother embraced her daughter and pulled her closer, giving her the comfort she needed now. Disapproval appeared on her face as she looked over to her partner, not without a hunch of understanding, though.
She returned her attention back to her daughter and kissed her on the mane, then proceeded to pet it gently. Sunny's mother had the urge to address what happened, to scold her father, yet also to explain to Sunny why he had reacted so harshly. But, she felt, this was not a situation for more words. Enough strong words had been spoken the last minutes, almost more than they could handle. So, instead of commenting on the situation, she brought her mouth close to Sunny's ear and whispered.
“Will you apologize to Flurry Heart now?”
Sunny choked a little. “Mhm,” she said quietly and gave a small nod.
“Good,” her mom commended her. “It's all okay now, Sunny.” She continued petting her mane for a few minutes longer until Sunny pulled away by herself.
The tears had stopped flowing, only a few remaints glistened in the corners of her eyes and on her coat, but she was still slightly sobbing and choking. Her face was completely red, the skin shining through the short hairs on her face. Her mom reached out and took a tissue from the small table between the armchair and the couch. Gently, she cleaned up the rest of the tears in her eyes and on her face and dried it, then she held the tissue at Sunny's nose and let her blow into it.
“Now all is better,” she spoke to her daughter softly, then crumpled the tissue and threw it into a nearby basket.
Looking at her again, she raised a hoof and caressed her left cheek, then she bent forward and kissed the red spot on it. Which was a gesture that finally cast a small smile on Sunny's face again. Her mom returned the smile, then she spoke again. “Now I'm going to make us something for dinner and tomorrow, once you apologized to Flurry, the world will be alright again.”
This notion, though, was met with disapproval by Sunny again, as she shook her head strongly. “No, I need to tell her now!” she said in a voice weak from all the crying, but filled with determination.
Her mom was about to remind her on it that it rained outside, but before she could do that, Sunny had already turned around quickly. She was almost bumping into her father who still stood at the same spot and looked down at her now, a bit of strictness still in his face, but also compassion and a tinge of guilt.
Sunny crushed him with a fast hug, an uplifting smile on her face, then she dashed out of the room into the foyer. The next sound her parents heard was the banging of the entrance door as Sunny shut it behind her, then they sat in silence.

As her mom had said, it was still raining outside as Sunny left the house. The rain was lashing into her face as she galloped through the dark, empty streets of the Crystal Empire and in a matter of seconds, her yellow mane was soaking wet and the strands were hanging down onto her face. She brushed them aside harshly as they began to obscure her view.
The events of the last fourty-five minutes were flashing up in front of Sunny's inner eye. She saw everything again; how she came by the school again as she was trotting aimlessly through the streets to get her head clear after the shocking reveal of the morning, how she met Flurry Heart and Magnolia there and how she rebuked Flurry Heart and broke with her in an instant. The movie in her head continued until the talk with her parents in her house and ended with her leaving the house in a hurry.
Sunny squinted her eyes as a new sob emerged from her throat. A fresh set of tears welled up in her eyes and the salty liquid got mixed with the cold rainwater as it ran down her face in thick streams. Soon they were indistinguishable from the rain and a bystander wouldn't have been able to determine that Sunny Spirit was crying. Even the sound of her sobs was drowned out by the barrage of raindrops hitting the crystal streets. But for Sunny Spirit it was all audible and she could feel the pain in her heart as she was crying in shame and regret.
The buildings around her whizzed by in a blur, her mind occupied with how much she had messed up and her eyes' vision disturbed by the tears that filled it to the brim, but her determination to clean everything up drove her forward and let her find the way by instinct. Two or three times she tripped and almost hit down hard on the ground, but eventually, Sunny Spirit found herself in front of the castle gate.
Her legs wobbling, she stood there and tried to catch her breath. It was going ragged and the wheezing sound coming from her throat indicated that she was about to get a cold as well. As the pain in her chest began to subside and her heart returned to a somewhat normal speed, Sunny looked up and eyed the gate, hope, but also fear, in her eyes.
Reluctantly, she raised a hoof and knocked on the gate. The knocks came out louder than she had expected. Sunny waited. As nothing happened for a few seconds, her nerves gave in already. She sniffed strongly and her eyes took on a grieving expression as she raised her hoof a second time. All the desperation Sunny felt went straight into her hoof as she knocked on the gate again, making the urgency in her movement apparent to everypony in the castle.
As once again nothing happened, Sunny Spirit turned around and faced the rain in front of her. She raised her left hoof slightly, as she looked to the side and squeezed her eyes shut, another cascade of tears leaving them and a new, heavy sob ringing out from her throat. She choked, then she rubbed the tears out of her eyes and turned to the gate again. With widely opened, glazed eyes, she let her hoof bang against the door for a third time, even louder than at her first two attempts.
Another few seconds of silence followed. Sunny bit her lip, the nervousness in her eyes being so strong now that it would be contagious if she wouldn't have been alone.
Sunny's brain already gave signal to her hoof to get raised again, as the gate was wrapped in a purple aura and slowly pulled open. Behind it, in about a meters distance, stood Shining Armor, eyeing the opened gate with grim eyes. He was flanked by two guards, who looked as ready to attack as he did. As Shining Armor saw who had knocked on the gate so strongly, his face softened in surprise. “Sunny?” he said.
But before he could even finish speaking out her name, Sunny Spirit had started a mad dash into his direction. She dodged him and the guards and galloped past them, into the direction of the throne room. From behind, she heard Shining Armor shout at her, followed by a bang as the gate was closed, but her mind filtered out these sounds, being concentrated on her goal.
She rushed through the throne room and aimed straight for the door leading to the royal apartments, which she pushed open without hesitation. It only took her a second, then she continued her path through the corridors, dashing right towards Flurry Heart's room at the end.
Cadance twitched in fear as she heard the fast hoofsteps approaching the room. She got up and squared off at the side of Flurry Heart, igniting her horn, ready to blast every intruder that tried to harm her or her daughter.
The magic around her horn flared up as the silhouette of a small pony galloped over the doorstep. Cadance tried to hold herself back as she realized who the pony was, but it was too late. The magical ray she had fired off hit the wall only mere centimeters above Sunny's head, leaving a scorched mark there.
Sunny Spirit did not care, she did not even twitch as she felt the heat of the small explosion at her head. Darting past Cadance, she approached the bed, her eyes locked on Flurry Heart, and wrapped her hooves around her friend with such force that a series of coughs left Flurry's throat.
Sunny clutched herself tightly against Flurry Heart, her tears soaking Flurry's blanket.
“S-Sunny?” Flurry Heart asked in bewilderment and confusion as she could talk again.
Sunny Spirit whimpered into the thick blanket for a few seconds before she talked. “I'm sorry,” she said high-pitched, all the regret she felt flowing into the short sentence at once. “I'm sorry for leaving you behind, Flurry!” she then followed up the initial statement, her voice marked with guilt. “I was stupid, Flurry Heart, I should have never abandoned you like this.....” Her apologetic speech turned into a shower of words as she kept hugging the young alicorn. “You're my friend, Flurry Heart, my best friend, and I just let you stand there and called you names and were mean to you. I hate myself for it and you probably hate me too now and I never even deserved to be your friend and–“
Flurry Heart coughed again, then she interrupted the stream of words. “Knock if off, Sunny!” she said weakly. The words unleashed a cold wave of fear in Sunny.
“Your hug hurts.....” Flurry Heart said and coughed again. “And your face is really cold,” she added then.
Only now Sunny noticed that her drenched and wet mane was resting on Flurry Heart's right cheek. Quickly, she retreated. She dried Flurry's cheek the best she could with her hoof, then let her head hang. “I'm sorry,” she whispered. Then she was out of words. Here she had come to apologize after her huge mistake and she was making everything worse. Sunny felt all hope sinking.
Flurry Heart sneezed and a sharp pain flashed through her chest that let her grimace. There was disappointment in her eyes, but also relief. Calmly, she shook her head, then stretched out a hoof, moved it under Sunny's chin and lifted it up. She opened her mouth to say something, but was then shaken by another coughing fit. Sunny's eyes widened in worry, her expression giving away that she put herself at fault for her friend's condition.
“Forget it, Sunny,” she said then as the fit had subsided. “I'm not mad at you, just disappointed.” She coughed again, then sniffed. “But I'm glad you're back, Sunny. So, we are still friends?” A tinge of fear flashed up in her eyes.
“Mhm,” Sunny just said, nodding, new tears flowing from her eyes. “But only if you want me as a friend. I don't deserve it anymore, Flurry.....” Her eyes looked to the side, fixating the floor.
Not saying another word, Flurry Heart ignited her horn. The wardrobe behind Sunny opened, engulfed by a yellow aura. A large towel hovered out, engulfed into the same aura, then the wardrobe's door got closed again.
Gently, Flurry Heart wrapped the towel around Sunny's head. “Just dry yourself, Sunny. You get sick too if you don't,” Flurry Heart just said and ignored Sunny's guilty remark, not wanting to make the situation any more complicated.
Sunny Spirit reached up into her mane and grabbed the towel, new tears leaving her eyes. She silently cried without restraint as she was drying her mane.
Another pain flashed through Flurry Heart's chest, of a different kind this time, and she sat up slowly, focusing all her strength on that task, and wrapped her hooves around Sunny, pulling her into a tight hug.
“Let's just forget everything that happened, okay, Sunny? It's not worth it.”
Sunny stopped drying her mane and reciprocated the hug, then she silently nodded at Flurry's neck.
Cadance stood behind them, having silently watched the heartfelt reunion between the two friends, a few tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. She blinked them away as Shining Armor entered the room behind her. Sighing, he sat down at the far end of Flurry Heart's bed.
“Everything alright, Shining?” Cadance asked him with concern.
“Yeah,” he answered and waved a hoof. “It's just a completely crazy day.....”
Cadance gave him a stern nod in agreement. Then she pointed at Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit who were still hugging each other, the sobs of the latter slowly subsiding.
“But look at this,” Cadance said, her voice sounding optimistic. Shining Armor followed her hoof, then a smile was playing around his lips.
“Just moments ago they were apart from each other and now look how much has changed all of a sudden.” She looked at her husband again. “Everything will be alright, Shining Armor. If we could solve the problem with Sunny, then we will solve the rest of our problems too.” She gave him an encouraging smile.
Shining Armor nodded, feeling confidence in his heart now. “You're right, Cadance,” he said, hope ringing in his voice upon watching the two fillies rekindling their friendship.
He bent forward and gave his wife a kiss.
> Chapter 14: Differences
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Flurry Heart awoke the next morning, the young princess immediately felt that something was different. Her cold from yesterday was gone, she and Sunny were still friends and by looking around in her room, she could see that she even managed it to awake before sunrise again, as the whole room was still bathed in darkness. It was basically the same like every morning, but she could feel that things had also changed. Usually, she felt full of life already in the early morning hours, but today, her chest was filled with a strange, cold feeling. When she let her eyes wander around the dark room, she felt a weird pressure everywhere, almost like the air tried to choke her. It felt heavy and so did her body.
Instead of getting up, Flurry Heart just lied in her bed, hooves placed on her belly, inspecting the ceiling while her eyes became used to the darkness more and more. Thoughts circled around in her mind, thoughts about how to get out of the mess she was in. She still had to go to school today, it was only Friday, and there would still be one more day until the weekend was there and she could spend two blissful days away from everything. But no matter how much Flurry Heart thought about it, the conclusion she came to always ended up being the same:
.
She had to face that dreadful day that lied ahead, no matter what new woes it might bring for her.
.
The only thing that finally threw her out of her thoughts was something flickering in the corner of her eyes. Slowly turning around, annoyed sighing coming out of her throat while doing so, she noticed a small shimmer of light entering through the window.
Evidently, the sun was coming up and it finally lured Flurry Heart out of the bed. She took position in front of the window, just in time to see the second half of the bright celestial body rise over the Crystal Mountains. She felt it brightening her mood, even though just slightly, and a tiny smile appeared on her face. At least the sun was still the same. Just for a split-second, Flurry Heart did a careful look to the ground. None of the citizens of the Crystal Empire had left their houses yet, but Flurry Heart knew it would happen soon. A slight shuddder went through her body as she had that thought.
As the glowing ball had appeared above the mountains almost completely, it was time. Faint, the young alicorn could hear doors getting opened under her and as she looked down again, the first crystal ponies left their homes to catch some of the early morning sunrays. Flurry Heart didn't dare to say a word this time, not even to greet the sun as it was her usual procedure at morning. Silently, she watched the ponies under her starting to go about their daily business, paying no heed to her.
It was only when she didn't say anything for another minute that some of the ponies raised their heads and looked straight up to her window. Flurry Heart crouched back a little as she noticed frowns on the faces of these ponies, their eyes emanating a piercing frostiness that went right through her body. Noticing what they did, other ponies followed their example and looked at her as well.
Gulping, Flurry Heart let her eyes wander over them, checking all of their expressions. She was hoping for it to find compassion or maybe even the usual joy to see her from at least one citizen, but all she was met with were frowns, disdain, hatred and disappointment. The faces of the ponies under her were full of these emotions and reactions. Only a small, snow-white filly, apparently a bit younger than her, gave her a broad genuine smile, its eyes glistening, but suddenly she was whisked out of her sight and carried into one of the houses. The mare who seemed to ber her mother had a disapproving, angry spark in her eyes.
Flurry Heart's ears flattened as she saw this scene, bitter grief spreading over her face, and a few tears left her eyes, which she quickly wiped away. The most shocking thing about all of this was how the crystal ponies just kept their stone-cold expressions at her obvious display of sadness. The tears running over her face did not move them, she realized, and the cold feeling in her chest increased.
Now shaking, Flurry Heart retreated from the windowsill and turned around. After a moment, she sat down under the window and brought her hooves up to her face. Covering her eyes, she started to weep into them and more tears ran down her cheeks. She sat like this for a few minutes, her mind empty, until Sunny entered it and her thoughts returned to yesterday's afternoon and how Sunny had unexpectedly shown up and apologized to her in tears.
Reluctantly, but with more energy than before, she stood up again and wiped the tears off of her face. She tried to force a smile, then she trotted out through her bedroom door and into the corridor, carefully setting one hoof in front of the other.
As she wanted to turn around the corner, she bumped into something soft. Startled, she looked up and found herself looking into the face of her dad. Shining Armor immediately noticed the reddened eyes of his daughter.
“Are you alright, Flurry?” he came right to the point, worry gracing his face. Misinterpreting the reason for her red eyes at first, he held a hoof at her forehead, then breathed out relieved as he didn't detect any fever.
“I'm fine,” she answered, but the broken tone in her voice betrayed her words and Shining Armor noticed the contradiction immediately.
He ruffled through her mane, gently and for a long moment. “Everything will work out, Flurry,” he said, his voice expressing nothing but utter convinction. He put a hoof around her shoulder. “Now come. There are some things we have to discuss before you leave.”
Flurry Heart sternly nodded as they made their way to the kitchen. Cadance sat already at the table, a fully prepared breakfast for all three of them in front of her. It was only now that Flurry Heart realized that her parents had gotten up especially early this morning, so that they would have time to talk about what should happen now.
A morose expression on her face, Flurry Heart took seat at her mom's side. Gently, Cadance wrapped her up in a hug. “Good morning, Flurry Heart!” she said, her voice sounding happy and uplifting. She placed a kiss on her forehead, then they parted again. “Do you feel better this morning?” she asked her daughter.
Wordlessly, Flurry Heart nodded. Then she lit up her horn and hovered the mug with hot, steaming cocoa that stood in front of her to her face. She took a careful sip. As she put down the mug again, Shining Armor started to speak.
“After Sunny was gone yesterday and you had fallen asleep again, your mom and me discussed how we can fix everything. And we came up with a solution.” He smiled at Flurry Heart, but she only gave a gloomy look in response.
Cadance rested a hoof on her shoulder, silently signaling her to look over to her. “Do you remember what I told you about the spell by Sunburst after I was telling you why we named you 'Flurry Heart'?”
Flurry Heart did not know what her mom was talking about at first, but then the memory entered back into her mind. She nodded.
“Sunburst cast that spell on you to prevent you from destroying the Crystal Heart again. He has to recast it sometimes, but as long as he does that, you can't do any harm to the Crystal Heart. And we will let everypony know about it.” A flash of guilt appeared on Cadance's face. “We probably should have done this right away.....”
Feeling more relieved, but aware of it that the situation was still very serious, Flurry Heart nodded attentively. “What are we going to do, mommy?” She hovered the mug to her face again and took another sip, looking at her mom with interest, then bit in one of the apples on the plate in the middle of the table.
Taking over for her mom, who was still trailed off in thoughts, Shining Armor explained. “Sunburst is on a research trip in Griffonstone right now and he won't return until Monday morning. But once he's back, we will make everything about his spell public and he will explain in detail how it works. We already contacted him and made the necessary arrangements for his presentation to happen at your school on Monday.”
Now Flurry Heart frowned again. Even though she was young, she realized that it was an idea that would barely work. “But Sunburst is my crystaller!” the young alicorn opposed. “My royal crystaller,” she then added with emphasis. “The ponies here don't trust us anymore, they will think we told him to say that and to lie about the spell!”
Now it was Cadance who spoke again. “We already thought about this,” she said calmly.
Flurry Heart looked at her in disbelief as she noticed the serenity of her mother.
“It is possible that they won't believe Sunburst, but for this case, we have a trump card, Flurry.” A knowing smirk appeared on her face, leaving Flurry Heart in confusion. Her husband replied with the same smirk.
Cadance continued. “We sent off a letter yesterday evening and got a quick response. There is someone who will come to your aid, Flurry Heart.”
The tone in her mom's voice fueled Flurry's excitement. “And who is it?” she burst out, now suddenly seeming as energetic as ever.
But Cadance shook her head. “We can't tell you now, it's a surprise. But it's someone you know very well and someone who has influence.”
Flurry Heart's lips pointed downwards all of a sudden, the disappointment plastered over her face.
Cadance stroke over her mane. “Don't worry, it won't be long until you find out. The arrival is set for today. You will see who it is in the evening. And it is someone who will surely lighten your mood, Flurry.”
The tone of secrecy in these last words just increased Flurry Heart's desire to find out now, but when she looked over her parent's faces, it was clear they wouldn't give it away before the time of arrival of the mysterious trump card had come.
So, instead of asking further questions, Flurry Heart reached for her cocoa and slowly gulped it down her throat without putting away the mug, a pout on her face.
Both Cadance and Shining Armor laughed lightly as they saw the defiant reaction of their daughter. Even though they didn't tell her the surprise right away, Flurry Heart noticed that she felt better all of a sudden. The announcement of the mysterious savior had given her new hope and she swiftly expressed it as she had emptied her mug, by tightly hugging her parents in quick succession. Then she dashed out of the kitchen and towards her room, a swing in her step that her parents hadn't seen for a while. She couldn't await it to meet Sunny again now!
But there was still something that would delay her departure this morning. As Flurry Heart came out of her room and returned to the kitchen, her fully equipped saddlebags on her back, her parents weren't alone anymore. At their side was a white unicorn guard, in golden armor and holding a spear in his right hoof. He smiled at Flurry Heart, but she was not repeating it and presented him with a deep frown. A shudder ran through ber body as her eyes fell on the spear. She looked over to her dad, desperation and a bit of fear in her eyes.
“Do I really need a guard, daddy?”
Shining Armor nodded sternly, receiving support by his wife. “It's for your protection, Flurry Heart. I don't think that anypony will attack you, but we need to keep you safe, just in case.”
Shining Armor followed the explanation up as he noticed that Flurry Heart started to shake.  “Don't worry, Sharp Pitch here is one of our best guards. He fought against changelings and timberwolves and he saved many citizens of Canterlot during an attack some years ago. As long as you stay by his side he will protect you, no matter what happens.”
A spark appeared in the eyes of Sharp Pitch, they were emitting grim determination for a moment, but then he stashed away his spear at the side of his armor and approached Flurry Heart with a welcoming gesture, a smile playing around his lips.
As Flurry Heart didn't take his hoof and just wordlessly frowned at him with all the aversion against the idea that a guard should accompany her coming out of her eyes, he lifted his hoof and ruffled through her mane instead, still keeping his smile. “I'm here to protect you, Princess. There is no reason to fear anything as long as we are together.”
The assertion only deepened Flurry Heart's frown and simultaneously, she raised an eyebrow at her protector. A playful laughter came from his throat, then he stepped past Flurry Heart and took position at the door. “I'm ready to leave whenever you are, princess,” he said then, in a more professional tone again.
Cadance nodded at him as Flurry Heart showed once again no reaction to his words, then she looked down at her daughter. “He's right, Flurry, it's time to leave if you don't want to arrive late at school.”
Flurry twitched a little at these words, which Cadance responded to by giving her a hug. Shining Armor joined in swiftly. “Keep your head up, okay? I know you're strong, you're gonna make it.”
“And don't forget that a surprise awaits you at the evening,” Cadance added. She retreated and gave her daughter a smile. “If there's anything that's troubling you, feel free to talk with Sharp Pitch too.”
This suggestion let Flurry Heart look up suddenly, confusion in her eyes. Her mouth was slightly opened. Before she could ask, Cadance winked at her. “You will see that physically protecting you is only one thing he can do.”
Still not understanding what the words of her mom meant, Flurry Heart kept looking at her, but Cadance gently pushed her towards the door as a reminder that she had to leave now.
Begrudgingly, Flurry Heart turned around and as her eyes fell on Sharp Pitch, the frown returned into her face. In slow steps, she walked out of the door, Sharp Pitch closely following behind her. He took position at her side as Flurry Heart was through the door and turned around a last time to wave at her parents, a sad, longing expression adorning her face now.
Cadance and Shining Armor returned the gesture, presenting their daughter with last, uplifting smiles, then Flurry Heart and Sharp Pitch made their way out of the castle.
The first thing Flurry Heart noticed once outside was how cold it was. It was not the temperature, though. It was a sunny day in the Crystal Empire, like most were. The cold came from the ponies around them. It was the same like when Flurry Heart had looked down her window earlier, but now that she was much closer to the citizens, their looks were way worse. Some faces showed unrestrained anger now, there were ponies grinding their teeth and ponies scraping the ground with one of their hooves. Others just looked disappointed, but now, their disappointed expressions were much deeper as they saw their princess so near by them.
Sharp Pitch remained calm. All he did was giving the crowd that had gathered in front of the castle a warning glance. It did not change the hostile looks, but they stayed at their spots as he guided Flurry Heart gently through the mass of ponies. Flurry Heart could still feel the piercing looks in her neck as they had left the outraged citizens behind. She stopped and looked at the street in front of them. It was nearly empty save for a few ponies being busy in the gardens of their houses. Flurry Heart breathed a sigh of relief.
As Sharp Pitch put a hoof on her shoulder and gently nudged her, she set herself into motion again.
Flurry Heart's parents had described him the way to the school very exactly, something which wasn't necessary, as he had told them, because he knew the geography of the Crystal Empire very well from his nightly guard duties, yet they insisted on it and so, he knew there would still be quite a distance before they reached the house of Flurry's friend. Enough time to start a conversation with his little companion, yet Flurry Heart looked anything but up for it. Despite the slight relief from moments earlier there was still a frown on her face and when Sharp Pitch looked at her, it was easy for him to see that Flurry Heart did not like him. It would not be easy to get her to talk. But he was determined to try.
For minutes, they kept trotting through the streets of the Crystal Empire, wordlessly, while Sharp Pitch tried to think of something to talk about. There weren't many things he knew about Flurry Heart, except for the most necessary ones that he needed to protect her, so he figured it would be best to find out more about her first. As an idea how to spark a conversation with her entered his mind, he looked over to her.
“So, I heard you like flying?” he began and gave Flurry a smile.
Flurry Heart stayed silent. She did not even acknowledge his words with a look and kept her eyes on the crystal pavement they trotted on.
Sharp Pitch wrinkled his forehead for a moment, but soon returned to a cheerful expression. Pally, he patted her back. “I'm sure you are a very good flyer thanks to your big wings. Maybe you can show me some tricks one day?”
Again, no answer came from the little alicorn. But there was a reaction this time, although not one like Sharp Pitch had hoped for. Flurry Heart laid back her ears and pressed them tightly against her head. A slight growl indicated that she became angry.
It was a sign Sharp Pitch understood. Not wanting to cross any lines, he didn't probe further and decided to stay silent for a while.
Together, they kept trotting through the streets towards their destination. Occasionally, ponies crossed their paths, all wearing hostile expressions or at least a frown on their faces as they looked at Flurry Heart. They were turning into the street that led to Sunny's home as a chubby stallion left his house. He did not greet them, not even look at them, but as he passed by, a quiet whisper could be heard.
.
“Uncontrollable beast. The guards should protect us from her.”
.
It was clear that he had made an effort to avoid being heard, not least because of the presence of a royal guard, but Flurry Heart did hear him.
Abruptly, she stopped in her tracks. Her eyes widened in dismay and she opened her mouth.
Sharp Pitch noticed. He stopped too and looked at her. “Anything wrong, princess?” he asked concerned.
Then small eruptions began to run through Flurry Heart's body as she began to shake slightly. She sniffed and a few tears formed in her eyes.
A thought falling into place, Sharp Pitch looked up and after the chubby stallion, a knowing expression filled with discomposure in his face, then he leaned down at his little protégée.
“Did he say anything mean?” he asked with compassion, but Flurry Heart denied him an answer.
She wiped her tears before they could run down her face, then trotted ahead in a fast tempo, making it necessary for Sharp Pitch to catch up with her. Her ears were still pressed flat against her head, what kept them in this position was a different emotion now, though.
“Hey, don't go alone!” Sharp Pitch said in a warning tone as he went after her.
For another minute or so, no one of them said a word and only Flurry Heart's occasional sniffing interrupted the silence. Then Sharp Pitch tried it with another attempt to talk.
In the distance, he could see a light-blue foal sitting on a small flight of stairs in front of a house that was colored in a slightly darker blue. He almost didn't notice her against that backdrop, if it wouldn't have been for her bright, yellow mane. Her look fit to the description he got from the prince and the princess, he realized, and this gave him another idea.
“Your friend is already waiting,” he addressed Flurry Heart and pointed ahead.
Flurry Heart looked up and now finally, there was a faint smile on her face. She increased her tempo.
“How long do you know her?” Sharp Pitch continued.
Flurry Heart's smile remained in her face, but she gave no answer, and a flickering in her eyes indicated that she was still not okay with him talking to her.
He sighed inwardly. This was harder than he thought and he was running out of questions to ask her. Yet he also didn't want to give up so quickly. A sly expression crept over his face for a moment. There was something he could do. It was risky, but maybe the only chance to get a word out of the royal filly at his side.
“How was her name again?” he asked incredulously, knowing full well how Flurry's friend was called. “Was it 'Puny Midget'?”
Flurry Heart's ears perked up all of a sudden. She stopped and glared at her guardian. “Her name is 'Sunny Spirit'!” she corrected him, the outrage in her voice impossible to miss.
“Oh!” he exclaimed in pretended surprise. “I'm sorry. I'm not very good with names.....” He scratched the back of his head, giving Flurry Heart a sheepish expression. Her glare continued.
“Your parents Prince Pining Farmer and Princess Radiance told me her name, but my brain got it mixed up somehow.” He chuckled nervously.
Flurry Heart did a step towards his direction, now grinding her teeth and her face distorted in anger. “Their names are 'Shining Armor' and–“ She stopped and the angry expression turned into confusion, then realization, then embarrassment. “Hey, you did that on purpose!” she squeaked awkwardly, her cheeks flushing red.
A feeling of satisfaction went through him over the fact that Flurry Heart was at least talking to him now, even though it wasn't in a friendly way. “Just a little more to break the ice,” he thought.
He looked at the young alicorn in bewilderment. “Me? Oh, no! I would never, I promise! I would not dare to joke about the names of members of the royal family!” He put a hoof at his chest and stroke a reverent pose. “I swear by your name, Princess Curry Fart, I will never make fun of you!”
The blushing in Flurry Heart's face deepened and so did her anger. Sharp Pitch noticed and an expression of horror spread out on his face. “Oh, for the love of.....” he groaned. “I did it again! 'Curry Fart' isn't your name, right? I'm so, so sorry, Princess!”
Furiously, Flurry Heart stomped a hoof on the ground. “NO!” she yelled loudly. “BUT I WISH IT WOULD BE!” Then she galloped past him, towards Sunny's house. Her last sentence was leaving her mouth with a tinge of sorrow.
Sharp Pitch could hear it clearly and it was only now that he realized he had went a bit too far with his joke. He sighed and cursed himself as he followed Flurry Heart. At least she had talked a little bit with him, a thought he took sollace in, yet getting her to talk with him again would be much harder now.
Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit were just exchanging a hoofbump, followed by a crushing hug as Sharp Pitch reached them. Having released the hug again, Sunny pointed behind Flurry. “Who is this?”
Flurry Heart rolled her eyes conspicuously. “A guard,” she answered the question. “My parents said he's there to keep me safe, just in case.” Her voice shook slightly, but it was barely noticeable and she suppressed the urge to gulp.
Having heard about the curfew from the day before after she had reconciled with her friend, Sunny Spirit nodded. “They are probably right, Flurry.”
“Maybe,” Flurry Heart answered. “But I don't feel good with him around.”
“How is his name?” Sunny asked curiously.
Flurry Heart started her answer, then stopped suddenly, a malicious grin on her face. She looked over at her protector and presented him with it, then back to Sunny.
“Carp Stitch,” she said deadpan, then went down the stairs.
Sunny stayed behind a moment, a weird expression on her face, then she followed her friend.
“Carp Stitch” hurried after the two fillies to take position at Flurry Heart's side again. Before he was there, she turned back at him, giving him another malicious grin that was dripping from cold revenge. In the corners of it, her mouth seemed to form a smile, though.
Flurry Heart turned back again before he could make sure and as he was at her side again, her expression had returned back to normal. Or, at least what was normal for her right now. Her face still showed a slight frown, but she also looked noticeably happier now that Sunny was here. He smiled at his observation and felt a bit of hope rising.
On the rest of the way to the Magic Kindergarden, Sharp Pitch remained quiet, while the two fillies at his side were chatting. As the three of them had finally reached the school, they hurried inside upon noticing that the clock of the tower at the front of it showed that it was barely a minute anymore until Flurry's and Sunny's first lesson would start.
Despite the hurry, Flurry Heart shuddered as she entered the building. Yet nopony bothered her as they were inside, the corridors were empty, the loud sounds from the classrooms indicating that all the students were already at their desks and getting prepared. They rushed through the right corridor to the classroom at its end, chatter and talks from inside ringing into their ears. As they had entered, the whole classroom became silent all of a sudden.
The students looked at them speechlessly. Sharp Pitch couldn't figure out if it was more because of the unusual presence of a royal guard in the classroom or because of Flurry Heart and the truth about her that everypony knew now. It was pretty clear, though, that both of those things were the reason for the looks and it was especially clear to Flurry Heart.
She just stood there, feeling the looks like needles on her skin, unable to do a step forward. Her whole body was shaking now and her teeth clattered in quick succession. The bell of the school rang out, but Flurry Heart did still not move.
Sharp Pitch bent down to her and whispered into her ear. “Be strong, Princess Flurry Heart!” he encouraged her, addressing her with her name for the first time. “They will stop looking if you just act normal.”
Surprisingly, Flurry Heart nodded at the advice and slowly moved towards her desk, supported by Sunny Spirit.
Whispers started to emerge from across the classroom as she made her way through it and only scraps entered Flurry Heart's ears.
.
“Why is she here again?”
.
“..... Witch?”
.
“Can she hurt us?”
.
The words prickled unpleasantly in Flurry Heart's ears. That the other foals on the desks around her own inched as far away from her in their seats as they could while she climbed onto her own did not help.
As Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit were both sitting at their desks, the whispering stopped and Sharp Pitch positioned himself at the right side of Flurry Heart's desk. Their attention a bit distracted from Flurry Heart now, the other foals watched him with big eyes. It seemed like a few of them wanted to ask him curious questions, but before they could, the menacing figure of Austere Knowledge entered the classroom.
If it would have been possible for the foals to become any quieter, they would have now, but since they already were silent, the only thing that happened was that the temperature in the classroom suddenly decreased. Or, at least that's how it felt to Flurry Heart.
There was not really anything to say for Austere Knowledge in this situation, the principal had made a decision yesterday and he had to obey, as much as he hated it to see Flurry Heart in his classroom again, yet he did not leave it at that.
He stood at his desk and let his eyes wander over the classroom, mentally making notes to see if each of his students was here. As he was finished, he rested his sight on Flurry Heart. His black eyes felt to her like he was trying to suck her in with them, so much disdain radiated from them. He did not waste any time to make her feel miserable.
“Our princess monster has returned it seems,” he said coldly. “This was certainly not my decision and it's only due to the principal's mercy that you can still come here. If it were up to me I would keep a dangerous monster like you as far away from everything as possible.” His face turned into a cruel grimace. Flurry Heart began to shake again, avoiding to look at him. “There is not much crime happening in the Crystal Empire, yet everypony pays taxes to maintain the dungeons. They might as well getting used now, finally.” A sob rang out of Flurry Heart's throat as the meaning behind the words washed over her mind. Sunny Spirit stroke over her back soothingly.
Something snapped inside Sharp Pitch as he heard the cruel words, yet he did his best to compose himself, remembering what Shining Armor and Cadance had told him about de-escalation. Instead of giving in to his rage, he decided to tell Austere Knowledge why he was here.
“I will use the opportunity to introduce myself,” he began, in a tone as professional as he could muster given the situation. “My name is Sharp Pitch, high-ranking member of the royal guard. I am here today to protect her Royal Highness, Princess Flurry Heart, from any harm.” 	His voice had a certain tone ringing in it, a tone Austere Knowledge would sure understand. And his eyes might as well have been daggers the way he looked at the teacher.
The face of Austere Knowledge showed a strange expression that was hard to identify for Sharp Pitch. “Protection, of course,” he said taut. “Since this is my classroom and I am responsible for it, I am sure you won't mind if I apply my own method to protect my students from harm.”
His horn flared up with the black aura of his magic and a split-second later, a magical shield appeared around Flurry Heart. Sunny Spirit retreated her hoof from her back quickly as she felt the heat of the shield that was spreading around her friend.
A smile of smug satisfaction appeared on Austere Knowledge's face. “A simple magic absorber. Hopefully enough to contain the wicked powers of the princess.” He addressed the whole class. “Since the danger is sitting right in our midst, I think it would be appropriate to continue with the correct usage of neutralization spells.” He looked at Flurry Heart again. “Maybe you will have to use them soon.” Then he opened his book and began with the lesson.
The words of the teacher still ringing through him, a cold shiver went down the spine of Sharp Pitch as he realized what Austere Knowledge just suggested.
Things had become different in the worst possible way.
> Chapter 15: Battlefield
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Flurry Heart's body twitched slightly as the bell of the school rang out. The first lesson on this horrible day was over and for Flurry Heart, it had been nothing but torture.
Austere Knowledge, so she had to realize soon, was serious. Through the whole magical theory lesson, he went into detail about neutralization spells; a special kind of combat spells, more effective on the target and easier in their execution, that were created for younger and more unexperienced magic users.
Unlike offensive combat spells, they did not fire off a magical blast, only a thin ray of magic, and they had more direct effects that didn't allow for foals to hurt themselves by accident when casting them. But they had also very devastating effects on the targets who were exposed to them.
There was a spell that caused an attacker to have an instant heart attack, with all the possible consequences this could bring, or a spell that disrupted the neural paths in the brain, which was instantly lethal.
Others were of a more harmless nature and simply crippled an enemy temporarily or let him fall unconscious long enough so that the foal could flee from its attacker.
It was nothing unusual in and of itself that Austere Knowledge taught his students such spells, in fact, they were on the curriculum of the school since they were spells specifically designed for foals to defend themselves in dangerous situations. Adults were banned from using them by law, to avoid abuse of those effective spells for criminal acts or other, sinister purposes and there were high penalties if a pony older than thirteen used such a spell on someone else. Yet even though it was mandatory for foals to learn those spells and how they worked, the circumstances under which Austere Knowledge had decided to teach them to his class now were pure terror for Flurry Heart.
She thought back on the lesson that had just ended, her body shivering as the memory flooded her mind.
After Austere Knowledge had just listed the several neutralization spells that existed and explained what effects they had, a yellow unicorn filly had raised her hoof to ask a question.
“Why are there so many different neutralization spells, Mr Know? You said there is one that lets an attacker fall unconscious, is this not enough?” Her face had shown a frown and her lips were pointing slightly downwards, with her teeth visible, which indicated that her mouth was slightly opened.
Austere Knowledge had answered the filly's question without hesitation. “I was about to explain this, but thank you for your question.” His voice was far away from sounding friendly, but a sardonic smile had adorned his lips in this moment. Then he had turned a page in his book and focused his attention on the whole class again. “As your inquisitive classmate already suggested, there are differences between those spells other than their respective effects.” He had cleared his throat before he continued.
“There is a wide variety of these spells because each of them requires a different duration to get cast or for the effect to occur. 'Atrophia Conscientia'–“ Wrapped in his black aura, he had lifted the pointer to the blackboard and was holding it at the name of the spell that he had written down on it earlier. “–has the longest cast duration of all the neutralization spells. The effect occurs immediately once the target got hit by the spell, but the time the spell requires to get prepared makes it useless if an attacker is already nearby or initiates a surprise attack. For situations like this, other neutralization spells have proven themselves to be more useful.” He had pointed at another spell name, further down on the list.
“'Suffocatis Laqueus Arterius', this spell is recommended if an attacker is already nearby and ready to strike. The cast duration amounts to only three seconds and the effect of the trachea's occlusion occurs in 0.98 milliseconds. It requires, however, accurate aim to work. The further away the attacker, the smaller the chance of success.” Once more, his pointer had been moved to another spell name.
“'Diruptio Nervus Cerebrum'. As the most effective of neutralization spells, it is ideal to be used in situations of immediate danger. With a cast duration of only 0.25 milliseconds and an immediate effect, it leads to an instant death.”
He had continued with the rest of the neutralization spells and after the last one, Austere Knowledge was finished with his explanation about the ideal usage of the spells and had answered the filly's question at the same time.
Now, Flurry knew, this torturous, first lesson was finally over, but what she had heard was still wearing at her. Every word her teacher had spoken felt like he was taking her heart between his hooves and pressing it together. Especially two of these words, “instant death”, were still going through her mind and she kept hearing them in her head, repeatedly and without mercy. It felt like Austere Knowledge himself was suddenly inside of her skull.
Even worse where the reactions of her classmates. Nopony had asked any sceptical questions or expressed doubts about the subject of the lesson, or rather, the intent behind it. The scribbling sounds as the other foals wrote everything down into their notebooks had hurt her, like the sharp ends of the quills were used by them to slice through her eardrums. Though familiar, it had become the most horrible sound she had ever heard. She was even required to write down the attributes of the neutralization spells and the instructions on how to use them herself, something that was almost unbearable for her, and the spell Mr. Know had cast on her had not made anything of that easier.
She was trying to use her magic to write with her quill, but as soon as she had concentrated on her horn and initiated the telekinesis spell, the magical energy was sucked away before it could form an aura around her quill and got pulled into the black shield around her. As she had looked up, it was swirling inside the shield, constantly moving around her in circles as it tried to reach its intended destination. The result were crooked letters and numbers, much different than her usual, tidy writing, the expected outcome for a pony like her who had always used her horn to write but was now forced to use her hooves instead.
The worst of all of this, though, had been the end of the lesson. Instantly as Austere Knowledge was done with the theoretical lesson about neutralization spells (And thank goodness magic class wasn't scheduled for today!), he had gone a step further.
Following up a question by another foal, surprisingly one of the Bulb Twins, about how the spells were supposed to be special protection spells for foals when only unicorn foals could use them, he had pulled out a box from one of the drawers of his desk. Inside were, neatly arranged, a set of parchment scrolls, each one kept together by a red ribbon. While he was levitating them on the desks of the students, it had become apparent that there were enough scrolls in the box to equip every pegasus, earth and crystal foal in the class with one.
The last thing about neutralization spells that Austere Knowledge had explained to his class in this lesson, had been that there was the possibility of casting these spells via magical scrolls too, in order to give earth foals, crystal foals and pegasi the same means of defense. The only downside was that non-unicorn foals needed longer to prepare their defense, as they had to pull out and unwrap the scrolls first, then read out loud the text written on them in order for the spell to get cast. Which put foals that weren't unicorns at a higher risk, yet was the only way to give them at least some protection, due to their lack of active magic, so it was considered appropriate. And from all the things she had to listen and witness during this lesson, this was weighing on Flurry Heart's young mind the most; that each of her students was now equipped with, potentially lethal, weapons against her.
If somepony would have held a mirror in front of Flurry Heart now, she would have been able to see that her face had become pale, that her pupils were shrunken in the middle of her eyeballs and that her mouth was nothing more than a thin line; an emotionless expression as she sat there, completely in shock, indicating that her mind was far, far away.
Distantly, she felt something shaking her left shoulder, but she did not move. Somepony was yelling, but Flurry Heart could not hear it. Suddenly, there was a strong pat on her back. It hurt and the young alicorn gasped. Gradually, the haze that blurred her vision was disappearing and she could hear again.
“Flurry! FLURRY!” it rang into her left ear.
“Princess! Princess, can you hear me?” it entered her right one.
Both voices were full of nervous agitation.
Confusion flooded her mind as she saw the blackboard in front of her again. It was now empty. Flurry Heart turned around, to her right, and looked into the face of Sharp Pitch, who was eyeing her with big concern. It just deepened her confusion. Then she realized that the black shield around her was gone. She turned around completely, to the other students, but none of them was here anymore. Flurry Heart turned to the teacher's desk. Even Mr. Know had left.
“Princess, are you alright?” Another question rang into her right ear.
She looked at Sharp Pitch again, her expression still distant. “Mhm,” she said and nodded. It sounded eerily in his ears.
From behind, Flurry Heart felt wrapped up. She noticed Sunny's head resting on her right shoulder.
“Sunny?” she asked, feeling muzzy. “What happened?”
Worried sniffs and sobs came from the crystal filly, but no proper answer.
“You were blacked out, princess,” Sharp Pitch explained. “For five whole minutes. Your friend and I were worried.”
“Blacked out?” Flurry Heart sounded tired. “Where is everypony?”
“They have left, princess. It is time for Flight Class, can you remember?”
All of a sudden, it was like somepony had splashed cold water into Flurry Heart's face. It regained some of its color and suddenly she was in a hurry.
Flurry Heart jumped off of her stool. Sunny almost hit the floor in the process, but she caught herself. Before she could say anything, Flurry Heart had already made a beeline for the door, but she found herself wrapped in Sharp Pitch's ocher aura and held in place by it before she could gallop through it.
Sharp Pitch and Sunny Spirit trotted at her sides, flanking her. “Not so fast, princess,” the guard scolded her. “You just had a blackout, you need to start it off slowly.”
Flurry Heart protested, squirming around, her face strained. “But I'm late! My flying lesson–“
“Is not as important as your health, princess,” Sharp Pitch said insistently. “It is me who will get into trouble if something happens to you.”
Flurry Heart pouted and showed Sharp Pitch her disapproval, but stopped squirming, so the guard released her.
Now in slower tempo, the three ponies left the classroom; Sharp Pitch at the front, Sunny with Flurry Heart behind him, supporting her friend. While they walked down the corridor to the lobby, Sharp Pitch was sunken in thought, yet not without paying attention to their surroundings still.
He had asked him about it. After Austere Knowledge had given out all the scrolls, he was confronting him. It was risky, he was falling just short of grabbing the teacher by the neck and knocking all that nonsense out of him in front of the foals. It took the biggest amount of self-control he ever had to bring up in his whole life to prevent himself from making that mistake. And Austere Knowledge answered him. Of course he had. It was, after all, just another opportunity to make Flurry Heart feel more miserable.
Sharp Pitch gritted his teeth. Unlike he had reckoned with, the scrolls, the whole lesson even, were not Austere Knowledge's wicked plan to get Flurry Heart down, no, it was an order right from above. As the vicious teacher had informed him, many parents came into the school yesterday, right after their foals had returned. They were putting pressure on the principal, demanding a solution and protection for their foals. And the principal gave in. That was one of the reasons why he was here today, Sharp Pitch knew that, but what he didn't knew was that the principal himself had ordered that Austere Knowledge should teach his class about neutralization spells today, then equip the bulk of the students with the dangerous spell scrolls. And Flurry Heart's class wasn't the only one. Schedules for all classes had been changed and all teachers, including those who were not experts in magic, had given their classes theoretical emergency lessons about neutralization spells, then equipped all non-unicorn foals with those scrolls.
Now every foal in the school was equipped with a weapon and the knowledge how to use them. And they were right there.
Already while approaching the lobby, Sharp Pitch could see them. Groups of foals hanging out in the school's hall; unicorns, earth ponies and crystal ponies. All were there except for the pegasi, who probably already waited for the start of their lesson in the schoolyard. And like on command, they looked over to them as soon as they were close enough.
Unicorn colts and fillies observed each of their steps, already prepared and their horns lit. Some of them wore attentive expressions, their eyes showing that they were ready to strike if necessary. They were told to use their spells against Flurry Heart in case she became dangerous for them and their faces showed that they were willing to do just that. Sharp Pitch felt slightly nauseous over this display. It was insane. “It's like they're suddenly soldiers,” he whispered in disbelief, quiet enough that Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit couldn't hear it.
And those unicorns weren't even the biggest problem. As serious as their expressions were, the experienced fighter could also see in their eyes that they were responsible enough to only do something if there was actually a reason for it and luckily, he knew that Flurry Heart wouldn't give them one. No, the biggest problem were the rest of the unicorns. Those whose horns were lit as well, but who shuddered in fear over seeing Flurry Heart, who squeezed their eyes shut or gasped as she passed them and who radiated nervosity so thick that his spear could have poked a hole through it. And of course the crystal and earth foals who acted the same way, the ratio of fearful vs. composed foals even higher here. All of them had opened and unrolled their scrolls, the hooves of the many nervous ones trembling while holding them. All that was needed was one foal losing its nerves or a harmless movement by Flurry Heart that got misunderstood and everything would turn into a disaster of massive proportions.
Sharp Pitch looked over his shoulder to the two fillies, who had noticed the tension around them by now. Both of them looked from side to side in agitation. Flurry Heart, still being held by Sunny, trembled. “Princess,” he spoke to her and she looked up. “Just act normal.” 
Silently, Flurry Heart nodded.
He turned his head back, attentively watching the foals again while he kept leading his companions through them. A question was on his mind and it grew stronger with the second.
“Why?” he whispered quietly. “I would have expected this from Austere Knowledge. And I'm sure he's enjoying it..... But the principal? How can he allow this?”
And it was not like Sharp Pitch knew the principal. But he knew that he was a stallion of responsibility, a stallion in a position of power. Somepony with influence and with a certain role model function. He was supposed to stay calm, to reassure the parents and tell them that drastic measures like this were not necessary, to maintain order and keep everything going as normal as possible. But he hadn't done any of this. Instead, he had turned the school into something that reminded on a battlefield and made his students soldiers. Young, inexperienced pseudo-soldiers, many of them immature and naïve and none of them having a proper understanding of what it meant to kill or the mental strength to cope with having killed. In order to keep his students safe, he had created an environment that was the exact opposite and that endangered all of them. Currently, the school was a powder keg.
Sharp Pitch shook his head as his sight caught more of the students. “This is madness..... What did he think?”
Realizing that all these thoughts would cause him to let his guard down sooner or later, he calmed himself. He could not afford to lose his focus because of internally rambling over things he disagreed with.
As they had exited the lobby through the door to the schoolyard and left the packs of foals behind them, Sharp Pitch went over his options. Seeing all of this, he would have liked nothing more than bringing Flurry Heart home immediately. But an order was an order and he remembered the words clearly.
“Flurry Heart needs to spend a normal day at school tomorrow and appear as ordinary as possible. We can't risk another riot by appearing to give her special privileges by allowing her to skip school. And it is your task to protect her.”
Of course, since he had been given this order, the situation had become more dangerous and neither the princess nor the prince knew what was going on here right now. Surely they wouldn't blame him if he would return home with Flurry Heart right away. But he also couldn't deny that their worries made sense. Too heated was the situation right now, many things could turn out as a mistake. And he was just a guard, ruling over a kingdom and solving a national crisis was way beyond his league..... Sharp Pitch decided to trust them and to do what he could do best while they did the same.
He taxed his brain. If he stayed here with Flurry Heart, there was a not so small risk he would have to fend off an attempt to fire a neutralization spell at her. And this was tricky. He could not attack a foal that was about to cast one of the dangerous spells. They were young, many of them didn't know better, and attacking a foal would, without a doubt, create a fallout.
There was the possibility of casting a protection spell around Flurry Heart, but he could not do this for the rest of the day without wearing himself out and he needed his strength for his task.
All he could really do, he concluded, was trying to repel such a spell with his own magic before it could reach Flurry Heart. Unfortunately, not all of the neutralization spells could be repelled that way. And the only other option would be to throw himself in front of Flurry Heart and catch the spell with his body. Sharp Pitch shuddered as the thought crossed his mind that one of the foals just might have gotten a scroll with Diruptio Nervus Cerebrum. Or that one of the unicorns could use it.....
In front of him, the rows of trees they had just went through cleared, giving them sight of the pegasus foals who stood in rank and file in the center of the schoolyard. Those damned scrolls were lying at their sides on the ground, Sharp Pitch noticed immediately, and a lot of the little pegasi were glaring at him, knowing perfectly well who was trotting behind him.
It was time for the next lesson.
> Chapter 16: A Lesson in Loyalty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sharp Pitch did not leave any of the foals out of his sight as they approached them. Which was mutual, the foals did not leave him out of their sight either, as he noticed with a frown.
At the far end of the line, the one that was the nearest to them, a pegasus filly with a pearly-white coat waved at them, a grin adorning her face and an excited, eager expression in her eyes. Her coat had such a perfect white color that Sharp Pitch had problems to recognize her teeth. He immediately knew who this filly was. Magnolia Sunshine, it was impossible to not know her if one lived in the Crystal Empire.
Instinctively, he headed for her, the only pegasus foal in the crowd that reacted friendly to them. As they were at her side, she approached Flurry Heart and did not hesitate to wrap her hooves around her, a hyperactive happiness radiating from her that would, if she wouldn't be a filly, let Sharp Pitch guess that she had one or two drinks too much or smoked something illegal prior to Flight Class. Cheerily, Magnolia rested her hooves on Flurry Heart's big wings, gently stroking over them while she and Flurry were still hugging each other, with Flurry's hug a bit less intense than Magnolia's.
Sharp Pitch raised an eyebrow as he saw this. “As much as I am loyal to the royal family, but Flurry Heart has a really strange friend here. Or are they.....?”
Before he could continue this thought process, loud cheers from the other foals to their right interrupted him. Sharp Pitch looked at them, then followed their eyes that were all fixated on the sky now. His face lit up in realization as he saw who they were looking at. The dark-blue Wonderbolts uniform with the yellow lightning on it was impossible to overlook and if that wouldn't make clear who the pegasus that approached them was, the colorful trail the winged pony left in its wake definitely did. It was like fire in the sky.
“Finally she's here!” it sounded into his left ear, then the cheers grew deafening. Magnolia was looking with as much admiration at the incomer as the rest of the foals. And so did Flurry Heart at her side. Both fillies watched in awe as the mare in the uniform did a few daring loopings, then prepared herself to land and flew towards the gathered foals.
Sharp Pitch huffed. “What a show-off..... Nothing has changed in the last three years, it seems.”
The mare landed, slid over the ground and came to a stop in front of the foals, exactly in the middle of their row. She folded in her wings and removed the goggles from her eyes, then turned around to the foals sharply, her rainbow mane swaying slightly. The flight teacher did not waste any time.
“Cadets!” she yelled at them in her raspy voice, loud enough that even a pony hiding at the farthest end of the schoolyard could have heard it. “Stand to attention!”
The foals obeyed, their faces turning strict and focused as all of them took an upright position in front of their teacher.
With the stern rigor of a drill instructor, Rainbow Dash let her eyes wander over the pegasus foals, both checking if everypony was here and if all of them were prepared and ready for her lesson. Her gaze only softened slightly as she had reached Flurry Heart at the end of the row. Like in all of her lessons, she only did a short introduction, then came right to the point.
“Cadets!” she yelled again. “What are you here for today?”
“To become a skilled flyer worthy of the Wonderbolts!” the foals replied in unison, their voices loud and determined.
“And you think you have what it takes for this?” Rainbow Dash continued.
“Yes, ma'am!”
“How do we reach this goal?” she yelled, now more energy in her voice than before.
“By training hard, never giving up and pushing ourselves to our limits!” the foals replied simultaneously.
Rainbow Dash smiled satisfiedly, fierce in her eyes. It was the cool look the foals admired her for, aside from her flying skills, of course. The broad, white scar under her left eye only added to her aura of coolness. Yet, the foals kept standing upright, keeping their desires to gush over their idol under control.
In a slightly lower voice, but still with audible drill, Rainbow Dash proceeded to explain the lesson for today.
“Okay, cadets, here are your instructions! First, you will get together in teams of two flyers each. Once I have formed the teams, you will head to the other end of the schoolyard for new instructions!”
As Rainbow Dash had finished her command, the foals suddenly began to stir, their upright positions faltering in front of her. Many of them had uneasy expressions on their faces. For a while, nopony dared to say something, until a colt with a mane of such a dark blue that it could almost be considered as black raised his hoof, a very grim expression in his face.
Rainbow Dash noticed it. “Do you have any question, cadet?” she bellowed at him, her voice suddenly sounding a good amount stricter.
“Yes, ma'am!” he replied, his voice sounding brash, but still with respect ringing in it. “Does this mean one of us even has to team up with Flurry Heart?”
The drilling teacher narrowed her eyes at the colt, glaring at him with an expression that let him gulp and break out in sweat. “Obviously! Do you have a problem with this, cadet?”
The young colt opened his mouth once more, but his voice died right at the beginning of his answer. “No, ma'am.....” he said defeatedly between bared teeth after a few attempts to speak out his intended answer failed.
“Fine. Any more interruptions like this and all of you will fly a hundred laps around the schoolgrounds! Is this clear?” she yelled then, addressing all the foals.
The harsh answer let them return to their upright position. “Yes, very clear, ma'am!” they replied. Yet despite the intimidation, the foals now started to whisper, their quiet voices merging together in one, worried murmur.
Rainbow Dash began to trot up and down in front of her students, ignoring the whispering. Carefully, she let her eyes go over all the foals numerous times, figuring out the right constellations for the teams. It only took about a minute, yet felt endlessly to the foals. Nervously, they began to paw the ground with their hooves, their upright positions faltering once more. Their wings twitched occasionally.
As Rainbow Dash had finally finished her inspection, she pointed to one of the foals in the row. It was the colt with the dark-blue mane who had asked the cocky question earlier.
“Lightning Twist, you will form a team with Flurry Heart!” she commanded. The colt groaned in annoyance, rolling his eyes over his teacher's choice, a reaction that Rainbow Dash ignored. “She will be your wing pony that assists you in the exercise!”
She detracted her eyes from him and looked over the other foals again. “The rest of you can choose their partners!”
Lightning Twist's expression broke as he heard this and from one moment to another, his face was full with unfiltered anger. He flared his wings and glared at his teacher with an amount of hatred radiating from his face that anypony else would have shuddered at the sight. Rainbow Dash, though, only shot him a stern glance. Her tail flicked violently and her eyes felt to him like she was piercing right through his own eyeballs. He opened his mouth only once, then immediately closed it again and looked resignated to the ground, biting his lip.
Rainbow Dash flared her own wings, getting ready for flight. “Now head to the other end of the schoolyard, cadets!” she yelled again, then took flight before the foals could move, all of them looking surprised after her before they did as told.
More murmurs sounded throughout the crowd, relieved ones this time, each of the students happy that they didn't have to choose Flurry Heart. Except for Lightning Twist, of course. He trotted with Flurry Heart, Sharp Pitch and Sunny Spirit at the end of the group. When he looked at Flurry Heart, his eyes were full with fear and hatred at once. Only the presence of Sharp Pitch kept him from any harsh reactions.
As the students had reached the position Rainbow Dash had told them, they looked up into the sky, their eyes searching for their flight teacher. They found her far away, flying above the castle.
Rainbow Dash was zipping around in the sky, her popular trail full of colors following her and a pile of clouds, that was constantly growing, in front of her. In a speed that made the students gasp from admiration and astonishment, she flew from cloud to cloud, picking them up in the process and adding them to her pile.
As the sky was almost free of clouds, she did a careful dive down on the schoolyard and landed in front of the foals. All of them stared at her with open mouths, their pupils shrunk from disbelief over the speed of the Wonderbolts commander. With the clouds now on the ground, Rainbow Dash dumped them, then began to fly circles around them, occasionaly touching the cloud mass.
Her students' disbelief grew even stronger as the clouds suddenly began to change, slowly taking on the shape of a massive and thick wall. As Rainbow Dash had finished, the wall towered over their heads, making all of them feel small than they already were.
The flight teacher landed in front of the cloud wall. A scrutinizing look in her eyes, she moved a hoof over it, then knocked against the wall. A hollow sound emerged from the spot where her hoof hit the surface, akin to somepony knocking on a massive wall of wood. Rainbow Dash nodded satisfiedly, then she turned to her students, who kept eyeing her still. A slight smirk flashed over Rainbow Dash's face, then she continued her instructions.
“Today, your reactions will be tested, cadets!” As the word “reactions” washed over the fillies and colts, the shock of surprise over Rainbow Dash's abilities left them instantly and their faces returned to normal. It was replaced by feelings of dread, excitement and a bit of fear; a combination of feelings that coursed through their bodies all at the same time.
Two filles in the same team looked at each other, their teeth exposed as their faces were distorted in worry. “THE reaction test?” one of them asked in horror, then both of them gulped.
The words of the filly caused another murmur going through the gathered students. Snippets like “too early” or “I'm not ready for this” could be heard among them. All of the young foals were distracted now, causing Rainbow Dash to yell another command.
“Cadets, focus!” her loud voice was entering their ears. “This is a dangerous exercise and none of you can afford to be inattentive!”
The foals twitched in fear and stopped their whispering, returning back to their stiff positions, but not without nervousness in their eyes and sweat running over their faces.
The reactions of her students showed Rainbow Dash that all of them already knew what was coming towards them, so, instead of giving them another explanation, she dediced to demonstrate what she wanted from them and took flight again. The rainbow-maned pegasus soared over the group until she had reached a significant distance from it, then stopped and turned around. For a moment, she hovered on the spot, then she flapped her wings harder and darted forward, flying at the wall at full speed. There were only inches between her and the hardened cloud surface as she pulled up, causing her to fly over it in just the last moment. Behind the wall, she lowered her tempo, flew a curve and returned to the foals.
“Lead ponies, you will repeat what I just did, but you won't pull up!” she commanded. The lead ponies of all the groups gulped together, the ones with lesser confidence even producing some tears in the corners of their eyes. “Wing ponies, you will take position at the side of the wall, so that you can use your wings to give your lead pony a boost! Make sure to aim precisely and to flap your wings in the right moment, if you don't, your partner will get hurt!” Now the wing ponies began to shudder, almost breaking from the responsibility suddenly put on them.
Rainbow Dash directed her eyes to Flurry Heart. The young alicorn filly was shaking more than the others, fear of failure in her eyes. “Flurry Heart, take care to not flap your wings too strong. You know your power and we don't want Lightning Twist to be blown into space.” There was satisfaction in Rainbow Dash's eyes as she noticed that fear flashed up in Lightning Twist's face.
Flurry Heart quietly nodded. She tried to compose herself now, her eyes stern and her mind focused on the task.
Rainbow Dash extended her attention to the whole group again. “Okay, cadets, we start!” She shot a hoof at one of the teams, the two fillies that were so horrified over the announcement of the reaction test earlier.
Understanding the command, they hesitantly left the group and trotted to the wall together, their legs trembling so much that they could barely prevent themselves from cracking under the pressure. Exchanging a look of fear, the two fillies separated; the one who was asking the question after Rainbow Dash's announcement, her coat of a turquoise color, took flight, her friend with a yellow coat positioning herself at the left side of the wall, where she folded out her wings, ready to give the boost demanded from her.
The turquoise filly flew as far back as her teacher did before, her body constantly shaking and quiet whimpers leaving her throat. As she had turned around and faced the wall in the distance, she took a breath, then focused, trying to cease her shaking. She flapped her wings and flew towards the wall, slowly first, then ever faster. Her tempo increased steadily, until she was as fast as it was needed for the exercise.
Her friend focused too. She watched her lead pony attentively, following each of her movements as she came closer and closer to the wall. Finally, as the other filly had almost reached it, she flapped her wings, producing a breeze, and aimed it at her friend. Just a moment before the breeze hit her friend, though, the pupils of the lead pony shrunk. In fear, she reared up her forelegs, throwing herself out of balance. In shock, she stopped moving her wings and fell to the crystallized ground, a painful wailing escaping the young filly and the gust of wind uselessly waving over her.
Seeing that she didn't move, her wing pony galloped up to her, face full of empathy and worry, but her leader was getting up before she could reach her, rubbing her chin that was hurting from the impact. Carefully, her friend put a wing around her and they motioned back towards the other foals.
Rainbow Dash looked after them. Stern disapproval and a frown in her face, she shook her head and sighed. “Next one!” she yelled then and randomly pointed at the crowd, her hoof landing on Fiery Breeze and Magnolia Sunshine this time.
More confident than their predecessors, but still nervous, the two made their way to the wall. Both of them knew that they weren't exactly the best team; the lead pony being a brash and, sometimes, aggressive hothead, the wing pony a noble and refined, young aristocrat, but all of the other foals rather wanted somepony else as their partner. Before they knew what happened, they were the only ones left.
Unlike the filly before, Fiery Breeze did not waste any time as they had arrived at the wall. Quickly, she started hovering and darted at her start position. Magnolia waited a moment to calm herself. She closed her eyes and held her left hoof to her chest. The white filly breathed in deeply, then out, and stretched her hoof away from her body. Then she opened her eyes again, her heartbeat moderate now. Magnolia turned to Fiery Breeze and gave her a signal with her hoof.
Fiery Breeze nodded, then her wings started to beat and she took off for the wall.
Magnolia was highly focused. She was biting her lip, wings standing upright, ready to boost her partner. Fiery Breeze was approaching her much faster than the lead pony of the first team approached her wing pony, and especially faster than Magnolia had expected from the other pegasus. She squinted her eyes as her lead pony came shooting over the crowd. Gulping and her face in sweat now, she sent her boost as Fiery was close to the wall. Magnolia held her breath, then released it as her partner was hit by the gust. Akin to a catapult, she shot higher, now in a position to surpass the wall without crashing into it. Magnolia's boost was only a little too weak.
Fiery Breeze continued her speed and shot over the wall, scrunching her face a bit as her right backhoof hit the upper edge of the wall. Like Rainbow Dash before, she flew an elegant curve, then landed in front of the wall.
Magnolia looked over to Rainbow Dash, her eyes signaling a desire for approval.
“Good,” Rainbow Dash said taut. “Better than the first team, but there's nothing wrong about making your breeze stronger the next time.”
Magnolia flashed a smile to her teacher, then she closed her eyes and did a proud, deep bow, her right hoof being held in front of her body to accentuate the movement.
Rainbow Dash groaned and rolled her eyes. “And they used to call me a show-off.....” she whispered. She addressed Magnolia again. “Don't think of your move as perfect! You still need to learn a lot about concentration and timing!” she scolded her harshly.
Magnolia nodded at her, still with a smile in her face, but her eyes showing understanding at the same time. She went at Fiery's side and together, they returned to the other foals. Fiery was limping, but nothing in her face gave reason to suspect that she had just hurt her hoof and probably felt a not so insignificant amount of pain right now.
Rainbow Dash proceeded with calling teams to the front as the two different fillies had joined the rest of the class again. One team after another stepped up to the task, with varying results. Some did unexpectedly well, the respective wing pony giving a boost just in the right moment, causing its partner to fly over the wall safely and without injury. Some other lead ponies backed out in the last moment, crashing on the ground like the filly of the first team or simply flying away out of fear before their wing pony could boost them. One team even completely refused to do the task, both of them visibly anxious, as they told their teacher they didn't feel ready for such a brutal exercise.
It were those two colts Flurry Heart watched now, while they flew laps around the schoolground, their tongues hanging out of their mouths and both of them gasping for air, as Rainbow Dash called her and Lightning Twist for the exercise. Only a few teams were left now.
Flurry Heart shuddered, especially as Lightning Twist gave her the deepest look of aversion she had ever seen in the face of a schoolmate. She looked at Rainbow Dash, every muscle contributing to an expression that showed how she really didn't want to do this exercise. But Rainbow Dash was insistent. Her face strict, she beckoned Flurry over with one hoof. The young princess sighed, then she moved forward together with Lightning Twist, who was not any less hesitant than she was.
Though, the colt took off before they had even reached the wall. Everypony that was on the schoolyard could clearly see that he wanted to spend as short of a time as possible at the side of the alicorn filly. Flurry Heart did reach the wall in the meantime and both foals were on their positions at the same time.
Unlike with the teams before, Rainbow Dash gave a start command this time. She checked the face of Flurry Heart, who looked nervous, but ready enough to succeed, then looked at Lightning Twist.
“Start flying!” she yelled into his direction, her voice making clear that he would find himself with the other two colts flying laps around the school if he shouldn't obey.
Lightning Twist clenched his teeth, but he listened to his teacher and started moving towards the wall in fast speed. He did feel fear coursing through his body, though, and the closer he came to the wall, the faster his heart was beating. Lightning Twist fixated his eyes on Flurry Heart.
“How completely reckless.....” he thought. “She forces me to do such a dangerous exercise with a filly who can't control her power and could probably kill me in an instant. I won't allow her to touch me with her breeze..... I'm a good flyer, I can get past this wall on my own and without help!”
He averted his gaze from Flurry Heart and concentrated on the wall as he approached it more and more. He was almost there. Lightning Twist licked over his lips. “Now!” he gave himself a command in his mind, then started his maneuver. In the corner of his eyes, he could see Flurry Heart flapping her wings, releasing a moderately strong breeze that was swiftly coming towards him. He pulled up. Under him, Flurry Heart's breeze was hitting space. Triumphantly, he recognized how he was now in just the right position to fly over the wall without the help of the powerful alicorn, yet what he didn't notice was that he was not high enough to avoid the breeze completely.
A small portion of Flurry Heart's breeze was hitting his hindlegs, strong enough to press him to the side and he was thrown into a spin. He spun around his own axis a few times, his spead increased, then he hit the wall face forward. The dull sound of the impact echoed over the foals and Rainbow Dash, followed by a shriek of pain coming from Lightning Twist just a split-second later. Many of the foals held their hooves in front of their faces and gasped, others just stood there, their eyes wide from shock.
Lightning Twist recoiled from the wall and fell to the ground, where he landed on his back. Scarred by his own shock after the impact, he sat up quickly like nothing happened, just feeling embarrassment for his mistake. Only as he realized a very strong pain coming from his head, he shrieked again and started to cry in an alarmingly loud way. Tormented by the pain, he lied down on his back again. He pressed his hooves on the cut on his forehead, soaking them in the blood that was now running over his face, while his cries sounded over the whole schoolyard.
Rainbow Dash planted a hoof in her face. Then she hurried at the injured colt's side. With the necessary force, she removed his hooves from the wound to check it. The blood that was constantly flowing out of it made it hard to determine how deep the cut was, but judging by the incessant crying of Lightning Twist, the volume of his voice and the fact that the skin under the thin hairs on his forehead started to turn bluish quickly, Rainbow Dash could tell that a real emergency was at hoof.
Meanwhile, Flurry Heart had become frozen in shock. Her senses told her to gallop away right now, to flee, before the inevitable fallout for this accident would descend on her . Yet she couldn't move. All she could do was fixating her eyes on the colt who was writhing in agony in front of her, blaming herself for the pain he had to endure now. A few tears ran out of her eyes. Sunny was suddenly at her side, comfortingly putting a hoof around her friend, which was the only reason why Flurry Heart didn't collapse on the spot.
Like at command, the other flight students started to whisper, which soon turned into a murmur, then into loud and angry talking. A few of them reached for their scrolls, fear in their eyes. It caused Sharp Pitch, who had not left Flurry Heart's side during the whole exercise, to ignite his horn, just in case.
Rainbow Dash rose back to her hooves, her strict, loud voice silencing the foals immediately. “QUIET, CADETS!” As Lightning Twist's crying was the only sound on the schoolyard again, she continued. “I will go into the schoolhouse to get a medic for Lightning Twist. All of you will stay here until I'm back and if I see any bad surprises at my return, I will let you fly until you stop breathing! IS THIS CLEAR?”
“Yes, ma'am!” the foals answered obeyingly, yet with fear over the last statement being apparent in their voices.
Innerly, Rainbow Dash cursed herself for losing control for a moment, but the outcome of the situation, although expected, made her furious. Finding no signs of opposition, she took off and flew to the entrance of the school.
A few minutes later, she returned with two crystal ponies carrying a stretcher, the white caps with the golden caduceus on their heads indicating their profession. With care, the two medics lifted up the still crying Lightning Twist and placed him on the stretcher, then went back with him into the school building to take care of him. Rainbow Dash looked after them for a few moments, her face dark. As they were out of sight, she turned around to her class.
“And this, cadets, is what can happen if you don't focus and if you don't care about your timing!” she yelled into their direction.
Now the foals stirred, unrest spreading among them again. Some of them looked angry over this statement, but only one of them dared to speak up.
“But Lightning Twist did focus and he paid attention to his timing, ma'am. I-It's unfair to say this about him, ma'am. It was Flurry Heart who caused the accident, she is a witch who can't control her power and it only happened because she was casting a spell on her breeze to make Lightning Twist lose his balance on purpose. She wanted to hurt him, ma'am!”
To his left and right, the other foals nodded in agreement. Flurry Heart, who was still frozen at her spot, choked over this statement. Sunny stroke a hoof over Flurry's mane, whispering some words into her ears, which calmed the pink filly somewhat and her choking stopped.
Rainbow Dash was the opposite of calm, though. A quick movement later, she stood in front of the colt who had just accused Flurry Heart, her glaring eyes looking down at him. “What did you just say, cadet?”
The colt gulped and started to sweat. “I-I was j-just saying that it was n-not Lightning Twist's fault, ma'am.”
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes more, but instead of yelling at the colt in her usual fashion, she turned around and stepped back from him. He gasped in surprise and relief.
Rainbow Dash continued her trot. As she crossed Flurry Heart, Sharp Pitch and Sunny Spirit, she gestured Flurry Heart to return to the crowd, then turned around to the gathering of foals, all of which were still visibly distraught over what just happened. As soon as Flurry Heart had returned to her spot assisted by her best friend and her guardian, Rainbow Dash started to address her class with a speech.
“Flurry Heart has done nothing wrong during this exercise,” she began, causing more murmurs. “Her breeze was just strong enough to bring Lightning Twist on a high enough position to pass the wall without getting hurt. It was Lightning Twist himself who caused the accident by not accepting Flurry Heart's breeze. He tried to avoid it and the breeze hit him the wrong way, which let him lose control of his flight.”
Rainbow Dash's words finally brought Flurry Heart out of her paralyzed state and she gasped in surprise. She looked at Sharp Pitch and Sunny Spirit, who gave her encouraging nods. Relief spread over her face as she realized that it had not been her fault. The faces of the other foals, though, were adorned with disbelief.
“Do you want to question my observation, cadets?” Rainbow Dash yelled at them as she noticed the expression.
“No, ma'am!” the foals answered quickly.
Rainbow Dash inspected their faces suspiciously. All of them looked completely honest. They were all believing her words, she noticed satisfiedly.
“This accident,” she began again, “could only happen because Lightning Twist did not trust Flurry Heart to give him a proper boost. At the Wonderbolts,–“ She stopped for a moment, letting this word wash over her students to ensure that she had their fullest attention. “–trusting each other is the most important principle! If the flyers of the Wonderbolts would not trust each other during all of their maneuvers, this is what would happen!” She pointed at the ground to her left, where there was still a puddle of blood.
The foals gasped loudly as they followed her hoof with their eyes.
“Do you know how the Wonderbolts can always trust each other so much?” she asked her class.
None of them answered, the eyes of the young foals fixated on the blood from Lightning Twist's accident, shock and beginning epiphany in their faces.
“Because of loyalty!” Rainbow Dash continued as nopony answered her question. “A Wonderbolt always stays loyal to his team and his unit and no Wonderbolt would ever betray another. This loyalty is it what gives the Wonderbolts their strength and creates the strong bond of trust between them!”
Once more, Rainbow Dash paused to let the effect of her words do its job. The pegasi students gulped, then looked at Rainbow Dash, their mouths opened widely.
“Trust and Loyalty,” Rainbow Dash continued after a few seconds. “Those are the foundations of the Wonderbolts, the principles that keep the Wonderbolts together. If the Wonderbolts would give up their loyalty, they would allow their enemies to grow stronger and destroy themselves from the inside!” Another pause before she continued.
“This is why it is important to always stay loyal to those who are a part of your team, even during hard times! Do you understand this, cadets?”
“Yes, ma'am.....” The answer of the foals was a quiet one this time.
“I can't hear you!”
“Yes, ma'am!” they answered with increased volume.
“I still can't hear you! LOUDER!” their teacher commanded.
“YES, MA'AM!” they shouted back another answer, following Rainbow Dash's command.
“GOOD!” Rainbow Dash did a last glance over her students, seeing some expressions of sadness, some of insecurity and some of regret. All of them, though, had in common that they were deeply buried in thoughts.
The flight teacher smirked. “Okay, cadets, lesson's over for this week! Now go back to your classrooms and stay there until recess!” she commanded them.
“MOVE!” she added as they didn't react.
The foals flinched and, their heads hanging low and their tails tucked between their hindlegs, the finally sat themselves into motion. They grabbed their scrolls while trotting, some of them did so with great hesitation now, though. Rainbow Dash watched them as they went inside, satisfied with the impact she had left on them. Only one of the foals stayed behind, having a scroll in its possession as well, but carrying it carelessly on the back. Magnolia joined Flurry Heart, Sharp Pitch and Sunny Spirit, who had stayed on the schoolyard as well, with Flurry Heart looking at Rainbow Dash in admiration and with gratitude.
As the rest of foals had disappeared between the trees, Rainbow Dash turned towards Flurry Heart and trotted into her direction. The filly continued to give her admiring and thankful looks, while Sharp Pitch frowned over the pegasus' presence and Magnolia's eyes were glowing from admiration as she saw the fast pegasus coming over to them, although for a different reason than the young alicorn.
As Rainbow Dash stood in front of Flurry Heart, she enfolded her right wing and ruffled with it through her mane, a gentle smile on her lips that didn't seem to fit into her torn and strict face at all, yet still radiated a kind of sympathy able to put Flurry Heart at ease.
“Hey, I heard you're having some trouble lately,” she said as lovingly as she could in her raspy and usually so strict voice.
Flurry Heart ducked her head a little as the wing touched her and smiled. A giggle left her throat.
“Don't let it get to you, okay?” Rainbow Dash continued. “We all face hard times sooner or later, but they make us stronger.”
Flurry Heart nodded, her eyes wide from all the admiration for the cool mare. She did a step closer to Rainbow Dash and began hugging her, her tiny arms barely able to reach the neck of the adult pegasus.
Rainbow Dash lifted her left hoof and pulled Flurry Heart a little closer, then looked over at the guard to her right.
“Sharp Pitch,” she acknowledged him with a nod. “I hope you're doing fine too.” Her tone was respectful, yet there was something else in it, something that neither Flurry, nor Sunny, nor Magnolia could explain.
Sharp Pitch's reaction was a hard to distinct mixture between huffing and laughing.
“Rainbow Dash.....” he said in a dry voice. “I never reckoned that I would have to meet you again one day.” The tone in his voice was hard to interpret too; it was not aggressive, but not exactly friendly either.
“Surprises can happen in life,” she answered calmly, then left it at this reply and turned her head to the left, looking at Magnolia.
Magnolia's heart started to bump a little faster as she noticed that the pegasus looked at her directly. Rainbow Dash's expression was a bit stricter now.
“Magnolia, you're here too..... You could really use a special lesson about loyalty from me.” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the rich filly.
Magnolia didn't like the emphasis Rainbow Dash had put on “special lesson”. She gulped.
“Why are you here?” Rainbow Dash asked Magnolia suspiciously. “Busy with giving her a hard time again, huh?”
Magnolia gulped a second time, now shaking. “N-No, not at all! Not anymore! Flurry and me are, uh, b-best pals now, I-I p-promise!” Demonstratively, she reached out with her left hoof and dragged Flurry Heart away from Rainbow Dash, something that Flurry only let happen under protest, then pulling her at her side. She placed her hoof around Flurry's neck. “See?” she asked nervously.
“And this is true, huh?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, then gave Flurry a doubting glance.
Flurry Heart nodded. “It's true. I'm still surprised myself.”
Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Guess my own words come back at me now!”
She looked at Magnolia again. “You better stay loyal like this, do you hear?” she said sternly again.
Magnolia gulped once more, then just nodded quietly, her eyes showing great respect for Rainbow Dash.
The mare in the Wonderbolts uniform did a look at the sun, then sighed. “I guess it's already time for me to leave again. The duties never rest at the Wonderbolts, especially not in these times.” She looked over to Sharp Pitch and Sunny Spirit. “You two take good care of Flurry, okay?”
Sharp Pitch huffed, but Sunny Spirit smiled and nodded. “I always will! I won't allow that somepony hurts my best friend!” Some bitter irony was ringing in her voice, but if Rainbow Dash noticed, she decided to ignore it.
Rainbow Dash ruffled through Sunny's mane shortly, then returned her attention to Flurry Heart. She pulled her into another hug, then wrapped one wing around her. “I need to leave now. You keep your head up, okay?”
At her chest, Flurry Heart nodded, a muffled “Mhm” coming from her.
The mare and the filly retracted from each other. “Awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She ruffled Flurry's mane with her wing again, then started to hover. “I'll be back with another flying lesson next week! Stay safe until then!”
Flurry Heart shot her a smile. “I will, don't worry!” she answered confidently.
Rainbow Dash waved at her, gave Sharp Pitch a farewell nod, then she took off into the sky.
Flurry Heart looked after her until she couldn't see her anymore, then turned around to her friends and Sharp Pitch. “Let's go inside!” she said, her voice unexpectedly cheerful considering her current situation. A round of nods followed her suggestion. Together, the four ponies trotted towards the school building, Sharp Pitch attentively at Flurry Heart's side again.
In her thoughts, Flurry Heart was already at the next lesson, another unbeloved math lesson with her favourite teacher, and she cringed at this thought. But there was also a new kind of confidence spreading inside her now, which gave her reason to smile. And she still had recess to look forward to, which would hopefully be a quiet time, spent between the trees with her friends, while Sharp Pitch was shielding them from any nastyness that might occur.
“Maybe everything will turn out okay,” Flurry thought as she entered the school building.
> Interlude Chapter: Underground
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As the wheels of the train hit an unexpected bump on the tracks and the train car was shaken by the impact, Rainbow Dash's head shot up. Frantically, her eyes darted around, but all they found was darkness.
Without orientation, the pegasus mare jumped up from her seat. Immediately lowering her head and flaring her wings, she took on a battle position. She clenched her teeth while continuing to look around, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the blackness that surrounded her and trying to spot something.
Rainbow Dash focused on all her senses at once. “Is anypony here? Tell me what happened! Did something attack the train?” The words came out of her mouth like she was already busy shouting commands during a battle.
All of a sudden, the darkness vanished. The magical lights of the car went on again, as fast as they had went out earlier during Rainbow Dash's sleep. In the door at the other end of the car, the conductor appeared.
“Only a small rock on the tracks!” he gave the mare an all-clear and waved at her, his voice sounding relieved.
Slowly, Rainbow Dash felt how her tense muscles relaxed and she sat down on her seat again. Her head felt still fuzzy and only now she realized that she had been fallen asleep shortly after she boarded the train in the Crystal Empire.
Rainbow Dash yawned. Then she stretched out her tired limbs and flexed them, to free herself from the lethargy. With an unhappy frown on her face, she propped up her head on one hoof and looked out of the window. Her eyes followed rocks entering and leaving her field of vision as the train rode through the dark tunnel, until she began to feel dull and couldn't take it anymore.
Rainbow Dash groaned. “I wish I could still fly all over Equestria, like I used to..... By now, I would already be at the Wonderbolts Headquarter in Fillydelphia, not like this sluggish train.”
She yawned a second time, feeling sleep tugging at her again already. But instead of closing her eyes and taking another nap until she would arrive at her destination, the athletic mare left her seat and began to trot up and down in the train car.
Gradually, the heavy feeling that remained from her nap left her body, making her feel more awake with every hoofstep. What finally drove the sleepiness out of her body completely, though, was none of these steps and neither one of the continued stretches and flexes she did.
In one moment, as her constant trotting had just brought her to the middle of the empty train car again, the train slowed down when approaching a curve of the dark underground tunnel and, through the window to her right, Rainbow Dash's gaze fell upon something that let her pupils shrink and her mouth gape open in shock.
Emerging from the window's right side as the train passed by it slowly, a sign came into Rainbow's view; a white, metallic sign, attached to the wall of the tunnel and lit up by one of the tunnel's lamps above it; its rusty marks indicating that nopony had use for it anymore since years. But despite the rust on its surface, it was still very much readable.
The scar under Rainbow Dash's left eye began to hurt suddenly, as she read the words out aloud.
“Canterlot,” she muttered.
Her eyes followed the sign like in trance as it got seemingly pulled to the left through the train's constant movement. As it had almost left the window frame, something else came into view:

A gaping, black hole.

It was another tunnel, a different track leading into its darkness. Right behind the entrance, a strong barricade made of wood blocked the tracks, making every ride into the tunnel, something which only a train driver who had lost all his senses would attempt, impossible. In the barricade's center, another sign, a yellow one, was fixated. “Dead Track” its bold, black letters said.
Rainbow Dash held a hoof at her scar as it began to hurt more.
A multitude of memories suddenly dropped themselves on her mind at once while her eyes were locked on the words. The pegasus began to shiver and, feeling like her hooves could not carry her weight any longer, she turned around and trotted back to her seat with wonky steps. Sitting down on it, a wheeze left her throat.
Still feeling pain in her scar, Rainbow Dash looked out the window again, her eyes, that now appeared as dull and distant, focused on the rocks in the tunnel wall once more.
In this position, Rainbow Dash remained, and she did not move one inch until her arrival in Fillydelphia, her mind being haunted by the demons of the past.....
> Chapter 17: The Decision
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	In the same moment as the bell rang, Flurry Heart's stomach grumbled, forming an awkward symphony together with the other sound. She held a hoof at it, looking down with a scrunch of her face. It was time for recess.
Flurry Heart turned towards Sunny Spirit and Sharp Pitch, wearing a cheery smile. “Let's go!” she exclaimed eagerly. “I'm hungry and I really need a sandwich now!”
Sunny Spirit nodded, then Flurry Heart found herself being wrapped into a spontaneous hug by the crystal filly. “I'm glad you're feeling better, Flurry!” She sighed with relief at her friend's neck. Gently, Flurry Heart put her hooves around Sunny and squeezed her tightly.
A smile flashed over Sharp Pitch's face as he watched the scene and how Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit then galloped out of the classroom at each other's side. He hurried after the two fillies, then took position in front of them as he had caught up.
Behind him, Flurry and Sunny were busy with idle chatter, talking about getting some relaxation and, of course, about sandwiches with peanut butter and tomato slices. Happily, the two of them giggled and laughed, as suddenly, a third pony joined their ranks.
“Hey, I can come with you, right?” Magnolia asked them, a bit out of breath.
Sunny drilled through her head with eyes full of scepticism, an eyebrow raised significantly, but she did not say anything. Flurry Heart, on the other hoof, nodded, giving her new, unexpected friend a smile. Overjoyed, Magnolia leapt forward and placed a kiss on Flurry's cheek, her own cheeks flushing red a little. Her gesture got acknowledged with a gasp of surprise coming from the young alicorn. To their right, the scepticism in Sunny's eyes deepened.
Diligently protected by the guard, the three fillies headed for the school cafeteria, where each of them grabbed a sandwich hastily, then made their way to the schoolyard. As they left the cafeteria, Starry Skies and Fiery Breeze joined them, both of them carrying sandwiches on their backs as well. After quickly exchanged hoofbumps, the group of fillies galloped over the schoolyard and under the first row of trees. As they were surrounded by the thick leafage and the mighty tree trunks, the rest of the schoolyard not visible for them anymore, they slumped down and grabbed their sandwiches.
Flurry Heart, Sunny and Magnolia took seat at a particularly massive tree, the latter draping one hoof over Flurry Heart's back, where she let it rest on one of her wings. Magnolia held her sandwich with the other one and took a big bite out of it. Starry Skies and Fiery Breeze seated themselves at a tree opposite of them.
The first few minutes were mostly spent in silence. The five fillies hungrily ate away at their school lunches and the tiny clearing became filled with sounds of munching, chewing and swallowing. Only when Flurry Heart noticed something about Starry Skies and Fiery Breeze and asked them a question, the silence was broken for some seconds.
“The scrolls we got?” Fiery Breeze asked a question in return, between two bites of her sandwich. “We threw them away,” she explained nonchalantly, her attention staying focused on her lunch. “Starry and me don't care about what that punk says!”
At her side, Starry blushed and an embarrassed expression entered her eyes, but with a hint of glee. “Mhm. We don't need them!” she confirmed, then she continued to munch eagerly.
Flurry Heart's lips formed a smile at these words and, a thankful look of pure sympathy for her friends in her eyes, she took a hearty bite out of her own sandwich.
As the last bits of the sandwiches had disappeared in the fillies' stomachs and the thin paper they were wrapped in laid at their sides, crumpled to balls, Sunny Spirit cleared her throat. Flurry, Magnolia, Starry and Fiery looked over to her, curious as to what the crystal filly had to say. With all attention on her, Sunny began to speak.
“As you all know, the last few days were really bad for Flurry Heart. Many ponies gave her a hard time, especially since her secret is out. Even me.....” For a moment, she appeared to be sunken in thoughts.
Simultaneously, Magnolia removed her hoof from Flurry Heart's back and looked to the side, her face full of shame.
Sunny shook off her paralysis and continued. “And that's why I want to do something to cheer her up.” Once more she stopped and looked over the curious and excited faces of her friends and classmates. “It's almost weekend and soon, Flurry Heart will have two whole days to recover from all of this and relax. I want to join her and hold a sleepover with her and you all can come too, if you want.”
To her left, a visibly moved Flurry Heart gave her best friend a smile of appreciation and gratitude, her eyes tearing up just a little.
Sunny Spirit looked at Magnolia. “Magnolia.....” she began and the pegasus filly twitched. “I invite you too. You hurt Flurry's feelings almost the most and if you really mean what you said, if you really don't want to be a bully anymore but a true friend for Flurry, then you can now make up for what you did and prove yourself.”
Magnolia stared on the ground, avoiding eye contact with the other filly. A few tears glistened in her eyes, but she rubbed them away and looked up, somehow managing to look at Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit both now. “I-I will come,” she announced, her voice a mere quiet whisper. “I..... I want to help Flurry.” Magnolia gulped.
To her surprise, she suddenly felt Flurry Heart's arm around her neck, getting pulled closer by her. A conciliatory expression of forgiveness was on Flurry Heart's face and she gave Magnolia a short nuzzle on the cheek, causing her to blush and to look away again.
Sunny gave Magnolia a stern nod of approval, then she turned to Starry Skies. “Starry?” The insecure filly looked up at her. “You should come too. Flurry Heart helped you a lot and now you can return something to her for this.”
Unlike Magnolia, Starry Skies immediately replied. “Mhm, I will come!” she confirmed. “I want to make her happy again too.” She averted her gaze from Sunny and met Flurry Heart with a smile, which the alicorn filly returned while still hugging Magnolia, a few tears trickling out of her eyes now.
Last, but not least, Sunny turned to Fiery Breeze, but before she could ask, Starry leapfrogged her. “What about you, Fiery? Do you want to join us?”
Starry snickered a little as the brash filly with the green coat and the fire-red mane answered with a roll of her eyes. “Nah..... I would join and I want to help Flurry Heart too, but isn't there anything cooler we can do? Like, flying together?” Then her face beamed. She jumped up and flared her wings as an idea hit her. “Or we could go to the forge and watch how the new swords and spears get created there! That would be–”
She did not get a chance to finish her sentence as the other fillies around her broke out in laughter, even Magnolia. Furious, Fiery Breeze began to buzz her wings, but before she could express her anger, Flurry Heart stopped her laughing and interfered.
“It's okay if you don't come, Fiery. We know that you like other things more and that's fine.”
The gentle words calmed the hothead and she sat down again, but still kept a slight angry expression in her eyes.
Starry Skies addressed her again. “So, do you want to join a sleepover for once, just to cheer up Flurry?”
Dismissively, the pegasus waved a hoof at her friend. “Nah. Just go and have fun at your girly sleepover without me, this stuff isn't for me. I'm sure I can cheer up Flurry Heart in a different way.”
Starry Skies flattened her ears in disappointment, but nodded acceptingly at Fiery Breeze's decision.
Sunny took the floor again. “That makes me, Magnolia and you, Starry. I think we should already start this evening, right after finishing our homework. Do all of you have time to sleep in the castle tonight?”
Confirmation came from both Starry and Magnolia as Sunny looked at them for an answer on her question.
“Okay,” she said then, happiness ringing in her voice about the smooth organization of the sleepover she had planned for her friend. “Then let's talk about who's bringing what for the weekend.”
Eagerly, the three attending fillies discussed plans for the sleepover. There were a lot of things to think of; they needed to bring snacks, they had to make a decision which games they wanted to play on these two days and, of course, had to come up with strategies how to stay up way past their bedtimes without getting noticed by Flurry's parents. The biggest problem to solve, though, became apparent to them as Starry Skies made a confession.
They had just settled on the most important things, as the unicorn raised her voice. “I..... I don't have a sleeping bag. W-Where should I sleep during our sleepover?” She sounded shaky.
Sunny Spirit looked at her in surprise. “You don't have one? Why?” A little irritated, she raised an eyebrow.
“I never attended any sleepovers so far..... I want to now, to help Flurry, but I don't know how to act at sleepovers and I'm afraid to embarrass myself..... So I never went to any. I never needed to get a sleeping bag.....” Sadness adorning her face now, Starry looked to the side.
Sunny Spirit approached Starry and gave her a pat on the back. “I'm sure Flurry's parents can borrow you one, if they have a sleeping bag left. And if they don't have one, you just slip under the covers with Flurry. I'm sure she won't mind to share her bed for a few nights.” She turned around. “Flurry? That's okay with you, right?”
Flurry Heart did not answer. And just as Sunny had finished her sentence, she noticed that Flurry's eyes were closed. She still had a hoof draped over Magnolia's back, but it was now hanging down loosely and her head was leaning against Magnolia, resting on her neck. Her eyes twitched under the closed lids and deep, although sometimes unsteady, breaths came from her throat. Magnolia looked at her with compassion coming from her eyes.
Sunny walked in front of the sleeping alicorn filly and nudged her gently. “Hey, Flurry!”
Almost in the same moment as her hoof touched her shoulder, Flurry's eyes suddenly shot open and she raised to an upright position; all in one, quick movement. For seconds, Flurry just looked around in bewilderment, eyes widened, then she breathed a sigh of relief as she realized again where she was. Sleepily, she rubbed her eyes until all the grit was out, then yawned.
“Are you ok?” Magnolia put a hoof around Flurry's neck and pulled her a little closer, looking into her eyes with concern.
“Mhm.” Flurry Heart answered in a weak voice. “I just had–” She interrupted herself, rubbing over her eyes again, then yawned a second time. “I was just getting so tired suddenly and then I must have dozed off,” she explained, without looking at the concerned filly at her side.
“We were talking about Starry Skies,” Sunny began again, requesting her friend's attention. “She doesn't have a sleeping bag, would it be okay for you if she sleeps in your bed?”
Surprised, Flurry Heart looked over to Starry Skies, but did not ask any questions. Instead, she nodded. “Mhm. That's fine. It's probably going to be tight, but I think it will work.”
A smile appeared in Starry's face now, replacing the vanishing insecurity.
With this last problem solved, Sunny moved around to face all of her friends again. “Okay, that's settled too!” She let her eyes wander over them. “Does everypony know what to bring?”
“I've got it all!” Magnolia said, smiling at Flurry.
“Me too!” Starry underlined her answer with a grin.
“Great, then we meet together at the castle right at sundown!” Sunny clapped her hooves together in satisfaction.
“Yeah!” it rang out from her friends.
Then all of them got up, taking the crumpled paper balls in the process, and made their way out from between the trees and back into the open space of the schoolyard, Sunny following behind close. Recess was almost over, so it was time to head inside again and to get prepared for the next lesson.
Cheerfully, they talked more about their plans for the weekend and excited laughs and giggles left their throats. The mood was so boisterous and happy, that none of the five friends noticed the familiar figure coming from the entrance of the school building and how it was approaching them fast. Only Sharp Pitch took his spear into his hooves and tightened the grip around it, eyes squinted in grim cautiousness.
In the distance, nopony else than Austere Knowledge trotted up to them. This alone would have already been enough to alarm Sharp Pitch, but what made him nervous about this occurrence, was the thing the heartless teacher hovered casually at his side:

It was one of the neutralization spell scrolls.

Noticing the reaction of her guard, Flurry Heart looked ahead and her and Austere Knowledge's eyes met. He unrolled the scroll and grinned at Flurry, but all of a sudden, his mouth formed a simple smile. Flurry's pupils dilated and a gasp escaped her throat, then Sharp Pitch stepped to the front, blocking her sight.
With the skilled movement of a soldier, Flurry Heart's guard aimed the spear at Austere, the expression in his eyes not leaving any questions about his intentions and what he would do if the situation should escalate.
By now, the unicorn stallion had almost reached the small group. A hastening tempo was in his hoofsteps.
“Don't come closer. Stop right there!” Reinforcing his statement, Sharp Pitch moved his spear forward, just an inch.
The expression in the teacher's face was one between amusement and pity. His horn became lit up by his black aura which, just a second later, got wrapped around the alarmed guard, keeping him frozen in place, unable to move. Then Sharp Pitch felt flung to the side. His eyes grew in terror as he had to helplessly witness how Austere Knowledge stepped right before Flurry Heart.
Now it were Fiery Breeze and Magnolia who did a step to the front. Each of them held a protective wing between Flurry Heart and her teacher. As they were finished preparing their defense of Flurry, Austere Knowledge had reached them. His cold appearance towered over Flurry Heart, who shivered in fear, her eyes fixated on the unrolled scroll. Austere looked over the two pegasus fillies, a friendly smile on his lips that gave both of them shudders.
“What do you want from her?!” Sunny shot a question at her teacher, her face consumed by worry and fear for her friend. She hurried at Flurry's side as well, putting a hoof around her back and holding her tight.
Austere Knowledge ignored her. Turning his attention to Flurry Heart again, he hovered the scroll right in front of her face. From her position, the young alicorn princess could clearly see the words written on the scroll.
“Diruptio Nervus Cerebrum” he read the words for her in a whisper. A grin played around his lips again.
The color vanished from Flurry Heart's face in an instant and she began gasping for air, now tears appearing in her eyes as the shock overtook her.
With as much force as she could, Sunny began to pull at her friend, trying to get her out of the way of the wicked teacher.
Only for a split-second, a satisfied glimmer flashed up in Austere's eyes, then he returned to his friendly smile from earlier. With carefulness, he furled in the scroll again, using his magic, then gently placed it on Flurry Heart's back.
Puzzled, Sunny stopped pulling, her eyes filled with questions over the sudden strange behavior of Mr. Know. Which got only worse as he suddenly lifted a hoof and put it down on Flurry Heart's mane. Slowly, but for once not in a menacing way, he ruffled through it, the smile still on his face.
Flurry Heart's eyes grew wide in surprise.
“These are dangerous times for you, beloved princess, and you need as much defense as you can get.” Austere's voice was unusually soft. “I know you are hesitant to use your magic, but with this scroll, you can defend yourself without leaving any traces. Don't be afraid to use it.” He moved his hoof away, then turned around and, without saying another word, left Flurry Heart and her friends behind. His horn stopped glowing and Sharp Pitch got released from the magical clutches that did not allow him to come to Flurry Heart's aid.
Groaning, he got up from the ground, his head feeling dizzy. He shook it, then he rushed back at Flurry's side. “Are you okay, princess?” He bent down, checking her for any injuries.
“W-What was this?” she stammered, without answering his question. “W-Why did he do t-this?” Her eyes were still widened and a few tears glistened in them still.
Sunny reached out and wiped them away, then tightened the grip around her friend and squeezed her. Worry in her eyes, she looked up to Sharp Pitch. “What did he mean by that?”
“I have no idea what he is up to,” he answered the filly's question. “If a magic user casts one of these spells they leave traces on the body of the victim, which makes it possible to find out who did it. But if a scroll containing the spell is used instead, nopony can trace it back. The magic signature the scrolls leave behind is useless to identify an attacker.”
Having finished checking Flurry Heart, Sharp Pitch rose up again. Sunny followed him with her eyes.
“I don't know why he gave the princess the means to attack another pony in such a way.” His expression showed deep concern. Sternly, he looked down at Flurry Heart. “Whatever happens, only use the scroll if there is absolutely no other way, princess. As soon as this spell got cast, there is no way back. Do you understand this, princess?”
Biting her lip, Flurry Heart answered his glance with her own. “O-Okay,” she answered taut, still stammering.
“Good. Don't forget that I'm on your side, princess. You probably don't need this spell and I will do everything to protect you well enough so that you won't have to use it.” He placed a hoof on her shoulder and smiled at her reassuringly.
Weakly, Flurry Heart answered his smile.
As the bell of the school rang out again, he stashed the spear back at the side of his armor, then looked around. Unnoticed by them, the schoolyard had become empty. They were the only ones left.
“Let's go inside now,” he addressed the whole group of fillies. “We're late.”
Together, the guard, Flurry Heart and her friends set into motion, but not without Flurry occasionally turning around and taking a nervous look at the scroll on her back. She did not know what it was, but she could feel something dark radiating from the scroll. Explaining it with her overactive imagination, she tried to shake them off, but the dark vibes remained.
“I have a very bad feeling about this,” she muttered quietly.
> Chapter 18: Defense
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The agonizing pain in Flurry Heart's head was finally replaced by waves of relief as the schoolbell rang out once more on this day. The third lesson was over and a dreadful hour of mathematical tasks laid behind her.
Shaking her head free from all the dull calculations and equations, Flurry Heart put down her quill and let out a strong breath. Another one followed as the black sphere, that had surrounded her for all of the lesson, dissipated. Relieved, Flurry Heart stretched out her limbs. Her wings twitched slightly. What she needed now was fresh air and some flying and luckily, she knew that she would be getting exactly that now.
With this Friday morning's math lesson over, it was now time for Alchemy Class. A class only crystal ponies attended and at her side, Sunny Spirit was getting ready for it. Obviously, this meant that the rest of the students in Flurry Heart's class had to spend the hour elsewhere. And it meant they were free to do what they wanted, something Flurry Heart would soon use to her advantage. Already caught up in imaginations of her flying over the school building, Flurry Heart felt tapped on her shoulder. Sunny Spirit looked at her with a concerned expression.
“Will you be alright, Flurry? I can ask the teacher if you can stay here during my class.”
But Flurry Heart shook her head. “Thanks, Sunny, but I want to fly for a bit. I really need fresh air after all those numbers.....”
It was an answer that came as no surprise for Sunny and she nodded. After a quick, but intense, hug had been exchanged by the two fillies, Flurry Heart and Sharp Pitch left the classroom.
Only a few steps past the treshold, Magnolia joined them again. She gently put a hoof around Flurry Heart while they trotted. “Are you going to fly?” she asked the alicorn at her side.
“Mhm.” Flurry Heart replied with a smile and a nod. “It's the only thing that can let me forget such a boring lesson. Do you want to join me?” Immediately, Magnolia's face lit up like a thousand lightbulbs at once. She did not produce one word, but Flurry Heart understood. “Ok. I want to fly up on the roof of the school, it's the most quiet place here.” Magnolia simply nodded at the suggestion, her face still bright.
As the two fillies stepped out of the school and on the yard, Sharp Pitch always close behind them, a whistle sounded into their ears. They followed the sound with their eyes. To their left, Starry Skies and Fiery Breeze, who had left the classroom earlier than them, waved them over.
Following the invitation, they took seat at their table, opposite of them. Looking around, they noticed they weren't the only ones out here, a few of the other tables were occupied by their classmates.
As Flurry Heart looked over the tables, a filly with a yellow coat caught her attention. Apparently, she had only now checked what spell scroll she had gotten, as she was holding the unrolled scroll in front of her. A frightened expression adorned her face. Just a second later, she crumpled the piece of parchment and tossed it into a nearby bin. “I'm not using this!” she accompanied her gesture with spoken protest, causing raised eyebrows and sceptical glances by her friends. Her statement was loud enough so that Flurry Heart could hear it, though, Flurry was not sure if that wasn't just a coincidence. The yellow filly did not look at her.
After a few seconds, Flurry Heart gave it up and turned her attention to Starry Skies and Fiery Breeze, as she suddenly felt a squeeze. She turned to the left, where she found Magnolia draping a hoof over her wings. Even here, where all their classmates could see them, Magnolia just couldn't let go of her wings. To Flurry Heart, it seemed like she was squeezing them even tighter now.
On the other side of the table, Starry and Fiery snickered and a broad grin appeared on Fiery Breeze's face. “Hey, can we borrow Magnolia for a moment, Flurry? Only if it's not too much for her having to let go your gorgeous wings for a few minutes, of course.” Another snicker was exchanged between Fiery and her friend.
Understanding the implication, both Flurry Heart and Magnolia blushed. Unlike Magnolia, who now retracted her hoof from Flurry and looked away, Flurry Heart took the remark more with humor. “You can,” she answered dryly. “I was going for a flight now anyway. Unless Magnolia would disturb your own togetherness,” Flurry Heart replied with a snark, then she took off into the sky. She did not see the dumbfounded expressions of the unicorn and the pegasus filly anymore.
While Magnolia started to talk with the other two fillies, Flurry Heart began to zip around in the skies over the schoolyard. Flying some circles, soaring through a bunch of clouds, the wind playing in her mane, and soon, Flurry Heart's mind had recovered from the one lesson she hated so much. Feeling revitalized, she flew back to the school and, as she had told Magnolia, landed on the roof. It was open and wide, its crystalline surface stretching out to the left and right. The light of the sun blinded her a little as it entered her eyes, reflected by the shiny surface.
Turning around, Flurry Heart slumped down at the edge of the building. Her legs dangling over the edge, she let her eyes wander over the schoolyard. It reaches were far, but from up here, Flurry Heart could see everything of it; from the benches right behind the schoolhouse, to the last rows of trees at the very end. Under her, Starry Skies and Fiery Breeze were still discussing something with Magnolia. Occasionally, one of them shot her a careful glance, like they wanted to ensure she was still up there. Sharp Pitch did the same, for his own reasons. Flurry Heart wondered about all the secrecy of her friends down below, but with her head still feeling a bit mushy, she ceased pondering about this question quickly.
With a sigh, Flurry Heart laid down, crossing her hooves behind her head, and looked up into the sky. She followed the clouds with her eyes, drawing imaginary outlines around them, and tried to interpret shapes and forms into them. It eased her mind and slowly, she felt like drifting off to sleep. Before she fell into a slumber, though, a feeling of pressure right under her belly told her it was time to follow nature's call. Flurry Heart groaned and, unwillingly, she got up and flew back to the ground, right at Sharp Pitch's side. The conversation between her friends immediately stopped the moment she arrived.
Sharp Pitch turned to her. “Is anything wrong, princess?”
“No, I'm fine, I just need to go to the bathroom,” Flurry Heart explained. She grimaced. Even in this situation, she would have preferred to go there alone, not with the guard assigned to her, yet she did not dare to take the risk.
Sharp Pitch nodded. “Okay, I will guard you on the way. There are not many students outside of the classrooms right now, but I can't allow you getting exposed to even the tiniest risk,” he answered, as if he was reading her own thoughts.
Leaving Magnolia, Starry and Fiery behind, the guard and the princess entered the school again. Both of them observing their surroundings, they went past the cafeteria, then took a turn to the right and into the corridor there. It was not common for Flurry Heart to use the toilets on this side of the building and thinking about what reason she had to go there the last time gave the filly shudders.
As they had arrived in front of the filly's toilet, Flurry Heart hurried inside without hesitation, but found herself stopped by Sharp Pitch. “I will go first, princess.” Gently, he shoved her to the side, then entered the filly's toilet, Flurry Heart following behind. Scrutinizing every corner of the small room, Sharp Pitch's eyes wandered across it. He opened each of the three stalls and took a look inside. As he found all of them empty, he turned around to Flurry Heart again. “I will wait outside, princess, and won't let anypony in until you are finished,” he told her, then left the room through the door.
Glad to be alone now, Flurry Heart flashed a smile. As a strange stench entered her nose, though, she wrinkled it and grimaced. With hasty steps, she proceeded to the window and opened it, letting in fresh air. After having taken a deep sniff, she retreated from the window and finally entered the middle of the stalls. At the edges of her mind, she recalled the last time she was in this stall as she locked the door. But something else was more important and by now, of great urgency even, so she didn't pay heed to this thought and quickly did what she came here for.
As she was finished, she put down the lid and flushed. Feeling better, Flurry Heart turned to the door of the stall and unlocked it, then pulled it open. She proceeded to leave the stall as she suddenly bumped into something. Only now it was that she noticed that there was a pony in front of her, blocking the exit of the stall. Looking up, she saw a face that was familiar to her, yet also one she hadn't really seen for quite a while.
“Swift Hoof?!” she squeaked, startled by the sudden appearance of the colt. “What are you doing here, this is not–” As swift as his name would let one expect it, he shoved a hoof over her mouth and pressed down on it. Then he pushed her rudely back inside. With the other hoof, he reached behind him and locked the door again.
Flurry shuddered as worst fears began to rise in her heart. But she was not intended to reveal them to the rude earth pony colt. “What do you want today, hm? Do you really want me to beat you up again, like I did last time?” she snarked at him as he had removed his hoof from her mouth. The words made her feel brave, but her shuddering was slightly audible in her voice.
“Not this time,” the colt with the brown coat replied. With a vile grin on his face, he suddenly took a scroll from his back that Flurry Heart hadn't noticed before. “You will never beat me again,” he whispered.
A numbing panic beginning to rush through her as the scroll entered her vision, Flurry Heart did not lose any time. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but before she could call her guardian, Swift Hoof had covered her mouth again. Now applying strong force, he pushed her back and forced Flurry Heart to sit down on the lid. Hatred flashed up in his face. “You ridiculed me and now I will pay everything back!” he hissed at her.
Not willing to free her mouth, he clumsily unrolled the scroll with one hoof, then turned it around so that Flurry Heart could read the words. She gulped.
His face now forming a sadistic expression, he whispered the spell's name. “Musculus Infirmitate Aeternum.” He pulled away again and grinned at her. “You know this spell, I bet your teacher taught you about it right after school started today, just like in my class.”
The fear in her heart getting stronger and still unable to talk, Flurry Heart nodded.
The sadistic expression in Swift Hoof's face deepened. “I explain it anyway,” he announced. “If somepony is hit by this neutralization spell, the muscles of the victim will start to decay, until they are too weak to perform the most simple tasks.”
Flurry Heart gulped again and tears entered her eyes now.
The colt continued. “And if I cast it on you, then you won't be able to beat me in a fight anymore. Then I'm finally the strongest foal on the schoolyard again, Flurry Heart.” His grin became a victorious one now. “Of course, you won't be able to do much else anymore either.” He let the words linger in the air for a moment before he continued, feeling deep satisfaction as Flurry Heart's eyes got filled up more and more with tears. Under his hoof, muffled cries of protest could be heard.
“But that's fine with me. You humiliated me in front of the whole school, ruined my reputation and made me a laughing stock!” His face got distorted with pure hatred now and his voice became snide. “I want revenge, you bitch!”
Under normal circumstances, Flurry Heart would have simply gasped over hearing somepony saying this word, but in the current situation, she began to shook her head violently, trying to free her mouth from the colt's grasp to finally scream for Sharp Pitch's help. Swift Hoof pressed down harder. Feeling pain in her teeth, Flurry Heart whimpered.
“And now I just need to read these words again out loud and I finally have it,” Swift Hoof continued, his voice dripping from glee and anticipation. He turned the scroll around so that the side with the letters pointed to him. “Let's see how you are going to fly after this!”
More muffled noises emerged from under his hoof as Flurry Heart pleaded him to let her go, but Swift Hoof ignored her.
As he set his eyes to the scroll and began to read the spell, everything happened in a flash. Overwhelmed by her fear, Flurry Heart squeezed her eyes shut and at the same time, her horn got ignited. A light blue blast of magic emerged from Flurry's horn and before Swift Hoof could finish casting the spell, he got smashed against the door of the stall with full force. A gurgling scream escaped his throat.
The door only lasted a second under the impact, then it broke in halves and the blast continued to smash Flurry's attacker against the wall just above the lavatories. His head produced a loud thump as it hit the pink wall, then Swift Hoof fell down. His back hooves thudded against one of the lavatories before his body hit the ground. It slid over a few inches, then came to a standstill.
In shock, Flurry Heart crouched down on the lid she still sat on and pulled up her legs, but could not remove her eyes from the colt who had attacked her. Swift Hoof's eyes were closed now and his head pointed in her direction. On his chin, Flurry could see charred spots from where her magic had hit him. She shoved the thought away that the rest of the front of his body probably didn't look better.
As her eyes fell on the blood that was flowing out in thick streams from a wound on the back of his head, then automatically wandered up the wall where they stopped at a big speck of blood, Flurry Heart bit down on her lip until she started to bleed herself, then covered her eyes with her hooves. Every part of her mind was screaming at her now, screaming that she should leave through the window before anypony would enter, but the panic and the shock kept her in place. She was unable to move away from the lid by just one inch and so, she just cried into her hooves, weeping and sobbing.
Finally, in what had seemed like an eternity, but had actually been just a few seconds, the door got opened with a bang and Sharp Pitch entered it, his spear ready. His eyes only fell on the open window first, then he saw the body to his hooves. Looking to the right and seeing Flurry Heart in her distraught condition on the lid, a scroll on the floor right by the toilet seat, he counted one and one together. Sharp Pitch did a step forward, bent down and held a hoof at the colt's carotid artery. Back on his hooves, he looked at Flurry Heart grim-faced.
Hoofsteps approached the filly's toilet fast and, ignoring them, Sharp Pitch carefully trotted around the colt and over the splintered door. Using his magic, he slowly hovered Flurry Heart on his back.
Instinctively, Flurry Heart buried her face into his mane, her hooves hanging down limb from his body now.
The door got opened again and the principal, Austere Knowledge and a few other teachers appeared in the doorframe, most of them covering their mouths in shock, except for Austere, who only gave the scenery a dark, expressionless look.
Without paying attention to the small crowd, Sharp Pitch trotted past them. Still the grim expression on his face, he bit down on his lip. His hooves scraped over the crystal floor as he slowly carried Flurry Heart away from the horror behind them.
> Chapter 19: Pendulum
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tick-tock.

Absentmindedly, Flurry Heart eyed the Saddle-Arabian carpet under her hooves, head slightly tilted to the right. Her eyes were still red and they felt sore, but Flurry Heart did not really notice the sting in them anymore.

Tick-tock.

There was a sudden pain in her flank. Uncomfortably, Flurry Heart inched around on the hard, dark brown wooden chair. A thought flashed up in her mind, that this chair was definitely not made for somepony to sit comfy on. Deep inside of her, fear began to rise as she realized what this meant and what was awaiting her. But as fast as the thought had appeared, as fast it vanished, drowned out by the fuzzy feeling in her head as her mind drifted off again.

Tick-tock.

Her heart made a leap in her chest. Unwillingly, but driven by a sudden agitation, Flurry Heart lifted her head and looked to the left, at the pendulum clock on the wall.

Tick-tock.

Another leap from her heart as the repetitive sound of the old clock washed over her once again. Flurry Heart sniffed, then bit on her lower lip. A metallic taste spread out on her tongue. For a moment, she felt like she was going to gag, but then she just gulped and the taste disappeared.

Tick-tock.

Flurry Heart followed the pendulum with her eyes, each tick and each tock becoming more painful for her. After minutes, her distraught mind was suddenly met with a certain relief, as another sound entered her ears, distracting her from the clock's sounds.
Fast hoofsteps approached the door behind her, hurry and nervousness ringing out from them. The relief dissipated as the door got opened, a distant sound of upset voices audible for a moment, then, as it was closed again, it became replaced by a wave of panic. It hit the shores of her mind, feeling like it was washing away her last bits of sanity.
Flurry Heart twitched as the door got closed with a loud bang, then her whole body erupted into shudders as the hoofsteps came into her direction. Swiftly, she retracted her eyes from the clock and fixated them on her lap. As the arrival had passed her and sounds of a pony sitting down at the massive mahogany desk in front of her could be heard, she still did not dare to look up. There was rustling of paper, followed by a quiet thud on the desk's surface, then silence.

Tick-tock.

The clock was suddenly the only sound in the room again. Like it was her sole friend, Flurry Heart focused her attention on the clock, her ears and mind following each of the sounds it made. The pony in front of her cleared its throat. Flurry Heart did not react, anchoring her mind on the clock more and more. Finally, the other pony spoke.
“The situation is hard enough already and you're not making this any easier. Look at me, finally.” The deep voice spoke calmly, yet there was a slight shaking in it, which did not make Flurry Heart any more eager to look up.
New tears began to glisten in the corner of her eyes. With a heavy, unsteady wheeze leaving her nostrils, Flurry Heart slowly looked in front of her, facing her principal. He had his head propped up on his forelegs, hooves covering his mouth, and his blue eyes looked at her sternly.
Flurry Heart began to shiver again, but, deep inside her, a nagging thought made its way to the surface of her mind, until the feeling became unbearable. Lips quivering, she hesitantly opened her mouth to ask the question her mind had just formed. “W-What happened to S-Swift Hoof?” A cold feeling spread out in her chest as the question had been spoken.
In front of her, the principal sighed audibly, sending a flood of terror through Flurry Heart's body with that reaction. He took down his forelegs and leaned back in his black chair.
“He is still alive,” he finally said after a few seconds, seconds that felt like an eternity to Flurry Heart. A relieved sob rang out from her throat. “But the burns you gave him are severe.” He sighed again, a look of disappointment in his eyes. “The wound on his head is going to heal without complications and by a miracle, there are no broken bones despite the impact on the wall. But the forefront of his body is charred, from the stomach to his lower lip. We got the first response from the hospital and according to the doctors, his skin will grow back, but they are not so sure about his coat, and they say that scars will remain.”
Flurry Heart gasped, a new wave of terror washing through her body, then her eyes welled up with new tears. She slumped back in her chair and thick streams of tears began to cover her face, as another crying fit kicked in. Her body rocked to the rhythm of her sobs. As the disappointed stare of the principal became too much for Flurry Heart, the young filly closed her eyes and capped them with her hooves.
Wordlessly, the principal pulled out a tissue from a blue box on his table and, standing up for a moment, hoofed it to Flurry Heart. Instinctively, she grabbed it, then began to dry her eyes.
“Swift Hoof is in the hospital right now and the doctors do their best to treat his injuries. We don't know yet how well he will recover, but in any case, this is a serious situation, princess.” His voice turned to a strange tone for a moment as he took the word “princess” into his mouth. Not one of deep disdain, as Flurry would expect it from Mr. Know, but not friendly either. The unspoken accusation could be heard in it, as well as the disappointment and a slight trace of anger.
As the stream of tears had been reduced to a small trickle, Flurry Heart blew her nose into the tissue, then crumpled it and let it sit in her lap. With shyness and insecurity in her red eyes, she looked at the principal again.
“I need to know what happened exactly. The other teachers are worried and asked me a lot of questions that I could not answer.” His voice began to shake more and also increased in volume. “And there will be more questions once I have to talk to the worried parents that wait outside!” A stressed expression in his face, he let his hooves come down on the desk. The sound echoed like thunder through the office and let Flurry Heart twitch. A new sob escaped her throat. “And that's why I need to know everything,” he continued, more calmly, and leaned back in his chair again. “You must tell me all that happened and it needs to be the truth.”
Flurry Heart stared at him, her eyes now filled with fear. Repeatedly, she opened her mouth and closed it again, not able to produce a single word. Trying to calm herself, she closed her eyes and leaned back. She took two deep breaths, then choked and tried it again. “I-I didn't want to attack him,” she began, her voice filled with grief. Her eyes searched for a sign of the principal believing her, but were just met with the same stern expression. Flurry Heart took another breath. “I-I just wanted to use the bathroom. When I was finished, he was there suddenly. H-He pushed me back into the stall and locked us in it and then..... then.....” She stopped, choking. Her hooves began to shake as she tried to continue to explain the events.
“And then, what?” the principal asked as still nothing came from her after a few seconds. His face had become more grim.
“T-Then..... T-Then he..... He had a scroll with him and.....” Now the sentences came out only in chunks anymore. “H-He said he is going to c-cripple me with the spell he g-got.” Flurry Heart's body got shaken as another sob erupted. She wiped over her nose, then continued. “I-I'm not sure anymore what exactly happened then. M-My horn, t-the magic..... It s-suddenly pushed him away from me.” Nervously, Flurry Heart began to jostle the crumpled tissue back and forth between her hooves, looking down now. “A-And all I remember after that is how Swift Hoof laid on the floor and he was bleeding and.....” Her voice broke and she looked to the side, unable to say more. New pools of tears appeared in her eyes and began to run down her cheeks swiftly.
Not saying anything right away, the principal looked at Flurry Heart observingly, his eyes scrutinizing the expression in her face while she cried and tried to bring her tears under control. “And this is the truth?” he asked then, while hoofing her another tissue.
Quietly, Flurry Heart nodded, taking the tissue from him. She began to dry her tears once more, avoiding eye contact with the principal now.
Another sigh left the principal's throat. If Flurry Heart would have paid attention, she would have been able to see the signs of the gears in his head turning at rapid speed while he recapped her words. Finally, after another eternity, he nodded. “I believe you,” he said. “Swift Hoof is a colt with issues, I can see him trying to do this.” His face became a tad softer as he saw Flurry Heart reacting with another relieved sob, yet it still radiated concern. “But I will still have to talk with a lot of parents and try to calm them down, to prevent more trouble.”
Flurry Heart blew her nose into this tissue as well, after which it joined its crumpled comrade in the same condition, then she finally found her speech again. The nervousness in her eyes was overwhelming. “W-What are they going to do once they f-find out?” she asked the principal, voice shivering in fear.
The concern in his face eased a little. “Luckily, Swift Hoof's attitude is no surprise to anypony. He is picking fights nearly every day and I remember many talks with parents whose foals he has beaten up. Even his parents know what a problematic colt their son is.” For the first time since he had entered his office, a small smile appeared on his face. “It has already made the rounds that it was Swift Hoof who got injured and on my way here, I heard many parents talk about him in less than beneficial ways. What you just told me should be enough to make most of them believe you attacked him in self-defense.”
The reassuring words were not enough to make Flurry Heart smile as well, but they were not without effect on the young princess. A small feeling of relief rose in her heart, barely enough to scare away the anxiety, but it eased her mind a little and made her feel slightly more confident.
The principal got up from his chair. “But now it's time for me to address their concerns. I can't let them wait longer, or else they will become impatient,” he said while approaching the door of the office. In response, Flurry Heart slipped down from her chair and followed him quietly, her head hanging low.
The principal opened the door for her, then invitingly pointed to the opening with his other hoof, still a faint smile on his lips. Slowly, Flurry Heart crept outside, not looking where she was going. Only as she sensed other ponies in front of her, she lifted her head to not run into them. Sharp Pitch, Sunny Spirit and Magnolia were there, all of them wearing expressions that were a mixture of concern and uplifting smiles. As Flurry Heart saw them, a sudden smile snuck itself on her face while processing the thought that the accident was now more than two hours ago, but that her friends were still waiting for her. More swing in her steps, she continued her way to them and was immediately met with a crushing hug by Sunny.
Behind her, the principal shut the door of his office. He tapped on Flurry Heart's shoulder, requesting her attention. Retreating from the hug by her friend, she looked at him quizzically.
“You should stay here and watch the conference, princess.” That was all he said, then he hurried past the group and towards the lobby. A crowd of parents had gathered there, some of them with their foals, but most of them alone.
Everything in Flurry Heart said no to this suggestion. Staying there, facing all those parents of her schoolmates who were without a doubt mad at her, hearing their snide remarks, seeing all of their hatred..... It was something that was out of the question for Flurry Heart. But the voice of the principal had something to it. An aura of reassurance and conviction that the young alicorn filly had never heard in his words before. Baffled over these words and the tone in his voice, Flurry Heart watched the principal make his way to the front of the crowd. The gathered parents murmured and, as they noticed her, some of them looked into her direction, confusion and a weird expression of discrepancy coming from their faces.
“Should we leave, princess?” Sharp Pitch bent down close to her.
Flurry Heart turned around and looked at him, then back at the crowd, then at Sharp Pitch again. “No,” she said then. “I want to stay.”
An uneasy expression showed up in Sharp Pitch's face. Sunny and Magnolia looked at Flurry in similar ways. “Are you sure, princess?” he asked her. “You won't hear many nice things.”
An expression of utter conviction graced Flurry Heart's face now. “Mhm. I want to know what they have to say.” Without awaiting another reply, Flurry Heart proceeded towards the crowd. More parents noticed her now, still giving her the same kind of glances like she received before. Flurry Heart trotted behind the crowd, between the last row of adult ponies and the school's entrance gate. A second later, Sharp Pitch, Sunny and Magnolia joined her side. The principal had taken his position in front of the crowd in the meantime.
“Why is she so confident suddenly?” Sharp Pitch asked out loud in bewilderment, to nopony in particular. “Just because of one sentence by her principal?”
At his side, Sunny Spirit shrugged. “It's no surprise. He's good at lifting the spirits of other ponies and I must have gotten that from somewhere.”
The bewilderment in Sharp Pitch's face got replaced by confusion. “Gotten from somewhere..... What do you mean?”
Sunny looked over to the guard. Bewilderment was in her face now, like it had moved there from Sharp Pitch's own face. “The principal is my grandpa. Did Flurry Heart not tell you?”
“No, not a word,” he answered surprised. “She did not talk to me much yet.”
Sunny Spirit wanted to reply something else, but before she could, the voice of her grandpa sounded into her ear. Immediately, the murmur of the crowd stopped and everypony turned his attention to the stallion with the green coat who was here to give all of them an explanation.
“Thank you for coming, everypony. The reason you are all here today is the tragic event that happened a few hours earlier in the filly's toilet involving Princess Flurry Heart and Swift Hoof.” Not wasting any time and risking impatience of the agitated crowd, he came right to the point. “I understand that all of you want answers about what happened today. I have spoken with the princess and have the full picture of the events now.”
In quick words, he repeated what Flurry Heart had told him earlier. With every detail, the confusion and the curiosity in the faces of the attending parents cleared up more and more, but, at the same time, got replaced with horror and disgust. As the principal had finished, the murmur of the crowd returned again.
Flurry Heart realized that the moment had now come where everypony would talk about her and she began to break out in sweat. Nopony was looking at her yet, but the young alicorn braced herself for this. To her left, Sunny Spirit put a hoof on her shoulder and gave her one of her trademark, uplifting smiles. Magnolia wrapped a hoof around her neck from the right.
The murmur grew more intense and, occasionally, a few louder statements stuck out. Flurry Heart squeezed her eyes shut as she was able to distinguish the statements from each other.

“What surprise! I knew this troublemaker was the cause of everything!”

“He's always starting fights and bullying other ponies, it was just a matter of time until something like this would happen!”

“Last week, my daughter returned home from school crying, because Swift Hoof beat her up! He got what he deserved!”

“If he ever returns from the hospital, he should get suspended from school and be locked away!”

More and more statements like this came from the parents gathered in the lobby. Flurry Heart gasped in surprise and opened her eyes as she realized that none of those were aimed at her. Some of the parents in attendance finally looked at her now. A few of them shot her hostile glances still, as she had expected, but none of them dared to say anything about her, too charged was the atmosphere against the colt who tried to attack her right now. And, more importantly, the rest of the faces – the overwhelming majority of faces even – gave her looks of compassion or empathy. None of them said anything to her either, but to Flurry Heart's surprise, they all looked at her in a sympathetic way!
Sharp Pitch nudged Flurry slightly, trying to get her out of her baffled state. “Come on, princess, let's go!”
Dumbfounded, Flurry Heart nodded. Then she turned around slowly, keeping her eyes on the crowd as long as possible, and motioned towards the exit. Sunny and Magnolia followed closely behind.
As they had left the school, none of them said a word for some time, while they headed down the broad street leading away from the school. But a smile on Flurry Heart's face, one so broad that it could have fought with the street for dominance, made up for the silence and spoke a language clearer than any words the young princess could have said.
It was only as they reached the crossroads where Sunny and Magnolia had to split off from the group that the silence got broken and were Flurry Heart finally found it in her to say something. “What did just happen?” she asked, her mind still confused over the unexpected sympathy and compassion that was shown to her.
Sharp Pitch laughed. “I guess your bravery was rewarded, princess!” Sunny and Magnolia gave her confirming nods.
“D-Do they suddenly trust me again?” Flurry Heart asked, looking over all of them.
In response, Sunny gave her a pat on the back. “I'm not sure, but don't worry about this now! We have a weekend full of fun ahead of us, just take your happiness along with you for it!”
Flurry Heart could not help but nod at the advice. Like she was used to from talking to her best friend, all the confusion was suddenly gone and even the last remaining insecurity was now replaced with cheer. Happily, she wrapped up Sunny into a hug, following up with another hug for Magnolia. “Now I can't wait for our sleepover!” she exclaimed in joy as both hugs were finished. “Hurry with the homework, okay?” she addressed the other two fillies.
“We do our best!” the two of them replied in a surprising unison.
The three fillies exchanged hoofbumps. Then another, spontaneous round of hugs followed, before Sunny and Magnolia headed off into the direction of their respective homes.
The two of them left alone, Flurry Heart and Sharp Pitch set themselves into motion again, towards the castle. While Flurry Heart still sported the happy smile she had since they left the school, the face of the guard at her side was of a more neutral nature. Aside from him observing every inch around Flurry Heart, as it was still his task to protect her in case anything unexpected should happen, there was also a slight sobriety in his eyes. He felt happy for Flurry Heart, but also knew that things rarely were as easy as it seemed now and that winning back the trust of her subjects would require more steps and more time.
“Still, things are looking up,” he thought to himself. His eyes fell on the filly at his side for a moment. “Maybe I won't be needed as her bodyguard anymore soon.” Finally, he smiled as well. “But for now, I'm just happy you are happy, princess.” The smile deepened as Flurry Heart turned at him for a moment and shot him a grin, the first time he received such a sign of sympathy from his little protégé.
“And just wait until you see the surprise your parents have prepared for you this evening. I'm sure this will increase your mood even more, princess.”
> Chapter 20: Evening Surprises
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The sun was beginning to sink underneath the horizon as Flurry Heart was finally finished with her homework. The magic around her quill vanished and it fell down on the desk, producing a tiny sound as the tip hit the wooden surface. Relieved to have brought the copious amount of homework of today behind her, Flurry Heart stretched her arms and flexed her back, an alleviated sigh leaving her mouth. She smiled and, with not a care in the world anymore, closed her inkbottle and her notebook and hovered everything into her saddlebags, which she then tossed under her desk where she would not have to see them any longer.
After sliding off her chair, her eyes met the window and the orange ball of fire the sun had become, visible in the midst of it. It was touching the peaks of the Crystal Mountains. Slowly sinking deeper, it reminded Flurry Heart how late it was and what would await her soon. She had not forgotten the sleepover her friends had planned and neither the surprise her parents had promised her and tempted her with. And the outlook to both of these things filled the young alicorn with excitement and made her shiver from anticipation.
Her heart doing a jump, Flurry trotted to the window and placed her forehooves on the sill. A cautious expression flashed over her face as she dared doing a look at the ground, but disappeared quickly as she did not see a single pony outside anymore. Her eyes fixated on the sun again, Flurry Heart took a deep breath of the air. It felt cool while wandering down her throat and entering her lungs. Flurry Heart did not move one inch while she followed the steady descent of the beloved celestial body with her eyes. Only as a call for her sounded into her ears, she stirred and, hesitantly, let go of the beautiful sight in front of her.
Flurry Heart turned around and, after stretching her body a last time, headed for the door of her room and left it to the corridor in front of it. Her mom had been calling her and knowing that this could only mean it was time for the surprise she got promised, her pace increased. Her hooves clopped loudly on the crystal floor, the sound carrying her eagerness into all directions, as she approached the kitchen where her mom's call had come from.
Both of her parents smiled at her as she entered the kitchen, their eyes radiating knowing and secretive expressions. They let her heart jump again as she noticed them. Eagerly, Flurry Heart took seat at the table, not taking her eyes off of her mom and dad. Her flank had barely touched the surface of the stool as she began to look around and scan the room for the surprise her parents had promised her. Her ears flattened just a tiny bit as she could not find anything that was out of the ordinary.
“Where is my surprise?” She shot a look at her mom.
Coming to the point so quickly earned her a hearty laugh by her dad instead before she received any answer from her mom. “Hey, let us make it a little exciting!” He reached out and booped his daughter, which resulted in Flurry scrunching her face.
“Can I see it now?!” Her voice trembled from impatience and she started to kick with her hindlegs.
“Haha, I guess we can't make it any more exciting for you!” Shining Armor looked at his wife. “Let us introduce our guest to her!”
Playfully, Cadance rolled her eyes. “Shining, you know he doesn't really need introduction. Flurry Heart knows him.”
The words felt like something was gripping the inside of Flurry's chest and squeezing it together. Her heart started to pound faster. “Finally tell me!”  Flurry Heart put her hooves down on the stool in front of her and began to hop up and down on it, now completely unable to keep in her excitement.
The two parents exchanged a naughty glance, then both of them turned to the door and raised their voices. “You can come in now!” 	From somewhere in the corridor, the sound of a door getting opened and closed could be heard, then steps approached the kitchen. Flurry Heart turned towards the door, her heart still pounding. Her eyes glistened as she waited for the mysterious guest to reveal himself.
With each second, the steps on the crystal floor grew louder, increasing the anticipation of the young alicorn. It was only a distant part of Flurry's mind that recognized that the sounds were not produced by hooves. “Definitely not a pony.” Flurry Heart could hear her own thoughts for a moment, but did not pay attention. All of the active part of her mind was focused on the door and the one approaching it now.
Three more agonizing seconds passed, then a small, purple figure appeared in the door. Instantly, Flurry Heart's eyes grew as big as plates and her mouth got turned into a massive smile. “Uncle Spike!” In one fluid rush, Flurry Heart slid down from her stool and cantered towards the drake, followed by crushing him with a hug, her hooves wrapping around his body tightly. He only lasted for a split-second against the sudden impact, then both the dragon and the alicorn filly fell down to the floor. A thud could be heard as Spike's head hit the floor.
“Hey, take it easy! I still need my head!”
The words did not even reach Flurry Heart. Her mind feeling like she was suddenly in another dimension, she was holding the dragon in a tight grip, her face rubbing over the scaly surface of his chest while she was eagerly snuggling up to him. The shock of the overbearing welcome subsiding, Spike now put his tiny arms around the filly that was pinning him down and squeezed her. A chuckle left his throat. “Hey, I knew you would be happy to see me, but I had no idea you missed me so much!”
Now Flurry Heart stopped her snuggling and slowly rose from the mutual embrace, but kept standing above Spike, his body between her hooves. A smile on her face, she shook her head.
“No, that's not why! I'm so happy to see you because you are here to help me, right?”
“Uh, yeah..... Yeah, I am. How did you–”
The filly interrupted him. “Because you are the hero of the Crystal Empire! You will talk to all of them and make them understand I'm not dangerous, right?” The words came like a barrage from her mouth and as she had ended, a huge grin was adorning her face. Spike just nodded, speechless.
“YAY! Thanks for coming, Uncle Spike, you're the best!” Overjoyed, Flurry Heart leapt forward for another tight hug, as a sound coming from below interrupted her.
She looked up to where the sound came from. Simultaneously, her parents did the same. As the sound returned again, a loud knocking on the castle's front gate, Flurry Heart's eyes began to glow even brighter.
“And now it seems the rest of our guests are here. I'll go and let them in!” Shining Armor commented on the situation, then left the kitchen and headed towards the throne room.
Meanwhile, Flurry Heart left her position in front of Spike and started hurrying through the corridor of the royal apartment herself. All the joy over meeting Spike let her almost forgot that she was close to having a relaxing sleepover with her friends. Flurry's pace increased in eagerness while she moved towards the exit. Eagerly, she proceeded to open the door that led outside to the throne room, but before she could put her hoof down on the handle, the three arrivals took care of that for her.
The door swung upen and Flurry Heart was met with the faces of three of her friends. Invitingly, Sunny Spirit, Magnolia Sunshine and Starry Skies smiled at her, although the latter had a slightly nervous flicker in her eyes. Tightly, she clasped a sleeping bag between her hooves. Before saying anything, Flurry Heart did a step forward and fell around Sunny's neck, her hooves pressing the crystal filly against her shoulder. The two friends shared an embrace and a nuzzle, then, finally, a conversation started.
Grinning, Sunny Spirit lifted a huge bag, that looked like it was filled to the brim with exciting things. “We have everything we need for two days of fun! Lead us to your chamber, Princess Flurry Heart!” She did a deep bow, her giggling not doing anything to hide the playful, mock intent behind it. And neither the fact, that, of course, Sunny Spirit already knew where Flurry Heart's room was.
But Flurry Heart played along and led them to her bed room in an overexaggerated, ceremonial way. It caused laughter from both her parents and Spike to see the parade of four young fillies trot through the corridor.
Arrived in Flurry's room, her three friends did not waste any time. They unrolled their sleeping bags and placed them on the floor, to the left of Flurry Heart's bed. Sunny Spirit put down the gigantic bag she was carrying as well, a relieved sigh leaving her throat. Having placed it under the window, she took seat on her sleeping bag and joined Magnolia and Starry who were already sitting on theirs. Flurry Heart sat down right beside her best friend. It was getting dark in the room, as the sun had almost finished her journey under the horizon and was now nothing more than a weak glimmer in the distance behind the Crystal Mountains.
The first, initial excitement beginning to wear down, it was only now that the four filllies realized the darkness of the room. Awkward expressions appeared on their faces, expressions they could barely see in the little light that was left. The moment didn't last long, though, as Sunny Spirit reached in her bag and pulled out two lanterns. Swiftly, she placed one of them behind the sleeping bags, then got up and trotted to Flurry Heart's desk, which she had chosen as the place for the second lantern. She turned it on and Flurry Heart did the same with the lantern to her left. Soon, the light of the crystals inside of the lanterns bathed the room into a bright, blue light.
“And now we're settled!” Sunny Spirit exclaimed satisfactory as she slumped down at Flurry's side again.
Flurry Heart's eyes wandered to the big bag her friend had brought along with her and it took all but a second for her to address it. “What stuff is in there, Sunny?”
Not even awaiting an answer, the young princess aimed for the bag and began to open it, but Sunny playfully slapped her on the hoof. “Not now! These are all surprises for later.” She glanced at her friend secretively. “Don't worry, Flurry, you'll find out soon enough tonight!” she added as she noticed a disappointed frown appearing on her face.
The expression indicated that Flurry wasn't giving up so easily, but before she could start to interrogate the crystal filly, her mom entered the room, carrying a tray with sandwiches and juice in front of her. Carefully, she placed it between the fillies on Sunny's sleeping bag. “I'm sure all of you brought plenty of snacks and Flurry Heart always has some in her room, but before you stuff yourselves with sweets, you should eat some real dinner first.” A slight smirk accompanied her words.
Now noticing that their stomachs were indeed grumbling, the four friends reached for the sandwiches. While they were chewing, Cadance continued to explain a few more things.
“We are almost past Flurry's bedtime for weekends, but since you're holding a sleepover, all of you can stay awake as long as you want tonight.” She smiled, but then her face became more serious. “Unless your parents wouldn't allow it..... They do, right?” She eyed Sunny, Magnolia and Starry.
In unison, the three fillies gulped down the pieces of their sandwiches and nodded hectically. None of them knew if Flurry's mom didn't notice their lie or did not care, but they weren't eager to ask if she believed them either, so they just sat still as she changed the topic.
“Do all of you have brought their toothbrushes with you?”
Simultaneously again, Starry and Magnolia lifted up two bags, while Sunny just pointed at her big one demonstratively.
“Ok. If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask.” She turned her attention to her daughter. “Daddy and me will stay awake for quite a while and discuss some things with Spike. And we commanded Sharp Pitch to stay in front of your room for the night. If you need something and we are already asleep, he will help you out.”
Flurry's brow furrowed as her mom had ended, making it an easy guess for everypony why she was upset. She opened her mouth, but before the first words of protest could leave it, Sunny nudged her. As Flurry's eyes feel on the charming smile of her best friend, the disappointment over having the guard constantly in front of the door faltered and she suddenly felt easier again. Everything suddenly told her that it would be fine. Smiling, she gave her friend a nod.
Cadance had noticed her daughter's reaction as well. “Don't worry, Flurry, Sharp Pitch will not come in, unless you ask him to or he absolutely needs to. We just want to make sure all four of you stay safe this night. You will be undisturbed in here.”
Looking at her mom again, Flurry Heart gave her a nod and a smile as well.
Cadance pointed at the mug full of juice on the tray. “There's another mug of juice and some more sandwiches in the fridge in the kitchen. Just help yourselves if you need them or ask Sharp Pitch to carry them for you.” Cadance did a last glance over the group of friends to see if her words were understood by all of them and as she found this confirmed, concluded her instructions. “I guess that's it then, now you know everything you need. Just promise to go to sleep once you start to feel tired, okay?”
The four fillies promised and nodded in agreement.
“Ok, then I don't want to keep you back any longer. Have fun tonight!” She gave them a last smile, which Flurry Heart answered with a grin, then she turned around and left the room. The door clicked shut behind her, then the fillies were alone in Flurry's bedroom.
For a few moments, they just listened to the hoofsteps that receded down the corridor, ears tilted towards the door and their mouths opened while they held their breaths.
As the sound of the hoofsteps was gone, all four of them looked at each other, now broad grins on their faces. Abandoning their plain sitting positions, Sunny, Flurry and Magnolia flopped down on their bellies and, once feeling comfortable, grabbed another sandwich each. Their hearts were beating faster now and all of them felt an excitement flooding through them they could rarely experience. Only the sounds of happy chewing interfered with the atmosphere of freedom, until Starry Skies broke the silence with her timid voice. She was the only one who still sat as before and until now, she had not retracted her eyes from the door.
“So, no adults anymore?” Starry Skies asked. Her voice trembled slightly. “We are really and completely alone now?”
Flurry Heart nodded, compassion in her eyes. “Mhm! We have the night completely to ourselves now! But don't worry, Sharp Pitch is outside, you don't need to be afraid, Starry!” She reached out with a hoof, intended to gently poke Starry Skies and lift her spirits, but before she could do so, movement was coming into the shy filly suddenly.
As her three friends had done before, Starry Skies flopped own on her belly. “Finally!” she commented the unexpected movement. All of a sudden, a naughty expression was in her eyes, one that none of them had ever seen on her before. And like she wanted to underline this expression, she spread her hindlegs apart as far as she could, resulting in her tail falling into the gap between them. Casually, she rested her head on one of her hooves, then grabbed a sandwich with the other one and began to munch on it audibly.
Her friends did not say a word over this display, but their open mouths signaled what all of them were thinking. They were all acting more casual, now they were alone, but Starry Skies, their timid, shy classmate, was trumping them all, right in front of them! Magnolia's mouth gaped the widest and she was also the first one who found her speech. “H-How..... What..... How can you act like this? I would never be allowed to sit like that!” Her eyes wandered from Starry's hindlegs to her mouth, which still produced very loud sounds of chewing. A bright blush was on her face now. To her left, Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit silently agreed, their heads slowly bobbing up and down.
“And? We're alone now, there aren't any adults to tell us what to do!” Demonstratively, she lifted her tail and swung it around a few times, then let it rest on its former position again. Starry Skies grinned at Magnolia, whose blush only deepened. It was not hard to see that the rich filly was used to way too much etiquette to feel comfortable with this. Coughing, she averted her gaze and concentrated on her sandwich.
In the meantime, Flurry Heart and Sunny Spirit had mostly overcome the shock about their friend acting like she was a completely different filly now. A big sip on their juice glasses later and they addressed Starry Skies too.
“My parents wouldn't allow this either,” Flurry Heart began, a lot more calm than Magnolia.
“Are your parents fine with this?” Sunny asked then, astonishment written all over her face.
Starry's ears faltered for only a moment, almost unnoticeable, then they stood upright again and she answered.
“No, they probably wouldn't allow it..... But they aren't here, so I'm not afraid to do that!” She giggled a little.
“But didn't you say you are afraid to embarrass yourself at our sleepover?“ Sunny Spirit probed further.
“Yeah, but now I'm not afraid anymore!”
“I didn't know you could be so confident, Starry,” Flurry Heart continued. You are always so shy at school..... How can you be so different now?”
Starry Skies shrugged. “I have no clue. It only works when no adults are around. And I enjoy it, so I don't care why.” Giggling more, she began to kick her hindlegs into the air.
Not satisfied with the answer, both Sunny and Flurry began to ponder it. Minutes passed. As they couldn't come up with an explanation, the two fillies shrugged as well. They were happy to see their usually so anxious friend be so carefree now, so both of them silently decided to not question it any further. Instead, they returned their attention to the sandwiches in their hooves as well and soon, the room was filled with silence again while the fillies ate their dinner.
It was when they were finished and had washed down their meal with a glass of juice, that this silence was interrupted again, this time by Sunny Spirit. Before anypony was bringing up the question what they should do now, she got up and began to rummage in the big bag she had brought with her. Turning around to see what her friend was doing, a big smile flashed up on Flurry Heart's face, excitement and curiosity overtaking her once again.
The first things Sunny pulled out of the bag were a toothbrush, a small cup and a tube of toothpaste, which she tossed carelessly to the side. Reaching deeper into her bag, she grabbed what she was looking for and as her head appeared again, she was holding a bunch of green ballons in her hooves. She returned to her spot at Flurry's side and placed the balloons on her sleeping bag.
Flurry Heart looked at them, a puzzled expression on her face. “What are all those ballons for, Sunny? Did you just bring them to decorate the room?”
Grinning, Sunny Spirit shook her head. “They are for playing 'Truth or Dare'!”
Starry Skies' ears pricked up as she heard the name of the game Sunny had just announced. Still lying on her sleeping bag in the comfortable position she had taken up earlier, she clapped her forehooves together in satisfaction. “Great! I always wanted to play 'Truth or Dare'!”
As excited as Starry Skies was, as confused was Flurry Heart still. She lifted up one of the balloons and scrutinized it, not sure what to make of it. There was a small bulge in the balloon, created by something edgy. “What are these for?” she repeated again the same question, with a slight emphasis now. “That's not how you play 'Truth or Dare', you don't need balloons for it.....”
“For the kind of game we're going to play, you do! It's a special variant of 'Truth or Dare' and it's called 'Balloon Pop Truth or Dare'. Let me explain.....”
Flurry Heart put the balloon down again and looked in eager curiosity at her friend, her expression only being beaten by Starry's excitement.
“You saw the bulge in the balloons, right? These are cards and there are things written on them, either truths or dares. We blow the balloons up and spread them on the floor, then we let them pop by sitting down on them. You get either a truth or a dare. If it's a truth, you need to answer the question written on the card honestly. If you don't answer or if we think you're lying, the other three of us will decide on a punishment for you.”
The announcement of a punishment caused mixed reactions by the three fillies around her; Flurry Heart just stayed calm, Starry Skies was grinning even broader and Magnolia appeared to be slightly nervous at the prospect of this rule.
Sunny Spirit continued. “The dare cards have one of our names written on them. If you get the name of somepony else, you must ask them to do the dare that is written on the card. If they refuse or can't finish the dare, you have a free wish and can demand anything from them, but it has to be something they can do in this night. And if they refuse to fulfill your wish, we decide on a punishment again. If you get a card with your own name, you just have to do the dare and if you don't do it or fail with it, you get a punishment immediately. There are also two dare cards without a name.”
“Without a name?” Flurry Heart asked surprised. “Why didn't you write names on all of them?”
“I was about to explain that. Most of the dares are tailored to one of us. The dare cards contain some special challenges for each of us. But there are also two cards with general challenges that all of us can do. Any more questions?” She looked at her friends surveying. It was a simple game and the clearing confusion, that had still been a part of Flurry Heart's face until now, signaled her that the rules were understood by her friends. She still waited for a moment, but as no other question regarding the game and its rules came, she concluded her explanations about the game.
“Once we begin, I will decide who can start. After that, the one who just popped a balloon can choose who gets to pop a balloon next. And that's all!
Done with explaining the game to her friends, she snatched up the first balloon and began to blow it up. Magnolia, Flurry and Starry did the same, then all four of them were busy with preparing the game. As they were finished, the floor of Flurry Heart's bedroom was covered in twenty green balloons, barely any space to walk between them left. The four fillies gasped for breath a little, but were soon ready to start playing.
Starry Skies looked over the balloon-covered floor, already thinking about which one to choose. “So, we don't know if we get a truth or a dare?” she asked Sunny without taking her eyes off the balloons.
“Uh-uh.” Sunny shook her head with a grin. “It's all a surprise! And the rules require you to do what the card says, if you don't, we can choose a punishment for you!”
Starry's mouth grew to a big grin and she clapped her hooves together again. “Awesome, can I start then?” Seeing Starry's excitement, Sunny nodded and gave her the approval.
Without waiting any longer, Starry leaped on a balloon right next to Magnolia and let her flank come down on it. The bursting sound filled the whole room and caused Magnolia to twitch. Starry Skies grabbed the card from the remnants fo the balloon and wanted to begin reading it, as a knock on the door interrupted her. She groaned.
“Is everything alright in there, princess?” Sharp Pitch's voice sounded into their ears. The four fillies looked at each other and giggled for a moment, then answered in unison.
“Everything's fine, we're just playing a game!” They giggled some more.
At the other side of the door, Sharp Pitch rolled his eyes as he returned to his position right of the door. “Something tells me this is going to be a very long night.....” he lamented as he leaned against the wall.
Finally, Starry Skies could read her card. She was looking down at the word “Dare” written in big letters on one side of the card. The smaller text below said “Sunny Spirit”. Flipping the card around, Starry Skies checked out the specific dare on the other side. “Go into the bathroom, close the door, turn off the light and sit there for ten minutes.” Starry looked at Sunny. “Okay, you must do this now, go ahead!”
Sunny Spirit stomped a hoof on the floor and a groan left her. “Why do I already have to be the first one? And why do I have to do this off all things?” She bared her teeth and narrowed her eyes.
Starry Skies noticed. “What's the matter? You wrote those yourself, I bet that's something really easy for you to do.”
But Sunny shook her head in resignation. “No..... I wanted it to be fair, so I asked my parents to write the cards that are for me. And I hate being in the dark.....” She pawed on the ground, but only for a moment, then she looked back at her friends.
Now Starry Skies grinned again, something Flurry and Magnolia joined in. “Anyway, now you have to do it, these are your own rules! Or do you rather want to have a punishment?” Starry Skies asked her smug.
“No, but..... Okay, fine. I'll be doing it. But only because I don't want to take the fun out of it in the first round already.....”
Hesitantly, she approached the door of Flurry's room and opened it slowly, then slipped outside, with her three friends following her. All four of them earned themselves weird glances by Sharp Pitch as he saw them going towards the bathroom together. As they had arrived there, Sunny Spirit let out another groan, but entered the room without any more complaining, despite the smug grin that was still in Starry's face.
The unicorn took the small lantern that was standing on the board right of the door and carried it outside the moment Sunny had sat down on the toilet lid. Only a small amount of light from the corridor found its way into the bathroom now, barely enough to reach Sunny on her seat. Slowly, Starry closed the door. “We wait here to see if you really stay inside for ten whole minutes.” Flurry Heart waved at her friend, then it made click and the door was shut. Diligently, the three fillies took position in front of the door, their eyes fixated on it. In their heads, they began to count down the time.
The inside of the bathroom was quiet, at first. It took five minutes until the first signals of discomfort from Sunny entered their ears. First it was just a whimper, then Sunny addressed them with a question.
“How much longer?” she asked. Her voice was shivering.
“Five minutes!” Starry Skies replied. She held a hoof at her mouth and snickered.
Another whimper followed, then it was quiet again for a while. As only two minutes were left, they heard Sunny's voice again.
“I-I'm coming out now! You win this round, you can ask of me whatever you want, Starry!”
They heard how Sunny was slipping off of the toilet lid, then slowly made her way in the dark, trying to reach the door. On Starry's face, disappointment appeared. “Aww, come on, Sunny, it's only two more minutes! You survived eight, you can't give up now!” Something in the face of the filly suggested she was enjoying Sunny's dare immensely. That she maybe enjoyed it a bit too much only became apparent to Flurry and Magnolia as Starry stemmed herself against the door when she noticed the handle getting moved down.
On the other side of the door, an icecold shiver of fear went through Sunny's body and she opened her mouth for a gasp. “W-What's wrong? Are you holding the door closed at the other side?!”
“Not me,” Flurry answered and Magnolia confirmed the same for herself. “It's only Starry who holds it closed.”
“Starry?” Sunny's voice became more frightened. “O-Open up, please! It don't want to be in the dark anymore!”
Instead of listening to the plea, Starry just grinned mischievously while she kept counting the seconds. “Just one minute and fifteen seconds more! You did say you don't want to take the fun out if it in the first round already, Sunny, so you need to stay inside a little longer!” Her voice had taken on a teasing tone now.
More shivers of fear went down Sunny's spine. Helplessly, she looked around to find something to open the door by force, but couldn't make out anything in the pitch-black room. Turning to the door again, she let her hooves come down on it.
“I don't care what I said, I want to give up!” As Starry did not respond and just kept pressing all her weight against the door, Sunny's fear turned into panic.
“Okay, that's not funny anymore, Starry! I think there's something in here with me, open up!!!” Sunny banged against the door louder and louder, even startling Sharp Pitch now, who came around the corner to see what all the commotion was about.
“Haha, don't be so silly, Sunny, you are alone in there! It's just your imagination!”
“I don't care what it is, I just don't want to be in here with it anymore, open the door, Starry, please!” The plea started to sound like a cry now, some sobbing clearly audible in Sunny's voice.
“Thirty seconds!” Starry answered plainly, ignoring Sunny's cry for the most part.
The voice of the crystal filly became shrill now. “Not in thirty seconds, now! LET ME OUT!” Now the three other fillies could clearly hear her crying behind the door.
Concern for her friend in her face, Flurry Heart did a step forward and placed a hoof on Starry's shoulder. “Just let her out now, Starry, it's enough. I'm getting worried about her.”
Starry looked at her with a frown. “It's just a game, Flurry, it doesn't hurt her. And she has only twelve seconds left now, she can wait this out!”
The expression in Flurry's face showed that she did not agree, but before she could reply, Starry Skies began to count down the last seconds loudly. Sighing, Flurry Heart listened to her.
“3, 2, 1! Okay, time's over, you can come out!” Removing her forehooves from the door, Starry Skies brought some distance between her and the door, something Flurry and Magnolia followed up on swiftly.
With a loud bang, the door got thrown open and a visibly distraught Sunny Spirit appeared in the doorframe for a second, then leaped outside. Tears in her eyes and some dried streaks in her face, she galloped past them, then stopped and started to huff. Her body was still shivering and she was sweating.
Chuckling, Starry Skies returned the lantern into the bathroom, then she trotted past Sunny, followed by Flurry and Magnolia, the former of which frowning at the naughty unicorn. Even Magnolia raised an eyebrow. Starry poked Sunny as the latter seemed to having gotten her breath back. “See, you did it!” she exclaimed enthusiastically. “Come on, this wasn't so bad now, was it?”
Instead of the answer she hoped for, Starry found herself getting met with a furious glare by Sunny, then the other filly lashed out and pushed her away. Starry tumbled back three or four steps.
“IT WAS TERRIBLE!” Sunny yelled at her, still tears in her eyes. “I swear we won't be friends anymore if you do something like this again, Starry!” She lifted up a hoof and brushed away some tears, then sniffed.
Flurry Heart approached her friend and put a hoof on her shoulder, then wrapped her into a hug from behind. She gave Starry a glare too. It was less furious, but pierced the unicorn filly with disappointment and disapproval.
Seeing Sunny crying like this, Starry bared her teeth now, a nervous look in her eyes. She rubbed over her right leg and laid back her ears. For a moment, she seemed like the “old” Starry Skies again. “Uhm..... Have I overdone it?” She did not dare to make eye contact with Sunny.
“Mhm!” Both Magnolia and Flurry nodded, their eyes closed in stern sincerity.
“Oh.....” she only said at first, then sighed. Hesitantly, she trotted up to Sunny, then carefully rubbed her face against her left cheek. “I'm sorry. I just wanted to have fun and.....” Starry trailed off, now a few tears appearing in her eyes as well.
Sunny Spirit huffed and everything in her face gave reason to expect another sharp answer, but Flurry Heart squeezed her stronger. “Just let it go now, Sunny. She apologized, I'm sure Starry knows what she did wrong.” There was an audible plea in Flurry's voice, making it sound slightly desperated.
Hearing this tone in her voice, Sunny felt the anger slowly ebb away. “Fine.....” she agreed with her friend, although she was still shivering from fear. “I accept your apology, but only because I don't want to ruin Flurry's sleepover.” She moved a little and both Flurry and Starry took this as a sign to let her go. Flurry released her hug and they stepped away from Sunny.
Starry still didn't dare to look at Sunny and kept facing the ground. She rubbed her leg again. Sighing and with a roll of her eyes, Sunny placed a hoof on Starry's shoulder. “It's fine now, I forgive you. Just don't do this again.....”
Shyly, Starry Skies finally looked up to Sunny, her mouth slightly open. “But you better still do your dare if I get one of your dare cards. I won't have mercy if you don't,” she added, trying to make her voice sound cheeky and playful.” Then she trotted past Starry and back to Flurry's bedroom.
“Come now!” Flurry Heart lifted Sunny's chin. “I'm sure we can forget this during the next round.” Then she turned her friend around and gently guided her back to her room, Magnolia following them closely.
As all the fillies were sitting on their sleepings bags again, Sunny now chewing on a chocolate bar and Starry sitting upright now, back leaning against the wall, the moment had come for Starry to choose the next one of them who would get to pop a balloon. Still feeling guilty, she decided against Sunny or Flurry Heart and simply stretched out her hoof in front of her, aiming straight for Magnolia. “I choose you,” she said, quietly.
Magnolia nodded, then did a quick look over the balloons. Still feeling some tension in the air, she just chose the balloon right next to her and sat down on it, yelping a little as it bursted on her flank. She reached under it before sitting down on the floor again and held the card in front of her face. On the card's backside, Sunny, Flurry and Starry could read the word “Truth”. The question itself was facing Magnolia and on her expression, the three other fillies could tell that she wasn't happy about it.
Magnolia gulped. “Have you ever created trouble by doing something your parents forbad you?” She let the card sink, then fell into quiet contemplation.
“Now?” Sunny asked as no answer came from Magnolia after a few seconds had passed.
“I..... I'd rather not tell.” Magnolia's face twitched a little. “You all know what things I did anyway. My parents would like neither of those if they would know.....”
Nods went around between them, though, it was surprisingly Flurry Heart who raised an eyebrow. She turned towards the others. “What do you think? Do we let this answer count?”
“I'm okay with this,” Starry whispered.
“Hmm.....” Sunny eyed Magnolia. “She's right, we all know it. And she seems to regret it..... Okay, I accept the answer.”
Flurry Heart nodded. “Then I accept it too.”
To her right, a warm expression appeared on Magnolia's face and she looked at Flurry Heart touched, with a spark in her eyes. She smiled and nodded at the young alicorn in response, then proceeded to make her choice. “Sunny Spirit,” she said taut.
“Okay, my turn then,” Sunny commented the decision. She looked at Starry. “Let's see if I can get my revenge now.” She stretched out her tongue at Starry, which made the young unicorn finally show a faint smile again. In slow tempo, her ears, that had been laid back until now, returned to their normal, upright position.
Unlike Magnolia, Sunny chose her balloon with more care. A whole minute passed until she had decided for one. She got up on all fours and trotted across the room, past Flurry Heart's bed, and aimed for a balloon near the door. Having made short work of the balloon, she took the card from the remains, then returned to her position next to Flurry Heart and sat down. She smirked a little as her eyes fell on the text on the card, then turned to the right and looked at her friend.
“A dare for you, Flurry. Fly outside and wait on a cloud for one round.”
Flurry Heart grinned. “Is that really all, Sunny? You know I love flying and sitting on clouds.” She giggled in glee.
“Don't expect it to be so easy! It's cold outside these days!” Sunny Spirit smirked.
“We'll see about that!” Flurry Heart gave her a confident look, then got up, turned around and jumped on the windowsill. She unfolded her big wings, then took off into the night sky.
Sunny had not been wrong. The air was chill tonight. Snowfall wasn't possible in the Crystal Empire, but it could get cold in it. And since it was Fall, it got very cold in some nights. Flurry Heart could see her breath leaving her mouth like white smoke and she shivered a little, but it wasn't bad enough to make her give up. She squinted her eyes to spot a cloud in the darkness. Once she had found one, she moved it in front of the window of her room. Giving Sunny, who stood at the window and observed her movements, a sign, she sat down on the cloud. Sunny nodded, then returned to her other friends.
It would have been the ideal moment to choose Flurry Heart as the next one, though, with her absence now due to having to do her dare, she pointed at Starry Skies, who twitched a little as the hoof came to a stop in front of her. “Your turn,” Sunny Spirit said, glee in her voice.
Starry Skies gulped, then she carefully looked over the balloons. Her brow furrowed, she inspected each one for a long time. As she had checked out all the balloons, but still couldn't make a decision, she sighed defeatedly and just chose the balloon right in front of her. Turning around and sitting down on it, she let it burst, then returned to her former position and picked up the card from the floor. It was a “Truth” card.
“Did you ever hurt somepony with words?” she read out aloud, then let the card sink into her lap. “Hmm.....” She tapped her chin, looking quizzically into the air. “No, I don't think so. I don't remember doing that ever.”
Sunny Spirit narrowed her eyes at Starry. “And that's really true?”
“Mhm,” Starry gave her a confident nod. “It is. I..... I wouldn't dare to talk to adults like this, ever, I think. And I don't talk with many ponies anyway, so I never hurt another foal with mean words either.”
Sunny Spirit pondered on the answer for a moment, but then the sceptical expression in her face cleared up. “Okay, I believe you.”
Starry Skies beamed at her in happy satisfaction. Feeling more relieved now, she left her sitting position and flopped down on her belly again, laying on her sleeping bag the same as before they had left the room for Sunny's dare.
With Starry's round over, Sunny Spirit turned around to the window. She lifted a hoof before Flurry Heart, signaling her she could come in now. The alicorn filly nodded and got up from her soft, yet cold, seat, then flew the small distance to the window and climbed back inside. Her teeth clattered slightly as she sat down at Sunny's side again.
“And? How was it? Her friend asked her, slightly smug. “Do you still think it was easy?”
“It was fine,” Flurry responded. “Not as easy as I thought, but I endured it!” Proudly, she raised her head. Then she looked over to Starry. “Can I get a turn now? You had two already and I couldn't get one now.”
“Sure thing!” Starry answered. “Take your pick.”
Smiling now, Flurry Heart let her eyes wander over the balloons, but didn't waste too much time before she popped one. Eagerly, she snatched the card from the floor and looked at it. For a moment, her eyes grew wide, then she broke out in giggles. Several attempts to read the text on her card followed, but each time, Flurry Heart found herself giggling at a certain imagination and her attempt failed.
Finally, as nopony could take the suspense anymore, Sunny Spirit looked at the card and read it for her. “Nibble on Flurry's ears for a minute. You are not allowed to stop until the time is over.” Then she grinned and looked to her left. “That's one of your cards, Starry. Think you're up to the task?”
A slight, red hue appeared in Starry's face, but she waved her hoof dismissively. “Why not? I'm okay with this!”
Despite Starry's sudden, new attitude she had revealed this evening, Flurry Heart reckoned with her turning down the dare in the last moment and going with whatever wish Flurry Heart wanted to get fulfilled instead. This expectation was crushed as Starry Skies trotted over to her, sat down behind her and started to nibble her left ear. It even was surprisingly gentle, though, since surprises were nothing new this evening anymore, Flurry Heart did not question it. She even found herself enjoying it, which caused her to blush herself a little now, and she felt almost disappointed as the minute was over and Starry had returned to her sleeping bag.
Before anypony could point out the color in her face, she quickly patted Sunny on the back. “And now you again! Come on, choose a balloon, Sunny!”
Flurry Heart smiled as Sunny followed the command and let herself come down on another one of the balloons, then picked up the card. She was among friends, the troubles from the last few days seeming to be far away now. There was nopony here who would hurt her and, with some luck, nopony from outside would anymore either by Monday, if the plan of her parents, Sunburst and Spike works out. Relieved, Flurry Heart took a deep breath. She didn't feel that good since Wednesday morning anymore.
Sunny's next card was a dare card. “For the next two minutes, do whatever the filly to your left says.” said the text on the card. Flurry Heart giggled. Now it was suddenly Sunny who was at the mercy of the naughty unicorn. And needless to say, Starry Skies made full use of this, although, she did so with care after the bathroom incident. After two minutes, that were spent with Sunny having to do ridiculous things like standing on her head, yelling something nonsensical out of the window or simply laying on the floor like Starry herself did, as well as with Flurry's constant giggles and laughs, they continued playing with Magnolia as the next one at turn.
Their game lasted for about one hour, then the rest of the balloons were popped as well and all the truths and dares had become delivered. Each of the rounds did its own to increase Flurry Heart's mood even more, with her highlight definitely being Magnolia's dare as she was at turn the second time and had to march to the castle gate and get the guards to laugh about her.
As the last round was over, all four of the young fillies sat there on their sleeping bags with red faces and giggling so loudly that it would have been no surprise if they room would have started to shake by the activity of their vocal chords. All of them felt slightly exhausted too, but still, they agreed to stay up longer. It was only ten thirty, after all, way too early to go to bed during a sleepover. But they had decided to take a break now, which they wanted to use to discuss what they should do next and to take care of the consequences of way too much juice.
As Magnolia returned from the bathroom, Sunny Spirit went for it next. With them still waiting until all four of them were grouped on the sleeping bags again, Magnolia trotted to the window, intended to take a sniff of the chill night air. She reared up, then stretched her forelegs across the windowsill and, in that comfortable position again, let her eyes glide over the buildings and streets under her. Most ponies of the Crystal Empire seemed to be asleep already, only a few houses still had lit windows. At night, the light that emanated from the windows of the houses gave the crystals they were built from a beautiful, soft glow. It was the first time Magnolia could see them like this, from a view so high above, and the sight filled her heart with peace. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then she continued to enjoy the enchanting scenery.
Just for a moment, a red glow appeared in the corner of her eyes. Lazily, Magnolia turned her head to the side, checking out which window had just been illuminated there, only to become dark again a second later. As her eyes had found the spot the red light had appeared at, Magnolia froze. She shivered strongly as she observed her discovery. A shriek left her throat, making Flurry Heart and Starry Skies look up at her.
All of a sudden, Magnolia grabbed her chest with one hoof and stumbled backwards, ragged breaths leaving her throat now. She fell down on the floor and remained there motionlessly, her body continuing to erupt from the heavy breathing. Alarmed, Starry and Flurry rushed at her side. Magnolia just stared into the distance, seemingly not noticing them, her face distorted in horror in a way they never saw it on anypony before. “Magnolia? What's up? Why are you acting like this?” Starry found the courage to ask.
Magnolia began to stammer. “There..... There..... Somepony..... It's–” She grimaced in pain and bit on her lip as her chest started to feel like something sharp was ripping right through her heart. Then it was over. As quickly as it had come over her, the pain stopped and in the same moment, the strong fear she had felt when making her discovery subsided and got reduced to a small glimmer compared to before. Only her heart kept beating fast.
She found the strength to get up on her hooves and pointed to the window. “I saw somepony out there. Right at the nearest street corner. It was looking up to us.” She shivered as the picture entered her mind again.
Flurry Heart rushed to the window and did a look outside, checking the spot Magnolia had named. It was empty. There was no pony and also no shadows that the pegasus filly could have confused with a pony. The corner was completely empty, save for a street lantern that had been built there. Flurry Heart looked back at Magnolia. “There is nothing. Are you sure you've seen somepony?”
Before Magnolia could answer, Sunny Spirit entered the room, confused over the sudden commotion. “What did happen?” she asked. “I heard a shriek. Why do you look so agitated?” The last question was more asked at all of them, not particularly at Magnolia, even though Sunny had recognized her condition.
Starry Skies answered. “Magnolia said she saw somepony when she looked outside. She said it was looking up to our window!”
Sunny became alarmed too now. “Could she make out who it was?”
Now Magnolia answered. “N-No..... It was too dark and the pony stood outside of the reach of the lantern's light. I couldn't even identify if it was maybe a unicorn or a pegasus..... But I'm sure I saw one!”
“Should we tell Sharp Pitch and Flurry's parents about it?”
Flurry Heart turned at her and trotted away from the window. She shrugged. “I don't know. I checked the spot, but there was nopony.” She looked over at Magnolia. “Maybe you just imagined it. It's late and we're all a bit tired already.”
Magnolia shook her head. “No, I swear there was a pony! I only saw it as a black figure in the dark but it was there and it looked at me!”
Flurry Heart went at the distraught filly's side and put a hoof around her, then she looked at Sunny with concern. “What should we do, Sunny? Do you think this pony is here to come after me?”
Sunny Spirit shared the concern only for a moment, then she shook her head. “No. Let's not get crazy, okay, Flurry? It's late, but that doesn't mean other ponies can't be on the streets anymore. Maybe it was just somepony going for a night stroll and then it looked up to our window when it noticed we still had the light on. It's not exactly common that the castle is still lit at this time, except for the guardhouses, right?”
Flurry Heart nodded. “Yeah..... I bet my parents are asleep already and I normally don't stay up for so long. Maybe it really was just a surprised pony?”
“I'm sure it was, Flurry. Don't worry about it anymore.”
Flurry Heart felt that her friend's explanation made sense. And her nerves hadn't been the best ones the last days and Magnolia's hadn't been either. Maybe both of them were reading into things. With that in mind, Flurry Heart nodded at her friend. “You're right, Sunny. Let's just continue the sleepover, ok?”
Smiling in relief, Sunny answered the nod with a nod on her own, then she closed the door and all of them took seat on their sleeping bags again.
“So,” Flurry Heart began to speak “what are we going to do now? The night is still really young, I guess.”
Starry Skies turned at her with a suggestion. “Ghost stories! You can't have a sleepover without ghost stories and Magnolia just set the perfect mood for that!” She kicked her hooves into the air excitedly and swished her tail around.
Starry had a point, that's something all of them agreed on. It would be the perfect moment to turn off the lanterns and tell each other spooky stories. Though, as Flurry Heart looked at Magnolia to her right, doubts came over her. The rich filly was still trembling and there was still fear in her eyes. Flurry Heart sighed, then turned at Starry Skies again.
“Better not, Starry. Just look at Magnolia. I think she had enough scares for tonight.” Nods went around them, with Magnolia bobbing her head the strongest.
“Aww..... But what kind of sleepover is it without ghost stories?” Her face was full of disappointment.
“It's not our last one,” Flurry Heart tried to ease her. “It's only Friday night and we still have the whole weekend ahead of us. We just do it tomorrow night, when Magnolia has calmed down.”
This seemed to work, although not completely. “Ok, then.....” Starry Skies answered quietly, but her face showed she wasn't exactly satisfied with this solution. It found broad approval among the rest of her friends, though, so she had no choice but to accept it.
The fillies began to discuss what to do instead. Sunny had some more ideas for games, but wanted to save them for the other two nights. And since ghost stories were out of the question for now and all of them were still a bit startled by the mysterious occurrence moments before, nothing came to their minds, so they decided to just talk. Sunny equipped them with some sweets from the bag she brought with her, then the fillies indulged in idle chatter.
For about two hours, the friends talked over all sorts of random things, including more ideas with which activities they could fill the weekend. It was past midnight, as they began to yawn. None of them wanted to sleep yet, but since they felt like they were close to dozing off, they agreed on calling it a night.
One after another, Flurry Heart's friends slipped into their sleeping bags, with Flurry herself climbing into her bed and nestling into the covers. As all of them were ready, Flurry Heart bent down to Magnolia at the side of her bed. “Do you feel alright again?”
Despite the scary event of this night, Magnolia looked relaxed now. With a confident smile, she nodded. “I do. It probably was really just my imagination. I suppose the streets look a little scary at night, so I'm sure it was just my mind.”
Happy and satisfied, Flurry Heart wished Magnolia a good night, then the rest of her friends. Igniting her horn, she turned off the lanterns, then laid down on her pillow. She pulled her blanket up under her chin. Her thoughts were circling around the events of the evening, but only for a short time, because soon, she had drifted off into a deep sleep. And one after another, quiet, steady breaths came from Starry Skies and Sunny Spirit as well. The only one who was still awake after an hour had passed, was Magnolia.
Unable to find sleep, she stared at the ceiling. She had recovered well from what she saw at the window, yet, there was something that kept her thinking. And she knew what it was. Every few minutes or so, she felt it coming to the surface of her mind, only to push it back into its depths. As she couldn't take it anymore and found her resistance getting weaker and weaker, she finally gave up. One heavy breath leaving her throat, she turned onto her right side and looked up to Flurry Heart in her bed. She could not see the filly's face from her position, but knowing she was there filled her with a strange warmth. Magnolia knew exactly what she desired. For a moment, she imagined getting it, but it filled her with fear to no end. She closed her eyes and pushed the thought away again. But the desire remained.
As she finally realized how hopeless it was and that she would never find sleep this way, she did the only thing of which she knew it would help. As quietly as possible, Magnolia unzipped her sleeping bag and slipped outside. She tiphoofed to the hoofboard of Flurry's bed, then climbed inside, stepping on the mattress carefully. She grabbed the blanket and pulled it down a little, revealing a part of Flurry Heart's chest, then crawled under it.
She pulled it over her body and back over her friend as well, then turned towards the alicorn and, as gentle and cautious as she could, took her right wing into her hoof and unfolded it, then spread it over her chest. She tightened her grip around it, just enough she would not hurt it and that she was sure it wouldn't wake Flurry Heart. More of the warm feeling flooded through her body, making her smile, but the happiness only lasted for a moment. Darker thoughts entering her mind, Magnolia's eyes suddenly started to well up, filling themselves with tears quickly.
Still holding Flurry's wing, Magnolia turned onto her left side, so she could face Flurry Heart. There were words on her lips she wanted to speak out, even though she knew the other filly wouldn't hear them, but another flash of fear went through her heart as she thought about doing this. Feeling overwhelmed completely now, Magnolia refused to hold herself back any longer. The tears started to flow over her face and, very quietly, she began to sob and cry. She inched a little closer to Flurry Heart, then slightly touched her cheek with her nose.
“I'm sorry,” she whispered.
> Chapter 21: A Relaxing Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first sensation Flurry Heart felt when waking up the next day was a pleasant one:

A gentle tug at one of her wings.

Yawning, Flurry Heart opened her eyes slowly. Being greeted with a hazy vision at first, she began to see more clear as she proceeded to rub her eyes. Laughter from the distance entered her sleepy mind, and some words she could not understand. A short glance to the left let the still tired alicorn filly realize who she was hearing, as she found the sleeping bags of Sunny, Starry and Magnolia to be empty. A look to the right, though, revealed some unexpected company to her.
Peacefully, Magnolia was sleeping at her side, under her blanket, face mere millimeters away from her own. And she was holding her right wing, Flurry Heart could feel this clearly now.
As she wanted to lift her left hoof to remove the blanket, Flurry Heart felt the second sensation of this day, which was, unfortunately, a much less pleasant one:

Her left hoof was dangling out of the bed, but instead of hanging down onto the floor, it rested in a bowl of warm water.

Staring at the bowl, Flurry Heart's confusion quickly turned into panic. Quickly, she removed her hoof from the bowl, then sat up, ignoring the slight pain she felt as her wing got yanked out of Magnolia's hooves, and used her right hoof to touch the blanket beneath her torso for any wet stains. As she found everything dry down there, she breathed out in relief, only to groan a second later, as she realized who came up with this idea. And as to confirm her thought, another round of laughter rang in her ears.
“You think she already noticed it?” Now she could identify the voice of Starry Skies. A mischievous giggling came as response, clearly emerging from the mouth of her best friend. Flurry Heart frowned disapprovingly, but only for a moment, because as the third sensation of the new day, an awful one this time, spread inside her body, the young filly had a sudden urge to reach a certain destination.
Not paying attention to the mumbling at her side as Magnolia woke up, she leaped out of her bed and cantered out of the room, passing Starry and Sunny in the process who were giggling like mad. She turned around the corner, then zipped into the bathroom, the door getting smashed shut by her magic.
As she left the bathroom again, having relieved herself, she looked right into the faces of Starry and Sunny, who both met her glance with huge grins adorning their faces. Wearing another frown, Flurry Heart approached them.
“Good morning, princess!” Starry Skies greeted her, snickering. “Sunny and me were just thinking if we should crown you the 'Princess of Humidity', but looks like you made it on time!” She gave Flurry Heart some pats on the head.
Flurry Heart shoved the hoof of the unicorn away, still frowning, but also with a slight trace of a smile on her face now.
“Morning, Flurry Heart,” Sunny finally greeted her, too, now. “How was your sleep?”
“I slept fine,” Flurry Heart responded to her friend. “Just waking up was weird,” she added with a snark. Starry Skies snickered again.
“Why are you two awake already? How long did I sleep?” Flurry Heart then came to the next thing on her mind.
“Starry and me are awake for a while now. It's six o'clock, Flurry.”
The answer let Flurry Heart feel like somepony had just pulled away the crystal floor from underneath her. “Six o'clock?!” she bursted. “Why didn't you wake me up, Sunny?”
Now Sunny and Starry broke out into simultaneous giggling again.
“Oh, you and Magnolia were just so cuuuuuuute together!” Starry intentionally stretched the word as she answered Flurry's question, teasing her. “We just didn't want to disturb you two!” She gave Flurry a nudge and winked at her.
Getting the implication, Flurry Heart blushed a little, but did not say anything and just raised an eyebrow.
“And we figured you would be tired from the day before,” Sunny Spirit added as she had stopped giggling. “Magnolia seemed tired, too, so we just let both of you sleep.”
Now understanding, Flurry Heart nodded. Then, like on cue, Magnolia entered the corridor, yawning and rubbing over her chest sleepily. “Good mo–” She froze as she found Flurry Heart standing in front of her. “I can explain!” she shouted quickly, her face pale.
Flurry Heart took this as reason to ask another question on her mind. “Why did you sleep in my bed?”
Right as the last word had left her lips, a faint blush appeared in Magnolia's face. Her eyes looked to the side, avoiding Flurry's gaze. “I..... I-I just had a nightmare. There was this pony again and it scared me. I woke up from it and couldn't sleep alone anymore. But there was not enough room in Sunny's or Starry's sleeping bags, so I just climbed into your bed.” A few beads of sweat trickled down her forehead, which she brushed away quickly.
The last bit of Flurry Heart's confusion cleared up in her face and she gave Magnolia a smile. “That's okay, I don't mind!” she said, trying to calm the pegasus filly's apparent nervousness.
Shyly, Magnolia smiled as well, struggling with answering, but then a loud grumbling spared her from having to reply. Her eyes shifted to Flurry Heart, then Starry and Sunny looked at her, too.
Now in the center of attention, the filly rubbed her belly. “I'm hungry,” she stated the obvious. “Let's get something to eat!”
The other three fillies nodded agreeingly, then the quartet moved into the kitchen. As Flurry Heart crossed the doorstep, she paused in surprise. At the table was Sharp Pitch, sitting there and being busy with spreading butter on some loaves of bread. To his left, two mugs with cocoa stood, situated in front of one stool each.
“Sharp Pitch?” Flurry Heart asked. Eyes widely opened, she blinked.
“Good morning, princess,” he replied with a smile, turning around at her. The circles under his eyes made it look fake. “Your parents are busy talking with Sunburst and Spike, princess.”
Nodding, but with her mouth still open and her eyes staring at the guard, Flurry Heart took seat at his side, followed by Magnolia, who climbed on the stool to her left. Sunny and Starry sat down opposite of them.
Then something dawned on Flurry Heart and she turned to the guard again. “Sunburst?” she asked puzzled. “But mommy said he will be gone until Monday morning. How is he here already, Sharp Pitch?”
Sharp Pitch moved his shoulders in a slight shrug without turning at her. “I don't know. Maybe your parents called him back earlier because they need his help. I just saw him entering the castle this morning. Now eat something, princess.”
Finished with preparing breakfast for Flurry Heart and Magnolia, Sharp Pitch hovered two plates with buttered breads in front of the two hungry fillies, then rested his head on one of his hooves and yawned.
Eagerly, they began with consuming their breakfast, watched by Sunny and Starry, who were content with a glass of juice. Half of the bread gone, Flurry Heart addressed them with another question that had just popped into her mind.
“What did you and Starry do while Magnolia and I were sleeping?”
In response, they just gave her a grin, then shook their heads. “Surprise!” Sunny said. “You're going to find out later!”
Instead of getting excited, this statement got a groan out of Flurry Heart. “Another surprise? Can't you tell it now?”
“Not yet,” Sunny said, sticking out a tongue at her. “But here is something else for you, Flurry!” Without saying more, she got up and left the room, then returned with a gigantic cookie in her hooves barely a minute later. She placed it on her friend's plate.
It cast a smile on Flurry Heart's face. “A cookie?” she just said, surprised, then lifted up the treat and bit a huge chunk out of it. She chewed it thoroughly, then swallowed. “I didn't know you even brought cookies. I wish you would have told me earlier, Sunny!” She did another bite, reducing the cookie in her hooves to a mere fragment of its original size.
Sunny shook her head slowly. “It's not from me.”
“Who then?” the young alicorn asked casually, then let the last bit of the cookie disappear in her mouth.
“Starry brought it into the castle.”
At Flurry's side, Sharp Pitch raised an eyebrow and looked over to Starry Skies. He seemed fully awake suddenly.
“She brought it into the castle?” Flurry Heart asked, like she wanted to take the words out of the mouth of her guard.
Now Starry Skies explained. “I was going for a little walk while you were asleep, just around the castle. Then I met this stallion. He asked me if I come from inside the castle and when I said yes, he told me that he's a fan of you, Flurry.”
Sharp Pitch's eyes became slits.
“He said he wanted to bring you a present, but that the guards at the gate didn't let him inside. Then he gave me this cookie for you. Nice of him, wasn't it?” Starry took a sip from her juice.
“Mhm.” Flurry Heart agreed with a smile. “Maybe not everypony is hat–” Before she could finish the sentence, she felt tightly grabbed by Sharp Pitch and turned around to face him. Flurry Heart winced. “What's wrong?” she asked upset. “Why are you grabbing me like this, it hurts!”
“Princess!” he addressed her sharply, ignoring her complaint. “How do you feel?”
“I'm fine, but you–”
“Do you feel sick? Or does your stomach hurt?” he shot more questions at her, interrupting her once again. His pupils had become small and his face was strained.
“No, why would it?” Flurry Heart began to squirm around, then managed to free herself from his grasp. She breathed heavily for a few times, then shot him a glare. “What's wrong?” she asked him again, now mad at her guard.
Magnolia and Starry stared at Sharp Pitch, their mouths open. Only Sunny stayed calm, a serious expression in her eyes.
“Why are you so harsh to Flurry?” It was Magnolia who found her speech first.
For a moment, Sharp Pitch looked over the fillies, whose glances felt like needles getting stabbed into his chest. Then he composed himself, breathed in deeply, then out.
“I'm sorry,” he answered, feebly. “It is nothing.” He looked at Flurry Heart. “Just continue your breakfast, princess.”
The answer did nothing to ease the fillies after the extreme reaction and neither did it do anything to answer the questions in their mind. They looked after Sharp Pitch, quietly observing his movement, as he got up and moved to the kitchen counter, intended to make himself some coffee. As he did not address his outburst any further, the four fillies slowly returned to their routines. A few moments passed, then they found themselves chatting again, while Flurry Heart and Magnolia finished their breakfast.
About half an hour later, the four friends left the kitchen. Sharp Pitch followed them back to Flurry Heart's room, for another night of guarding them during their sleepover weekend. Sunny Spirit was the last in the row. As Flurry, Magnolia and Starry were inside the room, she stopped suddenly. “I go to the bathroom for a moment. We can play the next game I have planned once I'm back. Don't start without me, okay?” She gave Starry a knowing glance.
The unicorn filly nodded, with the others joining in. Sunny Spirit turned around, hearing the door closing behind her, then she took position in front of Sharp Pitch.
The guard looked up at her, then sighed. “Do you want to give me a pep talk for being harsh to your friend? Listen, I–”
“There was somepony.” Sunny Spirit interrupted him swiftly.
“Somepony? Who are you talking about? The stallion who gave the cookie to the princess?”
It was a good guess, but Sunny shook her head. “No. It was last night. Magnolia said she saw somepony outside the window, staring at her.”
Sharp Pitch's inner alarm began to ring again. “Did it really look up to the window?”
“Yes, Magnolia said so. It scared her a lot, she couldn't even talk for a few moments. But the pony was gone when we looked. I'm not sure if she just imagined it, but I wanted to let you know, now that this stallion tried to get in.”
Sharp Pitch nodded sternly. “Thank you for telling me. I have already decided to talk with the other guards about this stallion later.” Still noticing concern in her eyes, he put a hoof on her shoulder. “Now go inside. I promise, as long as I am here, nothing bad will happen to you fillies.”
Finally, Sunny moved. She gave Sharp Pitch a nod on her own, then went to the door of Flurry's room, opened it and slipped through.
Inside, her three friends were already waiting for her eagerly.
Flurry Heart became impatient. “Can I finally know now, Sunny?”
The mentioned filly nodded, then took seat at Flurry Heart's side. It was slowly getting dark again already, which made Flurry Heart shivering a little, unfamiliar with experiencing such a short day. Using her magic, she turned on the two lanterns, then Sunny began to explain the game for this night.
“The game we are going to play this night is called 'Blindfold Tasty'.”
Flurry Heart furrowed her brow. “'Blindfold Tasty'? That's a weird name.”
“Yeah,” Sunny nodded. “But it's a fun game, you'll see. While you and Magnolia were asleep, Starry and I prepared some food. It's all on different plates and we take turns at spinning a bottle. There will be one of us who gets blindfolded and whatever food the bottle points at when it stops must be fed to her.”
Magnolia shivered a little. “And what food is on the plates?”
Sunny smirked. “Secret! That's the thrill behind it. You don't know what you get, but you'll have to eat it. That's why me and Starry can't get blindfolded. At least, not for the first round. We already know what's on the plates.”
“And who will start then? Me or Flurry?” Magnolia asked, hesitantly.
Instead of answering, Sunny gave Flurry a wink. She looked at her friend, confused, but then she understood.
Sunny turned to Magnolia again. She smirked. “Always the pony who asks, Magnolia.”
“What?” Magnolia's face showed slight terror at the prospect and she lifted her hooves defensively. “But I..... No–” Before she could continue her sentence, Flurry Heart was holding her in a magical grip, grinning, while Sunny approached her with a cloth.
Magnolia gave Sunny a glare, then groaned loudly as the cloth got put on her eyes and tied at the back of her head. “I swear, you're going to–” She bit on her tongue before she could finish the sentence, then stayed silent.
Having finished blindfolding Magnolia, Sunny tested if she really couldn't see anything by punching into the air right in front of her face a few times. As she was convinced, she nodded at Starry. “Okay, let's get the food from the refrigerator now.”
The unicorn and crystal filly got up and left the room. A minute later, they returned, with Starry hovering six plates and an empty bottle in her magic. Sunny had one plate on her back and carried another one in her mouth.
Quickly, Flurry Heart grabbed the sleeping bags and crumpled them to the side to make room, then her two friends arranged the plates in a circle and placed the bottle in the middle of it.
Magnolia could not see anything of the preparations, but occasional sighs signaled she wasn't looking forward to the game.
Done with everything, Flurry Heart, Sunny and Starry sat down in front of the plates with the various food samples. Magnolia was still sitting on her sleeping bag to the right. Even though her eyes had a cloth over them, the bared teeth of her mouth showed how nervous she was. “Can I at least know how many plates there are?” she asked, whimpering a little.
“Eight,” Sunny replied taut. “But that's all we're going to tell you!” Then she turned to Flurry Heart. “You can spin first, Flurry.”
“Okay.” Flurry Heart smiled. At her side, Starry was grinning a lot and Sunny had a grin on her face, too. The game hadn't even started yet and it already showed that the fillies would have a lot of fun with it.
Flurry Heart reached out with her hoof and touched the bottle, then gave it a strong spin. In fast tempo, the bottle rotated, watched by the three friends who stared in excitement. Then it stopped. A collective squeal left them. The “food” the bottle was pointing at now was a drop of toothpaste.
Having heard how the bottle stopped, Magnolia asked, “What food is it? Is it at least something good?”
“Oh, did we say 'food'? Actually, it's more like all sorts of things you could put into your mouth and swallow without poisoning yourself,” Sunny teased her.
Flurry and Starry snickered.
Magnolia felt her heart slide down into her stomach. She gulped. “W-What if I just refuse to open my mouth?”
“You'd better not,” Sunny advised her. “The rules say you will have to bring a sacrifice then and we are going to decide what it is. And that might be worse than whatever you have to eat.”
Magnolia groaned again. “Fine..... Then let's get this over and done with. But make it quick.” Her shuddering returned.
Flurry Heart's face turned into one, broad grin. Carefully, she scooped up the toothpaste, then she got up and trotted on three hooves over to Magnolia.
“Now open your mouth really wide!” she commanded as she was in reach of Magnolia's face.
Hesitantly, Magnolia did as told, her face twitching slightly. As it was opened wide enough, Flurry Heart let the tip of her hoof enter her mouth and dropped the toothpaste on her tongue. Then she retreated her hoof, waiting expectantly.
Magnolia closed her mouth, then shifted her tongue around. At first it was fine, all she felt was something cold and gooey and for a moment, she hoped it would be ice cream. Then a fresh feeling spread out on her tongue and it started to feel numb.
“Bwah!” Magnolia explaimed, opening her mouth as she realized what it was. She pursed her lips like wanting to spit the toothpaste out, but Flurry Heart covered her mouth before she could open it.
“Don't. If you spit it out,” Sunny explained, “you will have to bring a sacrifice, too.”
Magnolia winced, and a muffled whimper escaped from under Flurry Heart's hooves. If she wouldn't have been blindfolded, they could see that her eyes were closed now as she struggled to swallow the piece of toothpaste. A few seconds passed, then a slight convulsion of her throat hinted that she had managed to gulp down the disgusting chunk on her tongue.
Flurry Heart removed her hoof and, before she could tell Magnolia to open her mouth so they could check if the toothpaste was really gone, Magnolia did so on own accord, sticking out her tongue and moaning in disgust. “That was terrible!” she complained.
“Rules are rules!” Sunny teased her again, causing Magnolia to stiffle a curse.
More snickering followed, then Flurry Heart returned to her seat. Now it was Sunny who grabbed the bottle and spun it.Three or four turns later, it came to a halt.
“Lucky you,” Sunny said, addressing Magnolia. “For now,” she added, after scooping up a small cookie from the plate. She approached Magnolia and held the cookie in front of her mouth. “Now open up, it's better this time!”
Hesitantly, but a little faster than before, Magnolia opened her mouth. A yelp escaped her as the cookie fell on her tongue, but turned into relieved sighing soon, as her tongue identified the taste. Her spirits lifted, she began to chew the cookie, then swallowed it down, all without objection.
It was Starry's turn next. As soon as Sunny had returned to her place between her and Flurry Heart, Starry Skies eagerly reached for the bottle and spun it wildly. The spin was stronger than at Flurry's or Sunny's turn, but after ten rotations, the bottle finally stopped. In the middle of the plate it pointed at, was a tiny pile of green pepper. It looked like it was barely enough to fill the small spoon that was on the plate as well.
As Starry saw the result, she held a hoof to her mouth and giggled. Activating her magic, she lifted the spoon, dunked it into the pepper, leaving only a few grains on the plate, and hovered the spoon towards Magnolia. On Flurry Heart's face was a sceptical expression, but, before she could say anything, Magnolia had opened her mouth at Starry's command and the spoon had entered it. Starry dropped the hot, green, powder-like substance on Magnolia's tongue.
It just caused a slight briskness on the sensible taste organ, right after touching it, and Magnolia's first guess was soda powder. Just one second later, though, the pegasus filly had to correct herself, as the green pepper began to unfold all of its spicy potential. Under her blindfold, her eyes shot open widely and tears entered them almost immediately. She held her hooves to her mouth, face painfully distorted, and coughed. A small amount of the pepper got blown out of her mouth and landed on her white coat. Then everything happened fast.
Magnolia opened her mouth and inhaled deeply, then, with a frantic movement, she ripped the blindfold of her head. In a panic-fueled gallop, she rushed over the plates; not caring about food getting smeared on her hooves or the laughter behind her, and out of the room. Sharp Pitch startled as the door of Flurry Heart's room got thrown open with a loud bang and Magnolia rushed past him, like a white flash, heading directly for the kitchen. As she pulled open the door of the refrigerator, the cold air from the ice block inside easing her hot mouth a little as it wafted into her face, her wings were buzzing like those of a hummingbird. Hastily, she grabbed one of the milk bottles, removed the cap and began to drink in greedy gulps. The cold, refreshing liquid extinguished the fire in her mouth and as Magnolia had emptied the bottle, she sat down on the floor, gasping for air. The spicy taste in her mouth reduced to a light sting now, Magnolia slowly calmed down from the shock.
Behind her, Flurry, Sunny and Starry entered the kitchen. Cocky, Starry gave her a strong pat on the back. “You are disqualified!” she shouted.
Magnolia huffed. “I don't care. I'm just glad that I got this taste out of my mouth, who even had this idea?!” She turned, her glare skipping around between Starry and Sunny.
“Don't look at me,” Sunny defended herself, although, she still had to stiffle a giggle.
A playfully guilty expression on her face, Starry stuck out her tongue at Magnolia, then she grinned broadly. Magnolia's glare deepened, but Starry's grin did not falter. “No risk, no fun!” she said, then she turned around and bolted back into Flurry Heart's room, half-expecting that Magnolia would come after her.
But the filly that had just become victim of her idea did nothing of that sort. Instead, she trotted slowly out of the kitchen, shaking her head. “I'm not playing this game anymore.”
Flurry and Sunny looked into each other's eyes for a moment and shrugged. But naughty expressions returned to their faces soon and they giggled again, then followed their friend.
While Magnolia was in the bathroom cleaning her hooves, the other three fillies cleaned up the small mess in Flurry Heart's bedroom. It was by a miracle that none of the plates got shattered as Magnolia ran over them, something Flurry Heart would have hated to explain to her parents. They brought them into the kitchen and put them into the sink, where they freed them from the remaints of the food, then put them on the table to prepare them once again. Even though Magnolia had so unexpectedly skipped out of the game, neither of them wanted to stop playing just now. And so, it happened once again that Sunny and Starry prepped the plates with both tasty and disgusting things, while it was this time Flurry Heart who waited in her room, blindfolded.
The young alicorn princess lasted longer than her pegasus friend. She grimaced at the taste of old butter and other, less than tasty things, and a piece of a moldy tomato Sunny had found at the back of the refrigerator let her almost puke. But it was only a jalapeño pepper, as almost all of the eight plates had been emptied, that made her give up, with a similar reaction as Magnolia had shown before her.
The group of friends continued with two more rounds, giving both Sunny and Starry opportunity to get fed with whatever things the other three fillies decided on from the vast offers of the royal kitchen.
As Sunny had just swallowed the piece of food from the last plate, a spoonful of baking powder, the four friends received a reminder for how late it was already. Sunny put down her blindfold and grinned triumphantly, with Flurry Heart clapping for her friend, as suddenly, the bell strokes of the nearby clock tower sounded into their ears.
Reverently, the fillies sat still and listened to the strokes. “Two, three, four,” they started counting them. As they had reached the number twelve, followed by complete silence, that now felt eerie to them, they gasped in unison. It was midnight! How long did they play? None of them had even noticed how fast the time had gone by during their game, so much fun did they have with it. They were now awake as long as last night, yet, this time, none of them felt tired. Especially Magnolia and Flurry Heart were widely awake, after their long sleep today.
Having sat on her flank so far, Starry Skies now brought herself into a more comfortable position again, the same one as last night. “Witching Hour,” she whispered, head propped on her forehooves, a tone in her voice that could only be described as “mystical”. Or, at least she tried to make her voice sound like this. Nonetheless, the other foals in the room shuddered over her voice, with Magnolia shuddering the most of all of them. She could already guess what Starry was going for and her mind disagreed with it.
“Now it's time for ghost stories,” Starry said, still in the same tone.
Despite Magnolia's reaction, everypony except her agreed. There was no creepy pony frightening Magnolia this night, so none of her friends had a problem with doing what they couldn't do last night.
Inspired by Starry's little show and in the same mood now, Flurry Heart used her magic and dimmed the two lanterns in the room, until it was almost completely dark. Only a faint glow came from the lanterns anymore, by far not enough to lit up the whole room, and Flurry Heart and her friends could only see their silhouettes now. Reflexively, Magnolia rose from her position and trotted at Flurry Heart's side with fast steps, where she let herself slump down again. Her teeth started to clatter.
“So, who is telling the first story?” Flurry Heart asked everypony around. Expectantly, she rested her eyes on Starry Skies. “Starry?”
Surprised, the unicorn looked up. “Me?”
“Mhm,” Flurry Heart nodded. “You know some, right?”
Now Sunny and Magnolia looked at Starry too, although the latter did so very hesitantly.
Starry laid back her ears a little. “No..... I'm sorry, I don't know any ghost stories.” Wonder appeared in the faces of her friends. “You know I wasn't at any sleepovers before. That's why I was so disappointed last night, I really wanted to hear some.....”
Flurry Heart nodded. “Ok.” She turned to her left and faced Magnolia. “And I guess you don't know any either, or do you, Magnolia?”
“N-No!” Magnolia shot back an answer. “I-I don't know any g-ghost stories!” Her teeth began to clatter louder.
Flurry Heart was not sure if this was the truth, but didn't ask further. With only two of them left who could provide ghost stories, though, she became slightly worried if their plan would work out. But, before she could ask her best friend, Sunny spoke up, saving the situation.
“I know one,” she said quietly. “It's the only one I know, but it's a really scary one!”
“That's perfect!” Starry Skies burst out, snickering in excitement.
Flurry Heart's face showed satisfaction as well. She gave a nod to her best friend, who nodded in return. Using her magic a second time, Flurry Heart reached into Sunny's bag and lifted out several chocolate bars, that she spread between her friends. As all of them were equipped with a few, Sunny got ready to start. She looked over the excited faces of her friends, then she began to tell her tale.
“What I am going to tell you this night,” she gave her voice an ominous tone, “is the story of..... 'The Crimson Crystal'!” She paused for effect, looking at all of her friends again.
“Everything began on a quiet, peaceful Saturday, just like today. A stallion was in his bedroom, having just searched for something in his drawer. He was clumsy this day and something fell behind it. So he got down and moved the drawer away from the wall. As he looked behind, he found more than what he searched for.....” Making another pause, Sunny waited before she continued.
“There, right on the wall, a crystal with a pointy tip stuck out. It didn't belong to the wall, that's something the stallion could tell immediately. It had a different color than the crystal his house had been carved out of many years ago. And what freaked him out, was, that the crystal was of a crimson color. He couldn't make heads nor tails of it, but eventually, he shrugged it off. He took the item that fell behind the drawer, moved the drawer back at the wall and continued with his day. Soon, he had forgotten about the weird crystal.”
The faces of Sunny's friends were all adorned by smiles now, eager to know how the story continued, except for Magnolia, who seemingly became smaller at her spot.
“And then? What happened?” Starry asked, completely captured already.
“Nothing,” Sunny answered bluntly, causing a disappointed frown to appear on her friend's face. “A lot of time passed. Days, weeks, even months went by and the stallion did not think about the crystal anymore. He had completely forgotten it. Until one day, he trotted past his drawer again and noticed how it had been shifted from the wall. He gave it a closer look and moved it to the side to check the wall. It made him remembering the strange, crimson crystal again. Except, when seeing it this time, it was much bigger than he remembered. It had grown in the last months, so much, that it had pushed his drawer away from the wall. It was a mystery for him, but he wanted to solve it.”
Stopping again, Sunny snatched up a chocolate bar in front of her hooves, unwrapped it and began to eat it slowly, creating more suspense. She continued only as she was finished.
“He called an expert in crystallography to his house and showed him the crystal, explaining everything. But the expert was at a loss. He had never seen such a crystal before and all he could do was giving him the advice to cut it off to prevent it from growing further. Which the stallion did. He took his saw and removed the crystal, then threw it outside. Everything went back to normal after that. Until.....”
Now Magnolia gulped, the suspense slowly getting too much for her. Absentmindedly, she inched closer to Flurry Heart, not noticing what she did in all her fear. Flurry Heart did notice, though. She unfolded her left wing and put it over Magnolia's back, giving her a smile. “It's just a story,” she said in a calming tone. Magnolia nodded, yet the frightened expression remained. She twitched a little as Sunny picked up again.
“Until one day, he was just sitting at the desk in his study, a very loud bang just behind his back let him twitch. He turned around and saw that the cabinet that stood at the wall behind him had been fallen over. His study was small, so it was missing him by only a few inches. But what scared him the most..... was that, on the wall where the cabinet stood, another crimson crystal was sticking out. It was massive this time and had a broad oval shape. Shaking his head and sighing, the stallion got up and removed the cabinet from the floor, wondering why the crimson crystal was back in another room of his house now. He suspected that something was wrong with his house crystal, so he called the expert again on the same day, letting him check every wall in every room. But there was nothing. The blue crystal his house was built out off was in perfect condition and once more, the expert left without being able to offer an explanation. It was already late when he left, so the stallion decided to go to bed and to cut off the new crystal on the next day. But, when he woke up the next morning..... the crimson crystals were everywhere in his bedroom!”
Sunny gestured around the room with her hooves, giving Magnolia an unpleasant feeling, yet exciting the rest of the foals.
“And then?” Flurry Heart and Starry asked at the same time. The story was getting more scary and they shivered now, their hearts beating faster and a feeling of cold fear spreading in their chests. But unlike Magnolia, the two of them smiled wildly, enjoying the feeling.
Sunny continued. “The crimson crystals were above his drawer, behind his bed, even on the ceiling! And the floor was littered with them as well. But worst of all..... A few of the crystals had grown over the door of his bedroom, making it impossible for him to leave. No matter how much he pulled at the door, he could not get out. Desperated, he cantered to the window. It was too high to jump down from there, so he waved and shouted, calling the ponies that passed by for help. But nopony reacted. It was like none of them could even hear him. In his panic, he rushed back to the door and tried to remove the crimson crystals by force, but it was to no avail. He tried it for the whole day, but all he got from it were bloody hooves. At the evening, he gave up and went back to bed, exhausted. Tiny fragments of the crimson crystals covered his wounds, but he was too tired and he had nothing to patch them up with anyway. And so, he fell asleep.....”
Sunny stopped again and set her eyes on Magnolia, for maximum effect. “And do you know what happened next?”
“N-No and I don't want to know!” She inched even closer to Flurry Heart, leaving no space between them anymore.”
But Sunny grinned devilishly. “A few days later, his landlord came to the house. The stallion hadn't been seen for days by any of his neighbors, so they called the landlord and told him about it. He opened the door and entered the house, then went through every room. All the interior was still there, yet the stallion was nowhere to be found, and the landlord suspected the worst already. As he reached the door of the stallion's bedroom, the last room he didn't check yet, he groaned. As he had opened it and his eyes fell on the bed, he shook his head. Everything in the room looked normal, but on the bed, there was a crystal sculpture of a pony, one made of crimson-red crystals that looked just like the stallion that lived there. The landlord huffed and said 'Very funny, mister'. He trotted to the bed and gave the sculpture a closer look. Its details astounded him, he had never seen such a detailed sculpture of a pony before. It almost looked alive and for a moment, he even thought the eyes of it were moving. But then he shrugged, put the sculpture on his back and turned to leave the house. Repeatedly, he shook his head in disbelief on the way out. 'No money to pay the last rent, but enough to make a sculpture to mock me.' he said. It seemed like a clear case to him, but, what he didn't know, was.....”
Sunny's voice indicated that she was approaching a shocking reveal in her story and even though all of them, including Magnolia, could already guess what it was, all of them were on the edge of their proverbial seats now. They gulped, their eyes big.
“What he didn't know was.....” Sunny said again. “That the stallion hadn't left. And he was also not dead. No, he was in the house all the time and right now, clasped tightly between his hooves. Like in the room earlier, the eyes of the stallion darted around, panic in them. Finally, his landlord threw him on the dump. The stallion stayed there and screamed and screamed, yet, nopony could hear him under the thick layer of crystal that covered his body. The landlord never saw the sculpture again, nor did he care about it, but eventually, a pony found the sculpture with the stallion inside and took it home with it. They say the sculpture still exists, though, nopony keeps it for long. Because.....”
She stopped and looked over her friends for a last time before lowering her eyes and her voice and finishing the story with one last sentence.
“Because a strange, rotten smell always present around the sculpture that nopony could explain made them sell it again quickly.”
Sunny leaned back and let the words linger in the air. It took a few moments until the realization hit them, then Flurry and Starry gasped and their mouths remained open. Magnolia, now completely spooked, wrapped her hooves around Flurry Heart and began to shiver uncontrollably.
“A-And that's really true?” Flurry Heart asked her friend.
“That's what ponies say. I only heard it myself, but, if I were you, I would look out for it.” She rested her eyes on Magnolia. “Your parents have many sculptures in their house, right? Maybe you should better check if one of those smells weird.....”
Panicking now, Magnolia yelped and buried her head even more into Flurry's coat. It became wet as a few tears left her eyes.
“Just stop with the story now, Sunny. I think Magnolia had enough.” Gently, she put a hoof on Magnolia's shoulder. Then she ignited her horn and made the lanterns brighter again.
Sunny was still wearing a smirk, but nodded. “Okay then. It's the only scary story I know, anyway.”
Starry Skies was less content. Already the expression in her face showed that she wanted to hear more. She addressed Flurry. “And what about you? I'm sure you know more stories, am I right?” An almost insane grin was on her face.
Flurry Heart nodded. “I do. A few even.” Then her lips formed a smug smile. “And I know something even better..... I could show you a real scary place, not just tell a story.”
Although it seemed impossible for Starry to be more on fire than she already was, this was exactly what happened now. Her eyes glowing, she stormed at Flurry Heart. “Show me!” she said, her voice demanding and eager.
But Flurry Heart shook her head. “No.” In front of her, Starry's face fell apart in disappointment. “I would really like to. But as I said, Magnolia had enough, and if we go down there now, she will freak out completely.” Her face frowned a little. “And it wouldn't be a very relaxing sleepover anymore then, especially not after what happened last night.....”
This sentence stroke a chord in Sunny Spirit. “I agree with Flurry Heart, she's right. The last three school days were hard enough. We should have fun this weekend, nothing else.”
This worked. Although still looking disappointed, Starry Skies gave up. “Okay,” she said with a sigh, hanging her head a little.
“Maybe we can go there tomorrow night, Starry,” Flurry tried to cheer her up.
Starry looked at her. “Do you promise we will?”
“I'm not sure,” the young princess answered. “It depends if Magnolia has calmed down by then. But I promise we try, Starry.”
It was not a completely satisfying answer for Starry Skies, but she ceased to argue and left it at a nod.
“So, what are we going to do now?” she asked then, having returned to her preferred, comfortable position.
“I don't know,” Flurry Heart replied. She looked down at Magnolia. It felt weird to her, apparently, they were going to end the second night of their sleepover weekend just like the first one, with Magnolia being terrified. She sighed a little, but then vocalized her thoughts.
“I guess there isn't much Magnolia would be up for today anymore, I think it's best we're going to sleep now.”
And indeed, Magnolia was still shivering, even whimpered quietly. None of them felt really tired yet, though all of them had to agree on Flurry Heart's reasoning, seeing how scared Magnolia was now. Silently they agreed. They made their way to the bathroom, were they brushed their teeth together, then they returned to Flurry Heart's room.
While Sunny brought her sleeping bag back to its position and smoothed it, Magnolia climbed straight into Flurry Heart's bed, still shivering strongly, slipped under the blanket and pulled it up real close to her chin. “I'm not sleeping alone tonight,” she said firm, her heart beating fast.
Flurry Heart smiled understandingly. “It's okay, I still don't mind.”
Sunny raised an eyebrow when she heard how casually her friend expressed to be okay with sharing her bed with the former bully, but didn't say anything.
As all of the fillies were at their chosen sleeping places, Flurry Heart used her magic on the lanterns again, but didn't turn them off completely this time. A slight glimmer of light remained in the room, making it possible to identify the silhouettes of the furniture and their lying bodies. They wished each other a good night, yet, found themselves awake for quite a while, a time they used to chat about various things on their minds.
Slowly, though, one filly after another slipped into sleep, until only Flurry Heart was awake anymore. For a few minutes, her thoughts circled about the events of the last two days and how relaxing they had been on her mind. Despite how terrible this week was for her, she now felt a new confidence. Whatever it was that her parents, Spike and Sunburst were planning for Monday, it would work, and her life would finally return to normal, she was sure about this now.
It was a thought that eased her further and, fully convinced that the horror would be over soon, she closed her eyes and nestled into her pillow, as much as this was possible with the pegasus at her side clinging to her. Only a few minutes later, the sleep had taken her away as well and slow, calm breaths were leaving her mouth.....
> Chapter 22: Her Darkest Hour
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours after Flurry Heart had fallen asleep as the last, the moon came out from behind a cloud. It shone into the room, casting a silvery light on the sleeping fillies. The room was quiet, except for their slow breaths and an occasional snoring by Starry Skies. Until a sound came from the window, akin to a clank.
Huffing, a pony pulled itself up and over the windowsill. Tall, it stood between the sleeping friends on the floor, slowly letting its eyes wander over the unfamiliar room, without making noise, until it had spotted what it was looking for.
On the tip of its hooves, it snuck to Flurry Heart's bed. A grin forming on the face, the pony took position there and looked down on the sleeping princess, eyes widening for a moment as it noticed another filly sleeping in the same bed. But the expression of surprise only lasted for a second and, despite the unexpected development, the pony stayed confident. Lighting up the room more, the pony's glowing, blue horn revealed the face of a cream-colored stallion. He was still wearing a grin, an even broader one now, and the blue light made his face look slightly ominous.
“Finally it's happening,” he whispered in excitement. His voice was deep, but also full of youthful energy.
He readied the object in his left hoof, then reached out to the princess with the other one. Very gently, he poked her shoulder.
“Princess,” he whispered again, slightly louder this time.
Below him, Flurry Heart mumbled and shifted slightly, but did not open her eyes. She smacked her lips a few times, then lay still again. The stallion's heart started to beat faster. A smile formed on his lips as he observed the reaction of the young filly. He stretched out his hoof again, this time aiming for Flurry Heart's mane, and stroke over it tenderly, his smile getting deepened. Then he moved it to her shoulder again, giving it another poke, a stronger one this time.
“Princess!” he said, louder than before, but, so he hoped, not loud enough to awaken the other three fillies. “Please wake up!”
Flurry Heart stirred again. “Why now?” she mumbled. She was awake.
A blush and an expression of embarrassment appeared on the stallion's face now. “I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep, princess, but this is important. I needed to see you.”
In a crawling tempo, Flurry Heart moved her head to the left, then opened her eyes to look at the pony who woke her. Her vision was blurry, all she saw was a blue light, which she chalked up to the light of the moon, and a white blob in the middle of all.
“Sharp Pitch.....” she mumbled again sleepily. “What is so important? Why can't it wait until tomorrow?” A tiny yawn left her. Her vision began to clear, but only slowly.
“I'm sorry,” the stallion apologized again. “There were too many guards at the gate, so I–”
Just before he could finish his sentence, Flurry Heart's eyes shot open widely, something about the sentence having made her fully awake. As she realized it wasn't Sharp Pitch who she was talking to, a gurgling, high-pitched scream escaped her throat. The stallion in front of her startled and dropped the object in his hooves. It barely made a sound as it hit the floor.
“Princess, please don't!” he said hastily, then pressed a hoof on her mouth in panic. Hectically, he looked around, checking on the other fillies. They stirred now, their tiny limbs bulging the material of the sleeping bags. Magnolia moved as well. Beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead and he looked back at the young filly, who stared at him in fear. “Princess, please, there is no need to scream, I–” He could not finish the sentence once again.
In front of him, Flurry Heart squeezed her eyes shut, then her horn produced a twirl of her skyblue magic. It was swirling around her horn just for a split-second, then it formed a ball of light right on the tip of it. A thin ray shot out of it, right at the stallion. As the ray of magic pierced through his chest, the stallion stuttered and coughed. One, two, three shots more, then his eyes suddenly broke, now looking down at Flurry Heart cold and lifeless. With a thump, his body fell down on the floor, hitting it right at Sunny's side.
A gasp of shock on her lips, Flurry Heart opened her eyes and sat up in her bed, awaking Magnolia completely in the process.
“Flurry Heart? What's wrong?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.
Flurry Heart did not answer. In panic, she looked to the side where the stallion had stood.
His still widely opened eyes looked back at her as her glance fell on his limb body. The filly gasped again and she held a hoof at her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. As the realization what had just happened washed over her like icecold water somepony was spilling into her face, another scream sounded out of her mouth.
It was a second later that loud clopping of hooves approached the door. It got flung open and entering the room was Sharp Pitch. Shining Armor and Cadance were only close behind.
“Princess, why did you–” he began to ask the pressing question on his mind, but then halted, as the body on the floor caught his eye. Speechlessly, he let his eyes wander over the stallion. His mouth was open, tongue hanging out, and his eyes looked dead. Sharp Pitch was not able to make out any injuries from his position, but a puddle of blood that spread under his chest was more than he needed to see in order to fully determine the condition of the stallion.
At his side, Shining Armor and Cadance had noticed the same. Their eyes stared down at the dead body in disbelief. Cadance covered her mouth in shock and her husband was gritting his teeth.
While Magnolia, Sunny and Starry were still rubbing their eyes, confused over the sudden commotion that woke them up, Shining Armor bellowed a command. “Sharp Pitch, bring the other fillies outside!” His voice was strained.
Cadance hurried at Flurry Heart's side and, wrapped in her magic, put her from shock now stiff daughter on her back. Then she galloped out of the room and into the corridor, where she headed straight for the bedroom she occupied together with her husband.
Shining Armor stayed behind. For a moment, he contemplated checking the pulse of the stallion, but then shoved the useless thought away as he realized his mind was just still engulfed by futile hope. While Sharp Pitch impelled the other three fillies and led them out of the room, Shining Armor noticed something on the floor, right to the stallion's hindlegs. He wrapped the thing into his magic, lifting it in front of his eyes. It was a card, shaped like a heart. A very tidy hoofwriting on the front said “For Princess Flurry Heart”.
A gruesome suspicion coming over him, Shining Armor opened the card and silently read the words written in it:


Dear Princess Flurry Heart,


please accept this card as a sign of support. I know about the problems you have to face right now, but not everypony in the Crystal Empire is against you, princess. I was always admiring you when you greeted the sun in the morning and the things I know about you now have not changed this.
I know that you only attacked my little brother to defend yourself and I hold no grudge against you for it. Me and my family still love you, Princess Flurry Heart, and I wanted to give you this card to lift your spirits and ease your mind.
No matter what happens, I will always support you, princess.
In admiration and loyalty,


Silver Hoof


As he had finished, Shining Armor opened his mouth and just stared down at the card, feeling cold suddenly. He crumpled the card with his magic and let it fall to the floor, where he stomped with his hoof on it. Then he turned around swiftly and left the room, leaving the corpse of the stallion behind.
He found Cadance waiting with Flurry Heart in their bedroom. Starry Skies, Sunny Spirit and Magnolia were there as well, surrounding the bed in which Flurry had been placed by her mom. The fillies looked crestfallen, their faces indicating Sharp Pitch had filed them in already.
Flurry Heart herself was in a state of shock. She did not cry, just laid in her parent's bed motionlessly and with wide, open eyes, the blanket on her body heaving and lowering itself under her heavy breaths. She stared at the ceiling, seemingly not noticing any of her friends and neither her parents. Cadance faced her daughter, eyes ridden with concern and sorrow, then she looked over to her husband. Shining Armor's heart felt like getting stabbed as he saw the condition of his wife and daughter. Only Sharp Pitch appeared relatively calm, yet even his face showed signs of distress if one just looked hard enough.
Taking a deep breath, Shining Armor addressed him. “It's almost morning. Please accompany the fillies home and tell their parents the sleepover had to end early because Flurry Heart wasn't feeling well.”
Sternly, Sharp Pitch nodded, then he motioned Flurry Heart's friends out of the room, each of them only leaving reluctantly. In the corridor, Sunny stopped suddenly, her sad eyes looking down at the floor. Sharp Pitch gave her a nudge as a sign to move forward, but Sunny stayed where she was.
“I'm not leaving,” she said after a few seconds, without looking up. “I'm staying here with Flurry Heart.”
“You can't,” Sharp Pitch said with a sigh. “You heard the order I got, I need to bring you all home right now. Come, let's go now, I'm sure you are going to see Flurry Heart–”
“I'M NOT LEAVING!” Sunny interrupted him with a desperate cry. “I am her best friend and she needs me and I'm staying here!” Sunny's voice was fast and it sounded stressed.
Now a flash of anger appeared on Sharp Pitch's face and he shuffled with his right hoof on the floor, a sign that the guard lost his patience. “I'm not in a mood for this,” he said taut, his voice strained. “I have strict orders and the last thing your friend can need now is your stubbornness.” He gave her a push. “You will leave with the others now or I–”
“It's okay, Sharp Pitch, let her stay,” the voice of Cadance rang out into the corridor. It sounded weak. “But please bring the other two fillies home. Flurry Heart needs rest.”
Sharp Pitch looked over his shoulder. Without saying another word, he nodded, then walked past Sunny Spirit, to do what he was told. The crystal filly trotted back into the bedroom, then at Flurry Heart's side. Seeing the open eyes of her best friend, combined with her immobility, confused Sunny. She sniffed. “I-Is she s-sleeping?” she asked without looking away from her friend, her voice already sounding tear-filled.
“No, she has a shock,” Shining Armor answered truthfully. His voice had lost its usual strength as well.
“Shining!” Cadance hissed at him, sharper than she had intended, then she looked at Sunny, whose tears were now flowing freely. Only now it became apparent how much the new situation was wearing at her own mind.
“W-We only w-wanted to have a s-sleepover,” she began to stammer. “F-Flurry felt b-better..... W-We all f-felt g-good a-and now..... n-now–” A heavy sob interrupted her sentence, making it impossible for her to continue.
Attempting to calm her down, Cadance wrapped the young crystal filly in a hug. “Ssssh,” she cooed. “Flurry Heart needs rest now, Sunny. She will feel better soon, she just needs some hours of sleep.” Behind the comforting tone, her voice sounded unsure and shivered.
Still hugging the filly, Cadance looked over to her husband. “Shining, please bring Sunny in the guest bedroom. She needs sleep as well now.”
Quietly, Shining Armor nodded. He gently tried to lead Sunny out of the room, but she did not budge, unable to take her crying eyes from Flurry Heart. As every attempt had failed, Shining Armor took the filly in his magic and carried her outside. Sunny squirmed.
“No, let me stay here!” she whimpered.
“You are going to see Flurry Heart tomorrow, I promise!” Cadance shouted after her, then Shining Armor had left the room with the filly. The whimpering continued in the distance, slowly getting quieter, until a closing door shut out the sound completely.
Alone now, Cadance brought her full attention back to her daughter. Nothing had changed. Flurry Heart still eyed the ceiling from her widely opened eyes, the shock and panic she had to go through apparent in them. With the gentle care of a mother, Cadance moved her hoof over Flurry Heart's mane and face, now tears appearing in her own eyes. After sobbing a few times and bringing her voice into a somewhat stable condition, Cadance began to sing. In her soft voice, she was singing Flurry Heart's favourite lullaby, while tears streamed down her cheeks.
It was without effect, but Cadance kept singing the song, always starting anew once she had reached the end of it. She only interrupted herself once to close the door of the bedroom with her magic, as loud, armored hoofsteps indicated that Shining Armor had called other guards to bring away the body in Flurry Heart's room. Then her voice filled the room with the lullaby again.
As Flurry Heart's eyes finally closed, after more attempts than Cadance cared to count, the alicorn mare was tired. Feeling exhausted and at the end of her strength, Cadance placed her head at her daughter's side and, sitting in front of the bed, fell asleep as well.

As Flurry Heart awoke hours later, she thought she had a bad dream, at first. Above her, the ceiling rotated and immediately, she had to close her eyes again, waiting for the vertigo to subside. “Why do I feel so dizzy?” she asked herself.
At her side, she sensed the presence of somepony and, as she felt better, sat up in the bed, rubbing her eyes like nothing happened. She looked to her right, nothing in her face indicating that she wondered why there wasn't a wall and why she, instead, looked into Sharp Pitch's face. The guard sat on a wooden chair, motionlessly, with his eyes on her. His forelegs were placed in his lap and his upper body was hunched forward slightly, a posture one could interpret as casual and relaxed, if it wouldn't have been for the gaze in his eyes. It was only interrupted by occasional blinking.
The tired expression in Flurry Heart's face made room for confusion. “Sharp Pitch? Were are Sunny, Starry and Magnolia?”
“They are at home, princess. Only Sunny is still here.” Sharp Pitch did not move.
“Starry and Magnolia left? Why?” Now the confusion shared the room in her face with disappointment. “And where is Sunny?” she immediately asked, leaving the guard no time to answer the first question.
“Your friend is in the guest room, princess. She is probably still asleep.” Sharp Pitch's voice was monotonous, like he was saying things he had prepared earlier and went over a thousand times. For a moment, it let Flurry Heart feel a cold, creeping fear. She shuddered slightly, unable to make sense of the feeling.
Averting her gaze, she looked to the left side of the massive bed. It was unmade there, the ruffled blanket and bedsheets showing that somepony had slept at her side during the night. She started to feel a pressure in her head and grimaced. Something didn't add up and it let the cold feeling of fear rise in her heart again. Flurry Heart looked back at her guard.
“Where are their sleeping bags?” she asked, feeling uneasy. “Why did everypony leave me, Sharp Pitch?”
Now, there was finally some emotion entering Sharp Pitch's face. Concern appeared on it and he leaned against the back of his chair.
“Where are you now, princess?”, he asked, still monotonously, but with a hunch of fearful curiosity audible in it.
Flurry Heart blinked. “In my room.” The cold, creeping fear intensified as she finally noticed a difference. “What is wrong with my bed? Why is it so big?” She spoke the second sentence with a whimper.
Sharp Pitch got up from his chair now. Standing in front of the confused filly, he put a hoof on her shoulder. “Do you remember anything, princess?”
“Mhm!” Flurry Heart nodded, now suddenly wearing a smile again. “Sunny, Starry and Magnolia, we had a sleepover together..... It was the second night already. Sunny was telling a scary story and Magnolia was really afraid. Then we decided to go to sleep. But we talked for a while after laying down. I fell asleep as the last one. Then I woke up again and–”
A sharp pain flashing through her head, her uninflected voice got interrupted and she held a hoof at her left temple. Face distorted, she looked down at the blanket covering her hindlegs. Then the pain disappeared as fast as it had come and her eyes grew wide. “There was somepony in my room!” Flurry Heart turned around to Sharp Pitch rapidly. “Somepony was here, Sharp Pitch!” Her voice was ripe with fear now.
In the next moment, pictures appeared in her mind, bombarding it in a rapid sentence. She held both hooves at her head. “There was a blue face..... I thought it was you, but it wasn't. I screamed. Then I couldn't talk. Then everything was black.” Her voice picked up pace while she spoke. Flurry Heart closed her eyes and began to shake her head between her hooves. “There was a sound, a strange sound! I opened my eyes and then he was on the floor!” Opening her eyes again, she gasped. All of a sudden, her face looked completely clear.
“He was on the floor,” she repeated, her voice sounding weak now. Then, her eyes got filled up with tears. Flurry Heart turned away from the guard, who had watched her behavior and listened to her answers in grim silence, and tucked up her legs. Embracing them with her hooves, she bent forward and buried her head in the blanket. There, she started to weep freely. Between her sobs and weeps, that grew louder and louder by the second, she only repeated the same sentences. “He is still alive! He is, right?”
Flurry Heart did not receive an answer from Sharp Pitch. With no idea what to say, he just looked at the weeping young princess, eyes empty, until his silence answered the question for her. Her weeps became louder.
“I want to see mommy! And daddy! Bring them here!” Between her sobs, her voice sounded demanding now.
As calm as possible, Sharp Pitch answered, “Princess, they are in the throne room. They discuss the situation with Spike and your crystaller.”
“Then tell them to stop and to come here right now!” Flurry Heart pleaded, without looking up.
Slowly, Sharp Pitch shook his head, not caring that she couldn't see it. “They sent me to you, princess.”
All of a sudden, Flurry Heart shot up her head and gave her guard a dark glare. It was full of hatred behind her tear-filled eyes. “Why YOU?” she spat out the question, her voice rising. “I don't care about you, I never wanted to have a guard! I want to see my parents, not you!”
“Princess, you have to calm down and listen to what I have to say. It is important.” He placed a hoof on her shoulder again, but Flurry Heart slapped it away, fury in her eyes now.
“Don't touch me! I want to see my parents, send me my parents, now!” She shot a hoof at the door, emphasizing her demand.
“Princess, there are things we need to talk about. It is by order of your parents, they commanded me to be here when you wake up.” He stood still now, not approaching the outraged filly again.
“Why you?!” she asked again. “What do you know? You don't know how I feel now!” She got interrupted by a sob making its way up her throat and out of her mouth.
“My life will never be the same again now!” She shot a hoof at him now, her face showing increased stress. “You weren't here when it happened! You haven't seen anything of it! There is nothing a numb, soulless guard like you can to do help ME!” Having finished the rage-filled talk, Flurry Heart just stared at him, biting her lips and an expression of hopelessness in her face.
For Sharp Pitch, the last statement was almost too much. His face became twisted in anger and his hooves began to shake. With the last bit of control he could muster, he kept them on the floor, waiting for them to stop shaking and for the hot feeling that spread out in his chest to subside. He answered Flurry Heart's stare with a stare on his own, a stare so cold, that it made the young alicorn shiver.
As minutes without conversation had passed, the anger in his face got replaced with a strange, broken expression. A few tears entered his eyes as well now.
“I-I have seen more than you know, princess,” he said, his voice faltering.
> Chapter 23: Sharp Pitch's Secret
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Flurry Heart sat still in the bed, eyes fixating her guard. The unexpected, emotional reaction had let her become quiet, so she didn't say anything as Sharp Pitch continued to speak.
“I was a guard in Canterlot three years ago. I was directly serving Princess Celestia as member of her day guard. It was easy most of the time. The changelings had just made peace with Equestria under their new ruler, King Thorax. And nopony had heard anything of Queen Chrysalis for two years. Sombra was not an enemy anymore and Lord Tirek was still secured in Tartarus. Canterlot barely had to deal with any attacks. Even the element bearers didn't have much to do during this time. I was a peaceful era. But in one night..... Canterlot suddenly got attacked by timberwolves.”
He lowered his eyes. “It was a large pack and it was never found out how they could escape the Everfree Forest. Princess Luna helped fighting them, but since they were so many, all of Canterlot's guards were needed to defend the city. They woke me and called me to duty only a few hours after I had went to sleep this night. I followed the call, but today, I wish I hadn't.....”
For a moment, Sharp Pitch was in silence. His eyes were fixated on the bed under him, while he tried to find the right words and gathered his strength to continue. Flurry Heart still didn't say anything.
“We could evacuate the citizens in time, brought them into safety, down into the ancient caverns under the castle. But the timberwolves had spread themselves all over the city. We needed to free Canterlot of them, so we split into groups and began to search the streets and buildings for them. Some of the streets were completely dark, only the faint light of our horns helped us to find our way and to detect timberwolves in their hideouts. The procedure once we had found them was simple.”
Sharp Pitch's heart began to beat faster. Shaking, he sat down at the edge of the bed. He held a hoof at his chest, breathing strong. Flurry Heart's face had turned into one of concern, though, not knowing how anything she could say now would be received, she decided to stay quiet until the guard continued his story.
“We..... We shot them with the magic from our horns. Let their bodies collapse into a pile of the branches and twigs they were made of. Then..... Then we used a fire spell to burn their remaints before they could resurrect themselves. They were fighting back, of course, but we operated in teams of three, so it was easy enough to eliminate them. At least, it would have been easy for me as well if I wouldn't have been so tired.”
He turned around, facing Flurry Heart now. His eyes were filled to the brim with sorrow. “I made a mistake this night, princess. Unlike the other guards, I stayed awake for a long time. I never thought something like this would happen. But it did and I should have been prepared for it.....”
Flurry Heart shuddered as a dark, foreboding feeling came over her. Something in the tone of Sharp Pitch's voice and the look in his eyes..... It almost made her forget what had just happened to herself.
“And then?” she asked, her voice a mere whisper. She gulped.
“T-Then I made a bigger mistake,” he answered taut, voice shaking. “We had just cleared the backstreet we were in. We left it, making our way to another part of the city, looking for more of them. But then I stayed behind, because I had heard something behind the corner of a house. Another timberwolf was approaching, so I turned around and waited for it.”
His gaze at Flurry Heart intensified. “Have you ever heard how it sounds when a timberwolf runs, princess? Their wooden legs on the ground sound almost like the hooves of ponies. There's only a small difference and you need to listen closely to hear it. It's something every guard in Canterlot gets trained at.” He snorted.
“The timberwolf came around the corner and I aimed and shot. There weren't any street lamps and no torches on the walls. But I didn't miss it, I hit it and it collapsed. I could have sworn in this moment that sounds were coming from it, high-pitched whimpers. But I chalked them off as a product of my tired mind. Whatever gives timberwolves the ability to sound like actual, living wolves, they can't do it anymore after their bodies have collapsed. So I finished it off. I was too tired to trot over to it and I knew that more timberwolves would await me, so I shot a fire spell from the distance. The body began to burn brightly. I watched it for just a second, then I turned around and caught up with the other two guards. Soon we met other groups and joined them and it wasn't long anymore until we had the city cleaned completely. We returned to the castle and I finally found more sleep. It's the last peaceful sleep I remember.”
Sharp Pitch's hooves began to shake and he looked away from Flurry Heart again.
“On the next day, I felt better. I was rested up. And I began my day like any other day before. Everything was normal, the timberwolves were all gone and the ponies had returned into their houses. But it didn't stay like this for long.” His voice broke.
“Then..... they came. A stallion and a mare entered the throne room. I saw their faces, the stallion was angry and the mare had covered her face with one hoof and was crying uncontrollably into it. The stallion was carrying a tiny, scorched body on his back..... It was only because of the horn that I noticed it was a unicorn..... Not a timberwolf.”
Flurry Heart covered her mouth with both hooves, horror spreading on her face.
Sharp Pitch brought a hoof to his forehead and rested it on it. He closed his eyes.
“They demanded satisfaction. They demanded compensation. And they wanted to know who the murderer of their daughter was. Of course it was found out it was me..... The other guards had always paid attention, they had checked if it really was a timberwolf every single time. Only I didn't, because all I thought about was bringing this mission behind me as fast as possible so I could go back to bed and sleep!” He let his hoof come down and punched the mattress.
His body slumped strengthlessly. “They cast me out soon after. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna tried to speak up for me, so I could stay under special conditions. But the ponies of Canterlot and the parents of the filly did not calm down, continued to demand justice. So I had to leave and I knew, even if they would have forgiven me, I wouldn't have been able to stay in Canterlot. Only Princess Cadance, who was in Canterlot Castle at this time, gave me a chance. So I took it and went with her as she returned to the Crystal Empire; where I became one of the castle guards, under the condition of only doing the simplest guard duties. But what I did came with me and it's still here.”
As Sharp Pitch had ended, the room got clad in silence. The young alicorn princess did not answer, but the expression in her face showed that the story had broken her heart, and the guard in front of her just sat there, hunched over and face buried in his hooves. Minutes passed until Sharp Pitch removed them and looked up again, back at Flurry Heart.
“I have seen, princess,” he said in a broken voice. “I have seen and I know how it feels.”
In front of him, Flurry Heart started trembling and tears ran down her face. “W-When does it stop to feel like t-this?” she stammered.
“Never,” the guard answered weakly. “It's constant pain at first and one day, you become numb to it. You learn to live with it, but it always stays and in some moments, it will feel as fresh as it did right after it happened. You can continue to go on if you are strong enough, but it will always hurt for the rest of your life, because there is nothing you can do to reverse it or to make up for it.”
He paused, taking a few breaths.
“But you, princess, you only did it to defend yourself. There was no time for you to assess the situation and you had to act fast. You had no other choice. What happened was not your fault, you should be thankful for this. And never assume again that other ponies did not see.” His voice had become sharp at his last sentence.
Having spoken these words, he got up and headed for the door, leaving the weeping royal filly behind on the bed. As his hoof was already at the doorknob, he held himself back, biting down on his lips. He looked back over his shoulder.
“If you ever need to talk, princess, come to me. Because your parents haven't seen yet.” Then he pulled the door open, went outside and shut it behind him.
In the corridor, he stopped again. He rubbed over his face and breathed in and out a few times. As he had somewhat regained his composure, he continued his way through the corridor.
All eyes were on him as he left through the door of the royal apartments and entered the throne room. He moved past Spike and Sunburst and towards the throne, where he bowed his head. “Your highness,” he said.
Cadance's face showed both happiness about seeing him and concern in regards to what he would tell her. She had a tired look in her eyes, but still appeared focused.
“Sharp Pitch..... It's good you returned. Have you done what we told you?” She did a short sideways glance to Shining Armor, who stood right from the throne with a stern face.
“Yes,” the young guard answered.
“Did Princess Flurry Heart take your offer?”
“Not yet. It was more complicated than expected.” His face broke a little again.
Cadance nodded, not asking any more questions. “Thank you, Sharp Pitch, I will talk with my daughter later. You may return to your quarter now and get some rest, too.”
“Thank you, highness.” He bowed again, then left the throne room, his body slightly swaying on the way out.
Cadance followed him with his eyes for a few seconds, then directed her attention to Sunburst. “We need your advice, Sunburst. You sealed Flurry Heart's magic after her crystalling, why are these outbursts happening?” Her voice sounded more nervous now, but she tried to remain composure.
Sunburst was sweating slightly. He lifted a handkerchief and dabbed over his forehead with it.
“I-I'm not sure,” he began, stammering. “The spell I used is blocking most of the nerve tracts that are responsible for concentrating magic inside of the horn. I assume that huge stress or fear is leading to a reversed effect, but I need to do more tests.”
Cadance gave him a nod. “Okay, go and do this, Sunburst. You have only time until tomorrow to find an answer. Other than that, are you and Spike sure you know exactly what to do at the gathering in the school?”
Spike stroke a pose. “I got it down!”
“Me as well,” Sunburst nodded sternly.
“Good. Then go and take care of your last preparations now.” Cadance leaned back in her throne slightly, bringing herself into a more comfortable position.
“We only have to hold out until tomorrow,” she said then, confidence in her voice. “If all of you do what we discussed this weekend, then the ponies of our kingdom will trust us again soon. Once this happened.....” She trailed off and paused for a moment.
“Once this happened, there will be enough time for us to find a solution for addressing Silver Hoof's death without raising suspicions. We need to remain level-headed.”
A last round of nods was exchanged, then Sunburst and Spike left the small congregation. Cadance looked to her husband. “Let us go and talk with Flurry Heart, now that we are finished here. She needs us now.”
“Okay,” Shining Armor said, tight-lipped.
Cadance left her position on the throne and trotted down the stairs, then entered the royal apartments with her husband.
It was like thunder was sounding through the castle as the door fell shut behind them.
> Chapter 24: The Gathering
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the next morning, the whole Crystal Castle was busy. The throne room was filled with guards, Sharp Pitch amongst them, and Shining Armor was giving them last orders. About half of them would follow them along to the school this morning, the other half would stay at the castle and guard it. In case anything went wrong today, it was the guards' task to protect them on the way back to the castle and to prevent the mob from getting inside. The captain was pulling all the stops to ensure that each and every guard was prepared and understood the seriousness of the situation and how important their assigned tasks were.
At his side, Cadance was giving her own instructions, to Sunburst and Spike. Countless times, she went over the procedure and their strategy with them. Both their faces showed that reiterating everything over and over again began to wear them out, but neither Spike nor Sunburst dared to say anything, knowing how hard the situation was for the princess and mother. And Cadance was visibly stressed, not much was left anymore from the cold serenity of a ruler she had displayed the day before.
The briefing went on for a few more minutes, then Shining Armor ended it by putting a hoof on his wife's shoulder, reminding her on something.
Cadance nodded weakly, her eyes showing gratitude. She addressed Spike and Sunburst. “You can go now. Shining Armor and I must wake up Flurry Heart, it is time. Once you are ready, wait at the castle gate. We must leave soon.”
The dragon and the unicorn stallion nodded, sobriety on their faces, then turned around and followed the guards outside of the throne room. Only Sharp Pitch stayed behind.
Cadance waved him over as she scurried to the door at the side of the massive room. Only a second later and she had already thrown it open, not caring about being quiet as the valves hit the wall and let the crystals scrunch by the powerful impact. She disappeared inside, Shining Armor and Sharp Pitch barely able to catch up.
Cadance was heading straight for the bedroom she had woken up in with her husband an hour earlier. Still numb for her surroundings except for the path ahead of her, she turned the knob around and pushed the door open. Cadance stared at an empty bed and froze, her eyes bulging. The condition lasted only for a second and as sudden as the stiffness of her body had come, as sudden it was gone again. She swirled around and trotted back, almost running her husband over.
“Shining Armor, were is Flurry Heart?!” She pushed her face at him, forcing him to do a step back.
Shining Armor furrowed his brow in concern. “She is not here?”
“No!” Cadance yelped in panic. “Let's find her!” Without awaiting an answer, she moved past him and Sharp Pitch, who had only now understood what the sudden commotion was about, and hastily went into the kitchen. Her voice had something mechanic now and so did her movements.
As she found the kitchen empty she checked the other rooms in the same fashion, from Flurry Heart's bedroom to the bathroom and, finally, the guest room. Cadance barged into it, just as she had done earlier when entering the royal apartments.
“Sunny, have you seen Flurry Heart? Is she here?” Then she realized that her words had been useless. This room was empty as well. There was no sign of Sunny Spirit anywhere and Flurry Heart was not here either.
Cadance's face got distorted in horror as several gruesome pictures flashed up in her mind. She left the room and ran into Shining Armor again.
“Shining, Flurry Heart isn't here, she isn't anywhere! We've got to find her!” Her eyes had begun to twitch.
Showcasing the opposite emotion, Shining Armor placed a hoof on his wife's shoulder. “Cadance, calm down. I'm sure she is okay, you see t–”
“How do you want to know, Shining, how?!” Cadance interrupted him, her face showing consternation now. “She could be in danger, she could sit outside crying somewhere, she could–”
“Ssh.” Now it was Shining Armor who interrupted his wife, by putting a hoof on her lips. “You need to stay calm, Cadance,” he repeated his words from earlier, with more emphasis this time. “Sunny is not here, I'm sure this means she and Flurry Heart left for school already.”
Cadance shoved his hoof away, anger flaring up in her eyes for a moment. “Through the throne room, Shining?! We were in there, we would have seen them!”
The guard captain still remained his calm. “We were both busy and the guards were too focused on me. Or maybe they used the secret passage here, Flurry Heart knows how to open it. And don't forget that our daughter can fly. There are plenty of ways how they could have left.” The explanation eased Cadance's face a little, but most of the panic remained in it. Shining Armor turned around to Sharp Pitch.
“Go and gather a few of the guards to search for her. Once you found her and Sunny, escort them to the school. It is too much risk to let them go alone.”
Sharp Pitch nodded, then left the royal apartments in brisk steps.
Shining Armor faced his distraught wife again. Very gentle, he placed his lips on hers for a kiss, their mouths locked for a few seconds before he pulled away again. He looked into his wife's eyes.
“Everything will be fine, Cadance, I'm sure of it.” He moved a hoof along her mane. “Let's go now. There is a problem we have to solve and we don't want to be late, or want we?”
Cadance just nodded. She looked calmer than before now, but her heart was still beating wild in her chest. Hesitantly, she trotted at her husband's side, where he put a hoof around her and they left the royal apartments in slow tempo.
The moment to leave had come, so they didn't waste any time and went down the stairs into the hall at the entrance of the castle. The guards meant to accompany them were gathered there, already in formation, with Spike and Sunburst in their midst. They parted a little to let their rulers in, then Shining Armor and Cadance took place at the side of their daughter's crystaller. Shining Armor called the guards to attention a last time, then they left the castle through the gate and the procession made its way towards the school.
While moving through the streets, Cadance kept looking around hectically. It was the usual way to school, she recognized the buildings, but Flurry Heart wasn't to be seen anywhere. As they had reached the school building and there still wasn't any sign of her daughter, she sought her husband's comforting words.
“Shining, she isn't here..... Where is she?”
Shining Armor increased the tight grip around his wife. “Maybe they have taken the longer route to school. I'm sure Flurry and Sunny want to have time to talk now.”
Cadance eyed him penetratingly, her face looking disastrous.
“Stay strong now, Cadance.” Shining Armor put all his confidence into his voice. “Sharp Pitch will find her.”
“Are you really sure? Maybe we should–”
“I am!” Shining Armor cut her off. “Now let's go inside. You know what is to do and that we need to be here for it.”
Silent now, Cadance lowered her eyes and stared at the ground. Reluctantly, she went inside with Shining Armor and the guards.
Having entered through the crystalline swing doors of the school building, they found the hall of the school crowded, much more than it had been on Friday. The parents of the school's students were there, judging by their number, not a single one of them was missing. A lot of their foals were there as well and, of course, the teachers and the principal.
Moving past the crowd, hushed whispers came from the gathered ponies and Shining Armor and Cadance were met with piercing glares. It was a different atmosphere than on Friday as well. For some reason, the hostility had returned. Distracted from the worry for her daughter for just a moment by a sudden thought flashing through her mind, Cadance brought her lips close to her husband's right ear.
“I-Is this because of Silver Hoof? Do you think his family told other ponies that he wanted to come to the castle?”
Shining Armor's face became grim. “Maybe,” he whispered back in the same fashion. “All the more reason to stay calm, Cadance. We can't appear suspicious now.”
Cadance nodded. She closed her eyes and began to fight her nervousness. It proved futile, though, as she got unexpectedly interrupted. Two ponies approached them, a stallion and a mare, their coats cream-colored.
“Princess Cadance!” The mare did a step towards her. Her face was marked with distress. One of the guards lifted a hoof and pointed at her. “Stop!” he said, his voice rough.
The mare came to a halt, but kept looking at Cadance. After opening her eyes and exchanging a glance with her husband, Cadance addressed the mare.
“Yes? I-Is there anything you need?” She did her best to hide the shaking in her voice.
“Princess,” the mare replied, her own voice shaking. “We are missing our son, Silver Hoof. He wanted to visit Princess Flurry Heart, but he never returned after he left our house on Saturday. Is there anything you know? Have you seen him?”
Cadance gulped carefully. “W-We didn't. Right, Shining Armor?” She looked at him for support, trying to not make her eyes look pleading.
Being the complete opposite of his wife, Shining Armor shook his head, face deadpan and sincere. “No. I received reports by the guards that a young stallion asked for entering the castle, but was sent away. We don't know if it was your son or somepony else. I'm sorry that I don't have better news.”
Cadance admired her husband silently. His facial expression was completely relaxed and unsuspicious. Even his voice expressed sincere regret for being unable to tell the couple more about the whereabouts of their oldest son.
Inspired by this display, she looked back at the two ponies. “Please don't worry too much,” she addressed them comfortingly. “Silver Hoof is a young stallion, I'm sure he got distracted by something. Maybe he decided to visit a friend or met a mare and went home with her. I'm confident he is alright.”
The words didn't miss their effect. The faces of the mare and her husband eased and showed signs of relief. “Maybe you are right. It's just not like him to stay away from his home for so long without giving notice about it,” Silver Hoof's mother answered Cadance's uplifting words.
Cadance set up a smile. “You know how they are at this age. And the Crystal Empire is a safe place. I'm sure he will return to you soon.”
“Maybe we worry too much,” the mare said now. “We will return home and wait for him.”
Cadance nodded. “That's good. If there is anything you need, don't hesitate to ask. We will help as much as we can.”
“Thank you, princess.” Silver Hoof's parents bowed and left them.
Cadance looked after the couple as they left the building, then returned her gaze to her husband. He answered it with pride in his eyes. Now freed from this responsibility, Cadance's heart was beating fast. She felt exhausted now and the nervousness returned. That the conversation with Silver Hoof's parents let the hushed whispers increase and the glares intensify did not make it easier. It was just the wrong moment for this to happen.
Shining Armor nudged her subtly. “You did fine. Just keep it together for a little longer, Cadance. We're done here soon.”
Cadance nodded again, gulping.
They continued their way to the front of the crowd. There were familiar faces in it; a few other parents they knew more closely, some foals Flurry Heart was in contact with, Magnolia Sunshine and Starry Skies among them, and there was..... Austere Knowledge. He stood right at the top of the crowd, in the first row. Shining Armor and Cadance looked at him and their glances locked for a moment. The teacher's eyes radiated pure hatred, but a not insignificant amount of satisfaction as well. It was not hard to see that he looked forward to them getting shunned by the crowd. But Shining Armor and Cadance had a surprise for him and both of them felt confident that it would be his day that gets ruined, not theirs.
The royal couple averted their gaze from Austere Knowledge. They had taken position with the guards, just a little bit right from the crowd. Shining Armor and Cadance exchanged a last look, then nodded.
The captain gave a sign and the guards parted, letting Spike and Sunburst out of their midst. They approached the free space between the crowd and the door that led outside on the schoolyard. Both of them felt the tension in the air as nearly all of the ponies in the crowd eyed them with suspicion and distrust. It would be anything but easy. Sunburst broke out in sweat again and dabbed his forehead with his handkerchief.
They arrived at their chosen position. The dragon and the stallion were polar opposites; while Sunburst seemed to crack under the pressure, Spike remained confident and optimistic. He nudged Sunburst, giving the sign to begin. Sunburst nodded and put his handkerchief away, then they began to address the ponies in attendance.
Silently, Shining Armor and Cadance watched them as they began their speech. The introduction of what they had memorized in countless practice sessions over the last two days went over well. Sunburst did not provoke much reaction from the crowd, but every time Spike spoke, it eased the ponies slightly. He was their trump card, if the crowd should turn into a mob.
Cadance looked at her husband. “Do you think it will work?” she asked him quietly. Her voice was shaking as before and now her body had joined her voice in this as well. Inside, she felt her nervousness and her worries tearing her apart.
Shining Armor looked back with confidence. “He talked with all of them about Thorax and made them accept him. They only decided to trust Thorax because they trust Spike. If he could convince them that a changeling has good intentions, then he can convince them that our daughter is not a threat for them as well. Have faith in him, Cadance.”
Cadance wanted to answer her husband's words, as she noticed something in the corner of her eyes. Sunburst just started to explain Flurry Heart's uncontrolled, magical outbursts, as Sharp Pitch entered the school building quietly. The other guards were not at his side, but his face was crestfallen and clad in concern. Not drawing any attention to him, he approached his rulers slowly.
Cadance followed his hoofsteps with her eyes. Every quiet clop they made on the floor felt like hammer blows inside her head and made her heart beat a little faster. Then it did a jump as she noticed that Sharp Pitch was holding something in one of his hooves.
Sharp Pitch reached them and the other guards made room for him. He did not get the chance to start the conversation.
Cadance barged at him. “Where is Flurry Heart?!” she asked, now not paying attention to the volume of her voice anymore. “Please tell me you found her, Sharp Pitch!” she pleaded.
Taken aback by the desperate outburst, Sharp Pitch opened his mouth to answer, but failed. Unable to tell the bad news in another way, he gave Cadance what he was holding, a small piece of parchment.
Cadance ripped it out of his hooves. Her eyes widened the moment she noticed the hornwriting on it. It were only a few lines, and they were hastily written without a single break between them, but they let the mother feel like she was losing the ground under her hooves and falling into a deep, black pit.


Mommy, Daddy, I'm leaving. I can't stop thinking about what Sharp Pitch has told me and if I stay here, everypony will soon hate me even more..... I will go far away and I will leave Equestria for it. I can't tell you where I'm going, I'm sorry. Please don't come searching for me. And tell Sunny I'm fine and that I won't forget her. I love you. Flurry Heart.


Cadance's mouth was a thin line and her pupils had become small as she looked back at Sharp Pitch.
“Another guard found it on the windowsill in her room, princess,” was all he could say in response.
Cadance gritted her teeth and crumpled the piece of paper between her hooves. Her breath was going stronger and stronger, her chest heaving.
“She's outside,” Cadance whispered, her voice almost getting stiffled by the shock.
“Honey.....” Shining Armor said, his voice becoming strained.
Cadance ignored him. Her mind went over the events of the past five days and let her relive them in a condensed way. Fires of fury and anger flared up inside of her.
“It's all because of him.....” she hissed. “He who destroys our lives and lets Flurry suffer..... This teacher.” Like to confirm her words, she turned around at the spot and eyed Austere Knowledge, who gave Spike and Sunburst pitiful, mocking looks. Her face was full of hatred.
“Cadance, honey,” Shining Armor said again, with more urgency, and reached out for his wife. But it was too late. His hoof grasped at nothing but air as Cadance shoved the guards aside with her magic and galloped through the space she had created, towards the object of her hatred.
The crowd cried out and screams rang out across it. Some of the foals started to cry as they saw the aggressive face of the ruler they usually knew as so benevolent and kindhearted. Austere Knowledge himself only noticed what was happening as he felt the magical grip of Cadance at his body. In pure rage, Cadance grabbed his neck and pulled him close to her face.
“You are going to pay for what you did to us now!” she roared at him, a fire in her eyes like nopony in the Crystal Empire has ever seen it before.
Fear was the reaction one would expect from a pony getting assaulted in such a way, but Austere Knowledge was completely unphased. The mocking and pitiful expression in his eyes remained like nothing was out of the ordinary and his lips curled up into a sardonic and satisfied smile.
“Do it, princess,” he whispered. “They are all here to watch. Don't disappoint them. Show them what you do with someone who messes with your rotten abortion.”
Albeit unintentionally, there was a certain warning ringing in his words, a warning to not go any further and to not do the unspeakable. To not let the situation getting out of control even more. Cadance didn't have ears for this warning and she was at the point where she did not care anymore.
Her magic still tightly grasping Austere Knowledge's neck, she lifted up a hoof. It was twitching and shaking, but it didn't remain in this position for long. In the next moment, it came down on Austere Knowledge's face. His head got yanked to the side as Cadance's hoof hit his mouth. His lower lip popped open and blood spilled out of it, a few drops landing in Cadance's face, the rest hitting the floor. The audience of the violent spectacle screamed out again and the foals began to cry louder.
No whimpers of pain came from Austere Knowledge. Instead, he grinned, more blood pouring out of the wound and down his chin. He chuckled in glee, quietly, so only his attacker could hear it. “Very good job, princess,” he said. “Thank you.”
“YOU.....” Cadance began to roar again, then let her horn flare up brightly and brought it down at his face.
It was in this moment that she heard loud hoofsteps behind her. Suddenly, she was enveloped in a magic aura herself and felt pulled back from Austere Knowledge.
“Cadance, no, don't do it!” The alarmed voice of her husband found its way into her ears. “You can't go this far, you already did too much. Just look at them.” He pointed to the crowd. It did not reach Cadance.
“I don't care, Shining Armor, it's too late anyway. He deserves it for all he caused, let me finish this!” She struggled to get free.
But Shining Armor kept her tightly in his grasp. “We have to leave!” he just said, not addressing his wife's desires for revenge. He teleported and a second later, appeared with her at the gate of the school.
To his left, the crowd started to stir. Words got yelled at them and the scraping of hooves could be heard as they began to head towards them.
Spike and Sunburst took it as the command to leave. They made a quick getaway. The path to the school's entrance door being cut off for them, they fled outside through the backdoor and onto the schoolyard.
At the other side of the hall, the guards, led by Sharp Pitch, hurried after their rulers. Getting shielded by them, Shining Armor dragged his wife out of the building. The guards followed closely and behind them, the mob poured out of the gate, still yelling at them.
Austere Knowledge was in their midst. He held a hoof at his bleeding lip, but was still wearing the grin. None of the fleeing rulers or their guards seeing it, he pointed after them with his blood-covered hoof.
“Now see your rulers,” he said, his voice addressing the crowd in a warning tone. “Unveil inconvenient secrets they keep from you and they will try to silence you by all available means.”
The loud shouts of agreement were the last things Shining Armor and Cadance heard from the crowd.
> Chapter 25: The Monsters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Inside the Crystal Empire, the two rulers who had fallen in disgrace with their subjects, fled to their castle. They barely made it back inside its safe gates before the mob arrived.
Outside of the Crystal Empire, however, Flurry Heart did not know about any of these things. And if she would have known, it would have convinced her even more that her decision had been the right one.
Surrounded by the raging winds of snow, Flurry Heart stood still, trying to find her way. Her wings were tucked away under a thick, grey winter coat, that protected the thin, fragile limbs from freezing in the cold, and her hooves were covered in woolen socks and snow boots. She was wearing a scarf and on her head, a winter hat, made of wool as well, was sitting, warming her ears. Through a hole in it, her horn stuck out. It was surrounded by her yellow aura, because in front of her, she was hovering a map.
Flurry Heart squinted her eyes as she let them wander over the parchment. It was a map of the northern reaches of Equestria and what lied beyond. And the top part of the map showed her destination, in big, bold letters:

YAKYAKISTAN

It was a place Flurry Heart had barely heard about. But it was enough to know that it was not populated by ponies, that it was located north of her home and that a gigantic wall of ice separated it from the empire she lived in. Or used to live in, she corrected her thoughts immediately, as she had no intent of staying there any longer. Yakyakistan, however, was ideal for the young alicorn. It was far away, hard to reach and no one knew her there. It was also a safe bet that her parents would not expect her to go there or that she could even reach it on her own. If she made it to this land, she was safe from everything that happened. And, most importantly, there was no Crystal Heart she could destroy to accidentally spell doom over the place she lived in. For Flurry Heart, it was a clear case:

The Crystal Empire would be better off without her.

And, so she hoped, she would find peace from her memories and her past in the quiet lands of Yakyakistan.
The constant snowflakes that swirled around her made it hard to read the map, even though she used a light spell. But she was confident to know into which direction she had to go.
“I just need to follow those rocks,” she whispered, shivering from the cold. She let her hoof glide over the oddly-shaped rocks that were marked on the map. They were arranged in a straight line and, according to the map, so close together that the next rock could be seen as dark silhouette in the distance, at least.
Flurry Heart looked ahead again, to the rock she stood in front of. She looked back at the picture on the map, then to the rock again. As she was sure they matched up perfectly, she furled the map with her magic and hovered it to the big saddlebags on her back. She opened them and let the map disappear inside.
Facing the rock again, she went to the other side of it, then checked the distance. The snow kept falling in thick flakes, but she was able to see the contours of the next rock in line. Tightening the scarf around her neck, she eyed the rock with determination, then she began to make her way towards it.
While trudging through the snow, her mind was empty. Despite what happened, she did not think about the trail of events that had brought her here. Flurry Heart was only focused on her goal; leaving the Crystal Empire and forgetting everything. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as an especially cold gust of wind was cutting into her face, but kept trudging. As she had reached the second rock, she put a hoof on it and inspected it.
Its shape vaguely remembered on a crow, just as the map had said. Flurry Heart nodded. “Two down,” she thought. She moved around it, locked her eyes on the next dark silhouette and continued her path.
Trotting through all the snow was not easy and she did not feel completely rested up from the stressful day before. There were twenty-four rocks she had to reach, until she would be able to see the massive wall in the near distance, the wall with stairs leading up on it, behind which lied Yakyakistan. But it were her pure despair and the hope of finding peace in a new life that kept the filly going, even as her legs began to hurt.
As she had passed five more of the rocks, not without occasionally looking at the map and reminding herself on their shapes, Flurry Heart suddenly stopped in her tracks after half of the way to rock number eight. She looked around her, eyes opened wide in anxiety. Her ears were moving around under her hat, while she closely listened to the howling of the wind. They did not detect anything of interest anymore now, but just a second ago, she could have sworn to have heard hoofsteps approaching her. But now it was silent again, except for the neverending wind. Had it just been the ice cracking around her? It was the best explanation, as nopony that lived in the Crystal Empire ever desired to come out here. And she knew of ice caves under the ground from a book. Deep, cold caves, with walls of ice so pure that a pony could see itself in them.
Flurry Heart shuddered. She started to trot again and increased her pace, afraid of the ground suddenly giving in under her and letting her fall into one of those caves. The risk of this happening and of being trapped in such a cave forever was all too real.
After half an hour of following the lined-up rocks that served as natural waymarkers, she had reached three more of them by now, the wind around Flurry Heart seemed to form words. She had still heard what sounded like hoofsteps in the past thirty minutes, but having chalked them off to the natural sounds the ice and snow made, she did not pay attention anymore. What she heard right now, though, was downright scary.
The wind was whispering, there was no doubt about it. It was nopony that had come searching for her, that was as much as she could tell. No matter how hard she listened, she could never hear her name. Actually, she had to admit, she could not make out any words at all. There was a constant whispering around her, like fast-spoken words, too fast to understand a single one of them. And somehow, the voices producing the whispering seemed to whimper, like they were suffering from something.
The young princess gulped and she felt her heart getting constricted. In her rising panic, the filly began to talk to herself.
“There can't be ghosts out here.....” she said in a shivering voice. But that's how the whispering sounded, like ghosts. Or, at least how Flurry Heart imagined the sounds ghosts make. She reared up and, standing on her hindlegs now, covered her ears with her forehooves, trying to drown out the sound. Somehow, it was futile though, the sounds still found their way into her ears. “Please go away,” she whimpered. She had always found the imagination of meeting a ghost exciting, but now, it just frightened her.
Another sound of hoofsteps in the snow let Flurry Heart jump and she turned around swiftly. It had been louder this time. Was somepony really following her?
“I-Is anypony here?” she shouted into the distance.
No answer came. But the wind also began to howl louder in the same moment, if somepony did answer, it would have been impossible for her to hear it. Still frozen in fear, Flurry Heart went over the possibilities of who her pursuer, if it existed, that is, could be.
Maybe it was Sharp Pitch. They could have sent him to search for her. Or her dad himself. She knew how much he loved her, he would not hesitate to face the snowstorms that could happen here to find her. Her heart stung for a moment.
The possibility of Austere Knowledge chasing after her – or any of the enemies she now had in the empire without a doubt – to enact revenge on her or to simply remove her from this world, was entering her mind as well. Pondering this thought, she swayed slightly, definitely a symptom of the fear she felt right now. She searched the landscape in the distance behind her with her eyes, trying to find any other signs of being chased.
At first, she could not see anything. Then a shape peeled itself out of the snowy winds. It was a dark, imposing, towering figure of a pony. Flurry Heart sucked in the cold air in a gasp of shock, her chest trembling.
In fear, she closed her eyes, only to open them again almost immediately, as her sense of danger reminded her what a bad idea that was right now. In front of her, the familiar picture of the snow falling appeared and she could see the outline of the last rock she had passed. The pony she had seen was gone, though. And while this should have calmed down the little alicorn, it instead made her breaking out in panic completely. A pony appearing in the distance, then suddenly disappearing again after just one second was fitting right into the picture she had of ghosts.
Flurry Heart turned around on her hooves and galloped into the opposite direction in a mad tempo, eyes constantly fixated on the next rock. As she was right in front of it, she did a leap and landed on its top. Feeling more safe, she turned around again to look into the direction she had come from. The outline of the last rock was harder to see now, but this was the only thing of interest she could spot.
Flurry Heart chuckled nervously, while relief spread out in her. It had just been her imagination, she began to realize. “Don't be so stupid,” she scolded herself. “There is nopony here, only you. You are just nervous, Flurry Heart, get a grip!” The sharp words she addressed herself with gave her new courage. And, as she only noticed now, the whimpering whispers had stopped as well. Her own silliness almost made her laugh.
Flurry Heart reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a sandwich. It was time for a short break. Biting into it, she shuddered. It was cold from getting carried around outside this whole time and the tomatoes on it hurt on her teeth. As she had finished the sandwich, she pulled out a bottle of water. It was even colder than the sandwich and, what concerned Flurry Heart the most, small pieces of ice were floating in the bottle. Hastily, she did a few gulps, then stashed the bottle in her saddlebags again and jumped off the rock on the other side.
There were thirteen more rocks left and Flurry Heart had no idea how far it would be to the capital of Yakyakistan once she had made it beyond the wall. All she knew was she had to hurry now, if she didn't want to die of thirst.
Flurry Heart sat herself into motion again, faster now. She could still hear hoofsteps that weren't her own, but now she knew what they were; her own, agitated mind and nothing else. She did not pay attention anymore, not even as the whispers suddenly returned, in a louder volume this time. Tears were suddenly trickling out of her eyes, only to become ice crystals that stung on her cheeks a second later, and she found herself whimpering, without being able to control it. But she continued moving forward bravely, now being aware that it was only her mind that wanted to scare her.
As she had arrived at the twelfth rock, she trudged right past it, eyes already fixated on the next one, as she suddenly noticed a red glow between the snowflakes, just a little bit to her left. It looked warm and inviting and it gave Flurry Heart a thought. Apparently, over there was a heat source of some sort. She could go there and melt the ice in her water bottles! It was the perfect opportunity to buy herself some time, so, Flurry Heart nodded decisively and approached the red light.
Slowly, the glow became more intense, until she could see a red crystal sticking vertically out of the ground. Several smaller crystals of the same color were attached at its bottom, sticking out in a slightly different angle. There were still frozen tears stinging on her cheeks as her eyes continued crying. But having found a warm place, she knew they would melt soon, too. As she was only a few steps away from the crystal, she could hear a voice again, loud and clear this time.
“Why are you crying, little one?” the voice asked. It sounded caring and there was a melodic ringing in the voice that had something soothing, almost hypnotic. Flurry Heart felt immediately better as she heard it. Yet, it still confused her.
“Is the crystal talking?” she thought to herself. It seemed absurd, a crystal couldn't talk! “Who is there?” she asked, shaking off the silly thought. “Where are you?”
“I'm right in front of you, little filly,” the voice answered.
Now Flurry Heart could hear where it came from too. It was the crystal! She gasped in surprise. “How can a crystal talk?” she muttered in confusion. She stepped closer and moved a hoof over its surface. It felt warm indeed.
“I am not a crystal,” the voice said. “I only speak through it.” Suddenly, the voice sounded sad. Then it began to whimper. It was a whimpering that Flurry Heart knew.
Flurry Heart flattened her ears and gave the crystal a sympathetic look. “I heard you whimpering before. Why are you sad?”
“Because of my son. He has betrayed me.” The whimpers turned into longstretched, painful wails.
“What has he done to you?” Flurry Heart asked, feeling reminded on herself in a strange way. Grief appeared on her face.
“I had a task for him, to help me and my people, but he has abandoned us!”
Whoever was talking to her exactly, Flurry Heart felt that the mother was suffering. It moved her and it was like there was a bond forming between the two of them.
“Maybe I can help you,” she offered, still looking sad. “What do you need help with?”
“My people and me are trapped under your city.” The wailing continued.
“Did your son trap you under it?” Flurry Heart asked, her voice full of sympathy.
“No,” the voice replied. “He was the one who should have freed us, but he joined the crystal ponies. It was Princess Amore who trapped us here. The princess that ruled over the Crystal Empire in ancient times, long before your family did.”
Flurry Heart knew this name, she had heard about her in one of her history lessons. What surprised her now, though, was that the voice seemed to know her. She stared at the crystal, puzzled. “How do you know about my family?”
“We are able to see what happens on the surface. Your name is Flurry Heart. I know you have problems too.” Now it was the voice that expressed sympathy for Flurry Heart.
The little princess felt a sharp pain cutting through her heart and she looked down at the ground, new tears leaving her eyes. They weren't freezing anymore, because of the crystal's warmth. She sniffed and let her tears run freely.
“Do not cry, my filly. I can help you. We can help each other.”
Flurry Heart looked up again, choking and rubbing over her left eye. “H-How should I help you?” she whimpered. “Everypony in the Crystal Empire h-hates me now, they won't believe me when I t-tell them about y-you.”
“They don't need to believe you. As long as you want to help us, this will be enough. There is only one thing you need to do for us, then we are free. We have power and we can use it to solve your problems.”
There was nothing Flurry Heart was longing for more, that the problems she suddenly had to face got solved and that her life would become normal again. She nodded, still sniffing and rubbing her eyes.
“Okay,” she said. “W-What do you need?”
“We know what you can do, Flurry Heart. The Crystal Heart is the reason why we can't be on the surface. It hurts us. If you destroy it, we can finally live in the Crystal Empire again.”
Flurry Heart's pupils shrunk and she gasped out in shock. The young alicorn could not believe what she just heard. She launched into a reply, but before she could answer, a dark-purple ray of magic shot over her head and hit the red crystal right in the center. Flurry Heart could hear a loud, agitated scream. Fissures cracked across its surface, then the glow dissipated and the crystal burst into shards.
The magical shockwave blew Flurry Heart off her hooves and she hit the snow meters away from where the crystal stood. She groaned and tried to get up, but found herself being forced to sink to the ground again. Her whole body was hurting, especially her head.
Flurry Heart was dizzy from the sudden impact and felt her consciousness slipping away. Her last perceptions were that she heard the familiar hoofsteps again and that she saw a towering black pony appearing in her now hazy vision. Flurry Heart saw its hooves stopping right before her head, then it became dark for her.
> Chapter 26: Those Who Have To Fear
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As Flurry Heart's mind was able to perceive something again, it got greeted by murmurs. She was in a black environment, with no lights anywhere, and the murmurs seemed to come from all sides. Her legs prickled and Flurry Heart wanted to move them, but the murmurs made her afraid, so she did not dare. And there was no indicator of where she was. All Flurry Heart knew was that she was lying on the ground, that the left side of her body felt cold and that her chest was feeling a warmth coming from somewhere in front of her.
It took a few minutes for Flurry Heart to realize that everything was black around her because her eyes were closed. And with that realization, two things happened; the urge to move her stiff limbs increased and the murmurs she could hear turned into actual voices.

“.....hiding in this cave for three days now and the waiting is getting tiresome. I finally want to enter the Crystal Empire with you at my side!”

Flurry Heart could hear a deep sigh coming from someone. The voice of the pony, if it was a pony, was equally deep.

“I can't do it. After everything that happened, they would chase me out. There is no reason for me to enter it, no hope.”

“But you already did!” The other voice became more urgent and impatient. “You set hoof into it in the first night after our return. I know you are able to do this again!”

“That it was dark was the only reason why I could do this. And even there I scared a filly to death.”

“But you also saved them! They will grant you forgiveness now.”

The deep voice sighed again.

“After I almost destroyed them. You should go into the Empire without me and have a good time. I can wait in this cave for you.”

Now Flurry Heart heard the stomping of a hoof on the ground. It made her wince and she instinctively brought her hooves in front of her face in a protective manner.

“You are a coward! We have witnessed so many things together in the Crystal Empire. And you want to throw away all of it because of your fear!”

Something rustled in front of Flurry Heart. She suddenly felt eyes resting on her, which made her tremble.

“Let us stop talking about this now. Our guest has awoken.”
The other voice huffed.

“You are trying to change the subject. We will continue to talk about this. This is not over.”

Flurry Heart heard more rustling, coming from the other voice's direction this time. Then hoofsteps were approaching her. She began to whimper.

“You don't need to fear me or my friend. We won't hurt you.”

There was something gentle, yet at the same time rough, in the voice and neither of these things did anything to calm Flurry Heart down. She kept hiding her face and continued to tremble and whimper. Now that she was fully conscious, she could also feel a throbbing headache. Flurry Heart let out a cry of pain.
“Did you get hurt?” the voice asked. Flurry Heart twitched as she felt a hoof palpating her body. It was gently pressing down on her shoulders, her chest, her stomach and then her legs. And every time, the voice asked if it hurt to do that, but Flurry Heart did not give an answer. But she also didn't cry in pain again and the voice seemed to take this as a proof of her body being unharmed.
In the next moment, she felt two hooves tugging at her own, gentle, but with persistence. They managed to overcome her resistance and pulled her hooves away from her face. Flurry Heart started to whimper more, with the one thing that gave her a tiny feeling of safety being gone now.
“You need to tell me what is hurting, young filly. I can't help if you don't.” The voice scolded her a little, yet there was something caring in it.
The heart of the young princess was beating faster, as she tried to figure out what to do. For just a moment, she concentrated on her magic to use it as a means of defense once more and could already feel her horn starting to glow, but then she ceased her action as she remembered the outcome of the last two times.
The pony in front of her mistook the reaction. “Is it your head?” it asked.
Flurry Heart felt a horn touching her right temple, then, from one moment to another, it started to feel cold. The chill feeling spread out over her whole head, like it got wrapped in towels that had been soaked with cold water first. It made her shiver, but felt pleasant at the same time. Then the headache was suddenly gone and Flurry Heart started to feel relaxed. It surprised her so much that she forgot her fear and opened her eyes.
In front of her, a purple crystal pony mare was sitting, looking at her with warm concern. Flurry Heart looked into her face, then up to her horn, which was sticking out between the strains of her light-blue mane. She fixated the horn. “How did you.....?” was all she could say.
The mare smiled at the baffled filly. “It is my special talent. I can cure every ailment with my magic.”
And in the same way her headache got cured by the unknown mare, Flurry Heart now felt like her fear had been cured as well. All she felt anymore was curiosity.
“Who are you?” she asked, still staring at the horn.
“My name is Radiant Hope. And this is my friend,” – She pointed to a stallion with a grey coat and a short, black mane – “His name is Sombra.”
Recognizing the name, Flurry Heart sat up quickly. As fast as her fear had disappeared, as fast it did return now. Immediately, she inched backwards, not letting the stallion out of her vision.
A dark haze appeared on Sombra's eyes. “See, Hope? Even fillies who were born after I left the Crystal Empire fear me.”
Radiant Hope looked over her shoulder, giving him an angry glare. “She is just wary because she doesn't know us!”
Returning her attention to the filly in front of her, she spoke more softly again. “I see that you know my friend already. What did you hear about him?”
“He is evil!” Flurry Heart shouted, not looking away from him while she sat there in an attentive pose. “Mommy told me he enslaved all the ponies in the Crystal Empire and that he let the Empire disappear for a thousand years!” Her eyes seemed to drill through Sombra's body. There was fear in them.
Sombra looked to the ground after hearing those words, guilt in his eyes.
Radiant Hope placed a hoof on her shoulder. “This was a long time ago. He has changed. There is no reason to fear Sombra anymore.”
As Flurry Heart did not ease at those words, Hope wrapped the filly in her magic and carried her to a rock. She took seat, then she sat Flurry Heart down at her side.
Flurry Heart still glared at Sombra, but she also noticed only now that there was a fire in the cave. Her eyes became a little clearer, now knowing where the warmth she had felt earlier came from.
A question rising in her mind, Flurry Heart averted her gaze from Sombra. She looked up at Radiant Hope at her side. “Where am I?” she asked. “How did I get here?”
Radiant Hope answered. “Sombra found you outside. He saved you from something very dangerous.” Her face took on a warning expression suddenly.
“Dangerous?” Flurry Heart answered, puzzled. She looked back at Sombra, who still eyed the ground, now surprise in her eyes.
“You were talking with the Umbrum. Do you remember anything?” Hope asked her.
Flurry Heart taxed her brain, trying to regain the memory of what had happened before she fell unconscious.
Now Sombra looked up. His face showed that he felt uneasy. “Let's not bore her with the details, Hope.”
Hope nodded at Sombra, then looked back at Flurry Heart. “It was good that Sombra found you. The Umbrum are monsters and he said you looked like you were falling for their words.” Then she quickly changed the subject before Flurry Heart could ask more questions. “How is your name?”
“I'm Flurry Heart,” the filly answered.
“What were you doing out in the cold?” Radiant Hope probed further. “Sombra and I were surprised to find a filly out here and that you are an alicorn surprised us even more.”
Sombra began to speak again now. “That she is an alicorn can only mean one thing, Hope. She is Princess Cadance's daughter.” It was an easy enough conclusion to make.
Hope's face was doubtful, though. “I never heard of a born alicorn before. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna taught me that only few ponies are destined to become one.”
Sombra chuckled slightly. “Do you suddenly believe in destiny, Hope?”
Radiant Hope scrunched her face. “Sombra, a pony can't choose as what it is born. That's why I don't believe this. She must have chosen to become an alicorn just recently.”
She returned her attention to Flurry Heart. “Who are your parents?” she asked.
Flurry Heart grimaced. Of all things, Radiant Hope was asking about the one she wanted to avoid talking about at all cost. She taxed her brain for a lie, but her mind was still weak and didn't leave her any chance. Sighing, Flurry Heart just decided to confess.
“Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor,” she whispered, head hanging low. Tears entered her eyes as mentioning the names of her parents once more reminded her on all that happened.
“And how did you become an alicorn?” Radiant Hope continued asking, her interest piqued.
Flurry Heart shook her head, absentmindedly. “I didn't. I always was one.”
Now the mare furrowed her brow. “You were really born like this?”
“I told you,” Sombra answered for Flurry Heart. “It's not a big surprise with an alicorn as mother and a unicorn as father.”
Radiant Hope raised an eyebrow. She still appeared sceptical.
“What have you done outside of the Crystal Empire?” Hope repeated her first question, addressing Flurry Heart again.
Flurry Heart sniffed and brushed a hoof over ner nose. “I'm fleeing. I'm nothing but trouble for everypony in the Crystal Empire and now everypony there hates me.” She whimpered. “I'm dangerous.”
Sombra directed his glance back at Flurry Heart over these words.
“This reminds me on somepony,” Radiant Hope replied, looking at her friend at the other side of the fire. “You should ask her about the details, Sombra.”
Sombra agreed. He addressed Flurry Heart, his voice sounding softer than before. But there was concern in it as well. “What happened in the Crystal Empire?” he asked the alicorn filly.
Flurry Heart sniffed again, then started to explain, not looking at him. “I destroyed the Crystal Heart,” she said, plainly.
It made the face of Sombra fall apart. He jumped up. “The Crystal Heart is destroyed?! Has my empire fallen?” He did not notice his choice of words and neither how little sense they made.
Radiant Hope's face was calm. “Sombra, focus,” she said, a little stern. “I just tried to convince you of entering it a few hours ago. We both saw it's still here.”
Sombra sat down again, breathing out in relief.
Flurry Heart looked at him, face full of guilt for starting her explanation this way. “It happened five years ago!” she hastily corrected herself. “My crystaller could restore it. But.....” She trailed off, her eyes looking into the dancing flames in front of her.
“Continue,” Radiant Hope said. “Sombra is the last one who would judge you.”
Flurry Heart nodded, understanding. “It wasn't on purpose,” she continued. “I don't know how I could do it. It just happened. Mommy and daddy tried to keep it a secret, but now all of them know.”
“How?” Sombra addressed her again.
“It's the fault of my teacher. He wanted that we tell in front of the class what our names mean..... And my parents named me after what I did to the Crystal Heart.” She sighed.
Sombra's face became adorned with disbelief, then his eyes narrowed. “They gave you this name without thinking about what it could cause for you in the future?”
Flurry Heart did not reply, but her eyes took on a dull expression.
“The fools,” Sombra said. Opposite of him, Radiant Hope couldn't help but nod at the statement. “At least you haven't done the same bad things as me.....”
Dropping some tears, Flurry Heart shook her head in sadness. “I did much worse,” she said, pain in her voice.
Sombra looked at her, face guilt-ridden again. “It wasn't your intention to destroy the Crystal Heart. What you did can't compete with turning a princess to stone and then shattering her to pieces and spreading those across the whole world.”
“Princess Amore is still alive, Sombra. We can restore her,” Radiant Hope reminded him.
Sombra nodded. “I know, Hope. But her mind and her consciousness got split and are now spread out over thousands of shards all over the planet. What Flurry Heart did is nowhere near as bad as what I did.”
“It isn't?” Flurry Heart asked him. Her voice sounded cynical suddenly. “At least you did not really kill another pony.” She dropped her ears and stared back into the fire. It was like she didn't even notice the flames.
Sombra's mouth gaped open. “What does this mean?!”
Flurry Heart's eyes appeared dull. “After everypony had found out about my secret, my magic got out of control again. I burnt one of my classmates with it when he attacked me and.....” She bit down on her lips until she tasted blood. “And I killed another pony because I was afraid of it, but he just wanted to give me a present.....” She sobbed.
“My crystaller sealed most of my magic after I destroyed the Crystal Heart, but now it does not work anymore..... I could destroy it anytime again!” She brushed over her eyes. “That's why I left. I'm a risk for every pony in the Empire.....”
Having finished this confession, she leaned forward and broke out in more sobs, head resting on her knees. Radiant Hope put a hoof around her.
“I hate my teacher. It's all because of him,” Flurry Heart hissed after having calmed down. Her voice and face were full of hatred.
Radiant Hope pulled her closer. “But it wasn't really his fault, right? He did not know your secret.”
Flurry Heart nodded. “He didn't, but he always hated me. And he hated my parents too. As he had found out, he brought everypony up against me even more. Since then, the whole Empire hates us. If my parents can't calm the citizens down.....” She trailed off again, not daring to finish the sentence.
The small cave got clad in silence. All three ponies were staring into the flames now, speechless all of a sudden. Sombra's brow was furrowed and a thoughtful expression was on his face. Minutes later, it was him who broke the silence.
“It sounds like the Crystal Empire can't find true peace, not even after I left.....” He looked at Flurry Heart. “How is your teacher called?”
“Austere Knowledge,” she replied. “But he wants that we call him 'Mr. Know'.” Her face turned into a grimace of disgust.
Sombra locked his eyes with his friend. “Do you think the same, Hope?”
Hope nodded sternly. “He is pulling the strings in the background.”
Sombra got up. “I have to go and help.”
Despite what she had said earlier, an alarmed expression appeared on Hope's face now. “You know what this means, Sombra. What Flurry Heart told us sounds like a rebellion is brewing. If you come to their aid now, they will not only get suspicious about you again, they will also trust the royal family even less than they do now.”
Sombra's face was stern. “I know, Hope. But they need me now. This empire has suffered enough because of me.” His face formed conviction now. “I can't allow that it suffers even more by a stallion who is a spiritual successor of myself.”
“You can't just trot in there,” Radiant Hope made clear.
“I won't,” Sombra assured her. “You know my powers, Hope. I am not an Umbrum anymore, but I always knew that my training in all those years would be of worth and that I would still need those spells one day. Now the day has come.” Without awaiting another reply by his friend, his horn began to glow red and he turned into a puff of black smoke.
Radiant Hope knew her friend well enough to realize that there wasn't a way to stop him anymore now. After all, it was her who had taught him to make his own destiny.
“Don't let them see you, Sombra,” she warned him.
“I will scout the place carefully, don't worry, Hope,” he assured her, then he floated out of the cave, his smokey body now swirling.
Flurry Heart began to tremble again after having witnessed his new form. She looked after him, afraid.
Radiant Hope put a hoof on her head. “A pony like you doesn't have to fear anything from Sombra anymore,” she calmed her.
A dark feeling rose in Flurry Heart. “But there are ponies who do.” She looked up at the crystal unicorn mare. “Austere Knowledge is one of those who have to fear him, right?” she asked.
A cold understanding appeared on her face as Radiant Hope nodded.
> Chapter 27: Fear and Salvation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The streets of the Crystal Empire were deserted. An eerie, forlorn atmosphere was hanging in the air. It gave both Flurry Heart and Radiant Hope shudders as they entered the seemingly forsaken city.
Standing still, they let their eyes wander over the houses and the street in front of them. It was silent, but, in the distance, they could hear faint shouting of many voices. It was indicating their destination, the Crystal Castle.
A dark awareness was in Radiant Hope's face as she looked into the direction the shouts came from. Her eyes didn't show a single shred of surprise. At her side, Flurry Heart clung a hoof to the mare's coat. She looked at Hope, fear and worry in her eyes.
Hope looked down at her. “It appears to be bad,” she said. “But I trust Sombra and you should too. His plan will work.” Flurry Heart was still unsure and kept staring at her guardian.
Hope put a hoof around her and pushed her carefully. “Let's go,” she said. Hesitantly, Flurry Heart gave in to the pressure and together, they moved into the direction of the sounds that kept ringing into their ears.
The buildings passed by them in a crawling tempo. With every step, the voices grew a little louder and the young alicorn's heart began to beat a little faster. She gulped and began to tremble. Flurry Heart clung stronger to Radiant Hope.
As they were in sight of the plaza in front of the castle and the first members of the mob came into view, Radiant Hope directed Flurry Heart behind a purple house, keeping them safe from any glances that the raging ponies might have cast into their direction. Flurry Heart moved a hoof over her left foreleg, her face now completely distorted in desperation and fear.
“I didn't know it's that bad already,” she whimpered. “It wasn't when I left!”
Radiant Hope moved past the little filly and peered out from behind the house. The color of her coat blended in perfectly with the house's color. She scanned the crowd that filled the plaza in front of the castle and even the free space under it. The Crystal Heart and the castle were surrounded by what seemed to be all of the Empire's citizens. Radiant Hope retracted again, then addressed Flurry Heart. “Is there another way to get inside than through the castle's gate?”
Flurry Heart shook her head. “There is a secret passage, but it can't be opened from the outside.”
Hope's brow got furrowed. “Then I need to teleport us into the castle from here. Hold on to me.”
Flurry Heart gulped, then nodded hesitantly. She did a step forward and clasped Radiant Hope's chest with her hooves. Hope's horn glowed in a light-blue color, then both of them disappeared in a flash.

The throne room of the Crystal Castle was imbued with an aura of hopelessness and despair. Shining Armor was sitting on the throne, holding a weeping Cadance tight against his chest. His face expressionless and cold, his eyes dull, he stared into the direction of the throne's room exit, while his wife drenched his coat with her steady stream of tears.
Through the closed doors of the throne room, he could hear the guards doing their best efforts to secure the castle gate. Occasionally, commands got shouted and there was loud banging against the gate, the manifestation of their subjects' anger and hatred they now feeled towards them. The voices of the guards were strained and tired and the hinges of the gate could be heard creaking, an indication that they wouldn't last long anymore. None of the sounds reached Shining Armor or Cadance. They had stopped doing so hours ago.
The thought to flee began to manifest in Shining Armor's head finally; to use the secret passage and get past their enraged subjects, search for their daughter and then travel to Canterlot, seeking guidance and advice from Equestria's more experienced rulers, who would hopefully be able to help. He looked down at his wife, bitterness in his face. Before he could say anything, though, a bright, blue light suddenly flashed up right in front of the throne, blinding him. He shielded his eyes.
As the light seemed to be gone, he removed his hoof from his eyes again. He squinted while his eyeballs recovered from the bright light. As his vision cleared, he found himself staring at a purple crystal pony mare with a horn. The vanishing aura around it fit the color of her mane. In front of the mare, he saw nopony else than his own daughter, clasping her hooves around the mare's chest.
Shining Armor gasped in surprise. “Cadance!” he shouted and shook his wife with his right hoof. “Look at this!”
Cadance stirred and looked in front of her, an expression on her face that made clear she feared the worst after her husband's bewildered reaction. Her from tears blurry eyes showed her nothing more than an unshapely blob of pink at the side of another, purple blob. Her heart did a leap, suddenly getting flooded with a certain hope, but her rationality curbed the feeling, telling her to not expect the impossible. She rubbed over her eyes with a hoof, clearing her vision. As she finally was able to recognize who the pink blob was, she rushed forward, a sob leaving her throat.
“Flurry Heart!” Quickly, she threw her hooves around her daughter and pressed her firm against her body. “Where have you been?!” she scolded her, her voice sounding tear-filled.
Flurry Heart broke out in tears. She put her own hooves around her mother. “I..... I.....” was all she managed to say.
“Who is this other pony?” Cadance asked. She felt alarmed now, but kept clinging to her daughter.
“She.....” Flurry Heart sniffed, trying to gather the strength to speak. “Her name is Radiant Hope. S-She says she can help.”
“Radiant Hope.....” Cadance breathed. She let go of Flurry Heart and looked at the mare to her left. Her mouth gaped open and disbelief was written all over her face. “How did you get here? And why are you here?” she uttered a few, confused questions.
The continuous banging on the castle gate, combined with the creaking hinges, let Radiant Hope come right to the point. “It's not me who is here to help. But Sombra is. We need you to be outside on the castle balcony!”
“Sombra?!” Shining Armor stood up from the throne and trotted over to her, his pace quick. “He is here too?”
Cadance's eyes narrowed. “King Sombra.....” she whispered. “What is his plan?”
Only for a short moment, a glare flashed up in Hope's eyes, before they returned to their focused expression. “He isn't a king anymore. And we don't have time to explain. You need to step out on the balcony, now!” Her voice was urgent.
All of them twitched as a loud crack sounded into their ears from behind. The guards' shouts became louder.
“Cadance!” Shining Armor looked at her. “Let's do what she says! It's the only chance we have!”
Cadance released the embrace with Flurry Heart completely and stepped up to her husband, but still draped a hoof over her daughter, dragging her along.
“It's King Sombra!” Cadance said, voice full of disagreement. “You know what he did, we can't trust him, Shining Armor!”
“We need to!” he insisted. “If anypony wants to help us, we have to take the chance! We messed this up, Cadance!” As his wife did not show any signs of listening to his advice, Shining Armor bit his lip in hesitation. “You messed this up, Cadance,” he then said. His body slumped slightly. There was regret in his eyes.
The appearing expression in Cadance's face was not much different than the one of a pony who just got punched unexpectedly. And there was guilt in it as well. She looked down, now biting her own lip.
“I am sorry, Cadance. But this is something we need to do. It's that or running away!” He made his voice sound as stern as possible.
“Fine.....” Cadance nodded, not looking up. She turned her head slightly into Radiant Hope's direction. “The balcony?” Her voice was a whisper.
“Yes and now!” The other mare commanded. Another crack could be heard, underlining her voice.
Cadance nodded again, then she dragged Flurry Heart with her. She moved into the direction of the small door that was just at the side of the throne room's massive entrance door. Shining Armor and Radiant Hope followed them.
“Stay behind me, Flurry Heart,” Cadance said weakly, then she pulled the door open. Immediately, they were greated with the loud volume of all the shouting under them. Wordlessly, all four of them stepped outside, Cadance at the top.
They had barely set hoof on the balcony as they got already spotted. A crystal mare looked up and shot their hoof at them. “They are there!” she shouted, voice ripe of the intention to let her fellow citizens know. Like it was a command, all of the ponies in front of the castle looked up now. The shouts went silent for a moment as they did so, drowned out by their surprise. Then they began again, now directly addressing Shining Armor and Cadance.

“Give us the royal foal!” an angry shout came from another mare in the front row of the crowd.

“Flurry Heart needs to be locked up! Keep her away from the Crystal Heart!” a stallion demanded.

Flurry Heart winced and cowered behind her mother's flank. Her eyes darted around frantically as she made sure that nopony could see her.
Cadance, Shining Armor and Radiant Hope were lined up right in front of the balcony's balustrade now, forming a protective wall in front of Flurry Heart. Down below, at the top of the raging mob, stood Austere Knowledge, looking up to them as well. His lip had stopped bleeding, but was slightly deformed by a thick crust of dried, brown blood. He grinned diabolically upon noticing them.
“The royal traitors show up!” he shouted at them. “Are you finally ready to face all the consequences by your subjects?” Loud cheers of agreement came from the crowd behind him. Austere Knowledge had grown into his role of the leader of the near-rebellion completely. He felt satisfied.
Shining Armor and Cadance didn't say anything, despite their hearts beating fast, and just looked down at the crowd, eyes filled with grief over the faces of the ponies that formerly loved them.
Radiant Hope did the same, but she was scanning the crowd, face stern. She looked over the surrounding buildings as she was finished, then up into the sky. Finally, her face cleared as she found what she had been looking for. A black thundercloud in the sky was nothing out of the ordinary. She smiled. It was perfect. The cloud floated over the ponies underneath it, then came to a halt right above Austere Knowledge. Radiant Hope gave it a subtle nod.
The crowd became impatient as Austere Knowledge's remark was not met with any reaction. “ANSWER!” a unicorn mare just behind him yelled up at them. Austere's grin deepened.
Cadance gave Radiant Hope a nervous glance. “What now?” Her lips formed the words very quietly.
“Nothing. Wait and see.” The response came in the same way.
Austere Knowledge fixated his much-hated rulers, a dark and twisted form of happiness spreading out in his chest. He eagerly waited to find out how they would respond to the angry masses, but, as he finally heard a voice, it did not come from them.
“They have power over you,” the voice whispered.
Austere Knowledge turned around and looked over his back, still wearing his grin. None of the other ponies was looking at him, they still faced the balcony and their rulers.
“You are about to lose,” the voice whispered again.
“Who is saying this?” Austere Knowledge's voice sounded pitiful coming out between his white teeth. He kept looking around. “You can give them as much support as you want, but just look around. The whole Empire is against them, your rulers need to give them what they want or they will get overthrown by us.”
“No. If you are not careful, you will get overthrown by them.”
Only now Austere Knowledge noticed something of vital importance about the voice. It did not come from the crowd, there was nopony whispering to him. The voice he heard was his own voice and it came from inside his head. It unsettled the stallion slightly. As he looked to the front again, he did not grin anymore. He looked up to the distraught faces of his rulers again.
“Now I'm so close to dispose of them and I become nervous and get told by my inner voice they could win in the last moment,” he thought. Austere Knowledge felt a tinge of embarrassment for himself and his unnecessary worries. “There is nothing they can do anymore. They have no allies, they have no support in the whole Empire anymore after the princess attacked me and nopony will believe their words, even if they should be so stupid and try to paint me black. I have won this game.” His grin returned.
“No, you fool,” the voice spoke again. “They still have a weapon against you.”
Austere Knowledge chuckled inwardly. “What can they do?” he answered his own voice. “They are on the ground already.”
“Do you not see the mare at their side? You never met her before. She has just arrived and she is their trump card. This mare will defeat you.”
And indeed, he hadn't noticed that mare so far, but now, he focused his attention on her. Austere surveyed her, but there was not any sense of threat he sensed from her. Yet somehow, a tiny feeling of insecurity rose in his chest.
“Nonsense!” he said out loud. The crowd did not hear it over their shouts. “It is just one mare, there is nothing she can do!” he then spoke the words in his mind again. “And even if she should be so utterly stupid to attack me, it will benefit my goal!”
The voice in his head laughed. “I thought you would be good at this, but now I see you are not able to eliminate the last risk for yourself. You are a weak usurper, Austere.”
The teacher's grin vanished and instead, he gritted his teeth in anger. “What do you know? You are just a product of my subconscious, trying to make me doubt myself in the moment of my triumph over this heinous monarchy!” Nothing in his voice indicated that he found it odd to essentially talk with himself.
The voice laughed again. “Your confidence is your biggest weakness.” It sounded demeaning. “Just look at them, can't you see it? Do you not wonder why they don't react to the crowd? They don't have to and they know it. They just wait for your fall.”
Austere Knowledge looked back at the two royals. Something tugged inside his chest. All of a sudden, they looked down at him with confident, determined expressions. He couldn't detect fear or nervousness in their faces anymore.
“Why are they looking like this? Do they not realize their own loss?” he thought in disbelief.
“As I said, they only wait for your fall, Austere. You have lost, you just don't know it yet,” the voice continued. “They will win and overthrow you, Austere. And once they did, they will control you. You will be blamed by everypony and they will dictate every part of your life.”
Austere Knowledge felt his heart getting constricted. He refused to admit it, but fear was rising in him now. He gulped. “They can't..... This is impossible! What is it they can still do now?”
“They know your secret, Austere,” the voice answered his question. “The one thing you're hiding from them, the only thing that can endanger your plan. The mare found it out and she told them. And they will let everypony in the Crystal Empire know, they just wait a little with it to relish in their victory.”
Austere Knowledge gritted his teeth stronger, now seeing his plan endangered. “I can still stop them. I can still win!”
“You can,” the voice answered. “There is a way. You need to leapfrog them.”
“How?” the teacher asked, now paying full attention to the voice in his head.
“You must tell them yourself, Austere. Tell all of them your secret before they can!”
Austere Knowledge shook his head over this suggestion. “This is madness! If I tell them everything, this is what will endanger my plan!”
“No, Austere, you don't understand. Look at the ponies around you. They are outraged, yes, but all they do is standing here and shout. They are not ready yet. They will just calm down after a while and go home. You need to give them something more, Austere. If you tell them now, tell them what despicable deed you committed because the rulers made you hate them so much with their actions, then they will join your side completely.”
A frown appeared on Austere Knowledge's forehead. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. If you tell them now, they will break into the castle, they will drag them out on the Crystal Dais and sentence them right now.” The voice sounded alluring.
The imagination of the event the voice had described let a smile play around Austere's lips.
“But if you don't.....” The voice became threatening. “Then they will expose you. They will win and then, they will have full power over you.”
Austere Knowledge's heart did a leap at those words.
“Maybe they will forgive you..... But even if they do, you will be at their mercy. They will observe you constantly. You won't be able to criticize them anymore. If you have an opinion different than their own, then they will pretend you want to overthrow them again. They will use this to lock you up in the dungeon. They will silence you. If you don't win now, they will have full control over your life..... You are afraid of this, Austere. It's your biggest fear and it will become true if you don't tell them your secret.”
“It is,” Austere Knowledge admitted unexpectedly. “But this fear is not a weakness, it's my strength. Because now I know what to do.....” He grinned up at the balcony again. “I will tell them what I know and then, all their subjects here will see how much they made me hate them with their actions. It will finally convince them.”
“Good,” the voice sounded satisfied. “Now tell them, Austere. Tell them and secure your victory.”
Austere Knowledge grinned up to the balcony for a moment longer, then he turned around to the masses of still shouting ponies. “Our rulers don't want to answer!” he began a speech and shot a hoof behind him and up at them. “Do you know why? Because they are afraid! They hold more secrets from you!”
Now he had the crowd's attention. All ponies behind him were looking at him, expectantly and grim-faced. On the castle balcony, Shining Armor, Cadance had returned to their nervous looks. Only Radiant Hope was showing a confident expression. She looked up to the cloud above her, that was slowly retreating from the anarchist teacher. Radiant Hope smiled.
Beneath them, Austere Knowledge continued. “And I know the secrets they're still holding. They have made me do something terrible, by their selfishness and by their treason against us!” Austere Knowledge paused for a moment, watching how the last words provoked reactions of the crowd and how they became even more attentive. As he was sure they were hanging on his lips enough, he continued.
“Our rulers,” he pointed up again. “Our rulers have driven me so far that I was inciting a young colt to attack the little princess!” The last two words were thick with disgust.
Murmurs went through the crowd. The sceptical and dumbfounded expressions on the ponies' faces showed this was not what they had expected from the announced reveal.
“I am the one who is responsible for it that Swift Hoof was attacking the princess when she was in solitude! I gave her a scroll containing a Diruptio Nervus Cerebrum spell, because I wanted that she kills him and gets blamed for it!”
The spectacular reveal turned more and more into a disastrous confession. The crowds' murmurs became stronger and ponies looked at each other and began to talk in bewilderment about what they had just heard.
“The princess did not use the scroll, but to my luck, she does not have her magic under control and is a danger for each one of you! My plan still worked, because she attacked him anyway. I wanted to make you all hate her even more. Unfortunately, most of you were instead siding with her, than condemning her..... But now, this is not important anymore.”
He stopped again and took the reactions of the crowd in. They wore worried expressions, some of them looked upset and like they just got struck by lightning. And most of them were furiously talking with each other. The reveal had not missed its effect. Austere Knowledge grinned.
“Now you know everything, how despicable the actions of your rulers really are!”
This statement made the crowd even more confused, their makeshift leader having just talked about an action of his own, after all. They all stared at him now, not sure how to react.
“Their irresponsible and reckless actions as our rulers made me do this. They made me hate them so much that I saw no choice than to turn the mood against them even more. They made me responsible for a foal getting hurt.....” His face was full of mock regret. “Now you can see the consequences of the hatred they cause in us!”
With this sentence, he was finished. Austere Knowledge was done. His eyes wandered over the crowd and he grinned. “And now I won,” he thought.
The whole crowd was silent. They just kept staring at him; confused, shocked and still unsure how to react to all of this. But their paralysis did not last long, because it was the silence before the storm. The first one to speak up was Swift Hoof's mom.
The mare was distraught, tears running over her face as her mind was struck with the realization that the attack on her youngest son had been a ruthless plan to overthrow their rulers. “You.....” Her face became distorted. “You attacked our little son and almost killed him!” she shouted at Austere Knowledge, her voice hysterical.
This reaction was finally triggering something in the crowd. Murmurs arose again and they got louder and louder by the second. Eventually, another pony pointed at Austere, accusation in its eyes. “So you played with us! You used us to get control of the Empire!”
Austere Knowledge was taken aback by the sudden hostility expressed towards him, but he remained calm. Not having fully grasped that the tides were turning against him yet, he still grinned.
“Yes,” he further admitted. “It was a nefarious deed, but it was for the best. Our rulers are violent in the use of their power and with this, they have caused more violence. Swift Hoof served as a necessary casualty to show the violence inherent in the system of the Crystal Empire!”
It stirred up the crowd even more. A stallion pointed at him now, disbelief and disgust in his face. “You are a monster!” he shouted.
The statement gave Austere Knowledge the first impression that things were getting out of control for him. He shot the stallion a glare.
“It was not Princess Flurry Heart's fault! You almost killed Swift Hoof!” another shout was aimed at him.
Austere Knowledge darted around to look at the pony, gritting his teeth again.
“Where is Silver Hoof?!” a mare far back in the crowd asked then. “Did you kill him?”
Austere Knowledge addressed the question, still intent on keeping the crowd on his side. “Silver Hoof was not my doing,” he said. “He was last seen at the castle, all of you know this! It was the monarchy of this empire that killed him because he knew too much!”
“Liar!” a stallion from the middle of the crowd shouted. After this, the crowd got into a frenzy and angry shouts were directed at Austere Knowledge from all sides.

“Usurper!”

“Murderer!”

“Foal abuser!”

On the balcony, the Crystal Empire's royalty stared down at the crowd speechlessly, their faces covered in disbelief and shock. Radiant Hope looked at the rulers.
“Now you have your chance. They expect you to do something now, Princess Cadance.”
The princess nodded. She did a step forward, looking down at Austere Knowledge now, who had broken out in sweat. He was still trying to calm down the crowd.
“But be careful still,” Radiant Hope added. “Choose your words wisely, princess.”
Cadance nodded again, then she sat up a stern face and spoke.
“Austere Knowledge!” she shouted, authority in her voice. Suddenly, the crowd became silent. They all looked up at her. Only Austere Knowledge did not pay attention to her. “By the confession you just made, you will be charged with assault of a citizen of our empire and with murder of another one!” Her eyes were drilling through him, now that she realized her moment of revenge had come. “Guards, please come and arrest Austere Knowledge!”
The gate of the castle got opened swiftly and five guards trotted outside before it got closed behind them again, Sharp Pitch among them. The crowd was stepping aside and formed a passage for them, all the way up to the ruthless teacher.
As Austere Knowledge heard the metallic steps of the guards approaching, he finally turned around. “PRINCESS!” he roared up to the balcony. His voice was pure anger. “I will return from the dungeons one day and once I do, I will take care of eradicating your monarchy!” Cadance did not bat an eye over the threat and she did not respond to it. Her face cold, she just stared down at Austere Knowledge. The crowd shunned him more.
“Bring him away,” Cadance said as the guards had reached him. “Do not resist, Austere Knowledge,” she adviced him. “It will worsen your situation.”
Austere Knowledge got surrounded by the guards and they pushed him forward. Unwillingly, he sat himself into motion in accordance with the guards. His face showed that he did not even remotely understand how it could have come so far. But he did not struggle, nor trying to flee. He was bombarded with shouts of jeer by the crowd until he had disappeared inside of the castle.
As Cadance and Shining Armor looked down at their subjects, while they looked up at them in return, they were still met with many faces full of confusion. One of the citizens addressed a question, in place of the rest of them.
“What about the destruction of the Crystal Heart by Princess Flurry Heart? Was this a ruse by Austere Knowledge as well?”
Now Cadance's face became strained again and so did the face of her husband.
Radiant Hope met Cadance with a stern glare and shook her head. “No more lies, princess.”
Gulping, Cadance nodded. Her voice shook as she answered the question. “I-It is true,” she confessed. Shining Armor put a hoof on her shoulder. “Princess Flurry Heart did destroy the Crystal Heart five years ago, but it was not on purpose!”
The ponies under them became unruly again. “So she could destroy it again?” another pony asked.
The question sent shivers down Cadance's spine. Her whole body trembled. “Y-Yes, t-technically she can. I-It cannot be r-ruled out.”
As the faces looking up at her became more concerned, Cadance felt like snapping almost. The ponies began to talk to each other and loud murmurs filled the place in front of the castle once more. Finally, one of them spoke again.
“So, what are you going to do about this?” The face of the pony was wary, but there was a glimmer of hope in its eyes, the expectation of the empire's princess making a decision that would keep it safe. The rest of the citizens looked the same.
As Cadance had struggled with finding an answer for a few seconds, another pony spoke to her. “What are you going to do, princess?”
“I-I,” Cadance began to stammer an answer. “P-Princess Flurry Heart will..... T-The solution is–”
From far back at the other end of the crowd, a voice interrupted her. “–here!” it finished her sentence.
The crowd turned around in surprise and so did Cadance turn into the direction of the voice. Behind the gathered ponies of the Empire, Spike and Sunburst had suddenly appeared. Both of them looked frazzled and exhausted, but stood upright, faces full with determination. It was Spike who had spoken and he addressed the crowd again now.
“The solution is here!” he shouted over the crowd. “My friend and Princess Flurry Heart's royal crystaller, Sunburst–” He stopped and looked at him demonstratively. “–has the solution for the problem!”
This was all it needed. With this one sentence spoken by their hero, the ponies of the Crystal Empire gave Sunburst their full attention. The stallion stepped forward, addressing the crowd himself now.
“Princess Flurry Heart's magic is not a threat for any of us!” he began, garnering more attention by the crowd. “The spell I cast on the princess to suppress her power is waning, but I was able to find out how!”
The mentioning of the waning spell had cast new concern on the faces of the citizens, but they were still hanging on his lips, listening attentively.
“It is fear!” he revealed. “The spell to curb the princess' magic only becomes ineffective if she feels great fear. As long as Princess Flurry Heart does not get afraid of something, she is no danger for the Crystal Heart!”
It only eased their worries partially. “But what if she does get afraid?” one of the ponies addressed a new concern.
“That's why we need your help!” Spike took the floor again now. “Since last week, Princess Flurry Heart is afraid of a lot of things, but she's especially afraid of all of you!” Spike pointed with a claw at the crowd and moved it over them slowly.
The reactions were split, some ponies showed understanding, others confusion. “What does this mean?” one of them asked.
“It means that she is afraid of losing your trust! It was not Princess Flurry Heart's intention to destroy the Crystal Heart, but once you found out, you began to lose trust in her and some of you even began to hate her! It's your distrust that makes the princess afraid and that could make it happen again!”
At Spike's side, Sunburst winced. He began to feel uncomfortable, over the young dragon addressing the matter so bluntly. But Spike looked like he had everything under control.
“Does this mean it is our fault if the Crystal Heart gets destroyed again?!” an angry shout came from one corner of the crowd.
“But the princess and the prince lied to us, they never told us what their daughter can do!” it came from another.
Spike still appeared confident. “And didn't they have a good reason to keep it a secret?” His voice sounded stern now. “You all used to love Princess Flurry Heart, but after you found out that she could be dangerous for the Crystal Heart, you suddenly started to despise and hate her, without asking any questions first! Some of you insulted her even!”
Now a wave of guilt washed over the faces of the ponies in front of Spike. A chubby stallion that stood right at the castle detracted his eyes from the dragon and looked to the ground in shame. Some foals in the crowd were crying, while simultaneously ripping apart the scrolls with their neutralization spells. Their faces showed regret, regret for seriously thinking to do the unspeakable to their schoolmate.
“None of you has given her any chance!” Spike scolded them now.
Spike's last sentence was like a cue. All of the ponies in the crowd turned around at once. They looked up to the balcony again, still guilt and regret in their eyes.
“But there is way for you to make up for this!” Spike continued, his voice softer again now. “Sunburst is busy with adjusting the spell to make it work again, but until then, all of you can help Princess Flurry Heart to not become afraid again. The safety of the Crystal Heart and the Empire is in all of your hooves now! We need your help to make Princess Flurry Heart feel comfortable and to prevent her from feeling fear! But you can't do this if you keep treating her like a threat that needs to get eliminated!”
Now the faces of the ponies were adorned with bitter understanding. More of them began to cry, while they silently gazed up to their rulers.
“Please forgive us, Princess Flurry Heart!” a mare finally broke the silence that was hanging over the place.
The ears of Flurry Heart, who still hid behind her parents, perked up, her face showing great surprise, as well as uncertainty if she had heard this right. But she did not have to wait long until more shouts called her name.

“I'm not hating you, Princess Flurry Heart, I was just afraid myself!”

“I was wrong, I should have helped you!”

“I still love you, Princess Flurry Heart!”

Shout after shout like this came from the crowd, easing the little princess more and more. She looked up to her mom, who answered her glance.
“Go outside, Flurry Heart,” Cadance said. “Go and look at them.”
Flurry Heart got up on all four hooves, then squeezed herself between her mom and her dad to get to the front of the balcony. Her mouth gaped open as she saw the crowd under her, their faces smiling at her, in a way that she hadn't seen in an eternity, so she felt.
Flurry Heart sniffed. Tears began to run over her face in thick streams as she witnessed how she was finally met with appreciation and love from her subjects again. She wanted to say something, but the overwhelming reactions under her made her speechless. So she just stood there, answering the many smiles with a bright smile of her own, occasionally waving at the ponies under her, while crying tears of joy. In this moment, it felt like a thousand rocks were falling off her heart. The young alicorn princess felt light and, for the first time in five days, truly happy again.
“We want to meet you, Princess Flurry Heart!” another shout rang up to her. It sounded yearning. The crowd began to push at the castle gate again, but for whole different reasons this time.
Shining Armor and Cadance smiled at each other. Then Cadance bent down to Flurry Heart. “Do you want to meet them?”
Flurry Heart turned around at her mom. Eagerly, she nodded, with sparkles in her eyes.
“I guess it is time to hold an audience then.” Cadance's voice sounded fresh and relieved now. She addressed the crowd of ponies under her. All of them were cheering Flurry Heart's name now. “Dear citizens,” she began. “For anypony who wants to meet Princess Flurry Heart, she will receive you in audience in thirty minutes.” The crowd began to cheer louder.
For all of them; Shining Armor, Cadance and Flurry Heart, the situation was breathtaking. The mood of their subjects had turned into the completely opposite direction now, in a matter of minutes. The royal family was baffled by the outcome. As they trotted back inside the castle, Flurry Heart was still speechless and still crying from joy.
“Shining Armor..... I can't believe it worked.” Cadance was the first to speak after they entered. Behind her, the door fell shut.
“Me neither,” Shining Armor replied simple. Both his and his wife's face were disconcerted on the way to their throne.
Only Radiant Hope wasn't surprised. “I knew it will work. If there is one pony you can rely on, then it is Sombra.”
“He was amazing,” Shining Armor said, now standing in front of the throne. He turned around to Hope. “I don't know what he did, but whatever it is, it solved all the problems we had!”
At his side, Cadance didn't quite share his enthusiasm. “I'm not sure if 'amazing' is the right way to describe it, Shining Armor..... He is the one who enslaved the whole Crystal Empire.”
Shining Armor looked at her, baffled once again. “Are you kidding? Cadance, he saved us all! He isn't the evil unicorn king we knew anymore!”
Hope spoke up, a new glare in her eyes. This time, it didn't disappear. “Sombra has changed. You have no idea about the trouble he went through with me to get a lot of the splinters of Princess Amore back!”
“Forget about it, Hope.” Sombra's voice suddenly sounded into their ears.
They turned around, just in time to see a mass of black smoke trickle in through the cracks of the balcony door. Flurry Heart gasped at the sight. She hastily rubbed the tears out of her eyes to see better and looked back at the door. Her eyes grew wide while she watched the black smoke coming in and then taking shape in form of the stallion she had met earlier. “Wow.....” She swallowed.
Sombra opened his eyes and approached them. “It is fine, Hope,” he addressed his friend again. “With my past here, Princess Cadance has any right to be sceptical.” Even though he wasn't happy about the hostility he was met with, his voice expressed respect. He bowed before Cadance.
Before more words could be exchanged between them, Flurry Heart spoke now. “How did you do this?” Her eyes were still fixated on Sombra. She trotted over to him, in a reverent manner.
Sombra smiled softly at the filly.
Flurry Heart stopped right in front of him, looking up at Sombra. Her mouth was open and her eyes expressed pure fascination. Slowly, she reared up and placed her forehooves on his chest. “Can you teach me how to do this?”
The stallion chuckled. This reaction, the complete opposite of the reaction her mother had shown, warmed his heart. He placed a hoof on Flurry Heart's head, gently. “I am not sure,” he said. “It was taking a lot of time and hard training to learn this spell.” Sombra knew, that, of course, Flurry Heart would not be able to learn it, since she wasn't a former Umbrum, but he spared her from this detail about him.
“Are there other cool spells you can do?” Flurry Heart asked then.
Before Sombra could answer, though, Flurry Heart got wrapped into her mother's magical aura and floated away from him. Cadance placed her daughter at her side. “You don't need this kind of magic, Flurry Heart.”
Flurry Heart pouted and looked at her mother, disappointed. “But, mommy, I want to cast spells like these too!”
Cadance answered her look and ruffled her mane slightly. “You can go and ask Sharp Pitch for this, Flurry Heart. He knows a lot of cool spells as well.” It was an answer that seemed to satisfy the young princess, since she was quiet now, but her eyes indicated something different. They were still glued on Sombra.
“What about the last problem?” Radiant Hope suddenly asked, in a reminding tone. She looked at Cadance's face intensely, then at Flurry Heart, then back at Cadance. “What are you going to do about him?”
Cadance and Shining Armor both understood the sign. “For now, we let them think what they think right now,” Cadance answered.
“It is for the best. We think about how to approach this problem later, when everything in the Crystal Empire has returned to normal,” Shining Armor agreed.
It was the most barebones way to talk about the matter without making Flurry Heart unstable again, but Radiant Hope had no trouble following. She nodded sternly. There was a warning expression in her eyes.
Shining Armor changed the subject. “Why did you and Sombra come here? Aren't you still busy with your journey?” His voice was ripe with curiosity.
Before either of them could answer, though, they got distracted by the door of the throne room getting opened. Sharp Pitch trotted in. Sunny Spirit was with him, her face tear-stained and her eyes puffy. Magnolia Sunshine and Starry Skies trotted alongside her.
Sharp Pitch bowed in front of his rulers, then he pointed at Sunny Spirit. “I'm sorry, but she was waiting at the castle gate and demanded to get in. Her friends followed her.”
Cadance nodded, eyes locked on Sunny. She smiled. “Seems like the audience is starting a little earlier. It is okay, Sharp Pitch. Sunny, go to Flurry Heart. I'm sure she wants to see you.”
It was nothing the filly needed to get told anyway. Cadance hadn't even finished her sentence as Sunny Spirit was rushing towards her best friend. She crushed Flurry Heart with a hug.
“I'm so glad you're okay, Flurry!” she sobbed. “I was searching for you everywhere after I saw that you weren't in the castle anymore!” She increased the tightness of the embrace, squeezing her friend now. “I was so worried when I couldn't find you.” Her voice deteriorated into a series of sobs and whimpers.
Flurry Heart answered the embrace, wrapping her hooves around her best friend. “I'm sorry, Sunny.....” Tears shot into her own eyes as well. “I wanted to leave, but now I'm staying here.”She began to sob, too. “I'm so happy everything is finally okay again.....” Flurry Heart rested her chin on Sunny Spirit's shoulder. Quietly, the two fillies cried into each other's embrace.
As they let go of each other after minutes, Magnolia Sunshine and Starry Skies approached them. Each of them showed contrasting emotions; concern in their eyes and grins on their faces. One after another, they exchanged a hug with their friend, too, although a little less emotionally.
After the exchange of hugs was over, Cadance put a hoof on Flurry Heart's shoulder, silently requesting the attention of her daughter. “Now that they are already here, do you want to see the rest of the citizens? Or do you want to spend some time with your friends, first?”
Flurry Heart did not think long. She nodded. “You can let them in, mommy.”
“Okay.” Cadance looked at Sharp Pitch. “Please open the gates. It is time to put everything behind us finally.”
Cadance, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart smiled at each other as the citizens of the Crystal Empire poured into the throne room. During the audience, they outdid each other in expressing their regrets towards their youngest princess. Many of them were bringing last-minute presents for Flurry Heart, which soon began to pile up at the side of the throne. And each citizen who came made a little more clear how things were different again now.
The nightmare that had begun last week was finally over. And both Shining Armor and Cadance were determined to prevent a new nightmare for their daughter from happening. Whatever the future might bring, they would not allow that Flurry Heart had to suffer again.....
It was a silent promise both of them made.