it was just another glorious day in the oh so perfect crustal empire. Everypony was going about thier daily routine, smiles all around. Birds were chriping, fillies were laughing and playing in the streets, the sun was shining, everythingwas peaceful, pristine, and, incredible boring.... Such was the thoughts of princess Flurryheart, sure it was great that things were going great in the empire, and yes it was also, good that everypony was happy but, by luna, would it be too much to ask for a little excitment to happen?
Flurry sighed as she got up from the throne and slowly made her way down to the library, one of the few places she was allowed to go without an escort, to say her father shining armor was overprotective was a drastic understatment.
"Argh, if I didn't know any better, you think he didn't trust me, I mean I only snuck out once! And it was aunties idea, but, did she get yelled at oh no, it was all on on me hmph".
to say she had abit of a strained relationship with her aunt was well, putting it mildly. She loved her dearly but, like her father, she could work flurrys last nerve. The two have always been like that though, even when she was just a fillie, cadence would go on and on for hours about how much of a trouble maker flurry could be, and how twilight would have one of her "epic freakout sessions" whenever she was abit much to handle. The thought did put a smile on flurrys face, as much as the relationship strained and twisted, she couldnt help to be want to be just like her aunt, and why wouldnt she. Twilight Sparkle, who now ruled as Queen, not princess, Queen of all Equestria, with her friends serving as her council, any villian would be hard pressed to cause trouble. But flurry envied her aunt for completely different reason. Being a royal or princess or heck, even an alicorn was dime a dozen in Equestria nowadays, fo the point it became a joke. No, flurry didnt envy twilight for her status or power, she envied the freedom. For even as twilight ruled as queen, she or her friends still went on numerous adventures day in and day out. She longed to be like that, to see far off lands, to explore Equestriajust like she did, yet alas, between her "courtly duties" and overprotective daddy, it wasnt so simple.
Thus flurry was forced to live out her fantasies through the pages of a book, ironically, just as her aunt did when she was a young filly. So she pushed open the doors to the royal library, the large doors creaking open as the royal archivist looked up from her book and welcomed her
"Hello again your highness, back so soon?" Scribe Hoof asked as she welcomed her friend inside
flurry rolled her eyes but, offered a smile
"It's like dad will let me go anywhere else after last time Ms. Hoof".
The archivist smirked as she walked over to the princess. "Yes well, if a certain princess hadn't snuck out fir a late escapade with her aunt without telling anypony, she may not be under lock and key now hmm".
Flurry became abit defensive at that remark, but, she knew it was useless to argue. "That was twilights idea, and I, argh... nevermind. Can I please just have a book, something interesting, preferably something that I haven't seen a hundred times?"
Scribe Hoof thought fir a moment, flurry had been to the library so much that nearly everything in here that would be of her interest had been read already. Despite her teasing, Scribe Hoof felt abit bad for flurry, after all, how would she be able to be an effective ruler and princess if she didn't interact with more ponies but, that was above her station. As she looked through her catalog of Tomes of possible interest, then near the bottom of the page, she saw something that caught her eye.
"Well, I can't promise it'll be of your interest but, I have a tome about the secrets and mysteries of the castle~"
That indeed caught flurrys attention. "Tell me more". She asked getting abit excited.
Scribe smiled as she lead the princess to where the book was towards the back shelves as she explained abit about the tome in question.
"The tome talks about some of the ancient secrets of the castle, you see, when the fortress was first constructed thousands of years ago by King Sombra, he commissioned many passages, hidden rooms, and hid many ancient treasures all over the place. Some say it was to protect his sources of power, while others claim it was to hide objects away, that not even sombra himself could control".
The story captured flurryhearts imagination, she lived in the castle her whole life but, she'd never heard about this. True it wasn't out of the ordinary for castles to have tons of different rooms and secrets, the castle of the two sisters was a testament to that. Even so, it was interesting to say the least. As the two reached the shelf where the book was held, Scribe Hoof picked the book off the shelf with her teeth, dusting it off, coughing abit as some entered her nose. Flurry giggled as she used her magic to clean up scribes muzzle, to which she thanked her.
"Are those tales really true Ms Hoof? Mom and dad never said anything about it?"
Scribe Hoof smiled and shrugged as she gave the tome to flurry heart.
"Whose to say, the past had many secrets it has yet to tell, maybe it's just waiting for the right pony to find them" She says walking back to her desk. Scribe didn't know if it was right of her to put such ideas in flurrys head but, on the other Hoof, she wanted the girl to have some adventure, even if it was within the walls of the castle.
Flurry immediately smiled and teleported to her room and immediately began reading through the book.
the tome certainly didnt disappoint. Line by line, verse after verse, it spoke of long forgotten secrets and passages that supposedlyhad been hidden throughout the fortress, and just as ms hoof, had stated, it had been commissionedby king sombra, but, not just him, apperently, it also, had been order by one Queen Amore, the former ruler of the empire had comissioned, apperently, she had crafted a special chamber, holding mystical relics from past rulers of the empire, one that could only be opened by those of either the royal lineage or, those who from her direct line. Flurryheart had only ever heard about Queen Amore a hoofull of times, she wondered though, that name, Amore, it reminded her of her mother Cadence, or Mi Amore Cadenza, was her mom a decesndant of Amore? And if so, that made her, flurryheart, a decsendant as well. Which also, meant, she could locate and open this passage, all those magical artificats, relics of the empire lost to history.
"Oooo maybe if I find and open the door, mom and dad will finally give me some room to breath, and, I can have my own adventure in the process, finally things are looking up'.
Suddenly though, a knock came from flurrys door.
"Flurry honey, it's me, can I come in?" Flurry sighed and responded.
"It's open mom". Cadence walked in and walked over.
"Where you've been sweetie, your father and I haven't seen you all morning?" Flurry rolled her eyes.
"I went to library to find something to read, not like you guys will let do much else". Cadence frowned at that, she knew flurry wanted some independence, but, she worried for her. Flurry was alot like her that way, they both got abit tired with how well, perfect the crystal empire could be, and cadence also, knew how overprotective her husband could be of thier daughter. It was an issue, one she tried to get him to ease up on but, there was only so much she could do. Secretly, she was glad twilight had snuck flurry out for some fun, even though she didn't show it. She didn't want the relationship between her and her daughter to deteriorate, so she tried to loosen abit. If only a little.
She had noticed that flurry was reading a book she hadn't seen before.
"What do you have there?" Flurry panicked abit.
"U.. um nothing, just a history book". Cadence rose an eyebrow.
"Flurry your a worse lair than applejack"
Flurry tried to come up with an excuse but, just sighed, she was already on thin ice due to her sneak out, she was rebellious, not stupid.
"Argh fine, it's a book about the castle, talking about secret passages, hidden rooms and stuff like that". That actually peaked cadences interest as she took a seat next to flurry and smirked.
"Tell me more".
Flurry couldn't help but, have a flash of Deja vu from a few moments ago, mother like daughter as they say. So she shrugged and explained what she learned.
"I barely just started reading but, it talks about hidden rooms that king sombra built and someone called Queen Amore built some secret vault somewhere I'm the castle, do you know anything about her mom?"
Cadence thought about it for a moment, she had indeed heard about Queen Amore but, she didn't know the finer details. "I remember celestia telling me about her, I know she used to rule the empire before sombra, but, something happened to her, sources vary but, sombra supposedly over through her".
Flurry nodded but, was curious about something. "I actually wondered if you were related to her, since your names are so similar, I know that doesn't mean much but, still".
Cadence was now curious as well, sadly she didn't know much about her birth parents, since she was adopted by celestia at a young age, yet celestia insisted she call her aunt instead of mom, even though cadence considered the alicorn her true mother.
"I have to admit, I'm not sure but, now you've got me curious. What else does the tome say?"
"Like I said, I only barely started but, it did say that only one of the royal family, or a direct decesndant of Amore can find and open the vault".
Cadence smiled and got up. "Then let's get looking". Flurry rose a brow confused.
Cadence smirked as she looked at her daughter. "Your not the only one who gets bored out of her mind around here sweetheart, now cmon slow poke". She says walking towards the door. Flurry smirked back as she picked up the tome with her magic. She may have hoped to originally go on this adventure solo but, it might be fun to have her mom along, foal steps she guessed.
"At least I know where I git my rebellious streak from" She though, laughing to herself.
hours upon hours of walking all around the palace, looking in every crack and crevice, around every pillar and crystal, and yet still no sign of any secret room, vault, ir anything.
"Argh horseapples?!" Flurryheart cursed as she slammed her Hoof against the floor in frustration, which caused Cadence to turn around with a look of disapproval.
"Flurryheart Language!" Flurry sighed.
"I'm sorry mom but, I'm just so frustrated. It feels like we've looked everywhere and still haven't found a thing. I just, I just really wish we could've found sometime, anything. "
Cadence sighed in return, walking up to her daughter and lifting her chin up. "Don't give up so easily flurry, the sides, it's only been a few hours and there's still a few places to search. You never know. " Cadence leaned against the wall. "It could just..."
Before she could finish, the wall opened up behind her, causing the alicorn to fall over backward in shock. "Appear.....?" Cadence said as she got up and looked around the strange room she had accidently found, all around the large room was several pedestals displays artificats that, even from a distance, she could feel the magical energy.
Flurry immediately hugged Cadence, excited. "You did it?! We actually found it!" Cadence laughed as she hugged her back. "Told you so~ let's take a look, just be careful, we don't know what any if this stuff does."
Flurry only halfway heard her mother's warning as she began flying around the room, looking at all the different displays. It was almost like a private museum, with plaque giving brief descriptions of the items in question, while others only gave warnings, or at least what she could think was a warning. Some were written in the ancient tongue of the three tribes, which she only had a passing understanding of.
"You have any idea what some of these say?" Cadence looked at a few of the plaque.
"It's definitely ancient ponish, but I um, well Language class wasn't exactly my strong suit." Flurry rose an brown to that. After all, cadence didn't seem to have any trouble when dignitaries came to the empire, and Caspian knew they spoke in languages flurry. I wasn't even sure it quantified as language. But, as these thoughts ran through her mind, one particularly display caught her eye. It looked unassuming at first, a small pedestal holding what looked like a normal styling mirror, yet flurry couldn't help but be drawn to it.
"Hey, mom, check this out." Cadence turned from the plaque she was struggling to read and turned her attention to the mirror. It was a bit strange, didn't seem to be out of the ordinarily yet, underneath mirror, was another plaque with that same ancient language, but, yet again, cadence couldn't determine what it said. 'Be careful, flurry. We don't know what any of this does.
"Relax, mom, I'm not going to touch anything," yet as she stared at the mirror, she felt odd, as she began to lose herself to that endless windowed pace within the mirror. It felt good, really good, like a warm bath on a cold winter night or a nice beverage on a hot day, this energy simply due her in deeper and deeper as she gazed into the mirror, completely unaware that some strange force was washing over her, completely engulfing her form. But, she was completely numb to it, not even hearing cadences voice as she was screaming at her to back away, to move or something, but it was no use as the energy engulfed flurryheart, and only when her vision went pink did she realize something was wrong.
But, as quickly as it came it was over as a flash of pink light filled the vault and cadence, shielding her eyes with her wings looked over to see what had become of her first born was abit stunned. Flurry looked different. Her fur and mane were as pink as cadences now, her wings a bit larger, and a prominent heart like symbol above her forehead just under her horn. Her eyes glowed with an aetheral glow as she looked at herself.
"M..mom what. What happened, I look at I. I look like you, I feel, weird".
Cadence could feel the magic coming off of Flurryheart, and why shouldn't she, she recognized it, it was the same type of magic she commanded, the magic of love, but, this felt different somehow. Was it because it was mixed with flurrys own energy? Possibly, but she didn't know.
"Flurry, do you feel alright?" Flurry nodded, not feeling much differently just, a bit wobbly.
"I.. I think so, just wobbly. " Cadence wasted no time and teleported both herself and Flurry to her own room as she began looking for something, anything to do with the mirror. She wasn't a book horse like Twilight was, but, if her daughter and somehow been infused with the same or similar magic to her own, then she was sire she'd be able to figure sometimes out.
"Oh, cmon, where are you, finally!" She grabbed a large velvet stained book and put it on the table and began looking through it with haste.
"Um, what is that?" Flurry asked, looking abit confused.
"Amoromicon, the tome about everything regarding love magic and all its facets. Celestia gave it to me after I had acesended. Since I can literally feel the magic coming off you is similar to mine, I'm hoping there might be something in here that can tell us what happened. "
However, as the two alicorns looked over the tome, a royal guard walked in after hearing the sudden commotion.
"Your Highness, is everything al....ri.ght," the guard stuttered. The Guard didn't finish his question, instead locking eyes on Flurryheart.
"Um, are you alright soldier?" The Guard didn't respond. Instead, his head began twitching erratically, then his limbs before finally his body relaxed as his eyes turned into large hearts and he jumped at Flurry, wrapping her in a bear hug, squeezing her tight.
"Ahhh, what the, get... off of. Me!" Flurry pleaded.
Cadence was a bit shocked at first but had to fight down the reaction to laugh as Flurry teleported out of the guards grip and chased her around the room.
"Mom! Don't just stand there! Help me?!"
Cadence smirked and fired a beam at the guard restraining him.
"Argh, ahh, what the hay was that?!"
Cadence didn't know, but she had a theory and began reading the book again, look up more, forbidden spells until she found what she was looking for.
"Flurry, look at this!" Cadence said, gesturing for Flurry to come see as she began to read.
"The Hugmare Hex, a highly addictive and contagious love spell that, when preformed, can fully embrace the host like a warm hug and, whomever lays thier eyes upon the user, shall come over the embrace of the hex, wishing for nothing more to embrace the user, or anypony else they may lay thier eyes on. This hex should only be performed in a closed environment due to its incredibly contagious nature. "
Flurryheart looked at the book and then looked at the mirror they had brought from the vault.
"But, I didn't perform any hex mom, I just looked into that mirror? How could a mirror give me a hex?"
Cadence looked at her, and then the stallion guard still had his eyes clung to Flurry.
"It all depends on the hex Flurry. Items can be infused with magic. It's pretty simple if you know how to do it. As for this, well, somepony must've infused the mirror with the Hugmare Hex, as to why, I don't know".
Flurryheart was getting abit irritated as the stallion guard looking at her with those heart shaped eyes was beginning to creep her out.
"So, you can get rid of it, right?"
Cadence looked through the book and nodded. "I think so, I just need time to read through. The...book" Cadence looked into the door way and noticed that several other ponies, staff, guards etc had wandered in, most likely hearing the commotion, and they were all twitching, with heart shaped eyes.
"Oh no..." Flurry and Cadence immediately booked it down the hall as they were being chased by the horde of ponies infected with the hex, unfortunately, whomever saw Flurry, and whomever was hugged by any of the hexes ponies immediately became hexes themselves, it was like a love plague, quickly overtaking the whole palace.
"This is not what I wanted when I said I wanted an adventure!" Flurry screamed as both she and Cadence flew to the library and barricaded the door.
"Now what is" Scribe Hoof asked walking around the corner.
"Scribe close your eyes, now! That's an order!" Cadence yelled.
Scribe immediately did so without question, scared since Cadence was using her canterlot voice.
"Yo...your magesity, I'm sorry, what's going on" Cadence sighed as she summoned a blindfold over Scribe eyes.
"I'm sorry for yelling but, we're in abit of a crisis right now. The palace has been infected with a powerful love hex, anypony who looks at Flurryheart immediately becomes a carrier".
Scribe took in the information but, was confused.
"All but, you your grace?" Cadence then realized it, she hadn't thought about it in all the chaos. She wasn't affected by the hex. She could feel it sure but, she didn't succumb to it.
"She has a point mom, why weren't you trying to hug the life out of me?"
"I suppose I must be my own love magic, it must canceling out the hexes effects though, it's only a theory. But, that doesn't matter, we need to find a cure for this, if those ponies get outside the palace, the entire empire will become infected. Flurry, use telekinesis like I taught you, reach out to your father and tell him to lock down the palace, and try and stay out of sight. Scribe Hoof, I need you to help me with researching a cure.
"Of course your magesity" Scribe carefully walked back to her desk to prepare but, Flurry was shaking, as she felt awful. No wonder her dad didn't want her outside the palace, all she did was mess things up. Was it her fault? No, not entirely, but, she had found the book, she had Cadence open the vault, even if it was an accident, she didn't heed cadences warning and looked too close at the mirror, if she hadn't been so restless for excitment this wouldn't have happened. Now Flurry was showing she was definitely her aunts niece as she began to panic, rocking back and forth, muttering to herself.
Cadence immediately noticed this and walked over to her, wrapping her in her forlegs.
"Sweetie it's OK, were gonna figure this out".
"It's all my fault, I did this, the empire is gonna become a stupid hugging harem and it's all because I wanted to look for that stupid vault." She said though tears, running down her cheeks and staining her fur. Cadence felt pity for her daughter. This wasn't her fault, yes she looked into the mirror but, they didn't know what it was going to do, and they only found the vault by accident. That's all this was, an unfortunate accident.
Cadence made her look into her eyes, wrapping away her daughters tears as she spoke.
"Flurry listen to me. This is not your fault, we both looked for that vault, neither one of us knew this would happen, if anything it's on me. I should've been more cautious when we went in there. But, what's done is done. I know your frightened and upset, but, everything will be OK, and cmon, out all the things the crystal empire and this family has dealt with, is a hugging plague really the worst thing?" She asked smiling trying to lighten the mood abit.
Flurryheart couldn't help but, laugh abit. "Beats changling invasions".
Cadence nodded smiling. "Sure does, now, cmon. Get your dad informed, I'll find that cure, and will have a good laugh about this tonight. Can I could on you?"
Flurry got it together nodding as hugged her mother. "Thanks mom".
Cadence smiled hugging her back. "Just doing my job sweetie, now, let's get to work".
Flurryheart nodded, immediately Flying up to the ceiling so she was out of sight and began focusing on shiny armors magic, trying to find him and Inform him of the hex while Cadence and Scribe Hoof looked through the Amorinomicon to try find a cure.
Unfortunately, outside the library doors, more and more ponies were coming under the Hugmare Hexs sway, servant running in fear to not be infected. Guards either looking perplexed or fighting off the infected ponies. Some barricaded themselves inside rooms or those that could fly jumping out windows to escape. That wasn't the best decision, as those infected pegasi also, felt out of the palace and into the streets, hugging anypony they saw, and spreading the hex further. If something wasn't done soon, the entire empire would become a hug house.
