Chapter Three

“Now how do you Discord?” she was watching me as I worked on the kettle creating a new pot of tea for us.

“I was born like I said a long time ago Twilight, I lost my village to him and I was foolish enough to go after him and attack him but he won.” I poured a new cup of tea as did Twilight.

“So why do you avoid the princesses?”

“Let’s talk about your day first?” I did not even want to answer that but I don’t want her to know that. Spike had gone to bed for the evening as I sat in front of the fire listening to Twilight as she went on about her day with Discord and how Fluttershy managed to get him in line which gave me a complete shock. Discord the god of chaos listing to a pony and Fluttershy, now the world had made no sense to me.

“Now will you answer my question why do you avoid the princesses?” we had finished off the tea as I looked down at my cup trying to find the right words.

“Listen to you and any other pony I am a walking history book. I know everything about the princesses’ younger years and day and I know life before them. If you knew all of that would you really want to be locked away in the castle and watch as pony after pony you made friends with died out?” her ears had flatten as I sat up looking out the window.  “I would rather spend my days walking the earth making friends waiting for the end of days then being locked in a bloody tower!” I was growling at this point as she placed a hoof on my shoulder.

“I don’t think you be locked in a tower just restricted to the castle grounds.” Whatever she was trying to do was making me feel better. I noticed the moon was almost full, I got up for a bit and walked over towards the window thinking about the cherry blossom tree and how I should go check on it since my mind is drifting off into memory land. I don’t know what Twilight was up to but I did see she had a scroll in her magic before turning it into a cloud of purple smoke as it flew off into the air.

I really didn’t pay any mind to the spell as I looked back towards the moon and a thought struck me. It wasn’t late it was barely eight at night and I know the train runs late on certain nights. “Hey Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“Want to go on a history…. You want to go see where I lived as a kid??” I’m not very good at trying to ask ponies to come with me to the north I had only taken one pony with me and that was a long time ago before Luna became nightmare moon. I looked up from the floor as I noticed her eyes were wide and glistening making her look like Rarity when she in a diamond shop. I slowly creped over towards my bags as she did a mad dash around the library grabbing things like parchment, quills, ink and large blank journals but she did forget one thing snow gear. My coat was thick enough to handle the frozen north. I emptied my bags as I placed a couple of bits in them so I would have a way to pay for the train ticket back and forth.

“So any other ponies come with us?” she shouted as I pulled the bags up on my back as I took a deep breath “No Twilight my friends all died out a long long time ago.” A purple flash blinded me again as she punched my shoulder.

“Not all your friends died out!” she was mad very mad at me and that statement as I smiled to myself. “Alright now do you have everything you need?” I spoke up as a scroll came between us as Twilight grabs it with her magic unrolling it as I noticed the seal on it. It was from the princess herself as my heart dropped in my chest.

“What does it say Twilight?” I was pulling a scarf on as her eyes were scanning the page.

“She wants us in Canterlot in the next few days she already sent cards to my friends.” She rolled the scroll back up as I handed her a piece of parchment.

“Alright well leave a note to Spike and let’s head out.” I walked over to the fire place pulling the kettle out as Twilight finished up her note along with a check list which I was able to hear her plan out loud. I stepped outside and instantly I could hear the stars singing to me causing me to close my eyes as I just stood there outside of the library listing to them. Twilight brought me out of my stupor as I looked over at her.

“What are you doing?”

“Listing to the stars”

“Well let’s go” she started walking towards the train station as I followed suit with my lantern in my mouth. I still had to bring it with me since I spent so many years traveling with it hiding me from the gaze of night time ponies. We made it to the train station as the train was preparing to disembark. I paid for both our tickets to the north as we boarded the train I blew out the candle causing a few ponies to jump since I was using a candle that made is invisible to the ones we weren’t talking to. I loved using that candle made it so much easier to go unnoticed when wanted. We settled in our compartment waiting for the train to move from the train station and Twilight pulled out a large scroll along with a long white and orange quill.

“So where are we heading to?” she looked at me as I placed my bags on the floor curling up on a bed on the opposite side of the car.

“We are heading to a small town up north past the Crystal Empire called Crystal Cherry Flori or Crystal Cherry Flowers. It’s very well hidden with some ancient magic that was taught to me no pony or creature besides me and a few others who have passed knows where this town is.”

“Why is it called Crystal Cherry Flowers?”

“It’s called that because it was the only place in Equestria that grew cherry blossom trees as well as the tea that goes along side it but that was before ponies started sailing across the oceans to the griffons and dragons. The reason I hid the town is because the tree grew crystal leaves and flowers instead of the normal flowers or leaves you would see in the spring along Canterlot.” I just blew her mind. Twilight’s quill dropped to the wooden floor below as she simply lay there on her bed staring at me.

“Yes I know what I said okay! Can we just sleep please?” I pulled the covers over me as I closed my eyes.

“Just one more question where dose your cutie mark come from or mean?” she made my ears twitch as I pushed the covers back off of me as I rolled over facing her.

“Okay this is before the Elements and your symbol which I know means magic. Back when I was born there was an old saying where ponies that had the pointed star would be magical. Which if you were around back then you would know that a pony with a pentagram like mine would have high amounts of magic like you.” I had pointed to my flank causing her to blush a bit. “So my mom taught me a bit of magic and a group of elders along with my grandfather taught me all the magic they knew and from that point on I created my own spells and potions whatever I needed.”

She was scribbling down what I just said as I pulled the covers back over my head as I closed my eyes “one more?” Or not.

“Twilight when we get to the north we will need all our strength to just hike to the town, and during that hike I will answer any question you want!”

“Okay.”

I closed my eyes and instantly I could hear screams and the sensation of flames could be felt along my coat. The sky was black and orange as I stood on a hill watching the town burn before my eyes as my brother was pulling me by my tail.

"Lasă-mă să merg Royal cer Lily!"(Let me go Royal sky Lily!) I shouted at him as he pressed his muzzle up against mine as he stared at me dead in the eyes.

"Noi nu-i putem ajuta acum Silver Sky Lily! Ele sunt pierdute și trebuie să mergem mai departe!"(We can't help them now Silver Sky Lily! They are lost and we need to move on!) he walked from in front of me as he grabbed my tail again dragging me away from the town to the frozen waste land that was lying outside of our town. He let go of my tail as I followed him until his tracks had disappeared into a blizzard as the scene disappeared under my hooves as I noticed an Alicorn watching from a far as the scene turned into a peaceful day as my brother was flying high into the day time sky with my father helping the earth ponies with the crystals as my mother was with the other mare’s creating blankets. An Alicorn almost an ebony color with the stars in her mane which I could hear as the birds singing right beside me. Her mane and tail were pulled into a pony tail as I looked up at her.

“Hello” she lay next to me as I looked over at her.

"Pot să vă ajut?"(Can I help you?) I looked at the pony as she sighed a bit.

“I know you can speak common little one” my ears laid against my head as I stared at her.

“I’m not young, now what can I do for you?” I watched as my father jumped up and down on the clouds alongside my brother as my mother started picking crystals from the trees. Their faces are gone leaving only bodies walking around the town.

“I felt a nightmare coming from you so I thought I would help.” Her voice and the way she looked almost seemed familiar to me as I watched as the scene started to fade underneath our hooves. “Our time is ending.” She had disappeared.

My eyes shot open causing Twilight to fall back on to her bed as I sat up breathing hard as I look over in her direction “What’s wrong?”

“Your horn was glowing I thought something was wrong.” She had her bags on her back as I could hear the conductor yelling in the hallway causing me to get to my hooves as I grabbed my bags along with my scarf which I had left on. The train had pulled into the station and Twilight’s head was shooting around like an owl during the night as we walked past a few guards who were busy with a few visiting ponies.

“Are you okay Twilight? I keep watching your head whip back and forth like and owl’s and it’s giving me whiplash” I rubbed my neck as she turned her head towards me.

“Making sure my brother isn’t around, he runs the empire with my sister in law and I just have his feeling in the pit of my stomach.” She hung her head as we walked off the train station and started heading north.

“Now what kind of questions did you have on the train or brought with you that I need to answer?” we had been walking for a while and I could always tell when we got near the town since the grass around the area had a certain feel to it.

“Oh yes I was thinking when you told spike that he couldn’t eat the crystals why?”

“Well the crystals we grew were for food and not for fashion. Since they were made by earth ponies and not by the ground and pressure like the ones Rarity uses the structures are all different along with the magical properties. I bet if I gave Applejack a couple of seeds she could use them to grow some seeds and taught her some of the traditions she could grow crystal apples. Now on to your next question!” I raised my hoof up into the air as she giggled a bit as we continued on through the snow. Lucky for us it wasn’t snowing that bad just a light dusting at the current moment but it was deep enough where I had created a small barrier at our feet to push the snow away as we walked.

“Well you and the princesses have lived for a very long time and I always wonder did you have multiple partners and how do you deal with the loss?” by that question I could tell that the Princess Celestia have kept some things to herself.

“Yes I had three ponies’ one wife, one husband and one mare friend.  I had met my wife one year after I had attacked Discord she found me on the banks of a river that had entered into Baltimare, that was about six or seven years after my town had gone up in flames before the princesses could seal Discord in stone. Well my first wife was an earth pony by the name of Sweet Meadow she was the one who found me. Sweet had a light green mane and tail with a bright lemon color coat and she was exactly like Pinkie Pie well she actually related to Pinkie Pie.”

“What!”

“Pinkie comes from her sister Sour Meadow’s side of the family. Now where was I oh yes Sweet Meadow, now she could turn teas into sweets and clouds into cotton candy and basically anything else she could get her hooves on. We set up a nice little tea and sweet shop in Baltimare but she spent her time on the road doing deliveries and a few to the Everfree forest where the capitol was at the current time. As time went on Sweet noticed that I could do things that no pony could and that I wasn’t aging like I should, so one day as I was out she did something to the door that I never thought of, she laced the darn door with invisible cotton candy and trapped me in midair!” I rubbed my head as Twilight was scribbling on. The grass was still the same as we walked through the snow.

“I told her everything and well we became close after to the point where we married and lived a good life. She died in her sleep next to me. I left town after the funeral since I couldn’t keep my illusion spell up anymore. When I left town I ended up in Hollow Shades where I met Necro Skull a unicorn stallion who knew what he was doing. He was the last of the unicorns that I knew who could perform black magic. You probably saw his picture in the castle with the other noble or ponies who helped build Canterlot.”

“Wait the one with the black coat and white mane from the house of Skull Crystal?” she had placed her parchment away as I gave her a nod.

“Yes that is the very same. We moved up to the Canterlot project after a certain point in his life made it where he didn’t want to stay in Hollow Shades. After we built our house we help create the lunar guard and then we settled down and started a nice family. I had two sons and one daughter. You know one of my sons Little Skull he was in the guard so he was banished alongside Luna his mind was so traumatized he thought I was someone else in his family, so I left him call me grandma up to this point. “

“Sorry about that.” Twilight was looking at me as I smiled.

“It’s alright besides you made Sweet Skull proud by saying her tea was the best and you made Sweet Night worried when you came into the library just worried that you would end up over your head.” I glanced at her as she started to blush.

“How do you know them!” she shouted causing me to laugh.

“They are my great great grandkids Twilight and yes they all know about me and about each other but they like the lie their living and their privacy.”

“Okay but what about you mare friend?” she was looking at me as I felt the grass started to turn from normal to a crystal type of substance.

“Well her name back then was Fairy Wings but you know her as Crystalis” this made Twilight jump about five to four feet into the air.

“Really!”

“Yes but like I said she was only a mare friend since she only liked it when I could go flying with her she was too busy learning how to rule over the flutterponies from her mother and that just created tension between us but we broke up on a good note. Last I heard Discord’s magic had finally reached her and her family changing them into what they are today.” I was too busy thinking about that day until I was brought back to this world by tripping over a small stone.

“Lily are you okay?” Twilight looked over at me as I sat up shaking the snow off my head.

“Yes just tripped over that bucking stone again!” I walked around the stone brushing some of the snow off as I sighed.

“Sorry about that big brother but I did bring a pony with me this time.” I placed my hoof on the stone as my ears go up as I could hear snow being crunched under something.

“I thought your family was turned to ash or died in town.”

“My brother dragged me away from the town and he died with me in a cave not far from here but somepony is coming.” I turned towards my east and walked forward until I felt a cold metal rib bit under my hoof. Three large guards with bright blue armor with crystal in the middle appear all around us as we were forced on to the metal door causing me to smile to myself.

“HALT!” the all shouted as Twilight started to twitch.

“Twilight?”

“WERE DOOMED!” she shouted as I could see the twitching was getting worse.