Teros

The sunrise brought with it an alien warmth as the golden rays shone upon Cadance's fluttering eyelids.  The princess awoke to a morning symphony of trickling water, birds singing, and an all too familiar hissing—

"Eeyaaah!" Cadance shrieked, her wings flaring, as she leapt up and away from her saddle bag like a foal would from a hairy spider.  Panting, she took a brave step forward, directing her ears to the rosy canvas sack.

Cadance's brow furrowed, the princess fighting the overwhelming urge to cast the bag and its contents over the hillside.  A few short breaths, and she closed her lilac eyes in concentration.  The short task that followed, she knew, was never an easy one.

She knelt down to the dew-coated grass and let out a deep breath.  Folding in her pink and purple wings, Cadance erased the present from her mind, the warm kiss of the dawn and the cheerful chorus of the birds fading away.  In their place, several silhouettes of ponies rose from nothing, and a shimmering tower rose like a crystal lighthouse.  The princess didn't feel the smile tugging on her lips as the ponies took form as a tall, alabaster stallion and a tiny unicorn foal swaddled in velvet.  She heard their voices, distant and muted, as if she were under leagues of water.  Nevertheless, she reveled in the deep, confident tones of her husband and the joyous squeals of her one and only—

Thrallsssss...

A sudden sting shot through her bandaged wing and her horn, and her bloodshot eyes opened as she lurched forward.  Cadance's breathing slowed as the sting slowly faded and was replaced by a soft warmth that spread from her chest outward.  She'd only had a few seconds, but it would have to do.

Reaching forth with her magic, she slowly, slowly lifted the saddle bag from the ground, struggling to ignore the pockets of fire that spread up her horn.  Keeping it suspended, she felt around the folds of the thing and expertly lifted the flap of one side.  Her magic grasped the object inside the large pocket, and then the princess immediately released the satchel, letting it fall to the ground in a heap.

She opened her eyes—wincing—and allowed herself to trace her gaze longingly around the deep blue artifact before her.  It's immaculate surface shining in the long light of the dawn, the Crystal Heart was suspended above the ground by Cadance's magic.

The princess's gaze hardened.  She leaned her horn forward with precision, keeping a breath's distance between herself and the shimmering stone before her.  With a single, pensive breath, Cadance pushed her magic through the surface of the crystal.

Immediately, she shrunk back.  She grimaced, her bandaged wing twitching as she struggled against a sudden urge to smash the great jewel to pieces against the ground below.  Her eyelids were forced shut by the strain, just as wisps of cloudy violet mist bled from the corners of her eyes.  Cadance bit back a scream as her magic focused to a fine azure beam that pierced to the center of the Crystal Heart, which remained motionless in the air.

Her magic sparked something at the core of the gem.  The same vile hissing from earlier slithered its way to her ears.

The princess's eyes shot open, her vision flashing a vibrant green.  The otherworldly sound from the stone had risen from its low hissing to something innocent, something pure, something Cadance recognized.

"L-Luxanna...?"

She heard a foal scream.  Cadance's magic faltered, causing the Crystal Heart to dip a few inches in its suspension.  She gasped, tears and violet mist leaking slowly from the corners of her eyes.  The thin blue beam between her horn and the core of the artifact pulsed once, and then inky tendrils surfaced from the crystal and began slowly, tauntingly inching their way toward the princess.

She shook herself and, with a scream that echoed across the lengths of the valley, blasted the shadowy coils into nothing as the tether of mana between her horn and the jewel intensified.  The Crystal Heart pulsed, and the shrieking from within grew to a fever pitched shriek.  Cadance howled as hideous waves of purple vapor swirled around her horn.  Her vision flashed green once more, and then the world was gone.