Crystal Empire Chronicles

Chapters

Prologue - Four Words
Chapter 2 - How not to foal-sit
Chapter 2.5 - Who is at fault
Chapter 3 - Lord Shadow
Chapter 4 - Doctor Doctor
Story Time - Names
Chapter 1 - A Royal Foal-Sitter

Prologue - Four Words

It was a very cold day in the Crystal Empire; an exceptional one for the winter, but that fact did that change the streets all around the crystal palace were filled to the brim with mares and stallions of all ages. The night glowed with the colours of their sparkling crystal coats as they reflected from crystal to crystal, homes to homes, creating an array of mixing colourful sparkles that shined through the streets and over the sky like some kind of beautiful mist that could only be created by the gods themselves. From the highest points in the empire, it was the most beautiful sight any pony would ever see in their lifetime.

All of these ponies came for the same purpose, and were waiting for news of the birth of their new prince or princess. No matter how long it took. They loved their Queen, and through cold weather or hard times, they would support her as best they could, and how ever they could.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The hall outside the delivery room was void of all sound except the rhythmic tapping of hooves. A pure white unicorn stallion walked the length of the door to the delivery room, over and over to the slight annoyance of a blue earth pony in Crystal light armour and light grey unicorn who had his head and horn stuck in a book.

“Sire, if you could please stop pacing and sit down. Everything is going fine” said the earth pony Strong Head.

“You can’t stop me from worrying, captain” responded King Stratege, who did not stop, in fact his pace quickened.

“There was a reason you appointed Precise as the Head of Medicine. No other pony can do what she can. So, if you could stop pacing because it’s about to drive me insane” said the unicorn Crimson Crystal, trying to stop his king by blocking his path.

“Crimson” said King Stratege as he placed his hoof on his shoulder.

“If you could do me the favour of checking on the progress” Stratege asked. Although the response was certainly the same for every pony given this task.

“No, no, no, no, no, no way, I’ll face down a dragon before I interrupt Precise at work” Crimson immediately responded, backing away as he did.

“And your sacrifice will be come with great honour and the right to position of god-father… if you happen to survive” Stratege responded with great seriousness in those last five words.

“Two dragons… make that two dragons and really pissed off griffin” Crimson argued back.

“You’ve always been hung up about the griffin incident” said Stratege in a somewhat tired tone, as this was not the first time he had spoken this exact sentence.

“Notable because it was YOUR FAULT. I spent the better half of the following week picking feathers out of wounds…” Crimson yelled out, just as he realised he was yelling these words out at the king.

“Captain?” Stratege said he turned his head towards Head Strong, realising that Crimson wasn’t going to bunch on the issue, and instead turned to the pony he knew would put his life on the line for the ‘empire’s best interests’.

“Well… Sire, I would, but I fear how my… condition… afterwards might affect moral among the troops, sir” replied Strong Head in his proper and respectable manner he always spoke to his king with, even though what he said could be understood as a total lie.

“Come on Head Strong, surely with your ‘conditioned’ body, it would be nothing more than flesh wound. You’d be up and about in no time” Crimson commented with a smile.

“That is true, but I don’t want to be hospitalized under the care of the pony that put me in such a condition” Strong Head said with a very true concern in his voice that could possibly be the case.

For the next hour or so the king continued to worry, and the two tried to distract their king’s worries with several activities, all to no avail. Chess was too one sided, I Spy seemed pointless in a hallway that at most contained just about seven items, and tick tack toe had the misfortune to be a game that Crimson himself defined as “unwinnable for player 2”.

The king went back to his worrying, and would switch between pacing up and down the length of the door, and putting his ear up to the door to try and get a listen. Listening at the door proved impossible and pointless however. Precise’s magically silent rooms; no sound escapes, no sound can get in. That doesn’t stop ponies walking in, but Precise herself was famous enough for her no tolerance to disturbance, fear her if you’re the pony that ever has to go under her care.

After another hour of that, the doors to the delivery room opened. To reveal a light pink unicorn wearing doctor equipment. The three knew at first glance that it was Doctor Precise. She looked around the hall and her vision fixed on King Stratege. She walked over towards him and put her hoof over Stratege’s shoulder.

“King Stratege. Queen Sky Handler is doing fine, she is just resting” said Precise with such a happy tone in her voice.

A breath of relief escaped Stratege’s mouth. He had waited hours for news. He knew the best of the best were here delivering his child, but the news of everything turning out fine, was better than any feeling he could ever hope.

“It’s a filly” said Precise.

That breath immediately turned into an almost violent cough.

The doctor made a sign to follow them into the delivery room. As they entered through the double doors of the delivery room, it could be seen that at one end of the room was a bed that Queen Sky Handler could be seen resting in. At the other end were a group of other medical staff working with water, cloth and the new foal. Precise went over to the staff and was handed the small foal in a blanket. With her magic she brought the foal over gently to her father.

What Doctor Precise held in the blanket was a beautiful pink foal with a purple and pink mane with a white line running her hair. She had the most beautiful purple eyes that just stared up at Stratege. “She’s beautiful” King Stratege said as he admired her, stroking his new daughter’s hair. She was awake and giggled at the sight of her daddy, and grabbed his hoof with both her small little hooves, and as squeezed as hard as she could.

As King Stratege admired her, Precise smiled at the happy moment. She could see through an opening in the double doors that Crimson and Strong Head were still outside in the hall, trying to get look in. “You two can come in as well” she said, opening both doors wide with her magical horn. She then went over to wake the mother; “no matter how much she wanted to rest, she must want to meet her new daughter much more” was the thought running through her mind.

“Queen Sky Handler, would you like to see her? Would you like to meet your daughter?” Precise said shaking Queen Sky Handler to wake her.

There was no response.

“Sky Handler…” Precise said worriedly as she reached to check every vital, temperature, heart rate, eye movement. With one glance at her medical staff from across the room, they knew from her expression, they were needed right away.

“Every pony, make room!” ordered Precise as her medical team brought over equipment and prepared the room for the worst of situations, if they should happen.

“What’s happening?” screamed King Stratege as he tried to push his way to see what was happening to his wife. He was however stopped by a hoof at his chest. It was Doctor Precise and she did not look happy.

“Sire, in this room, I give the orders, so I can force you to leave or you give me the damn room I need to do the job you gave me” ordered Doctor Precise, and followed those orders as he moved to the side of the room next to Crimson and Head Strong.

He handed his foal out to Head Strong, who in response took out his hooves and reached for the foal, taking her with one of his large strong hooves.

“Head Strong, take my daughter; make sure not to drop her on her horn. My wife needs me in here. My daughter doesn’t need to see this” King Staege said, and as they were about to leave with his daughter.

“But…” Crimson stuttered.

“But she’s a Pegasus”

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In the small room in the north section of the royal castle, sat at a table were the ponies known as the council of eight, made up of the most well versed scholars of the land. Those eight gathered today, each one represented a wellspring of knowledge, each in their respected fields. Seven had gathered thus far, and no debate would begin until the last had arrived.

The first to arrive was Green Hoof (Farming and agriculture).
Green Hoof was a light green earth pony with a multi-shaded mane that resembled all the colours of wheat. In charge of overseeing all crop workings and food production, his job was not an easy, but he proved time and time again. Even though he was considerably the youngest among the council, he was the hardest of hard working even among earth ponies. His cutie mark was of a field of crops.

The second to arrive was Crimson Crystal (Magic and Magical artifacts).
Crimson Crystal was a light grey unicorn, which was a very rare thing to see in the Crystal Empire. Outside of the Royal Family, there were only 6 known unicorns to call the Empire their home and each one there for very different reasons. Crimson’s cutie mark was three red crystals, and his speciality was the study of magic and the magical uses for the Crystals. His most pressing job was the study of the Crystal Heart.

Crimson was shortly followed by Keen Eye (Monster researcher).
Keen Eye was a female earth pony with a fiery red coat, and a yellow mane. The most descriptive thing about her appearance was the multi-functional glasses she wore, which functioned as reading glasses, goggles, a magnifying lens, and strangely an eye patch that she always wore. She studied all creatures that threatened the empire’s borders, and found ways to deal with them that would allow the troops to do so with less losses or injuries. In some cases, even communicate with the creatures. Her cutie mark was a magnifying glass with a bull eyes over the glass lens.

The next two members arrived together.
Precise (Head of Medicine) and Head Strong (Captain of the guard).
Precise was a light pink unicorn with a white mane that had a thin section of red hair. She was the head of medicine and most recently the one to deliver her majesty’s daughter. Her prime rule was “concentration is key, and distractions need to be taught a listen”. Her cutie mark was a needle and medical cross.

Head Strong was dark blue earth pony with a jet black mane. Being the captain of the guard, he had complete faith in every decision his king made. In close combat no pony to compare to his skills. His cutie mark was crystal shield over the symbol of an alicorn.

The sixth member to arrive was Chipping Tool (Masonry).
Head pony in the creation of new crystal homes and buildings. Chipping tool was an orange coloured earth pony, with a violet mane that covered nearly both of his eyes. He was a pony whose age allow could define his amount of experience at the job, being told at one point to retire, his response being “Over my dead body”, quite seriously. He wore a tool belt around his back, always ready to fix anything at a moment’s notice and even through that wasn’t part of this job, he loved doing it. His cutie mark was a tool chipping a piece of crystal.

The seventh member to arrive was Writing Quill (Historian).
He was an earth pony with a very light brown coat but a very dark brown mane. He was in charge of documenting and storing of important events and times in the history books, while also teaching many ponies about the mistakes of the past through his own created story books. His cutie mark was an open book with a quill and ink next to it.

The last member to arrive would be Misty Frost (Weather).
Misty Frost was a bright blue Pegasus with a silky grey mane. She is the newly appointed head of the Weather Division for all of the crystal empire, after the previous head, Queen Sky Handler left her post after finding out that she was with foal. Newly appointed did not mean a lack of experience, as she was one of the finest ponies at dealing with “natural” weather patterns. Her cutie mark was a cloud raining snow.

She arrived by bursting through the closed doors to the room and “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. First I didn’t know where I was to go, and then the guard’s stopped me and…” as Misty Frost was going to continue, she looked up to a group of faces that did not have the slightest interest in her story. She sighed, and brought herself to the last¬¬ open chair at the table, and sat down so the meeting could begin.

“Each of us has been gathered today, in discussion of our Queen’s Condition” said Precise, lowering her head.

“And the future we should help build for our new heir” said Head Strong. The other members shared glances of brief discussion knowing where the topic might lead.

“How is our Queen’s health?” said Misty Frost worriedly.

“She is alive, that much I can say for certain. Her condition has not worsened… but neither has it improved. She has fallen into a coma, and the only thing we can do for her, is to hope and wait” said Precise lowering her head. She could not deliver any good news about the condition of their Queen. It was good she was alive of course, but it wasn’t the news every pony wanted to hear.

“Were there no signs this could happen?!” cried out Chipping Tool.

“It was a normal foal birth, up until she just… didn’t wake up” Precise said sadly closing her eyes, trying to force herself not to remember those awful feelings she had at that moment.

Head Strong briefly tried to make the situation better “Precise. There was nothing you could have…”

“DONE, yes and that’s the problem. I should have known at least something. In all my years working as a doctor I have never seen anything like this” screamed Precise. Her eyes wide open to every pony, and they were clearly bloodshot from lack of sleep.

No pony made a sound. It was as if they were at a funeral where every pony gives a moment silence to think about the dearly departed. It was an uncomfortable moment, but no more uncomfortable than the conversation would be continuing to expose what feelings they all had when they heard about their Queen’s condition.

“Tell us, how is the new heir?” asked Green Hoof trying to steer the conversation to something easier to speak of.

“She’s a happy bouncing healthy foal as if I’ve even seen one” said Precise, all while giving a little chuckle to get around the awkwardness and give her a chance to lift her head off of the table.

“And she’s a Pegasus” Bluntly put by Crimson.

Every pony at the table turned their heads away from Crimson, for fear of starting some sort of discussion that would not lead anywhere good.

“What! No one wants to speak about this matter. This is not a matter of ignorance, or racism. I believe in factual arguments” said Crimson, making what he was about to say next very clear.

“If that foal were to take the throne, the Royal Family will lose one of the most powerful magical bloodlines in the world. Do you understand what that would mean for the Empire?” screamed Crimson.

“That point doesn’t stand, my research has shown that ponies whose ancestors are of a different race, can still give birth to a pony of that ancestry” said Precise, as she fixed her glasses up to her eye line, trying to at least be smart about something.

“At what percentage is that?” Green Hoof asked.

“I’d… well… it’s… it’s not as simple as… it all depends on… about 30% if the next father isn’t a unicorn… most likely” Precise said, the explanation hardly making it out of her mouth in bits and pieces.

“Forgive me for asking this, but why should it matter if the heir isn’t a unicorn?” said Misty Frost, curious about the answer, but feeling as if she was treading on some forbidden topic.

“The unicorn bloodline of the royal family is a very important root in our culture” said Writing Quill drawing all attention in the room towards himself.

“It has also acted as a great source of defence for our empire in times of attack. It is a very powerful bloodline to say the least. When any powerful creature dared attack our border, the royal unicorn was there to defeat it, no matter how dangerous it was, they were there, like some white knight. The empire rests easier, and the crystal heart is still fuelled by hope and love” said Writing Quill, telling the story as if it were tale of old.

“We have however in recent times, by our king’s orders, let the guard be more involved in matters of protecting the empire, or as our captain here would put it ‘If we can’t protect our homes with our own hooves, we have failed our king and our own families’” explained

“It was as if our king had seen this outcome, and prepared”, formulated Writing Quill.

“It doesn’t matter. For over 6 generations the Crystal Heart has protected us from harm. Whether our heir be unicorn or not, that will not change” said Chipping Tool, sure that his words would solve the discussion.

“We don’t know if that will always be the case. It would be an act of idiocy to solely rely on its protection”, Crimson said smashing his hoof into the table. This was not the first time he had made his feelings about this clear. He was head researcher for the crystal heart, and after his years of study, what had he uncovered? Nothing they didn’t know already. The crystal heart absorbed positive emotions such as hope, happiness and a whole bunch of other feel good emotions. The point being, Crimson theorized that if the kingdom was consumed with negative emotions, such as fear or confusion, then the crystal heart would absorb those feelings and drain it of its stored power.

How hard do you think it would be for the ponies of this kingdom to keep up their spirits up during a time of war, or being attacked by some powerful monster? Thought Crimson.

“I agree with Crimson” said Strong Head. Misty Frost, the one shocked face at the table looked round to see a lack of other shocked faces. What Misty Frost saw were about 6 sets of eyes (minus one for an eye patch) preparing to roll themselves.

“However” said Strong Head. “He seems to have forgotten that I run the toughest and most--”

“Well trained soldiers in the Empire, who are capable of dealing with any threat that dare challenge our great Majesty’s rule and our citizens” said the entire table of ponies, with the exception of Misty, who sat with her jaw as low as it could reach.

“Misty, you may be new to these meetings, but Captain Strong Head is here for one and just one reason only. To keep an update on the progress of his soldiers, and aside from that, I don’t know why he’s on this council” said Keen Eye, giving a wink to Misty, followed by a small chuckle at her reaction.

Captain Strong Head however did not find that funny and called her out “I do a better job for this kingdom than you. I train my troops day and night to be in the best condition they can be to defend are homes, they are what keep this empire safe, and not just from monsters.”

“I research the monsters that have attacked our home for centuries. Where would your troops be if they didn’t know the weak spots of that dragon your “oh so well trained troops” fought last winter? Where would you be without me and my notes you oaf? Dead!” said Keen Eye holding nothing back as she put her hooves up high on the table, so as to challenge Hard head.

“Well you’ll be out of a job soon anyway. Where are all the monsters if you’re such a specialist? He haven’t had an attack in months” replied Hard Head, taking the same standing his front hooves onto the table to reach her, until their heads were locked in a push and shove argument.

Each one of them looked to be at each other’s throats just about ready to start a fight with the other.

“Hope for the best, prepare for the worst”, Writing Quill said looking over the argument at the table.

“Well it’s kind of hard to prepare, when every pony keeps getting at each other’s like this”, said Misty. She continued talking with a sadden look on her face “This should have been a time for celebration, but it isn’t”.

“With the council of eight continuing to act this way, I fear the Crystal Empire will fall, someday” Crimson said in a somewhat threatening tone in order to get every pony a moment to think and to calm down.

The doors to the room burst open as it revealed two guards. They proceeded to enter and each one of them held one of the double doors open. From the open door way a figure in shining crystal armour could be seen. The glow from the crystal crown and unicorn horn, made it clear it was King Stratege. The king held his head high as he entered the room, and each guard bowed their head slightly. The council of eight all turned their attention and bowed their heads to their king. King Stratege was a large pure white coloured unicorn from head to hoof, and wearing a crystal set of armour dawned with a red cape with the symbol of the empire on it. His cutie mark was two king chess pieces, which was hardly ever seen when he was wearing his armour and cape. “A fair point Crimson, but you’d best watch what you say, or others would get the ideas that you do not have the Empire’s best interest at heart” said King Stratege.

“Forgive me. I am not giving threats, your Majesty. You know better than any pony what I would be willing to risk to protect my home.” Crimson said in an apologizing tone.

“But how does somepony protect an empire without first knowing how to fix its problems, and others refuse to even acknowledge that they exist” Crimson continued, as he stood to face his king. He was sure he would make his points clear.

Among the very few that were brave enough to speak up to their king, Crimson was one who did so with passion. Many ponies expected nothing but the finest of rooms in the dungeon, or the most fantastic of executions. For some reason, the King shared a very deep connection to Crimson, that was unknown to all there but two other members of the council. What the King said next however, shocked every pony.

“And what would be your solution to my daughter?” asked King Stratege.

Crimson stopped and lowered his head. There were many ways this could be solved, each one he listed off in his head stepped over every moral fibre he had in his body. The ones that could be called “Morally grey” would betray all trust he had in his king.

Knowing defeat to the question, Crimson raised his head slowly, looking at his king with the most despair in his eyes and proclaimed “I don’t have one.”

“I look forward to serving under her new majesty in the future. I am sure she will grow to be a well-loved and excellent ruler, even after our own time has passed” Crimson said and then bowed his head to the king. The other scholars out of respect, followed suit.

“Long live the rule of the Crystal Empire” said Crimson, and was followed by every pony saying the same as a chant.

“This meeting is dismissed” proclaimed King Stratege. Every pony pulled their seats away from the table, and stood. Each one taking their time to leave and not to meets eyes with their king out of respect in these dire times of sorrow.

As Crimson was following suit, about to exit through the large doors, he was stopped by King Stratege’s order “Not you, Crimson.” Crimson stopped with a chill going down his spine, as he turned around to see his king looking at him with piercing eyes.

Crimson’s thought immediately went to the worst, Oh no. I am so dead… or banished… or dead and banished.

“You and I should talk” said King Stratege.

Chapter 2 - How not to foal-sit

Sleep use to be something Crimson enjoyed. The few moments he had to rest his mind without worry. No pony could have sleep well after the heart breaking news. His dreams had become nightmares.

In the nightmare, Crimson was in a deep black darkness. In the darkness was the outline figure of another pony. Crimson found this pony very familiar to him. He knew him, but trying to make out his face, caused great pain. This “stranger” stood at a good distance away from Crimson.

“This is just the beginning. In the end the empire will fall, and it will be your fault” the stranger said, as the darkness began to fade away, and Crimson was surrounded by the ruins of a great crystal palace.

Crimson jumped awake in hot sweat, as if his heart had skipped a beat. His window was angled in the right position that the sun would directly hit his face. Some days he just loved that feeling, and this was one of those days. Crimson’s eyes shot open and he was blinded for a moment from the sunlight. It was painful on his eyes, but a good wake up call.

He got his body out of bed, placing his hooves on the floor. “Another bad dream again” Crimson said placing his hoof over his eyes and squeezed the ridge of his nose, trying to sort out the pain he had throbbing through his head. He fixed his eyes on the window, and reached his head out to look down upon the empire. Looking out his small window, he could see the shine the empire, or what was left of the shine. “Crystal Ponies, if this continues they won’t be ‘crystal’ anymore” he said, even taking note of his own coat’s lack of shine.

After taking the moment to gather his thoughts, Crimson began to get his room ready for him leaving. He folded his sheets, and gathered his research papers. He was about to leave with his research bag when he remembered it wasn’t a necessary need for his new job. Head Crystal Heart Researcher to Royal Foal-sitter. Kind of seems like a demotion Crimson thought as left his room, shut and magically sealed his door. His finally thought before heading out were we’ll see if it is.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

As he stood outside the royal’s quarters, looking at the two sets of guards stood outside. It was hard to ignore the feeling of messing with guards who stood with such lack of movement. Crimson reached out to the door, but stopped as he was about to touch the door with his hoof. He looked at the guards, who looked at him very questionably.

“Ummmm… would you two…” said Crimson as he motioned his hoof back and forth as to ask them to open the doors. It was not he couldn’t do it himself, he just didn’t want the chance that the guards could misunderstand what exactly he was doing. The guards looked at each other with a sort of confusion. One finally pushed his hoof out, opening the first door and the other followed suit.

“Thank you… guard ponies” said Crimson as he waved back to them as he entered the room. I should really learn their names thought Crimson, taking the mental note and slamming it in to his mind as hard as could.

“Ah Crimson, you’re here” said Stratege delightfully, standing next to his daughter’s crib, the princess still sleeping, curled up in a lovely blanket. “Come in here” Stratege said waving his hoof to invite Crimson in. Walking into the room, Crimson couldn’t but help take notice over the room overstocked with foal supplies. “We had a lot of work putting all of this together” Stratege said taking notice of the rotation to Crimson’s head.

There was a knock at the door and a voice called out “Majesty, you are expected in the throne room”. “Very well, I will be off very shortly” said Stratege to the voice at the door.

“Everything you will need is in this room. Anything that we somehow missed, ask the guards to get it for you. I’ll be back tonight. Look after her” Stratege said. Those last three words he said as if it was a threat.

“Alright, off I go sweetie. Have a good day” Stratege said quietly as he could, as he lightly kissed his daughter on the forehead and made his way out to leave, before giving Crimson a look of “do your job right”. He levitated his crown from the windowsill and onto his head and left accompanied by his two guards.

Crimson was left alone with the sleeping foal. “Well, what am I supposed to do now?”

It had been years since he had even see his sister’s, let alone the years before that when he took care of them as foals. When he looked down at the crib, he saw the princess was in fact awake.

“Well hello princess, good morning” Crimson said with the kindest tone that his voice could produce.

The foal looked carefully over Crimson, to the point she even rubbed her sleepy eyes to get a better view of vision. Almost in response to the fact she was seeing a face she did not recognize, the princess started crying. Crimson was shocked by this, to the point he stepped back as if to show he wasn’t threatening. In his mind this was a ridiculous idea, as if the foal is going to understand this. Stepping back however caused one of his back hooves to make contact with a very round ball. This then caused him to slip and fall onto his back.

As he felt the aching pain of his back being stabbed by the several toys that were lying on the ground, each with different shapes which somehow made things worse, he couldn’t help but notice that the cries of the princess had been replaced with gleeful laughter.

“She likes it when I feel pain. Fantastic, she will grow up to be an excellent tyrant” Crimson said painfully as he lifted himself off of the floor. A few toys had however stuck themselves to his back.

Please don’t start crying again Crimson thought, as he went to look over the princess again. This time however he saw her smiling up at him. The foal even lifted her hooves onto the top bars of the crib. She kept one hoof on the bar and with the other; she reached out to touch Crimson’s face. Crimson couldn’t help but smile at the sight. He pulled his face in so she could touch it.

There was suddenly a rumbling sound that erupted from her belly, and this sound and feeling still felt strange. The princess shifted her body on the bed rail away from Crimson and towards the table next to the crib. Crimson looked to the table to his left that the foal was reaching out to with her hooves. He saw various things such as a book, several amounts of toys, and a feeding bottle. “You’re hungry aren’t you?”

The foal grabbed the bottle and wrapped her entire body around it, as if it was hugging it. The bottle was almost as big as her. Crimson watched as the foal drank down the entire bottle. “Don’t worry; I’ll get use to this again, eventually” said Crimson as he took the empty bottle out of her grip by using his magic. He set the bottle down. He then used his magic to pick her up and leaned her over his shoulder and began pat her back to help her burp.

This is a lot simpler than I remember… although the fact she’s not a unicorn with untapped magical potential, well that’s something Crimson thought thinking about what few horrible moments he had doing this exact job with his little sisters.

“Whatever you do, please don’t magically grow a horn and turn me into a small animal to play with” Crimson said pleading to the foal in his hooves. Crimson thought to himself that, even through that was an complete impossibility, it was better safe, than being turned into a small puppy and dragged by your tailed by one of the most cruel foals to ever walk the earth.

Crimson’s nose caught a whiff of some horrible smell. “Some pony needs changing”. He picked up the princess and sat her down on one of the tables in the room. Crimson shuffled his hooves through various supplies around the room.

The process of changing a diaper was very nostalgia to him, but changing diapers is not a very fun experience, so it would be like riding a rusty bike. Crimson kept repeating the process of diaper changing through his head over and over. Almost turning it into a repeated rhyme, and in the process, Crimson came to a realization.

“I think we’re going to get along just fine” said Crimson. Crimson magically lifted the dirty nappy and moved to the bin on the opposite end of the room. As Crimson turned around after deposing of the nappy, his brain took a slight mental lapse of sanity as he tried to process what was happening before. He turned his head and looked around the entire room. He looked up at the ceiling, he looked over the floor, he looked at every corner, every object that had some sort of space in it and even around his feet.

“Princess? Where did you go?” Crimson said with a smiling expression which slowly turned into a face of pure terror. He again scanned his eyes over the entire room again in a panic.

THIS IS NOT HAPPENING. THIS IS MY FIRST DAY Crimson screamed through his thoughts.

“Wait no stop and think rationally… I’ve got no time to pack my saddle bags”
“No no no, where did she go, logically she has to be somewhere”
“Although I hear the griffon kingdoms have a fantastic weather schedule this time of year”

Sounds of objects bouncing and breaking came from the royal chambers. As Crimson rushed towards into the next room, not seeing or remembering that the door was closed, and the force of his horn slamming into the door created a large cracking sound. Crimson took his horn out of the new crack in the door. He opened and jumped into the other room. He was not prepared for what he saw.

What he saw was the small princess, sitting on the pillow of her mother’s crown, and sucking on the jewel of said crown. Crimson was glad to some degree that she was too young to even comprehended how sad this situation was. Although the one thing on Crimson’s mind was how she got into the room.

“I hit my head against that door and the… Window... is open” Crimson had forgot one very important aspect of this job. He was very used to dealing with ‘evil’ unicorn foals. In his panic he forgot that the princess was a Pegasus. Although the very idea of her flying at such a young age was just ridiculous, but Crimson did not know much about the wing usage of a Pegasus at foal age. I should really start reading books on this subject thought Crimson.

“Why don’t we just keep this little adventure between us, shall we?”

“Now why don’t we let go of this” Crimson said as put his hoof on the crown to pull it away.

The look of the princess’s face was not of amusement as Crimson started pulling her new favorite toy away from her. She pulled her small body over the crown, even extending her small wings out and over Crimson’s side of the crown.

“Just let go. You’ll get your own crown when you grow up” said Crimson, generally having to struggle between getting the crown out of her hooves, and not making her cry.

“Don’t make me have to use my magic on you” Crimson warned her, knowing he could quite easily when this battle. Crimson liked to say he fast learner. It was true. More to say that he saw the princess’s tell-tale signs of “I’m about to cry”.

“Okay, keep it, keep it” Crimson said taking his hoof off of the crown and backing away to the middle of the room. He looked around, and took notice of a few key objects. He took some paper, a lighting crystal and some string used to tie up scrolls.

He made sure that the little princess was aware that he was doing something, but just that she couldn’t see what he was doing.

“Your crown good, but mine so is much better” Crimson said as he turned to the princess to show he was wearing a crown made of paper. There was a crystal tied to the very top of the creation. Crimson magically lit up the small crystal, which created an array of lights much like a disco ball.

The princess at the sight put down the crown and leaned forward over the edge of the desk. In a single moment, Crimson lunged forward in order to catch her. The small princess landing on Crimson’s head as his horn stopped just before hitting the leg of the desk. “That was too close” Crimson said as he felt amount of relief, just to remember that not even an hour has passed since he began today.

“This is going to be a long day” Crimson said as he had a small princess on top his head, who was trying to fit a very large paper hat over her own head.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

After much time passed, most of which involved Crimson taking great precaution of not taking the princess out of his sight, there was a knock at the door. Crimson taking as much precaution as possible made sure that the princess was in view as moved towards the door in the next room.

“Yes, what is it” Crimson said using his magic to open the door, his back faced to it, and eyes still square on the princess. “Crimson, a letter has arrived for you” the guard said reaching out his hoof holding said letter, with an obvious confused look.

Crimson giving one quick motion of his eyes, took reference to where the letter was and used his magic to levitate the letter towards him. “Thank you” Crimson said as he practically slammed the door in the guard’s face.

Crimson returned to the princess’s room, opened the letter and began reading.

Crimson, short message but I wanted to get this to you as quick as possible.
I was doing my regular scan of the area, when I noticed a very particular pink flying object circling the area around the royal quarters.
Below find a sketch detailing what I believe the object to be.
Sincerely the pony that for the next two months, you will be getting those really good baked muffins down at Cookie Cutter’s bakery, you know the delicious ones with crystal berries which sell out like really early in the morning.

Keen Eye

The letter did in fact come with a very crude drawing of the crystal palace, and what looked like a small pink Pegasus flying next to it. It did also contain a little sketch of a smiling pony’s face next to a muffin right at the bottom right corner of the page.

“I take back what I said. Being a puppy would be more preferable” said Crimson as he crumbled up the letter in anger. His anger was short lived as his mind seemed to realize the princess had disappeared from sight from where he held the letter up to read. The very thought of that being a regular accurst had Crimson worried. Very worried.

“She is going to keep doing that, isn’t she?” Crimson said as he heard an assortment of noises coming back again from the royal quarters.

“At least she’s using the open door”

Chapter 2.5 - Who is at fault

Days had turned into weeks, since the birth of the princess. Crimson had now spent his earliest of mornings attending to Keen Eye’s blackmailing needs, his days taking care of princess that refused to sit still, and his nights sleeping through his nightmares as best he could. In another area of the crystal palace however, was the study for a certain magical unicorn, and the hard working pony that refused to sleep.

“No… No… No… No… NO” yelled out Precise, no pony would hear her yelling of course, as it was another one of Precise’s silent rooms. Papers flew all over the floor, or what could be seen of a floor under the collection of scrolls opened and spread around. The doors opened from the other side through the use of magic, as King Stratege made his entrance into the room.

“Stratege... King” said Precise as she took noticed and was shocked by the entrance of the king, not knowing what words were supposed to come out first. Even her blinking had become out of synch.

Stratege reached out to Precise to comfort her. In her tired state she was unable to move much, never mind make much eye contact. Stratege told her “You need rest. In your condition you will not find any answers…”

“But I did find it” Precise said, interrupting Stratege as she did. Much to his confusion or shock, but the look on his face was understandable to Precise, even in her blurry eyes and caffeine induced mind.

“I wish I didn’t” She continued, breathing in and out slowly as if it was the hardest thing she’d ever have to say.

Precise continued to speak, as a flood of emotions made it clear how afraid and even the sadness she felt, “I’ve done everything to try and prove myself wrong, but everything keeps coming back to the same answer. The answer shouldn’t even be possible. I don’t want it to be possible”

“It’s Magical. Dark, very dark magic”

Stratege’s mind starting putting it all together and began to understand why Precise had worked so hard to find another reason for it. The answer was not something any pony of the empire wanted to accept, or remember.

“Shadow” said Stratege, a name he was sure he would never have to say again.

“He can’t be doing this, it was MY job to make sure of that” Precise said as she slammed her hooves on one of the pages she had on her desk.

“It’s my fault isn’t it? Queen Sky is like this because I might have cut a corner somewhere, but where. Here? I spent 5 nights on this spell. How about here? I only spent 3 on this one” Precise said, pointing out markings and continuing to look through blueprints and documents that seemed to cover almost every inch and spot of the room. The walls where covered in pin ups, blueprints of magical circles and all of the smallest details.

“Precise, you are not at fault, do you hear me?” Stratege said grabbing onto her hooves to make her stop, because she would have continued until she had gone through every blueprint and document again.

“How can you be so sure about that?” Precise asked with a sad tone in her voice, a tone usually accompanied by tears.

“It’s not just in your name or your cutie mark. It’s the fact you work harder than unicorn... no... any pony in my service. The only one thing I worry about when I remember why I chose you as my Head of Medicine, is that you are so good at worrying and looking out for others, but you’re terrible at looking after yourself” Stratege told Precise. Precise in return began to show a smile, and that in fact pleased the King.

“Just don’t tell Crimson or Head Strong I said that. They think they’re the hardest working ponies” Stratege said with a small chuckle.

“Tomorrow we shall confront him. Until then, you need your rest. You look exhausted” Stratege said tilting Precise’s head up to his with his hoof to look her directly in the eyes.

“Sleep… I wish could” Precise said as she remembered the intake of caffeine, and her inability of keep her hooves from shaking as she stood up due to the combine energy and lack of rest.

“That’s an order, from your King, and just to be sure…” Stratege said as he lit up his horn and a magical mist poured from it and onto Precise. Precise was overcome by the sudden need to sleep, right now, as she nearly fell to the floor, head first, before she was caught by Stratege.

“Take her to her quarters” Stratege ordered his personal guards. Both of them taking on her front hooves each shoulder, and then carefully navigating her out through the floor covered in papers and the open door, until they were out of sight.

When Stratege was left alone in the room, he sorted through a pile of papers, when noticed something of interest. He pulled out the document he was looking for, and slammed down on the table on top of the pile. “This is not a good sign” Stratege said as he looked down at a portrait of Shadow on one of the documents gathered over Precise’s desk. His eyes narrowed, and created a scorned and hateful look.

Stratege took a moment to examine the picture. It was a very old photo. Shadow for all he was known most for, was not some pony who liked getting portraits of himself done. He preferred to be in the company of those he loved and felt proud of. This one picture had a meaning to Stratege, but that meaning had been cut away, quite literally. It was of course just a copy of the original portrait, but Stratege had forgotten after all this time where that portrait was.

It’s the picture we had taken before Mom died Stratege thought. His thoughts shifted to what memories he had left of her. They were vague and very old memories, but still very precious. He could only remember the good things about, although everything was good about her, her smile, her caring nature and her grace. Even in her final days, she was still all of those things.

Stratege made his way to the door. Although he could not do so without asking one question. There would be no answer, but it was a question still worth asking. “What would mom think of you now?”

Chapter 3 - Lord Shadow

The king had sorted through many details for the day. Weeks had passed since the birth of his daughter. Gifts from aligned kingdoms and empires, continued to arrive. A thoughtful gift from various homelands he had once visited in the past, but all gifts were just horrible remainder in the end of the one thing that was missing.

Of course the many creatures and ponies that came to arrive with these gifts had many ways with no exception of showing their apologetic nature over such matters, as if the gifts had become nothing more than insults on part of the queen’s condition.

The king continued to power through the day none the less. His eyes growing ever more tired as the day continued... Why am I so tired? Stratege thought as his eyelids closed slowly over the day. The gap between dream and reality almost blending.

Stratege…

Oh Stratege…

Wake up will you, the empire isn’t going to run itself

“Are you ready my king?” asked Precise, snapping Stratege out of his dream. A confused look on his face before understanding his situation.

“Yes, of course. Now seems a better time than any” Stratege said standing himself up from the throne, trying to shurg off his tiredness.

“Okay… so how do we get to the centre of the palace? I’ve never seen it” said Precise, as the confused thoughts ran through her head.

Stratege stepped to the centre of the throne room. As Stratege set himself into place, the guards of the palace saw forth to stop and remove ponies in the area. The king’s horn lit and a magical spell drew from it. The king pointed his horn in the direction of the throne, and a magical beam shot out and hit the large pointed crystal that sat on top the throne. The crystal turned from its ordinary purple crystal colour, to that of a shade of crimson. The shine of the crystal spread through the room, as part of the floor began to disappear in front of him to reveal a long spiral staircase down.

Precise looked down the centre area of the staircase, and tried creating a light with her horn, one that was powerful enough that she might be able to see the bottom. No matter how hard she raised her magic level, the bottom seemed to remain nothing but a shadowy pit. “What is this?” Precise ask. She couldn’t see a bottom. Which was ridiculous, it seemed to go farther than even the crystal palace would allow so.

“Where does all that space come from” asked Precise.

“It is true it is at the centre, but you must understand the inside of a crystal is very different once one questions the ability of magically applications” Stratege said, trying to explain the difference between the inside of a crystal, and the meaning of “the inside of a crystal”.

“What… is with… all the… stairs?” said Precise taking long breathes in between, as she tried constructing a complete sentence.

“Think about how exhausted you have become already, how well do you think a prisoner with little strength and magic would fair?” said Stratege.

“Serious…ly?” Precise said trying to catch her breath while still trying to keep up with Stratege’s pace.

“We could have teleported, but it looked like somepony wanted the exercise” said Stratege pointing out that Precise was the first one walking down the stairs. Precise looked nearly ready to smack the king with her readied hoof fist because of that remark.

At the bottom of the stairs there was a small open area with a single door on one of the walls. A cell door to be exact. From the opened bars of the cell, the first sight any pony could see was an exceptionally dark room. There was no light source to been seen anywhere within the cell. Looking closer, one could make out the lines of a dark figure, which could be seen was the centre point of a great number of chains that filled almost every spot of the wall.

When the glow of Stratege lit up horn reached out to illuminate the figure, it revealed a pony. He had a deep black coat, clear that it was much darker than a normal coat, from the roughness and dirt covering it. This pony’s piercing purple eyes, shined through the deep blackness of the cell. Almost hypnotising, in a way.

“Ah, so the “king” returns” Shadow said,

“You shall speak only what I want to hear from you” Stratege replied. His voice lacking any of his normal compassion heard in his regular tone.

“Don’t you mean “we”?” Shadow said, as he turned his attention to Precise. Her Presence jolted some reaction in him. He was looking at Precise very carefully. His eyes met Precise for a moment, and that moment was enough for Precise to take two steps back.

“Tell me. Was it a filly or a colt?” Shadow suddenly asked. He didn’t smile, he didn’t smirk, but his head lowered by just the slightest.

“Why?” Stratege spoke out loudly, still trying to keep a level and calm mind, but the very question drew blood from his lip. A way to hold the anger at Bay, for what little it could do.

“Very simple. She gave birth to a Pegasus. I’m sorry” Shadow said, words that shocked Precise. Not the answer, but the apology.

Precise interrupted, the small gap of silence “Your binding spells should stop you from using magic. Yet you elude you did this to the Queen. How?”

"Guess?" Shadow taunted back.

“You did a good job at locking away my magic I must say” Shadow said as he tried to produce some form of magic spell. The power from his horn backfiring and the power spreading down to his body, causing him pain from the visible magic surge. Enough power to drop one of his front knees down. Giving a moment to catch his breath, he raised himself back up to the position the chains allowed him to stand in. After being able to breath normally, Shadow finished his answer “But now is now. 8 years ago is a different story”

“Then Why? Why didn’t you just…”

“Kill her” Shadow interrupted.

“I thought about it. It would have been so easy” said Shadow, as a smile appeared on his face and his there was a glimmer in his eyes for just a second. Once the second was over his smile dropped and he shakes his head back and forth in a quick motion.

“No, that was wrong. Sky was like a daughter to me, and no matter how hard I... We try… we can’t kill family. Or so it seems” Shadow said picking up one of his long chains that dragged over the floor.

Stratege stood with every fiber of his being telling him to blast Shadow with a powerful spell to shut him up, at the very least. His mind however held him back. No let him talk; remember how he loves to do that his mind repeated over and over as a reminder.

“Even if I did kill her instead, what does that solve?” Shadow asked. “As kings we are forced to make sacrifices for the good of the empire. You failed to see that and so I took matters into my own hooves” Shadow continued.

“That curse has caused an endless sleep that she will never wake from. No pony can break it. If they could you wouldn’t be here” Shadow said bluntly put.

Shadow however tilted his head upward, as if he remembered something important. His lips formed to make a smile, as he slowly said out the words “Although, Shade could…”

“Shade is gone” Stratege said as he interrupted Shadow. Shadow raised an eyebrow in what Precise could only guess was suspicion “Interesting… Then I suppose you want me to cure her then?”

There was no response from any pony outside the cell. Aside from the crushing of the ground underneath Stratege’s hoof.

“Very well, if you could unlock the cell along with all these cuffs and show me to her…” Shadow was saying just before he was cut off.

“No” was Stratege’s immediate response. Stratege locked eyes with Shadow, and shouted out with a disgusted tone “There are no ways out of this for you. You will never see the light of day again. I would rather see you dead than let that happen”

“Of course you wouldn’t. Certainly not today, certainly not tomorrow, but days turn into weeks, then months and years. Sure, you’d rather see me dead, but what about Sky?” said Shadow

“I think my point have already been made very clear to you” said Stratege with that same disgusted tone.

“It has” Shadow said, turning his head away from them.

As Stratege and Precise left to leave, placing their first hooves on the stairs, Shadow gave his last words “I think we’ll be seeing each other again, at least, sooner than last time” Shadow yelled, loud enough to make sure that Stratege and Precise heard these words.

Shadow sat back down and continued to do what he had for the past 8 years. What little activity he had. Thinking, planning, and playing with stones and his chains. Whatever took up his time, because waiting was the only thing he could do.

Although through the strange winds that travelled through the smallest of openings and into his cell, echoes of voices were carried on these winds. Voices that reached the ears of Shadow, and voices only he could hear.

“Look whose back to talking again” Shadow said with a greeting but smug tone.

Moments passed as Shadow listened to echoes, the wind blowing softly through what hair that could move.

“Oh no, quite the opposite in fact” Shadow said with a small smile.

The wind suddenly picked up speed. Shadow was forced to close his eyes, and a harsh screech, almost like nails on a chalkboard did the echoes become.

“I know because he lied” Shadow screamed back at screeching whispers. “He’s my son, he’s a good liar, but just not when he’s lying to me”

The winds suddenly returned to their calmer state, until the winds died down completely, and Shadow was left his cell.

“Time and patience, we still have a long way to go” Shadow said with a calmer tone. “We’ll both get what we want then” Shadow said he felt through his long dirty coat to an amulet he wore around his neck. His hoof felt over the front, which was rusted, and felt cold and hard. His hoof finally settled, centred on the small diamond shaped slot that was to have fitted a large crystal.

Chapter 4 - Doctor Doctor

From the Journal of the right hand of King Sombra (page 78)

From all the years I have studied and took up discussion with king Sombra, the many ways he enjoyed to make ponies suffer, those that had wronged him and those of the great empire. There was one method of “torture” that he dare never try to recreate, and would never wish on his worst enemies.

On several occasions I have always tried to press my king further on the topic, but whenever he notices me trying to do this, he stops all forms of communication, looks right at me, and repeats two words, "Never again". Each and every time I try to seek new information.

The way my king speaks about it. I may be wrong, but there is a sense of fear in his tone when the topic is brought up. It scares me, but if this "torture" can scare even King Sombra, what am I going to find in the end?

Is it even worth the risk to find out...? I say yes.

It is not easy to be a guard of the Crystal Empire, but for those born with the talent it is a job of great privilege and honour. Guards are kept to a high standard that they must keep to at all times, but for the world-wide known Crystal Guards that is not a hard thing to do. They are known for their unquestionable loyalty to the ponies of their great empire.

“The princess must die” one guard mutters under his breath, over and over. His grip over his weapon tightening further after each mutter, the red in his eyes growing more and more intense with every passing hour that he stood at the princess’s door. His eye movement moving between his forefront and the guard stationed opposite the other side of the door.

They are known for their great composure, and their trained bodies made to resist the worst, and push through any pains or difficulty, without even the slightest sense of distraction or exhaust.

“Make it stop, for the love of the Alicorns make it stop” Screamed another guard covering his ears to stop the screaming as best he could. His breathing running heavy, as he continued to listen to those pained wails, and the suffering of the pony inside.

Yes, the crystal guard are some of the finest guardponies in the entire know world of ponies, and it would be a great shock, if any of that was to change anytime soon.

It had been a very long few weeks for Precise, after finding out the truth of Queen Sky’s illness. A curse, caused by one whose heart had turned a deep black, a black too pure for even his own name to describe it well enough. Shadow Guard. The previous king of the Crystal Empire, and Stratege’s father. Precise had decided to use her new knowledge, shut herself in her room and work to find a cure, or at the very least, find the exact curse used.

There were many varied accounts of curses, found in several scrolls, journals, and books that Precise ‘acquired’ from her dear friend’s personal library. After all, Crimson was the pony known for his talent of magical research, and his rich collection of magical knowledge from around the world made his library impossible not to ‘borrow’ from.

Information was hardly lacking. The proof of that was in fact of the fat stack of books on the subject. What was lacking was Precise’s skill of translation. All knowledge of dark magic was filtered in Equestria due to a law passed by the unicorns of past, and the crystal empire is not known for having it’s root in unicorn magic or knowledge thereof. All free knowledge of curses, as she knew or could ever possible be, was sitting next to her, in a pile large enough for her to call a free weekend, but she could hardly read any other of it.

Precise had no concept of time within her walls. Sound sealed room, food teleported in and the windows covered by even more stacks of books. For Precise, days and days went by, as she continued and struggled with her translations, and every once in a while, she felt the need to take a break, rest her head and take a five minute break like her king said, in-between all the chaos she had wrapping around her head.

*Knock Knock Knock

“… Huh, no, I just borrowed them I swear” Precise yelled out, raising her head from her desk in a fast motion. Her mind still not fully awake to the situation she yelled out what she found “appropriate” at the time in her mental state. Precise shook her head, trying to waken herself up.

The knocking continued. Precise rubbed her eyes “I should have soundproofed the door” she said with the feeling she could have slept another few hours.

“What is it?” she answered out, waiting for a reply. She did so for a good minute, before remembering her soundproof spell. Waving her magical horn at the door, she disabled the spell, and called out again, hoping whoever was there before, was still there.

“Doctor, there seems to be a letter for you. It comes with great urgency” said one of the voices on the other side of the door. Precise could assume that the voice was one of the guards. Which one, she had no idea.

“Come in already”, Precise demanded to whoever was knocking. Going so far as to reach out with her magic to both handles of each door to pull them open, and was a mistake that Precise regretted later.

As the door opened with her magic, two things hit her. The first being the sunlight that shined in from the windows of the hallway, lit up the entire room, giving Precise a not so friendly blinding smack to the eyes. The first Precise was able to recognize, but the second caused her to cover her ears, as she felt a high pitch ringing noise hit her ears like an alarm after a bad cider hangover.

Two guardspony stood out in the hallway. A rolled up letter in one of their mouths, the one holding it, stretching his neck out, indicating for Precise to take the letter with her magic.

The rolled up letter glowed in the magical pink glow of Precise’s magic, as she levitated the letter towards her. She unwrapped the letter using the same magic. With her eyes she could see that the letter was brief, but much of the letter’s condition was messy with large and to the point lettering.

Dear Precise,

FOR THE LOVE OF THE ALICORNS AND SHARD OF GOODNESS YOU HAVE, PLEASE SHOW MECRY FOR ONCE IN YOUR RUTHLESS LIFE AND COME SAVE ME

With dearest regards,

CRIMSON CRYSTAL

“Has Crimson?!” Precise said, bringing herself to face towards the guards with a worried and panicked face, and in response one of the guards turning his head side to side to indicate ‘No’. Allowing Precise to give a sigh of relieve before questioning the content of the letter again.

“Then what is going on and why was I not informed of this?” Precise asked in a demanding tone, even so much to stomp one of her forward hooves to the ground.

The two guards looked at each other. Each giving the other looks, nods of the head and even slight hoof motions. At best they were telling the other to go first. One of the stallions raised his hoof in the air. The other did so as well. Each lowered their hooves and raised them three times in fast motion, and then shot there hooves out. The stallion on the right smiled, at the result, and the other gave a maddened look, before turning himself towards Precise.

The stallion on his left cleared his throat. “Under no circumstances, am I to be disturbed. Only under emergencies that classify a 9 or above on the situation scale are to be reported to me. Complete silence is necessary for research to further forward… do you want the queen’s curse lifted? Well, do you?” the guard with a little bit of condescending in those last few words.

“Oh yes, I did say that” Precise answered with a chuckle, trying almost to make those last words sound more like a joke than they actually were.

“So, we have a nine?” She asked the guards.

“Well, first it was four. Then it was seven, and then back down to 4 and a half, and then it jumped to twelve” the guard continued on his report of the situation.

“Twelve?” Precise said with a shocked look on her face. Then the thought in her head came up, that she only knew her scale to go from one to ten. Ten being a member of royalty dying.

“What’s a Twelve?!”

“The complete and utter rebellion of all the guards within the crystal palace… not as of yet, but it seems to the most valid outcome. The princess has her teeth growing in. From the wailing and screaming, it has gotten worse. Crimson Crystal said he could handle it… but as the letter states, things have gotten worse” reported the guard.

Precise stared into a blank bit of space for a good amount of time. As both guards continued through the details. As things continued on the more and more news Precise was hearing, the more panicked her face became. Until suddenly Precise leapt out the door running down the hall as fast as her hooves could carry her. All the two guards could hear after that was her panicked screams. They figured she was trying to say ‘Got to fix this’.

As Precise headed down the hallway, the sound that ringed throughout her ears continued. As she got further and further towards the royal quarters, it became harder and harder to concentrate. Precise had been forced at points to cast her silencing magic around herself.

She saw how the guards that patrolled the palace differed. If what the guards told her was to be believed, she could tell how long a guardspony had been at the palace and where they had been stationed. It wasn’t hard to figure out which ones the guardspony that screamed “Please, don’t make me go back there” filed under.

As Precise had turned the corner to the royal corridor, the fact occurred to her. If guards stationed near the area were ‘scarred’ by the experience, what would it be for the guards stuck at ground zero? Turning around Precise got her answer.

The first guard closest to her, she could see had his hooves fully gripped around his spear, almost as if a security blanket… a good choice. A very small thing she noticed but this guard’s attention seemed to be all over the place, his eye’s shooting from side to side as if expecting to be attacked by an enemy from any angle.

The second guard looked to be on the floor with his hooves wrapped over his ears, lying on his side, as he slowly rocked back and forth. His mouth flapping continuously, and judging by the movements, he was muttering the same thing over and over again.

As Precise reached the doors, the guards took notice of her, standing to attention as best they could. Precise looked at each of them slowly, trying to judge their condition and also working to prepare questions for them.

“Just get in there already” the two guards said as they quickly opened the door, and pushing Precise through the door with any of the hooves they could get around her. Precise was shoved into the room, and had the doors shut behind her, just as quickly as she had been forced through them.

She could see that Crimson had produced some sort of magical bubble around his head. Whether or not it worked to protect or block anything had yet to be proven. When Crimson noticed Precise, his bubble popped, and he quickly pull Precise forward. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please do something, she won’t stop”

Precise looked down into a crib she was pulled towards, and saw the Princess rolling around an assortment of blankets. Her face showed the confusion and pain any foal felt during teeth growth. Precise picked the Princess up slowly into her hooves.

“Please, please, we know it hurts. The pain must be really bad. Just let sweet Doctor Precise handle it” she said, each word coming out of her mouth somehow softer than the last.

“Precise, please, I’m begging you, do you have any sedatives?” Crimson said with his head and front hooves kneeling close to the ground, almost as if he was crawling on the ground in front of Precise.

“Are you insane? She’s just a foal for crying out loud” Precise yelled back at Crimson.

“Not for her. FOR ME” Crimson screamed out, almost bursting out into tears as he did it.

Precise held her in her hoof, supported by her magic. To precise the idea that such a small thing could cause the entire guard force such suffering was insane. It was as if as an entire nation of dragons had just declared war, everypony would panic and without exception.

"What about you? We thought you could handle something like this?" Precise asked, he was no medical pony, but having the role of royal foal-sitter, he must have known something.

"Well when I was foal-sitting back home, we had plenty of the two most wonderful words in the Equestrian dictionary. Unicorn Doctors" Crimson said with the motion of his hooves.

The princess stopped for a moment, and in that moment Crimson threw himself to the floor and covered both is ears, yelling something, that to Precise ears sounded like “Get down. Here it comes again”

The crying screeches produced by the princess at close proximity to Precise, caused her to both shake her entire body, and fold both of her ears over with her magic. Precise had now experienced what Crimson and the entire guard force on this side of the castle had been dealing with, and it was by no means ever been over estimated.

As the headache that had begun slowly working its way through her head like a magical drill started to grow more painful, Precise quickly started the glowing of her horn, and as the glow of his horn became more and more intense, a pink like mist started to conjure around her horn.

As Precise began to rock her slowly back and forth, the mist engulfed the princess, and every second with the mist’s intensity growing ever thicker and larger, the screeching grew quieter and quieter. And as the screeching stopped all together the mist faded, to reveal the princess sleeping softly. Precise quietly held her for a moment; the only other time she had held her like this was at her birth. That was not the best of memories. Not many ponies had seen their new princess, and she doubted after this incident, many ponies in the castle wouldn’t mind avoiding such a meeting. Precise learnt that the quiet moments we have are at the times we are most thoughtful, in mind and in soul. When she was assured that her magic had taken its direct effect on the princess, she lifted her slowly back down into her crib, and tucked her in tightly for a nice, magic pain free induced sleep.

"Thank you” Precise heard from across the room. Crimson was making from what sounded like a very heart felt message.

“Well, it was nothing. I’m sorry I couldn't get here sooner…”

“Not you” Crimson yelled back.

Precise turned around towards the door to see Crimson faced towards the two guardponys that were in the centre of the room. “You two, have been with me through all of this. I don’t know if I could have survived without the both of you there with me. Knowing you were outside doing your job, made things bearable enough for me, I know I am truly grateful”

With Crimson’s message given, the guards took back up their positions and closed the doors behind them.

"I don't even..." Precise worriedly said… “Wait, do you still not know their names?”

“That doesn’t matter right now” Crimson said changing the topic, as Precise lifted an eyebrow.

"Precise, I have been to Tartatus and back before, but even Tartatus would ask me to just leave if I brought that screaming foal down there” Crimson continued “That by no means is an easy thing to do”

Crimson stopped what he was sure was going to be a rant when he looked over Precise. “You look just as bad as I feel”

“Do… do you remember Shadow Guard?” Precise said, the question sounded strange coming out of her mouth. To her it was almost asking if he knew of the Alicorns. Whether it’s the god or the great villain of story books, you don’t ever forget when you’ve lived that story.

“Shadow?” Crimson said. Crimson took a moment to think, and for some reason it seemed incredibly difficult. The very act of Crimson even trying, gave him a horrible headache ontop of the one he already had.

“The old King… yes I remember. It’s a hard thing to forget if you were there. Was a nice king… you know, until he went mad” Crimson said, the act of cycling through his memories causing his headache to throb even worse.

“Eight years ago, he cast a curse on Sky. I don’t know the exact details of the spell work, and curses aren’t in my field” Precise explained, and stopped, thinking carefully about her next words. These words would be very important.

“Eight Years?” Crimson said rubbing the back of his head with his left forehoof. “Has it really been that long?”

“It’s been a much longer time since I’ve even researched that sort of magic. Hasn’t it?” Crimson responded, his knowledge of such things reaching him like a hazy memory.

“Crimson, in your travels, you must have met some ponies who knew things about curses. Could you get in contact with those ponies for me? We need them”

“Some ponies, yeah I met some who’d know about curses. Most of them not even ponies, and some of them I met, we didn’t end on the best of terms”

“I’ll tell you where you can find them… but just how you’ll get in contact with them…?”

“Don’t worry about that, we have our own methods. Send them my message once you have them” Precise reassured, as she moved to leave, knowing she had all the information she needed. Before Precise left through the door, Crimson called out to her and said “Thanks. Know I mean that”

“It’s a doctor’s joy to hear such things from a patient” Precise stated, turning her head around to give Crimson a weak but thankful smile.

“Tell the truth. I would be a terrible patient” Crimson said with a laugh.

“Well Crimson, if she starts again, you know who to call, right?”

“You, the greatest of all medical unicorns”

“Don’t make me blush” Precise said as she finally moved her way to the door taking her leave. Those being her final words she left to Crimson. When she closed the door behind her, she could not help but lean herself against the door in exhaust. She saw both guards staring back to her.

“He is, you know” Precise remarked to both guards as she picked herself up and started moving slowly back down the hall. Back to her duties, back to her room, and back to lonely silence, in hopes of finding a cure.

Story Time - Names

Come, come, I have a story to tell, but before I begin, a question for you.

What is a name?

Because of all things in this world, names are truly funny things.

Mostly because from birth our names can define who we are and who we will become, and this name isn’t chosen by us, but by our parents, our guardians, our family.

What kind of future do they imagine for us at birth? What would I imagine for my own foal if I had one?

How should our name define us? By our skills, talents, or by personality? With a name that lacks one; do we develop our own of the others?

Does this mean that we are shaped to follow the destiny of our names, and what if we don’t happen to like the way our destiny is turning out? Is there any way to change that destiny or are we always set to go down that path?

Would it matter anyway in the end?

“Crimsy?” Mi amore cried out looking up at her foal-sitter.

It was a name she had taken to calling Crimson. A name he had heard before in much more innocent times. The name his sisters called him by. It was not something he hated. It was just something that had brought a surprise to him. It was a strange and yet wonderful coincidence of all things.

“What is it Cady?” Crimson asked. Princess Mi amore cadenza… what a mouthful. She turned out to also not like this after giving Crimson such a nickname and the princess decided Crimson was to call her by the name by the name Cady. So says the royal decree she drew up in crayon. Cady seemed like a good fit.

“Crimsy, tell me a story” Cady asked out to her foal sitter. A demand Crimson was all but too happy to follow.

“What story would you like to hear?” said Crimson with the lighting of his horn, levitating a collection of book volumes from the bookcase, each of them linking up to form a rotating circle around him.

“Alicorns and you?... Oh oh, The adventures of Crystal Song? ” Crimson ran through the list of each title that past by him as he levitated the amount of books around him, and with each title, Crimson sounded more and more excited, much like a foal who liked hearing his favourite story over and over again. More so than even Cady would hearing her favourite.

“Oh, tell me how you met Daddy?” Cady asked, deciding on her story of choice.

Suddenly of all things, Crimson’s levitation magic had stopped, all of the books falling down to the ground, a few unlikely books hitting Crimson in the horn as they fell. Crimson took the shook of pain in his horn as a small distraction from his thoughts. To Crimson, that particular story was not an easy one tell, neither were the events that led up to the events of that story, ones that Crimson wanted to share with some pony as young and innocent as Cady.

But that did not mean he wouldn’t try.

“Alright, sit down. For it is Storytime, and this is the story, of how I met your father” Crimson began, as the princess excitedly took a seat in a small pillow in front of Crimson.

“Before I met your father, I lived in Equestria, the lands that give rise to night and day. Spells passed down through unicorn families from the very alicorns of legend themselves, or so it is told that way. Events happened in which I forced to leave my home behind me, and travel outside of Equestria” Crimson explained, a hard look on his face, taking into account every hard word he had to say about past events, not pleasant to think about.

“But why?” Cady asked with a sad frown.

HE HAS VIOLATED THE RULES THAT GOVERN OUR MAGIC, IF HE IS CAPABLE OF THIS; HE HAS NO RIGHT OR LOYALITY TO THE LUNA COURT. I SAY EXECUTE HIM AND BE DONE WITH IT

“It is not important as to why I was leaving, more the destination that I chose in this story. To the south there were dragons, going east or west would force me to cross the oceans. Then, there was north, past the Crystal Mountains to lands of ponies outside of Equestria. I chose north. The mistake was being caught in the middle of a hazardous snow storm”

“I fell down in the snow, for a really long time. Then somepony picked me up, put me next to a fire and fed me, saved me. That pony was your father. From that point on, I vowed I would be by his side, and repay him”

“Your father saved my life. Without him, I wouldn’t be here, looking after you. Know that I will always be thankful for what he did for me that day”

“It’s not a very long story, I know, and I’m sorry for t…” Crimson was interrupted by the small embrace of Cady.

“Don’t ever leave Crimsy”

“Yeah, I can promise that”

13 years ago…

North of the Equestria border is a field of snow and mountains. A land that even in it’s harsh weather and unsuitable climate, some ponies were still able to find a way to make a home out of the lands. This did however in no way make the lands outside of this said home anymore welcoming. Snowstorms were a common feature of the lands, tales of dangerous creatures and the lost ponies that enter only never to return, were words that only sought to scare ponies off their tracks to somewhere safer worth travelling.

This however did not stop one such unicorn. A unicorn banished from his home. Set out on a trip that would more than likely end his live. To him, a life to throw away, with no direction or hope, at last faces the challenge in front of him. Push forward, or die. Words he told inside over and over again.

“The limits we set are there for a reason Crimson" Crimson said, repeating the words he had heard at his trial with a mocking tone of voice, showing his disgust for the words and ponies who said them.

“What a load of shit. Limits set hundreds of years ago” Crimson yelled out, his anger only one of the things fuelling his small steps forward through the cold storm of snow.

One more step Crimson kept repeating in the back of his mind, just hoping that the next step wouldn’t be his last, and all the while the snowstorm continued to worsen. It didn’t help that the glow of his horn, no matter how bright he made it, he couldn’t see anything through the storm. Just the continued onslaught of snow, piling on and over him, as every minute he shakes the gathered snow off his back. For now all he could focus on was staying awake through his anger and by the magical use of his horn.

But even that would fail him in time. “Come on, for once in my useless life, work” Crimson yelled out in his mind, his horn sparking with magic everything that he tried from that point on when trying to cast the most simple of light spells. What he failed to do during this time was to watch his step and footing.

He felt the frosty chill of the snowy plains on each of his breathes. As his hooves finally sinking so deep into a patch of snow, forcing his body to flip forward, the momentum continued building as the slope in front of him did nothing to slow his fall.

Crimson finally hit down hard, completely knocking the wind of him. A coughing fit starting as he continue to breath in and out the cold air quickly and the chill that he had worked to ignore and fight through finally worked its way to consume him. Crimson realized all the things that happened didn’t matter anymore, that the anger that fuelled him through the storm had stopped, and all that was left were the tears flowing down his face.

“Night Light, I’m sorry. It looks like I won’t be keeping that promise” Crimson cried huddling what parts he could move to form a ball around a small flower shaped necklace.

“I don’t want to die”

Crimson was going to die.

But destiny said otherwise.

From the lands of the crystal empire, travels a prince, on the start of a journey he would have no choice in making. His saddlebags filled with the travelling equipment, items and food he was told would help him “survive” his travels across the world.

“Go out there my son, and look for the alicorns. Your time is now, just as I have and each ruler before” the disgruntled unicorn said, in a much tougher voice than his own, trying to imitate the words of his father.

“I’ll tell you were you can shove your bloody tradition” the unicorn muttered in his anger alone, knowing not even his father would hear them. Not having as much concentration focused on his path forward in the snow, the unicorn prince falls forward over something, landing face forward into the patch of snow in front of him.

“What the f-” the prince says as he turned his head over his shoulder. His mouth gaped open at the sight of a black coated unicorn in the snow. His trip over the ‘corpse’ had barely swept the lairs of snow that covered it. Only for its distinct colour of fur was what made the unicorn able to stand out.

“Poor soul" the prince said sadly. A sadder beginning than any he thought possible for his journey. “Nopony deserves an end like this” He said taking a moment of silence in the storm for the loss of life. In that silence he heard the heavy breaths of unicorn that finally had a chance for breath outside a pile of snow that covered his body.

"You're alive" the prince said giving a hopeful smile, before the grim remainder of his surroundings, caused survival to be his foremost thought, and his once hopeful smile, absorbed and showed the horror of his mind’s decision.

“I am sorry” the prince said to the unconscious unicorn. Slowly taking his steps around the unicorn, whether or not it was the heavy lairs of snow, or his conscience, holding him back. Every step was slower than the last. Each step, his hooves growing heavier and heavier.

Some part of him wanted to go back. It would be the right thing to do, but was it the smart thing to do, is putting your live at risk for a pony you didn’t know. All of these ideas, reason not to go back popped through his mind.

WE DON’T KNOW HIM
YOU DON’T OWE HIM ANYTHING
THERE IS A REASON HE’S HERE
YOU WON’T SURVIVE HAVING TO SUPPORT A STRANGER
HE’LL PROPERLY DIE ANYWAY

No pony I know sweeter than you. You just have to show them that

“Well… shit”

Am I dead?

Why is the afterlife so warm?

What’s that noise?

Crimson’s eyes slowly opened, much to his surprise, shot open at the sight of what seemed to be a large fire before him. His eyes wide open to see a strangely formed fireplace of stone, as he felt his body come alive with new life and hope.

His current whereabouts seemed to be a cave from his understanding of how the area looked. He felt a smile grow over his face as he looked out the exit of the cave as a flurry of white snow continued its onslaught, knowing the one important truth.

“I’m alive” Crimson said with such happiness.

"Of course you are" A voice from the area answered, as Crimson turned himself to identify the source. Quickly he noticed a white unicorn, covered in a layer of blankets. At first it was hard to tell that his fur was just that white, Crimson imagined if he had passed him in the storm, he wouldn’t have even seen him.

"Hi, you can call me your lord and saviour. Did you know you’re very heavy?”

“You, you saved my life?”

“That I did. Now you going to eat that or should I have not cooked dinner, or whatever you call food at this time of the night?” the prince asked taking a bite out of his own food he had prepared.

Crimson noticing a bowl at his feet and the smell of something sweet and tasty, it didn’t matter what was actually in it, as Crimson’s hungry stomach would have more control over his own body at this point that his head. Not even bothering with whether his magic was working or not, Crimson quickly went face first into the bowl, eating away everything the bowl contained as fast as he could.

“Soooooo…. Pony, mind telling me what you were doing passed out horn first in the snow” the prince asked, curious about his hungry guest.

“That’s… well… I was travelling” Crimson offered this as his explanation.

“Right… Well can you at least tell me where you’re headed? Not many ponies I know who tackle a snowstorm without good reason” the prince exclaimed trying to get a handle on his new guest.

“I just couldn’t turn back, that’s all” Crimson tried again, to leave his situation as vague as possible.

“You are a quiet one” the prince was doing all he could to get anything from the unicorn. So by this point, he just settled for observation. What he knew was, the unicorn was likely from the south. Lack of knowledge about dealing with such weather made that clear. Northerners are taught the way of the dealing with hazards of their own lands. The problem is, how far south did he live, and why’d he leave?

The black unicorn’s dark cloak was something had a chance to look over, and it said all it needed to say. He came from somewhere with money, or at the very least is a thief with excellent taste or almost perfect luck. Speaking of the cloak, he had not the chance or interest to sneak a peek at the pony’s cutie mark. Now that the black unicorn was moving about, the prince’s eyes shifted at slight movements of the cloak to spot his cutie mark.

It was however clear after several attempts that such a thing was not going to happen. Dark cave, dark cloak, dark pony. It was something that didn’t matter, but if he stuck around, he’d surely find out.

“Listen, I saved your life, the least I could do is get your name. I’m Stratege” Stratege then held out his hoof in gesture, awaiting his response.

“Nice to meet you then Stratege…” Crimson put out his own hoof to Stratege, making contact with this new ‘friend’s’ hoof. Shaking it he offered his own name in response.

“I’m Crimson... Crimson Shade”

Names are a funny thing. They can mean a lot to someponies, for good or ill

Chapter 1 - A Royal Foal-Sitter

The King led Crimson down several hallways. During the middle of the night these hallways contained little light to illuminate them, but for unicorns with magic it was simple to guide ones way through them without carrying a lantern of some sort. Crimson knew the castle much like the back of his hoof and knew the areas he was passing through.

At some point, Crimson realized where he was being taken. The area he was in was used as the living quarters for members of the royal family. The King opened one of the doors that led to his own quarters. The guards that followed them took position at each end of the door. Never were they allowed past into the royal quarters, unless under royal orders or situations to where the King’s life was in danger.

As Crimson entered the room, his eyes went over every small detail. As expected the room was exceptionally large compared to standard living quarters in the castle. Everything in the room was seen to be, for lack of a better phrase “fit for a king”. His eye however drew to another set of double doors within the room. These doors were horribly miscoloured compared to the rest of the room. Crimson however saw a name painted imprinted onto the top of the door, but before he could read it, his ears were drawn to the sound of the quarter doors slowly shutting.

As the doors to the hallway closed, Crimson looked back to see both guards peeking their heads through the small opening of the doors until they completely slammed shut. King Stratege walked over to the window on the other side of the room. Next to the window was a desk, and sat upon the desk were two pillows. One of them had the Queen’s crown sat onto it. “We can talk here” said Stratege.

“My King…” said Crimson, trying to get across an argument he know would fail to even convince himself.

“Crimson, what you said at that table worried me. Not because I didn’t understand your argument. It was because some would have no problem calling you out as a traitor for those words. I’ve always told you to watch your words, haven’t I” said King Stratege, hoping his words would bring Crimson to a calmer state of mind.

“I didn’t call you here for just that. I need your assistance. I will be assigning you a very important task here. A task of such importance I can only give to some pony I have complete trust in. My duties have far greater burdens to me in the most recent of times. This new task, if you choose to accept it, will however take precedence over your previous duties” explained King Stratege, making sure he was keeping constant eye contact with Crimson.

What important task takes precedence over the crystal heart research? Was the thought going through Crimson’s mind, as he pictured life threatening adventures over distant lands… perhaps to find a cure for the Queen?!

“Sire, whatever task you deem this important, I accept this task no matter how dangerous or life risking it may be” said Crimson as he bowed his head so far down as to touch the floor with the tip of his horn.

“Very well Crimson, tomorrow you will start as my daughter’s foal-sitter” proclaimed the King as he held his hoof over Crimson’s head, almost as if he was bestowing a sort of knighthood.

It took Crimson a few moments for his brain to process that statement. Once he realized what he had agreed too, his face created an expression, that was somewhere between confusion, shock and fear. He felt too embarrassed by the situation to even face his head.

Foal-sitter? He can’t be serious thought Crimson.

Once he felt that his facial impression did not contain any over expressive panic, he raised his head to the king and said “Excuse me… I may have misheard that. I thought you just said I would be foal sitting your daugh… the princess?” almost forgetting for a moment how he usually addressed royalty.

“That is correct” Stratege said, confirming what Crimson was thinking.

“Forgive me my King but my research for the crystal heart is too important to be taking care of… a princess.” Just by saying those last two words did Crimson realise how stupid that sounded.

Stratege took off his royal crown and placed it on a pillow that sat on a desk by the window. The King did not turn around but he took a very long and slow breath, in and out. After that moment he slowly turned around to Crimson “Crimson, this is not a task I would give to any servant, civilian or follower of the crown” the king said, hoping Crimson to understand.

There was a small pause. A drift of uncomfortable silence between the two held out for a while. “Crimson?” Stratege called out to Crimson, hoping to hear the response he was waiting for.

There was a lot longer pause before crimson responded with “Stratege?” To that response, Stratege smiled. It was something neither of them had heard in such a long time. Even Crimson felt a sort of delight.

“Why chose me?” asked Crimson.

Stratege continued to stare out the window, as he tried his best to explain why he chose Crimson, “My daughter will have a set of guards on her at all times like mine and Sky Handler’s. They are ponies I trust with my life and those of my family, but all would treat her like royalty and never give her a chance to develop outside of her role as a princess”

There was a brief moment of silence as Stratege considered how he was going phrase out his next words. “You knew me when I was still Prince Stratege… I was…” Stratege said, stopping again to remember how used to be.

“Greedy, rude, selfish, uptight and very easy to complain at the most simplest of… sorry” Crimson said as if he had a list of his friend’s original worst qualities wrote down somewhere.

“And that is exactly my point. She needs to somepony to help her grow upright… without Sky here” shouted Stratege as he agreed with everything Crimson had just laid out. Sky’s name was also becoming incredibly harder to say every time he used it.

“You still saved my life” said Crimson, knowing his life would have been much shorter if he had not met Stratege. His life also turned around that day, and he gained a true friend.

“Even that was for selfish reasons” Stratege said back. A hard to say, but he believed it to be true. Stratege took a moment to consider those words, whether or not they were too harsh. In the end he decided to ignore it and continue with his explanation.

“There are ponies I could hire to help raise her right, but few I trust enough to allow so. You have been a very good friend to me, and some pony I have full trust in. You seemed like the obvious choice.” Explained Stratege, making sure he left nothing out.

“If I was considered, then why not Head Strong? He’d make a much more suitable protector for your daughter” said Crimson. He understood why his friend chose him. The problem was not that he wanted to do it. He thought there were ponies much more qualified for such things.

“While Head Strong is another pony I trust to look after her, I fear the citizens and soldiers will be more on edge without the presence of their captain. He also lacks your experience with foals” Stratege explained.

Crimson stopped to remember his life before the Empire. For the most part, he did not like to partake in conversations regarding the connection these memories had to a very unforgettable event. There were a few happy moments, yes, and taking care of his little sisters was one of them.

“You once told me about the siblings you helped raised back in Everfree. When you talked about them, you had so much love for them. I want my daughter to grow up having some pony teaching her this, when I’m not there for her; I want her to grow up learning to love this world, to never fear it. Without the possibility of her mother awakening, and my duties as king, some pony needs to be there to show her all of that” Stratege explained. He then raised his left hoof and put it on Crimson’s shoulder.

“Will you be that pony for me?” asked Stratege.

“Well when you put it like that, how can I refuse? I have a lot of vacation days from my research after all. The other researchers can take over for me until the Sky Handler awakens” Crimson said with confidence.

It was clear Stratege was taken aback from that response.

“She will wake up” Crimson said with a smile. He was certain that Precise would find a way to wake her up. That and because the alternative was too hard to even imagine as truth.

“Did you know we talked about names?” said Stratege.

“What?” responded Crimson, with great curiosity and surprise in his voice with the uplifting nature of the conversation.

“Me and Sky. I would chosen a name from the list of my own, but without Sky, it just doesn’t seem right. Some of her choices would just make you rollover laughing. But, you know, one of them has grown on me” Stratege said with a certain joyful smile replacing all the sorrow that fell over him earlier.

“So you’ve given your daughter a name? I should properly know it if I’m going to be foal-sitting her” said Crimson, all while smiling a big grin. “I’m going to be the first pony knowing the princess’s name, this is so great” Was the very thought going through this head at the time.

“Her name… is Mi Amore Cadenza” said Stratege. The words felt very strange to him still. To name somepony, to define their life and who they could be was something truly… special.

“An interesting name… to say the least” said Crimson, holding back a chuckle. It would be a name he would have to get use to saying after all.

“You can laugh all you want. I know I did” said Stratege, expressing a chuckle, which caused Crimson to follow suit, which turned the whole conversation into a big laughing fit.

“Well… My King, I look forward to my new duties. I shall be looking after Princess Mi Amore Cadenza from tomorrow onward” Crimson said after the two had stopped laughing. He bowed and awaited his King to give some form of order.

Stratege then gave the standard hoof action indicating that Crimson could raise his head, and leave the room at his leisure. Crimson lifted his head up and nodded to Stratege, as he made his way towards the exit. As he readied to pull at the handle with his magic, he turned his head round to see Stratege had turned around towards the window again. He felt like saying something, but what? When Crimson decided he was taking too long, he finally decided to leave. He opened the doors and left towards his room.

As the doors shut to the room, Stratege whispered to himself, “It was a good talk, old friend”.

Stratege took a moment to breath. His eyes fixed towards the bed, he was tired and yet sleep was one of the last things on his mind. He felt the weight of it all when no pony was around. This room has never felt so empty he thought as he looked around the room, seeing the smallest of things that reminded him of Sky. His eyes fixed towards the other door within his room.

He opened the door as silently has he could using his magic, and peeked his head inside. It was quiet, but he could hear the sound of small light breathing. As his eyes fixed to the dimly lit nature of the room, he saw his daughter, pink and bright, who had her small body, wings and all covered by a blanket in her crib. She looked so peaceful. With his magic Stratege reached out to the blanket and fixed the corner that had slid out the bars of the crib, in hope she would be more comfortable. Stratege had very mixed feelings. He loved her, but at the same time he felt the pain and worry of what the future could bring for her, and everypony of the Empire. And with that he closed the door to her room. He pushed his head against the door, taking deep breaths trying to calm himself.

He took a moment to look over the door. It was painted with the most unintelligent scribbles and strange unknown flower patterns. It was covered in random splashes of pink and blue paint, but mostly pink. Many ponies had once asked about the door, and even asked at points to ‘fix’ the mess. All answers to that question were the same. Sky would feel like she had just been punched in the gut and would scream out:

It’s not a mess! Can’t I have a hobby?

He chuckled remembering that. “You always did have a way with words” Stratege sarcastically as he lifted his hoof to slide over the door. Touching the door with his hoof caused memories to come flooding back from a certain time, from a certain moment.

Stratege, how does it look?
What are those supposed to be? Spiders?
It’s a flower you idiot. Precise said it’s going to be a filly. Painting her doors gives me somewhere to start. I can’t just sit about
Now we don’t know that. She said the test had a one in six thousand chance of failing. What if it’s a colt?
Oh ponies will speak far and wide of the cruel king who grew up with pink flowers patterns on his door, oh the horror
Fine, but if I was to paint on HIS name… Proud Standing… what do you say to that?
I’d paint over it and write HER name… Amatista
Lightning Quartz
Diamond Plume
Shining jewel
Swan Song
Raining Shield
Sugar Heart
Stratege Jr
Mi Amore Cadenza…
Hahahahahahaha
Hahahahahahahahaha
This foal is doomed to have the worst name in history
Long live the rule of Queen and King Funny Name
Mi Amore Cadenza?
It’s a name meaning to love her, you idiot.
Did I mention how much I love you?
It couldn’t hurt to hear it a bit more

The King stepped back into reality, as a painful feeling washed over him, and he felt the slow flow of tears dripping down his face and onto the floor. Emotions of pain and sadness had reached him before in these days, but never were they as painful and clear cut before. He leaned his back against the side left wall, as he slowly slid down until he was sitting on the floor up against it. He covered his face and closed his eyes as tightly as he could. He wanted nothing more than to all of this pain to just leave. To rip out all feelings, may no pony not even his daughter see or hear him. No matter how hard he tried, a name still escaped his lips.

“Sky”