The Crystal Prize

Chapters

1 The Arrival
2 The Life of an Imperial Princess
3 The Exam
4 The Fair
5 The Empress
6 The Recovery
7 Extraction
8 The Change

1 The Arrival

Dawning Song craned her neck and hopped from hoof to hoof in the middle of the crowd. Realising what she was doing was futile she sat down and looked glumly at the floor.

“What are you doing, Dawn?” A voice behind the filly asked. She looked to where the voice was coming from and her face lit up as a purple light surrounded her.

“Daddy!” she said to Shining Armor lifted her up above the crowd, “Is Mummy about to do her speech?” He nodded and pointed a hoof at the her mother walking in front of the pair to the balcony, smiling warmly at them as she did. There was a roar of approval from the crowds gathered outside the palace as Cadance came into view.

“My dear subjects, I have momentous news.” Cadance began. Light erupted from her horn and the image of the capital of the Crystal Empire appeared in the sky. “Years ago this great city reappeared after over a thousand years of absence. Within its walls came thousands of earth ponies and the revival of the crystal ponies.” Cadance’s magic began to expand as more and more cities began to appear in the sky, “Since that day more have appeared to join Cristamera. Cities like the grand port of Amethandria and the great vineyards of Emerald Hills. Along with our land returned our pegasus and unicorn brothers and sisters. Together we held the Equestria Games and five Crystal Fairs to remind the world that we are here. Well I am delighted to say that the town of Pursorubi has appeared on our easternmost fringe,” Pursorubi appeared in green rather than the blue that made up the rest of the image, “With this we are once again complete. The Crystal Empire is whole once more!” The cheers from the crowd were almost deafening, causing Dawning Song to cover her ears with her hooves to block out the noise. The image in the sky faded as the noise died down.

“Now this is truly reason to celebrate,” Cadance continued, “and that is exactly what I plan for us to do. We shall hold a fair far grander than the Crystal Fair. We shall have a commemoration of the marvel of our people: our wealth and the harmony between us that rivals that which holds Equestria together. The celebrations will take place across all of our lands but it shall climax in a fantastic display of the greatest we have to offer right here in Cristamera. We shall invite dignitaries and visitors from across the world to come and celebrate with us. I would like all of you to know that this is not a celebration of the achievements of a few or many of you, but of you all. Without each and every one of you being here we would not have this empire, we would not be complete. Everypony has a role that they play. You all embody what makes this empire perfect. The Reunification Fair is my way of thanking you all.” The ponies cheered again as Cadance stepped back from the balcony and back into the centre room of the palace. The stallions and mares of the court applauded Cadance as she turned to them. Shining Armor lowered Dawning Song to the floor so that she could run to her mother.

“That was great, Mummy! Are we really gonna have another fair?” she asked excitedly.

“We sure are, Dawny, and I’m sure all your aunties will come down to attend,” Cadence said, beaming at her daughter.

“You mean it? It’s been so long since they visited. I’ve nearly finished the sweets auntie Pinkie gave me last time! Well with Daddy’s help of course, he’s been eating most of them.” Cadence looked with an exasperated look at her husband looking at his hooves sheepishly. “Oh it’s gonna be the third best thing ever!”

“Oh?” Shining Armor asked as the trio walked into the corridor going east, towards the royal apartments. “What’s second and first Dawn?”

“Well I thought it would be obvious, silly.” Dawning Song giggled. “The second is when I become empress and get to help everypony like Mummy does. The best day ever is today.”

“Why today?”

“Because today everypony is back together. We’re whole again. Race you to my room!” All of a sudden Dawning Song ran off towards her bedroom. Cadence looked towards Shining Armor and began to laugh.

“Liquid pride. It’s liquid pride,” Shining Armor said before Cadance could comment on the tears welling up in her husband’s eyes. “Someday our filly could change the world,” he said.

Suddenly Cadance burst into a gallop after their daughter. Shining Armor was shocked for a second. He just stood watching one of the most powerful mares in the world galloped away with four priceless shoes levitated around her head. Shaking himself out of his stupor he started running to catch up with the alicorn and Unicorn that made up his entire world, laughing the whole way.

The diamond dog was thrown onto the ground. He brushed the dirt off of his red vest. He was trying to look tough but the other dogs did not look scared. If Fido or Spot were here then they’d be paying me some respect, he thought. Rover turned and looked at his abductors. They were as big as Rover, with heavy muscular builds. He faced forward again when one of them jabbed at him with his javelin. Rover did not want to make the him pull out his sword. Another was standing in front of him. He was older than the others and sat while the others stood. This must be the Alpha Rover realised. Where the others wore steel cuirasses this dog wore silver with intricate gilding. If I’m gonna make an impression this is the dog to impress Rover decided. Rover cleared his throat and addressed the older dog.

“Greetings brother,” he began. He tried to stand up but was pushed down immediately by the guard dogs behind him. They're very strong. I must show them I can be just as strong. No, I can be more strong, twice as strong. Despite the bravado Rover was unable to stop his legs from shaking. “I am Rover. I can tell you’re not from here. Here I am the Alpha, with my brothers Fido and Spot. There isn’t a place for you here. You may think you’re tough but we’re tougher. You caught me by surprise. You cheated. That’s all. Spot and Fido will get you, they’ll get you all and you will go. You will go aw-” Rover paused, looking confused, “Why are you laughing?” he asked. The older dog ended his low chuckle and nodded at one of his soldiers. The soldier then slammed his javelin against the floor. Rover turned to see what was going on and instantly regretted it. Another soldier, walked into a tent. This one clutched a net in his paw. Rover wretched and vomited as he saw what was in the net. The severed heads of Fido and Spot stared blankly at Rover. Their faces were frozen in shock and fear. Rover wanted to yell at the old dog. He wanted to jump up and pounce and claw and bite and kick him. He wanted to avenge his brothers, but he knew it was impossible. His eyes were fixed on the net. A guard grabbed Fido’s head and forced him to face the old dog.

“My name is Aetius.” a guard grabbed Rover’s head turned it to face the old dog as he began to address him. “Your caves are ours. We have taken what gems you have, and the pups that showed promise.” The elder dog spoke with a commanding voice and stood, towering over the kneeling, shaking Rover. As he did he stared directly into Rover‘s eyes. Any courage Rover had inside of him when he had entered the tent had gone. All he was able to do was look back at Aetius and cry. Fido... he thought, Spot... Wha- what will they do to me?
“The others" continued Aetius, "have been either put to the sword or to work. You are the last of your tribe's Alpha's. As long as you live they will have hope and they will remember their lives before we arrived. This cannot be permitted. You will not die straight away however. First you are going to tell me all I want to know.”

“I will say nothing.” Rover barked. Must be strong, for Spot and Fido. “You will have to kill me. Kill me like you killed my Fido and Spot.” One of the guard dogs pulled out a dagger and walked to Rover. In an instant he plunged the dagger into Rover’s back left paw and twisted it. Rover howled in agony and cried even more. “I still won’t talk. I won’t talk no matter how much you hurt me.” Rover spat at Aetius and the dog twisted the dagger again, the other way this time, making Rover howl even louder. Throughout it all Aetius’ eyes remained locked onto Rover.

“Oh, he is going to hurt you. He is going to hurt you until you beg me for mercy. Still, there shall be no mercy until I am satisfied I have drained you of all you know. You are going to tell me everything you know about The Crystal Empire. You will tell me every rumour, every word you’ve heard the mules say, everything your dogs have told you they have heard. It is going to hurt and it is going to take a long time, but you will tell me what I want to know.”

2 The Life of an Imperial Princess

“Please rise for her Imperial Majesty, Mi Amore Cadenza, Empress of the Crystal Empire and Keeper of the Crystal Heart. Here with Their Imperial Highnesses the Prince Consort Shining Armor and the Crown Princess Nostra Canzona Dell'Alba.” The Herald called out as Cadance and her family entered the throne room and assumed their places. Cadance’s throne stood centre, the crystal chair dwarfing the two silver thrones either side for Shining Armor and Dawning Song. Cadance smiled and nodded at the nobles in the enormous room.

“Please sit,” she told them, “I pass over to you Tight Schedule, chief minister of the Crystal Empire.” Upon hearing his cue the brown crystal pegasus unfurled a scroll and held it with one of his wings while putting on his ancient spectacles with the other, being careful not to touch his carefully combed grey silver mane.

“Thank you your Majesty. The court sees his grace, Blazing Arrow, Duke of the Bay of Sapphires.” He announced, looking up from his scroll to see if Blazing Arrow was in attendance. Sure enough a tall orange unicorn strode towards Cadance. He stopped and bowed at the neck before addressing Cadance.

“Your Majesty, I would like to issue a complaint against Pouring Sun, the Lord of Ashenbrook Hall.”

“What is your complaint Duke Arrow?” Asked Cadance.

“My complaint ma’am is that for the past four months he has been overfishing in the Sapphire River which runs into my bay. If the peasants in the villages of the bay cannot fish then they lose a large amount of their income which means the knights of the lands cannot get as much money in taxes from the to pay me. Meaning that before long I will be unable to pay for the upkeep of my castles and to pay those I have working in my farms.”

“Is there no other source of income that can replace the fishing?”

“No ma’am. The crystal fish sell at a better price than anything the peasants could grow in the time it takes for them to fish. I will not simply stand by while Sun gets rich off of my fish!”

“Please mind your tone Duke Arrow. Tight Schedule, have you been able to look into this issue while the Duke has been waiting for his appointment”

“I have, your majesty. In fact I received the report from the Sheriff in the area this morning. He tells me that, yes, Lord Pouring Sun is fishing in the river to an extent where the Sapphire Trout populations are dwindling. The low population is such an issue that the townspeople refuse to fish any more out of fear of endangering the animals. They also told make, and this quite interesting, that Duke Arrow has threatened many of them with eviction if they do not continue to fish, despite the dangers the continued fishing will pose to the Sapphire Trout.”

“Well can you believe peasants? They were probably paid by Pouring Sun to say that. It is libelous ma’am! This stallion is lying, he is probably on Sun’s payroll as well!!” Blazing Arrow blurted out before falling silent, remembering his status.

“I am prepared to attempt to resolve your complaint Duke Arrow.” Cadence said calmly, “The level of satisfaction you have with my judgement may change depending on if you choose to accuse any more of my trusted advisors of corruption. Perhaps you would like to tell me that my daughter has been telling people to overfish the trout as well?” Dawning Song giggled as he blanched from Cadance chastisement. “Please continue Schedule.”

“Thank you ma’am. As I was saying” Tight Schedule glared at Blazing Arrow, “The townspeople accused Duke Arrow of threatening them to continue fishing but that before the shortage began he was a far more lenient and benevolent ruler.This leaves me to assume that it is stress that has caused the change in attitude that Duke Arrow has shown. Of greater interest was the news that lord Pouring Sun has also been threatening his vassals to fish more but he does not have as great financial obligations as Duke Arrow has, who has a larger estate and more soldiers contributed to the army to pay for.”

“Have you called Lord Sun to Cristamera?”

“I have ma’am but as I only received the report today he has expressed consent to scry us later today to give us his explanation.”

“Very good. Then we shall speak to him then, are you able to stay in the city another day Duke Arrow? Excellent, then tomorrow I promise to do my utmost to find a compromise between the two of you that will leave you both happy.” Cadance assured Blazing Arrow.

“Thank you ma’am.” The Duke said before bowing his head again and returning to stand with the rest of his entourage in court. Shining Armor looked over at Dawning Song as the Duke walked away to see an extremely fidgety and bored filly in the throne.

“She’s bored Cadance. There’s only so much a filly can hear about the politics of river lords and their fish.” He whispered to his wife while Tight Schedule called the next lord up to make his appeal to the Empress.

“Go,” She whispered back, “take her out into the gardens with the big kite, she’ll like that. Especially when she hears the story.”

“Don’t you want to hear the story?”

“I’ve heard it dear, we all have except for her. Whenever you’ve gone near it you’ve told the story. We know it was the kite you used when you taught Twilight to fly a kite. We know.” the pair of them laughed, catching Dawning Song’s attention.

“It is a good story though.” Shining Armor whispered as he stood up and lifted Dawning Song onto his back

“Just hurry up. You have to take advantage if the strong winter winds or wait another year. I have a job to do, unlike you!” Cadance sighed and turned to her next appeal. A young mare asking for advice on how to deal with her son insisting on moving to Canterlot for university when he is needed on their farm.

“I like that mummy does that.” Dawning Song said after they had left the throne room. “She gives two hours in the afternoon every day for her subjects to speak with her. That’s not the bit that I really like. The bit I really like is that anypony can speak to her; the rich, the poor, the young, the old. They can have big problems like the Duke or little ones like that mare. When I’m big and I’m empress I want to help ponies too.” She paused and thought for a moment before quickly saying “But what if I’m not a good empress? What if nopony likes me or wants me to help?”

“Someday you’re going to make a fantastic empress Dawn, and ponies from all over will want your help because that’s what you want to do: help. You’ve got no reason to worry because you have a long time to learn how to rule exactly how you want to,” Shining Armor assured the worried unicorn on his back. “now I’ve got a story to tell you and a kite waiting for us.”

“A field trip?” A curious Dawning Song asked her mother, “Why did we wait until the end of the day to go on a trip? Where are we going mummy? Are we going to the spring markets? No, they’ll be closing around now, are we getting a train somewhere overnight? Is that why we have to go now?”

“Calm down Dawn.” Laughed the filly’s mother, “We’re going somewhere in the palace, just follow me.” Dawning Song chased after Cadance as she left Dawning Song’s classroom.

“Are we going down to the armoury? Or, or to the treasury? Umm… oh no! I’m not getting another lecture about the importance of a balanced agricultural hierarchy,” Dawn took her time to carefully say the last two words that had been drummed into her. “from Mr. Schedule again am I? Please Mummy, no, I’ve been good! Wait,” Dawning Song breathed as Cadence stopped in front of an old oak door. “Is this?” She asked, Cadence nodded. “Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow, oh wow! Really? This is the best lesson ever!! I’ve wait so long, oh wow, oh wow!” She was literally jumping around Cadence as she realised what was going on.

“This door and the tower on the other side are two of the oldest things in the palace. The palace has been redesigned, painted and rebuilt countless times, so far as we can tell. This door is so old that you can barely make out the beautiful carvings. I did not bring you here to look at a door though,” Cadence unlocked and opened the door with her magic, revealing a plain spiral tower. “We’re going to go up. Now it’s a long walk Dawn, we’re going from the bottom of the palace to the very tallest point. See if you can count all the steps.” Dawning Song ran after her mother once she began the long climb, counting as she did so.

“Three hundred... and two. Three hundred... and three. Three hundred… and four.” Dawning Song panted as they continued to climb, “Three hundred… and… are we at the top??” she asked incredulously. The princess did not need an answer, however, when she looked into the room at the top of the tower. The room was perfectly circular and empty apart from the stairs and a beautiful crystal podium in the centre. The incredibly long stairs, the room, the podium, none of it was important to Dawning Song. Her eyes were transfixed upon what was on the podium.

“Welcome Dawn,” Cadance whispered, “to the most important place in the empire: the chamber of the Heart.” Dawning Song tentatively took a few steps towards the heart. “What do you feel Dawn?”

“It’s so… full. I can’t quite get my head around how there could possibly be so much magic in there. You, auntie Tia, auntie Luna, auntie Twilight, even together you wouldn’t get close. There’s just so much, it’s scary. It doesn’t feel safe, is it?”

“Try not to focus too hard on it. Every single time we imbue the Crystal Heart with our emotions at the Crystal Fair it sends out a wave of our emotions across the world. It sends out enough to cover the entire world but there is still magic left to fill the heart, a lot left.”

“Why is there so much left over? We’re not any more emotional than anypony else. Certainly not more than auntie Rarity.”

“Well Dawn, what can crystal do? In regards to magic?”

“Store it, redirect it or amplify it.” Dawning Song recited confidently. She suddenly gasped as she realised what she had just said, “So the Crystal Heart does all three? It takes in our emotions, amplifies its power, redirects some out and then stores the rest inside of itself!”

“Exactly. Also, while the empire vanished the heart remained hidden and absorbed the emotions of Equestria, our closest neighbour, for a thousand years. You’re such a smart little filly Dawn, you’ve been revising, haven’t you?”

She nodded, “For two reasons: first you said that auntie Twilight was coming to stay for a few months to help with the Fair preparations and I don’t want her to think I’m just a little filly.”

“Well that’s going to be hard when you are a little filly Dawn.”

“I’m not mummy.” Dawning Song moaned,

“If you weren’t a little filly would I still be able to do this?” Suddenly Cadance’s enveloped Dawning Song in her magic. The filly wriggled and giggled as her mother tickled her relentlessly.

“Okay, okay. I’m still a filly. Just stop mummy. Stop, please” Dawning Song managed to shriek in between giggles. Cadance released her but she kept giggling for a few more seconds before she could stand up again.

“What was the other reason Dawn?”

“Well I need to know this stuff if I want to be a good empress and help everybody.”

“Every… body?”

“I was thinking. If I’m empress that’ll mean I’ll be really important, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.” Cadance confirmed, wondering where she was going with this.

“Well if I’m really important I want to try and help out everyone I can. That means I want to help creatures more than just the crystal ponies, more than just ponies. Like the griffons and the minotaurs, and the dragons too. They’re not ponies but they obviously have bodies. So I meant what I said, I want to help make everybody happy and safe, not just ponies. It’s like,” Dawn absentmindedly took a step towards the heart and froze. She knew that her mother was talking, begging her to respond. All Dawning Song could do was stare into it. She felt connected to it; not connected in the way that the other ponies were, with their emotions being in tune with it when near. Dawning Song felt as if she was being pulled in, voices whispered to her. They were too far enough away for her to make out what they were saying but somehow she knew it was about her.

“Dawn!” Cadance yelled. Dawning Song suddenly broke out of her reverie as her mother pulled her away with magic and placed herself, wings unfurled, between Dawning Song and the Crystal Heart. “That’s enough for one day Dawn. Downstairs, now!” Cadance ordered, her voice quivering slightly as she tried to compose herself. WIthout complaint Dawning Song complied and began the walk downstairs in shock, not remembering a time Cadance had yelled at her as well as being unable to understand what had just happened.

“Alright Dawn. We’ve been over the theory, practiced dry runs of the motions and talked it over; you’re ready.” Twilight said, checking the stance this small pink filly was standing in; she stood sturdily with her head bent slightly lower so her horn pointed directly at her target. “This is high level magic for your age, some filly’s wouldn’t be able to do this at this point. Remember to feel the magic as an extension of your body, unlock it in your stomach and channel it through your horn. Are you ready Dawn?”

“I’m ready.” Dawning Song said between gritted teeth.

“Then go ahead.” Twilight watched intently as Dawning Song’s horn became enveloped in a dark blue light, “Brilliant Dawn, now lift it.” the book was covered in the same light and began to slowly rise. “You’re doing it, keep going.” the book wobbled as Dawning Song continued to lift it but she kept focusing and slowly placed it on the tall pile on the other side of the room. Finally Dawning Song released her magic and collapsed on the floor.

“Did I do okay?” She asked, gulping down lungfuls of air. “Did I do it right? It looked like I did.”

“You did great Dawn! You’re almost as good as I was when I was your age.” Twilight told the filly as she helped her up. Dawning Song’s head shot up and looked at Twilight, awe written across the filly’s face. “Now let’s try something a little bit harder shall we?” Twilight took the book Dawning Song was carrying, opened it up and removed the block of lead hidden in the hollowed out compartment within. Twilight walked over to a box in the corner and lifted out a slightly larger block and placed it in the book. “Okay, back into position Dawn.”

“So how large is the exhibition hall going to be when it is complete Mr. Schedule?” Twilight asked as she surveyed the construction and read from a clipboard she held in front of herself.

“Approximately seventy metres by one hundred and eighty metres. We are due to finish the main brunt of the construction a few weeks before the exhibitionists are due to arrive. We plan to continue the decorative parts of the building while the set up of the exhibits is still underway but we should have it completed in more than enough time ma’am.”

“Perfect, so we’re due to be ready for the opening next winter?” Twilight stopped walking and looked directly at Tight Schedule, maintaining a strict air of professionalism as Dawning Song tried to catch up while carrying a large block of wood in the air.

“Yes ma’am, we understand we are on a tight schedule, if you will pardon the pun ma’am.”

“Have the invitations been written?”

“Yes ma’am. May I thank you, your connection to the head of the dragon postal network got us a very generous discount on the postage, especially considering the distance these letters will be going.”

“I know Mr. Schedule, I was able to see him before he left, we go back a long way that dragon and I. Do you have a copy of the invitation I can look at?” Twilight asked. tight Schedule opened his saddlebags with his wings and fished out a pristine white piece of paper bordered with gold leaf and covered with carefully written calligraphy. Twilight took hold of it with her magic and read it quickly:

To The Most Serene Doge Zebrask of the Zebricans,

You are cordially invited to attend the Reunification Fair’s great exhibition in Cristamera in two months time. The Exhibition is the finale of a year long celebration across The Crystal Empire to celebrate the reappearance of our last town, Pursorubi, and the completion of our nation. Over the past few years the lands and ponies around of The Crystal Empire have returned. No longer is our nation one of earth ponies alone, our unicorn and pegasi brethren have been returned to us.

The exhibition will both show the beauty and magnificence of Crystal culture and celebrate of the greatest technological and cultural achievements of the day. Hundreds of inventors, writers, thespians, artists and musicians have been invited to show how bright the future of our world is.

Certain dignitaries, yourself included, are invited to attend a great banquet at The Crystal Palace in the heart of Cristamera. Attendees include The Elements of Harmony, who have assisted in the organisation of the fair, the Equestrian Triarchs, and King Petyr of Griffonia. As well as, of course, myself, my Prince Consort Shining Armor and our daughter Crown Princess Dawning Song in her first major royal event.

We sincerely hope you will be able to attend both the fair and the banquet. Any enquiries will be personally dealt with by the royal chamberlain.

Yours Sincerely,

Empress Mi Amore Cadenza

Sent by Spike the Dragon Postal Enterprises by Imperial Appointment

“Very good. Well I must say I am impressed Mr. Schedule. Cadance was right, you have done an excellent job of organising the Fair thus far.” Twilight praised the Chief Minister.

“I am honoured ma’am. Forgive me for asking but I have been wondering how you are able to spend half a year here in Cristamera while your fellow elements and triarchs, let alone your life in Ponyville, are miles away in Equestria?” Twilight sighed and held her clipboard under her wing.

“It is not easy I assure you. I miss my friends and my library but I promised Cadance my support for a few months with the fair and Dawning Song’s magical education. In my absence a young mare named Twist is running the library, I have had her as an assistant since Spike started his postal enterprise and I am happy she will handle herself. I am also able to handle being away from those that are close to me by sending letters to them all each day. It may not be the same as when I had Spike with me all of the time to send letters but Vulcan is agreeable enough and we have a new dragon in Ponyville filling in for Spike while he is working on combining our post service with his network.”

Tight Schedule glanced towards the other side of the building site. His face darkening, “Ah, may I introduce you to Ms. Prism, the captain of the Lens Flares.” A lean crystal pegasus sauntered over. She wore a transparent jumpsuit which put her diamond coat on full display.

Prism held out a wing, “Twilight Sparkle?”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle, Ms. Prism” Tight Schedule disapprovingly corrected her.

“Oh just Twilight is fine Ms. Prism. do not worry about it Mr Schedule,” Twilight Laughed and shook Prism’s wing with her own as the two pegasi stared daggers at each other.

“Yeah, calm down Tighty,” Prism said as she stepped in between the Princess and the Chief Minister who did not look happy to be called ‘tighty’. “I was told that you wanted to see me and watch my team do what we do best. Is now a good time? You don’t look that busy, and my team have a very… Tight Schedule with our training.” the captain began to laugh at her own joke as Tight Schedule began to look increasingly annoyed

Hoping to diffuse the situation as fast as she could Twilight quickly looked down at her clipboard, “Well i think we have covered everything I wanted to cover with our meeting today Mr. Schedule. Could we speak again tomorrow to discuss catering?”

“Great!” Prism extended one of her wings and led Twilight away before Tight Schedule could get a word in. “Now first let’s do a little history Twilight, The Lens Flares were commissioned by Empress Cadance as part of the celebration for Princess Dawning Song’s birth. We are the top nine fliers in the empire and we all have developed and perfected ‘prismatic transmission’. Meaning we produce trails of rainbows by catching the light in our bodies in certain ways, hence the see-through jumpsuits. It’s the same effect your friend Rainbow Dash can do except the rainbows she produces are created by her mane, not by a technique.” Twilight was surprised at how technical Prism was getting in explaining the technique. She was clearly proud of it. There were many similarities between the two captains, Twilight would be surprised if Prism had never called Tight Schedule an ‘egghead’ before. “In terms of skill we are as, if not more, awesome than the Wonderbolts, we just don’t have the numbers is all,” Twilight opened her mouth to point out that ‘awesomer’ was not a word as they entered the gardens behind the exhibition hall where the plans for the arena had been sketched out in chalk. “Let me introduce you to the team, Princess, c’mon!” With that Prism burst into flight leaving a rainbow in her wake. Twilight stood in shock for a moment before taking off herself and following Prism to her team who were floating in formation waiting for her.

“Right these are the Lens Flares, the most awesomest fliers in the world, Rainbow would be lucky to have just one of my guys. Like Mach Fore, he was gonna be a pro golfer until he found out he was a flying prodigy, and Rising Sol, the second fasted mare in the Empire, the first being your truly” The Captain of the Lens Flares laughed as she introduced each the eight pegasi in her team, three mares and five stallions. , and gave her reason why each was a fantastic flier.

Finally Twilight was able to get a word in edgeways, “So what kind of show do you plan to do? How long? How many in the day?” Twilight lifted her clipboard again and began to transcribe everything Prism said.

“I’m glad you asked that Twilight. We plan on an hour long show every other hour from nine until nine with a special show at midnight after Empress Cadance has brought out the Crystal heart.” The Lens Flares continued to show their routine over the next two hours, stopping after each movement for the team members to explain how the move worked, how it was brilliant, and how the crowds would love it. For the finale the Lens Flares formed a perfect three-dimensional image of the Crystal Heart with their rainbows that pulsed as they flew at unbelievable speeds.

By the time it was all over Twilight’s wings ached from keeping herself in the sky for so long, she practically fell out of the sky as she lowered herself to the ground and walked towards the palace. The exhibition area was about a mile and a half from the palace. While her journey there had been easy, her return would be more laborious, she could not bear to fly any more so it was time for a long trudge to her room. She was working from dawn until dusk every single day to help organise the fair. On top of it all she also had to help teach Dawning Song’s magic which, while it was the highlight of Twilight’s day, it was still incredibly tiring. All of a sudden a blast of sky blue light appeared beside Twilight,

“Twilight, what are you doing out here walking back?” Cadance asked her friend, “and so late,” she looked up at the Lens Flares flying towards the city and sighed. “Prism, I should have guessed. That pony just cannot stop once she starts showing off. Do you know who she reminds me of?”

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight said instantly, her face lighting up.

“I wonder what they’d do if they met,”

“I don’t,” Twilight chuckled, “I know exactly what they’d do. They’d be racing before anypony else could speak to either of them.”

Cadance giggled, “We’d never get them to stop. If I know Prism then she would have to win by at least two clear races,”

“Dash is the same; when she get’s competitive nopony is safe. One year, she and Applejack had to complete the running of the leaves twelve times!” Cadance laughed out loud, ”They only stopped because they physically couldn’t run anymore; they crawled the last lap!”. The rest of the evening Cadance and Twilight laughed as they each told story after story about the eccentricity of their friends. Once they reached the palace they sat in Cadance’s solar for while. There they continued to tell stories until Twilight fell asleep in her chair halfway through talking about the time the Cutie Mark Crusade almost attempted brain surgery on Sweetie Belle.

“You can grow up, bear an Element of Harmony and become a princess but you’re still the same filly I used to foalsit.” Cadance mused as she remembered Twilight doing the same thing talking to Cadance about magic. She called a few of her ladies-in-waiting to come and gently carried Twilight to her room.

Cadance turned her head as she saw a faint green glow out of the corner of her eye. She smiled and lifted up the mirror and tapped the glowing emerald with her hoof. She watched as her refection shimmered and changed into the image of the Queen Remeta of the changelings in her own chambers in the Colony beaming at Cadance.

“Good Evening Cadance, I hope I’m not disturbing you tonight,”

Cadance turned the mirror to show her friend the room. “No, don’t worry Remeta, I was with Twilight but she just retired to bed. I didn’t expect you to contact me at this hour, is everything alright with you?”

Remeta laughed at the concern in Cadance’s voice, her yellow eyes sparkling “Oh I’m fine, I only just got my newest larvae to sleep and I didn’t want to be disturbed. In fact the brood is almost as large as my sister’s was at its peak.”

“I’ll never understand how you find time for them all. Our hooves were full enough when Dawn was born, how many were in this last brood?”

“Three hundred,” Remeta said nonchalantly, “and with each born our hivemind gets stronger and more sophisticated.”

“Oh? I thought all Changelings shared a hivemind, was that wrong?”

“Slightly. Normally all Changelings do share a hivemind as you say, it is our greatest defence against predators. When a queen is dying she passes down the control of the hivemind to one of her daughters, it is from her that future broods are born. It is possible for a princess to create her own hivemind and become the queen of her own swarm and have children. It was complicated and painful but I performed the ritual to do this.”

“That explains why your children share your eyes, I noticed they were different to her’s,”

“I had no plan to allow my sister’s swarm to continue. Chrysalis’ tyranny knew no bounds, I have told you how she forced our mother give her control of the swarm and called upon centuries of songs of imperialism in the hivemind to turn the swarm into what struck Canterlot. I started anew, I created my own hivemind and helped wipe the slate clean. Since then I have nurtured my swarm with though songs of peace and harmony.”

It was clear to Cadance that Remeta did not wish to continue this topic so she hurriedly changed the subject, “Why was it that you contacted me then Remeta?” she asked.

“I wanted to apologise, I cannot come to the Reunification Fair. I do not think it is wise for myself to go, most still do not know about our redemption and there is the obvious history between my race and you and your husband. We do not have the numbers yet to slowly integrate ourselves, neither my brood or the other nations are ready for us yet. I do plan on sending Espera there in surprise as my envoy however, if that is fine with you of course.”

Cadance beamed, “Of course. We would love to host Espera again, it has been too long since we last saw her. How is she?” For the rest of the night both monarchs forgot about the stresses of ruling their lands and managing their populaces and instead gossiped throughout the night and told each other about their children, easily mistakable for any other pair of mothers in world.

3 The Exam

“Alright runts, it’s time for your final exam. I’ve spent two years training you all. You have worked day and night, without break, the whole time; what do you have to show for it? If I’d had my way I would have thrown you against the trees as pups to see who dropped first. Unfortunately it wasn’t my call, so I was stuck with you whelps. When you came into my camp you were nothing but a rabble , I don’t see a difference!” Tiberius Gratius, the Praefectus Castrorum of the training camp, barked at the recruits in front of him.

“You are here to prove your worth to the Legion. You are here to show you are not as worthless as the other two thousand pups who have taken the exam the past two months. You are to take equipment from the pile behind me and go to one of the four bases in the area, some maps have them all on, some only have a few, some of you may not even get a map. It’s all about speed, quick thinking, strategy and teamwork. Working together with each other, making the most of each other’s skills and equipment is the secret to success and conquest.” He paced along the line in front of him. Every recruit stood stock-still, listening to his every word.

“You know your squads, you now know your objective. You are facing the Legion, Legatus Aetius is leading them himself! Do not underestimate them, and remember this: Fail, and you make me look bad. Make me look bad and you will wish that you runts will have died in the caves you were found in before I will skin you myself!” For thirty seconds the recruits and Tiberius stood in complete silence before concluded his instructions with a quick nod to the assembled dogs before him and bounded into the forest. The group suddenly broke formation and split into their respective squads, grabbed their equipment and disappeared into the forest around them.

One group however, did not join the scramble for the best equipment. Instead they formed up on their leader and waited for instructions. Their leader was an average size canine with dark grey fur and piercing grey eyes. He was flanked by both a humongous brute and a smaller canine, both with the same light grey fur as the other.

The canine counted down from five. As he finished four packs and four sets of armour landed in front of him, followed by a lithe almost black canine, already wearing his armour with his pack on his back. The armoured canine dropped to one knee and pressed a clenched fist to his heart in salute.

“Octavius I have five packs with all equipment we need with our personalized armours. The others have scattered with what they could find and whatever armour they could grab, some of which I managed to sabotage last night.” He spoke barely above a whisper.

“Sabotaged? What have you done Sextus?” The leader asked. Sextus simply laughed in response. “No matter. Marcus, Lucius, Numeria, arm yourselves.” The lone female of the group who had been standing as close as she could to Octavius quickly began to put on her armour. The others followed suit. Octavius then began clasping his own armour onto himself. While most canini had roughly the same uniform armour, Lucius and Marcus had crafted each of them their own personalized armour. Sextus’ for example was not primarily steel and was instead mainly thick studded leather to grant him greater mobility and stealth. The female, Numeria, held her weapon for a moment before jabbing it into the air and swinging it a couple of times until she was happy it was indeed hers and was still correctly weighted. Most soldiers of the canini specialised with swords and shields. Numeria was one of the few that had trained to master the spear as a primary weapon. Along with her spear she had three javelins held with a strap on her back while the others only had one in case of emergency. Sextus handed them each a container of bright orange liquid which they clipped onto their belts.

“It’s the paint to show ‘burned’ supplies. Using it on any equipment renders it unusable for the rest of the exercise. There’s a brush in the lid, see? There aren’t that many, even less now that we’ve got these!”

Once all five of them had donned their armour they turned to Lucius and Octavius who had begun to scan a map of the area.

“Now the four bases the praefectus mentioned are in the forest are here, here, here and here. They all have their strengths and weaknesses: Unus is closest and we could get there quickly but it is likely to be the most fortified and doing the same as the rank and file will do nothing to help our grades. Duo is a little out of the forest so there is no threat of ambush from the trees but the hill will give the soldiers a better chance at seeing us. Tres is deep within the forest and is probably the simplest to get into but again many others will target it for that reason. Finally Quattuor is on this small island on a lake on the eastern side of the forest so a nighttime amphibious assault is the best tactic but still the one they will expect, anything else would be too easily spotted. They will not expect many to attempt to strike there so it will not be as well guarded as the others. ” Octavius pointed to an area on the map away from where the four bases were. “This is where Legatus Aetius is leading the legion against us. If we can get inside of that post and take the daggers there is no way anybody can score higher than us in this exam.” The group nodded in assent.Lucius pulled a quill and some ink from his pack and began to annotate the map.

“If we take this route we can try and avoid opposing teams but it would mean we would have to try and take the command base head on and the other teams might catch onto our plan. Instead I would recommend we go this way. By going towards tres and then traveling downstream we can make up for lost time and we should be able to sneak our way in, ‘burn’ the supplies, and take the daggers. This river is the most likely source of water for the base so there must be an access to the base from it.” Octavius agreed and the group sprung into action, marching into the forest quickly, hoping to make up for lost time.

After the group marched for hours before Octavius signalled for them to stop. The all heard it. Another group was nearby. While they were too far for most of the group to hear Numeria smiled and began to whisper.

“It’s Aurelius’ group. Tres, the base we’re looking for? Yeah, it’s about half an hour south of their position. They plan on sleeping here and attempting a midnight raid. Sounds like they got a pretty decent haul with the kit. Not as good as us but we did have Sextus steal some stuff for us. They plan on sneaking over the wall and taking the legionnaires by surprise.” She squealed happily as Octavius grabbed her by her waist and whispered something in her ear that made her giggle uncontrollably. he turned to look at the rest of his team while she giggled. “Sextus: see if you can do anything to hamper their midnight raid. Numeria: accompany him. As long as you do not get caught we will be fine. Lucius and Marcus: look at the map and figure out are next heading and where we can sleep for the night. We will need as much energy as we can get to take on Legate Aetius.” Sextus and Numeria instantly leapt up into the trees and ran along the branches, jumping from tree to tree, until they reached the opposing campsite.

“From the looks of it They’ve left Agrippa awake on watch while they sleep. Why don’t you go down and do your thing?” Sextus asked. Numeria winked and swung around the trunk of the tree. Sextus watched from above as Numeria crept behind Agrippa and lightly kissed him. Agrippa jumped and drew his sword but lowered it again when he saw Numeria. She whispered something in his ear which plastered a stupid grin on his face and quickly pulled him into a deep kiss and held him there. With him distracted Sextus pulled a small blade and a vial from his belt. He poured the liquid onto his blade and dropped it down. Numeria’s arm shot out and perfectly grabbed the blade before using it to slightly scratch Agrippa’s arm. A cross between fear and confusion flashed before the soldier’s face before he collapsed into the dirt. Numeria spat at the group while Sextus slid down the tree trunk. “Like the taste? Oh don’t give me that look. just scratch the rest of them and they won’t wake up for at least another eight hours. If the sun hasn’t risen by then the Gods are on their side. Or the mules.” Sextus joked as. Numeria made a small cut near each of the ankles of the group then passed him the knife and he wiped on a cloth from his belt. “Useful little poison I mixed up. It even speeds up the healing of the wound so there won’t be any evidence of us being here. Aurelius and his team’ll wake up and think Agrippa fell asleep before waking up the next watch. Nobody’ll believe you were here so long as we leave no trace of our being here.”

After a night camped out in the branches of a tree, the group woke as the day began to Dawn and silently geared up. The quiet between them was broken as Lucius emerged through the leaves carrying a scroll.

“It’s not perfect but I managed to get something together.” Lucius unrolled the scroll on the ground. “There is one main entrance here. It is well fortified so I am going to guess that they expect at least one group to attempt what we are attempting. Attempting to use the trees to swing down will not work either. Little past here they have cut down all the trees to make a clearing and a fort. Meaning no way to leap down into it. The base is temporary and on the bank rather than over the river so we cannot swim inside. From the looks of it our only option is to attack the main gate which makes Sextus’ stealth almost useless and I will not be nearly as useful in a fight as Octavius or Marcus.” There was silence as the group let Lucius’ report sink in. Finally the usually silent Marcus spoke, surprising everyone.

“Did you make a mistake Octavius? It would be acceptable. We could still move to another camp.” Octavius gritted his teeth and shook his head, his eyes were still locked onto the map.

“I cannot do that to you all. You have all put in too much effort for me to call a retreat. I promised you top scores and I keep my promises. You are all more than my fellow soldiers, more than my squadmates. I will do right by you all, my friends. My pack.” All of a sudden Octavius picked up the map flipped it over. “Lucius give me your quill.” Octavius pulled a small jar of green fire from his pack. Octavius held up a small crystal disk with a letter ‘V’ inscribed on it, opened the jar and dropped it into the it. Immediately the flame turned from green to black. Octavian tipped the black flame onto the scroll and watched as it was engulfed in the flames. “Now we wait.”

“Aurelius! What was that?” Agrippa yelled as the fire erupted in front of his eyes. Aurelius quickly ripped his pack off of his back and lifted his paw to stomp out the flames but they vanished as quickly as they had appeared, leaving no sign of damage. He opened it up and reached inside, pulling out a small scroll. He read it, put his pack back onto his back and began to quickly move onwards, calling back to his squad.

“Come on, we have to strike now if we have any chance of getting a good grade on this.”

Aurelius raced forwards towards the base in front of them, ignoring the questions his team were asking about the fire as they followed. As they ran Aurelius became aware of a similar noise of rushing footsteps in the distance. “Your plan had better work Octavius.” He whispered.

Almost the entire garrison at the command base poured out of the gate. Octavian did not need Numeria’s hearing to tell that they were moving out to the four bases.

“Follow me, we will skirt around to the rear of the command post.” The base was circled by a curtain of high wooden walls. The trees cut down to form the clearing had been cut in half with the flat edge on the outside use to make the wall tight and strong. “It’ll be too smooth for Sextus to climb. They will not expect us to try and strike here but by no means is it weak. Marcus, would you kindly give us an entrance?” Marcus hunkered down and began to dig. Huge mounds of earth flew back as the hulking canine tunneled under the wall, making a passage large enough for himself to stand in. He grunted once he reached the other side and the group casually walked through it. “Now, Marcus and Sextus: incapacitate the soldiers here. There will only be one or two and you should be able to catch them unawares, giving the advantage you need to deal with them. Remember these are soldiers from the Arrival; they know what they are doing. be careful. You two deal with their supplies. Do not try and leave without your daggers. I am going for a little talk with Legatus Aetius about our grades. Meet here once you’re done”

Sextus vaulted onto the wall and began running along with Marcus walking slowly behind on the group.

“Three ahead, I’ll take ‘em out.” Sextus drew three daggers from his belt and coated them in the liquid clipped to his belt. Expertly he threw the daggers and drugged two of legionnaires in front of him. The third looked up to see where the dagger that very narrowly missed his face came from to see Sextus. Before he could sound the alarm Marcus wrapped his gigantic paws around the soldier’s face and clamped them until the canine lost consciousness. No matter how hard the he struggled the soldier was unable to break free of Marcus’ vice-like grip.

“Let’s grab the daggers and get out of here. The longer we stay the higher the chance there is of us getting caught.” The pair grabbed the daggers and ran towards the tunnel. When they arrived Numeria and Lucius were waiting for them, their prizes hanging from their armour. Lucius nudged Numeria to bring the others to her attention.

“An entire storehouse of weaponry, all of the highest quality. All dealt with as far as the exercise is concerned. Any news from Octavius?” Marcus shook his head. “Same for us. We hoped he would have passed you.”

“I do not like leaving him.” Numeria whispered.

“He can protect himself Numeria.” Sextus Chastised. “He can handle one or two guards just fine. You can’t always be there to protect him.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Meanwhile guard dropped to his knees, a sword pointed at his neck.

“Dead.” Octavius muttered as he threw the soldier’s sword to the ground and sat on the stool in front of him. “I would like to make my report in person sir.” Aetius smiled and leant forward. waiting for him to begin. “When Gratius first mentioned this exam would be team based I guessed that if I was able to coordinate the entire trainee legion we could never fail. From that point I began working on a project. I had Sextus retrieve an order I made outside of camp for a jar of dragonfire and two crystal disks containing magic from the mules. It took a great deal of time but finally I found a way to attune the magic held within the crystal to a symbol carved into it. I then carved the symbol onto small pieces of wood, one of which I gave to each of the squad leaders. We were advantaged from the start of the exercise with our personalised armour and fully equipped pack hidden beforehand by Sextus. When we arrived here I used the fire to send a message to each of them. Here, look.” Octavius took a small wooden disc, a second crystal disk of the same size, a scrap of paper and another jar of green fire from his pack and placed the wooden disk on the desk in front of Aetius. Octavius dropped the crystal into the fire and poured it onto the paper. As the paper was engulfed by the flames the wooden disk ignited and in its place appeared the piece of paper, totally unharmed.

“I sent a message telling each and every squad leader to attack simultaneously. This forced you to send out your reserve troops and make it far more manageable to raid your base. You will find that your supplies are marked as burnt and your sentries are unconscious thanks to my team. Your dagger, sir, if you will.” Octavius held out his paw. Aetius laughed and handed a dagger with its gilded silver handle to him.

“Genius. The use of dragonfire is genius. Can you replicate it? With this our invasion plan change significantly, think of what we could transport with higher levels of concentrated magic. Unfortunately your plan was flawed.” All of a sudden Octavius’ squad was escorted into the tent by five of Aetius’ elite Praetorians. “I had five of my men leave the camp and with orders to return shortly after. Cardinus: report!” One of the praetorians stepped forward

“We found the sentires unconscious and split up to search the interior and exterior of the base. We were able to strike them from both sides of the tunnel they dug underneath the wall to get in. They fought admirably but in the end we had more energy and the element of surprise.” Aetius looked solemnly at Octavius and took the dagger as four letters appeared in fire in front of him. They were sealed with the number’s I to IV carved into the wax.

“One way messaging is still useful Octavius. Your use of the fire and its creation, your use of your team’s skills and your strategy have gained you high marks. Unfortunately you have failed the exam, I am ashamed that you have been captured along with your team and, as these messages show, all four bases are double garrisoned and are fully controlled by my legionaries. Not a single one of your peers has succeeded in taking a base. I thought so much of you Octavius, you and your peer group. You were to be the generation to reclaim our empire. No matter, we will find another batch of pups.” Aetius stopped as Octavius raised a paw.

“Sir, if you would not mind. Please read the note.” Aetius hesitated before lifting the scrap of paper. Written on it were the words:

It’s time

The corners of the tent were sliced open by swords on all sides and the canopy was ripped away to reveal the entirety of the training legion holding daggers. Scattered around were members of the praetorian guard disarmed and held down. Octavius stood up and reclaimed the gilded dagger from the stunned Legatus.

“I had the squads run towards the bases before retreating back into the forests and sprinting here. My squad and I gave it enough time for you to mobilise and for the other squads to get close. I assumed you would see through my ruse and leave your elite troops. Numeria would have heard your soldiers in enough time to warn the others and make your sneak attack useless. Had I not ordered them to be captured they could have defeated your guards. I did not fall into your trap sir, you have fallen into mine.”

There was silence as a grim smile grew upon Aetius’ face. before he raised his voice and addressed the entire training legion surrounding him.

“Welcome to the legion recruits.”

4 The Fair

“GOOD MOOOOOOOOORNING!!!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she bounded into Dawning Song’s room. “DO YOU WANT TO GO TO A FAIR?!”

Shock was the first emotion to cross the filly’s face, then confusion and finally a mix of realisation and excitement,

“Yeah!” she shouted back.

“Um,” Fluttershy whispered as she stuck her head around the door, “I’m not sure Dawn was awake Pinkie. Good morning though Dawn.” Dawning Song grinned widely at her as Pinkie froze where she was in the air in shock and stared incredulously at Fluttershy.

“What are you talking about Fluttershy?” She laughed. “Of course she’s awake. Are you awake, Dawn?” The filly nodded, “See, I told you she was awake, silly.”

Fluttershy sighed. “I think you woke her up Pinkie. We should let her get up and ready for the Fair. We’ll see you later Dawn, I think Applejack has some ideas for your breakfast, if you’re interested, that is.”

“Thanks Auntie ‘Shy,” Dawning Song said cheerily. “See you later today, you too Auntie Pinkie.” Once the pair had left she clambered out of bed and started getting ready. “Gotta be quick Dawn, but not sloppy,” she muttered to herself, “just remember what Auntie Rarity says: ‘a princess is presentable, dear’” Dawn giggled at her impression of the unicorn. Wearing a small silver circlet and with her mane styled, she galloped out of her room and through the palace to the foyer where Applejack was waiting.

“Mornin’, Dawn!” she called cheerily as the filly ran down the stairs towards her. “How about we get on over to the markets and get ourselves some breakfast? I gotta set up my stall up first but that won't take two ticks with two of us at it. Sound good?" Dawning Song nodded energetically before suddenly standing still and gritting her teeth in focus. Applejack looked worried for the filly before she burst out laughing as her hat flipped into the air and twirled elegantly down to Dawning Song, her horn was the only thing that stopped the hat from falling down and covering her eyes. "Fine, you can wear the hat. Just don't let Pinkie see you and get any ideas about takin’ it."

"But dear I thought the idea of going shopping early was to avoid the lines, plus you can skip them anyway. You could buy twice the amount I can and in half the time. Why not use your privileges as a princess?" Rarity asked as she walked with Dawn towards the line.

"Well," the filly explained, "there are all kinds of different creatures here for the fair and I want to meet as many as I can. You don’t meet ponies by skipping the lines. Meeting new ponies is always fun, and I get to do that too! In fact," she gestured for Rarity to lean in close. "I really want to meet a zebra!"

"A zebra? We know a zebra, darling, her name is Zecora. She lives just out of town, in the Everfree Forest."

"I know, Auntie Pinkie told me. She said all zebras speak in rhyme. I don't think many zebras are here though," Dawn said absentmindedly while scouring the crowds for stripes. "I've looked at maps with Auntie Twilight last week and Zebrica is really far away from the Empire."

"Well I wouldn't worry, Dawn." Rarity cheerily replied as she waved to a pony in the distance. "Our friend Zecora is here today with one or two other ponies that could take the time to come. She's just over there. Ah, she's seen us. See her there Dawn?" The filly looked up, wide-eyed, to see Zecora walk over.

"It is an honour to see you Dawning Song, since we last met it has been too long." she said, bowing her head.

"Too long?" Dawning Song whispered in a confused and embarrassed voice. "Have we met before? I'm really sorry Miss Zecora but I don't remember you"

"Oh sweet princess do not fret," Zecora laughed. "you simply were not old enough yet."

"Just a short while after you were born Cadance and Shining Armor visited Twilight in Ponyville. The whole town came to see you, in the end Cadance had to call extra guards over to help take all the gifts for you!" Rarity explained.

"Miss Zecora, Auntie Pinkie says that all zebras speak in rhyme, is it true?"

"Ah I guessed as much from Pinkie, that is not true you must see. How it started? I have no clue, but the rhyming is not what all Zebras do. No Pinkie is not correct, this is my regional dialect." Zecora stopped as somepony caught her eye. She bowed again. "Forgive me princess, but I must go. I have just seen a friend I used to know" With that the zebra galloped off toward another who was waving to her near to the flugelhorn stall.

"Oh Rarity, it looks wonderful."

"Why thank you Fluttershy. Dawn bought it for me, she had me trying on hats all morning. I had no idea they were for me, I thought it was a gift for Cadance," Rarity told the pegasus as Dawning Song grinned at her handiwork. "Now I had better go darling, apparently we're not allowed to keep Dawn to ourselves, and I must admit she has scheduled us all quite well today. Twilight told me that there was an exhibition on crystal fashion, have you seen it, dear?"

"Oh yes," replied Fluttershy eagerly, "there are some especially impressive selection of haute couture outfits I liked."

"So where are you too off to?"

"Auntie Shy is taking me to the petting zoo." Dawn excitedly told Rarity, "She said that there are ewes in more colour than I can think of!" Suddenly Dawn's face became deadly serious as she stared at Fluttershy. "I can think of a lot of colours, Auntie Shy. Challenge accepted."

"Clearly you two are fine. I'll see you both later at the banquet. Have fun!"

"Bye Auntie Rarity. C'mon Auntie Shy, lets go. Don't forget we're going to see Auntie Dash's show later. She's gonna fly with the Lens Flares. They're the coolest fliers in the World!"

It would have been physically impossible for anybody in the crowd to open their eyes wider than they already were when Prism and her team were, out of the blue, joined in the air by the entire main roster of the Wonderbolts! The rainbows following the Lens Flares and Rainbow Dash were joined by lightning bolts from Lighting Dust and the gold, silver and bronze stripes from Olympiad. They ducked and weaved around each other, forming shapes with their trails. The true show soon became clear however, as Prism and Rainbow Dash became increasingly focused on upstaging the other. Once Lightning Dust and Rising Sol took over leading the teams the captains upped their game. Prism would do a nosedive and pull up at the last second, Rainbow Dash would go lower. Rainbow Dash would slalom through incredibly close pillars of cloud, Prism would do it faster. Suddenly a rainboom appeared to the west and another appeared in the east as Prism and Rainbow hurtled towards each other. They both moved at the last second and spiraled around each other, forming a rainbow double helix in the sky! They both flew down to the ground and bowed with their teams, gulping down all the air they could get to refill their lungs, their hearts racing faster than they ever had before. The crowd fell silent as the captains turned and glared at each other, ready to pounce. A grin appeared on both their faces and they burst out laughing at the shocked crowds and hoof bumped and bowed again before the flying teams walked to the locker room at the side of the arena.

Dawning Song was jumping up and down in her seat,"Wow wow wow wow wow! That was amazing! The coolest thing ever. Wasn't that the coolest thing ever, Auntie Twilight?" She asked.

"I was cooler than that!" a voice answered before Twilight could.

"Oh way cooler. Like, twice as cool!" said another.

"Auntie Dash! Prism! That was so cool!" Dawn screamed as she ran to them. "Are you gonna do that every show?"

Rainbow looked at Prism and they both laughed. "Sorry kiddo but we can't. Well I can't. This is Prism's show, I just thought I'd bring the team out as a surprise seeing as lot of VIP's are here. Thought I'd give 'em something special. I didn't expect Prism to give me such a run for my bits though, where did you learn to fly like that?"

"I could ask you the same question" Prism chuckled, "I know I surprised you with that rainboom. I've been studying how you did that for months, today was actually my first time doing one! I don’t know you handle the speed, I can barely walk, you’re already fine!"

A scowl crossed Rainbow Dash’s face before she quickly regained her smile, she was clearly more threatened by Prism’s rainboom than she let on. "Well you still have a lot to learn before you can out-fly me newbie. I just didn’t want to upstage you is all. Same time next year?"

"You betcha!" The captains hoof bumped again. "I'm glad you enjoyed the show, Your Highness." Prism bowed to Dawning Song and flew off towards the locker room to rest before the next show.

"Maybe you should have a go too next time, Twilight. Maybe you could read a book on how to do a sonic rainboom," Rainbow teased.

"Can you do that?! Is that in books? Why haven't we been reading those ones?" Dawn yelled. Rainbow awkwardly laughed as Twilight gave her a disapproving why-are-you-teasing-her-like-this? stare from behind the filly.

"Sorry kiddo, pegasi only. Well, pegasi and alicorns like Twilight."

"Well if I can't learn to do one you have to Auntie Twilight. You have to sonic rainboom in my place." Dawn grinned innocently as Twilight shot Rainbow a disapproving look.

"Well," she said, standing up. "Dawn and I are going to the exhibition to look at some magic exhibits there. We'll see you at the banquet though. That was an amazing show though Dash, you'll struggle to top that one."

Dawn squealed with delight as she hurtled down the four story helter skelter. She twirled around and around until she reached the bottom and collapsed into the pile of children of a myriad different species trying to stop being dizzy. After a couple of minutes she pulled herself to her hooves and waited for the world to stop spinning.

"Tag! You're it!" A voice cried as a claw pushed her side. She turned to see a griffon drake running away. He turned back and stopped when he saw the confused look on her face. "You're it," he repeated, "you have to catch someone, no magic or flying, those are the rules!" With that he sped off again. Dawning Song laughed as she ran after the griffon before feinting to the side to tag an almost black crystal pegasus colt with who immediately spread out a wing to tag his friend before hurtling off towards Dawning Song, his gold and silver mane sparkling as he ran.

"C'mon!" He cried, extending a wing again to usher her forward. After ducking and weaving through the giant playground for about ten minutes they collapsed in a small bunker. "There’s no way a griffon is gonna get through there. Or one of those," the colt panted while looking through the small tunnel they had crawled through, "what is one of those anyway?"

Dawning Song crawled over to him and peeked through at the creature the colt was pointing to. "Oh that's a rhino, I think."

"It's big, I bet their parents are huge. Oh they have horns too! I thought only unicorns had magic."

"I don't think the horn has magic. I think it's just there."

"Weird..."

"Different," she corrected.

The colt looked at her as if she had just said something incredibly naive, "Weird." He grinned and held out a hoof, "My name's Scourge."

Dawning Song balked, "Scourge?!"

"I'm just messing with you," he laughed, "my name's Reach, because my wings are big and I can reach really far with them." He demonstrated this by unfurling his wings which were indeed noticeably bigger than those of other pegasi their age. He held out his hoof again and she bumped it.

"Dawn. My name's Dawn." she told him. "`I'm here with my aunties. Are you here with anypony? Your mum? Your dad?"

Reach looked forlornly at the floor. "They're not here, they had to work. I'm here with my brother." All of a sudden he was filled with energy again, "You should meet him! C'mon!" He scurried out of the bunker with Dawn hot on his hooves. They were barely out for a second before they heard two voices calling:

"Dawn, where are you?" called the first voice.

"It's time we were going I'm afraid, you have to get ready for tonight," said the other.

"That's me. I'll see you another time," Dawn said as she ran off towards the voices. Reach started waving but his wing went limp and his jaw dropped.

"There you are, c'mere, we gotta go, Reach," Reach's brother said when he caught up to him. "Are you okay bro? What happened?"

"I-I-I," Reach stuttered, "I was playing tag, with this filly. This filly called Dawn, and she, and she just went off with her aunt. They were," He gulped. "—they were those princesses from Equestria, the white one and the blue one. Woah..."

"Sure bro," Reach's brother chuckled, "and I was just having the loveliest conversation with a diamond dog about the magic show Trixie and Houdiamond did earlier. Ow! What did you do that for?"

"-and then Auntie Luna and Auntie Tia took me to see the changing of guard Daddy did with all those extra soldiers and the bands and then they helped me make my mane really pretty like this and then we came here." Dawning Song said in a single breath.

"Wow, Dawnie," Cadance laughed, "you sure have had a busy day. You are right, your mane looks really great. How are you feeling?"

"A little nervous. Is it that easy to tell?"

“It's natural to be when you're about to meet all these new important creatures from different countries. Besides, mum's know." Cadance winked at Dawn. Cadance looked over to Tight Schedule as he entered the room and gave her a nod. "Come on Dawnie, time to go. I have to speak to some creatures about some boring stuff but I think you have a lot to tell Daddy about your day. Maybe when you tell him you could breathe a few more times than you did with me, okay?"

As soon as Dawn had galloped over to Shining Armour she was like a filly on a mission. She was adamant that she was going to talk to every creature she could and nopony was going to stop her.

“And who’s this young filly you’ve got here Shining Armour?” An ancient zebra asked.

“I’m Dawning Song, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Dawn said, curtsying.

“And I you, Your Highness.”

Shining Armour bowed his head to him. “Nice to see you again Your Serenity. We are very pleased that you have been able to come to Cristamera. Cadance often worries about your health.”

As if on cue the zebra broke out into a coughing fit. “I am fine Shining Armour,” he said firmly, “and feel free to call me Zebrask. The same goes for you Princess Song.“

“Then you can call me Dawn, Zebrask.” She said with a wide grin on her face.

“It would be an honour Dawn. Have you met a zebra before Dawn?”

She shook her head. “Not before today, but I did meet my auntie Rarity’s friend Zecora today and I played with a few fillies and colt this afternoon. Before Ms Zecora explained it to me I thought that all zebras rhymed.”

“No, only a few of us I’m afraid. My second wife was a rhymer you know?” The awe in Dawning Song’s eyes brought a smile to Zebrask as he reminisced about his wife. “She spent years living in the jungles so life Za-Lasa was hard for her.”

“Is Za-Lasa very different then?”

“Oh undoubtedly. The jungle surrounds a desert in the core of our nation. Both the desert and the jungle are home to countless hidden villages, tiny communities united by the shared laws and customs of our people. Za-Lasa our only city and couldn’t be more different. It was built centuries ago, Dawn, on a huge lake almost in the centre of the desert. Apparently the jungle and desert zebras worked together to build islands with the wood and the sand and enchanted potions. These islands hold our homes and our navy.”

“A navy? How do you have a navy in the middle of a desert?”

“When the city was built the ancient zebras built a giant canal connecting our coast to the city so that it could trade and flourish.”

“But why did they even build a city there?”

“That’s the question isn’t it Dawn?” Zebrask winked at the confused filly. “Why was this magnificent built by zebras who, until then, had always shunned city life? Why did they build a huge canal to link it to the sea? Now it is the core of our trade but it cannot have been built merely for that.” Zebrask was suddenly distracted by somepony on the other side of the room. “Forgive me Dawn, Shining Armor, I must leave you. Thank you and Empress Cadance for the invitation once again.” He hobbled away with a pair of handmares hurrying behind him.

“Daddy,” She turned to her father. “Is he always like that? All mysterious but at the same time really nice?”

Shining Armour laughed. “Well he has been since I met him. Who do you want to talk to next Dawn?”

She began scanning the room for only a second before she had acquired her next target and pointed him out to her father. As they walked over, Shining Armor bumped into a young white crystal unicorn with a pale blue mane. Dawning Song merely giggled as her father profusely apologised to the mare. Dawn didn’t recognise her, which was strange because she had seen most of the upper class of the empire during her time in the court. The mare wasn’t a servant either because she was clearly mingling with the other guests.

“Who was that daddy?” She whispered as the walked away.

“Just an old friend. Ah, good evening Prince Kaciar” Any further questions Dawn might have had were removed from her mind as the tall, well built stallion she had pointed out to her father. Kaciar had the appearance of a normal pony with a dark purple coat and maroon mane from the waist up. He had no tail and his rear legs were coated with shining bronze scales. Kaciar did not look at Dawn and simply kept his stony expression as he bowed to her father.

“Good evening Prince Shining Armor. Please thank Empress Cadenza for allowing me to come here in the place of the Greater Council. They are currently dealing with an issue of the greatest importance.”

“I understand.” Shining Armour replied, using the demeanor he used when leading his troops. “May I introduce my daughter, Princess Dell’Alba” Their use her and her mother’s regnal names Confused Dawn so she just smiled and curtsied to the strange pony.

“A pleasure to meet you Princess Dell’Alba,” Kaciar growled, “I am prince Kaciar, a leading member of the Lesser Council of the hippocampi.” Dawn shifted from one foot to the other awkwardly. She knew what a hippocampus was, they were the merponies that lived underwater, but she had no idea what the Greater and Lesser councils were. Shining Armor clearly understood how she felt as he quickly made and excuse and hurried her away.

“They’re like that,” he explained, “the hippocampi. It’s hard to crack a smile out of one but they’re good to have on your good side, old Zebrask and his navy have to keep that in mind more than anypony else.”

“it wasn’t fun to speak to him.” Dawn said, “not like speaking Zebrask was, but I need to be empress someday, I have to know these other creatures. Now who should we meet next?”

The evening continued uneventfully, Dawning Song spoke to many older creatures and almost all were charmed by her politeness. Eventually everyone's attention was taken by the as the giant main doors to the throne room boomed as they slammed open. All present looked in awe as the Crystal Heart was brought in, radiating energy.

Dawning Song tried to get a closer look but everytime she tried to move forward Shining Armour would hold her still, keeping her close. No matter how hard she moaned he refused to let her go so she was forced to watch from afar. She wasn't interested in what her mother was saying, she was transfixed with the Heart. All she could do was stare into it. She felt connected to it, as if she was being pulled in. Voices whispered to her. They were too far enough away for her to make out what they were saying but somehow she knew it was about her. The voices were closer this time but still too far away. She was vaguely aware of a unicorn carrying a platter suddenly slipping and dropping it to her left. The father moved to help him and she was able to find the voices. Almost nopony noticed the filly slipping through the crowds. She simply pushed away those that tried to stop her. They would assume she was going to her mother. She was so close. So close. She could almost touch it. She could almost reach the voices. She was so close to them. So close to the voices. They were talking about her. Why? She had to get closer to find out. She was so close now. So close.

An ear splitting scream burst through the ears of everyone in the room. The scream was joined by shouts of concern from a dozen ponies, none louder than the Empress and her consort who galloped over to the filly writhing and screaming near the Heart. Cadance clutched Dawn in her hooves and cried for her to respond, tears streaming down her face. Almost in synchronisation Prism and Tight Schedule moved in front of the pair and unfurled their wings, blocking them from view. Other members of the royal household quickly began ushering the dignitaries out of the room and to wherever they were staying the night in the palace, telling them that they needn't worry about the young princess while Shining Armour almost ripped the Crystal Heart off of its podium as he and some guards removed it. Only eight other ponies were allowed to stay in the room.

"We are not leaving. Not while we can help." Celestia said firmly as an usher approached her, nopony tried again after that. Luna and the Element Bearers shared the same look of concern. "Cadance" She and Luna tentatively moved towards Dawning Song and Cadance. "May we take a look at her? We won't take her or harm her, you know that. We've picked up a thing or two about medicine over the centuries, we're probably the best doctors you will find for the moment." Cadance simply nodded, too distraught to say a word. As softly as she could she lowered the filly to the ground on a bed of cushions Twilight had thrown together with those scattered around the room.

Author's Note

I promise not to rhyme again :o

5 The Empress

Flashes of coloured light filled Cadance’s solar as the Equestrian Triarchs teleported in. Immediately Twilight rushed forward and hugged her old friend.

“Oh Cadance we came as fast as we could. Is she alright” Twilight asked. When Cadance nodded Twilight leaned back to get a better look at her. “Are you alright for that matter? You look awful.” Cadance’s mane was disheveled and it was obvious that she had not slept properly in days. “You look just like you did when I first came to Cristamera. When you were holding the shield up to stop Sombra.”

“Is there anybody else we’re waiting for?” Celestia asked, she and Luna shared the same look of concern as Twilight. None of them knew exactly what had happened, only that it included Dawning Song and the Crystal Heart. Cadance lifted two mirrors from a chest of drawers and leaned them against the wall, so that they would be at head height when the four ponies sat down to talk.

“Zecora and Remeta will contact us through these shortly.” Cadance explained, leaving the the other ponies wide-eyed in shock. “Remeta is not Chrysalis. Things have changed, you should trust me on this one. I even housed her eldest, Espera, as a ward for some time. Anyway, it’s comforting to have another mother to speak to.” The reflection in the left mirror shimmered and, where once the four ponies had been, the image of Zecora appeared.

“Empress, I apologise for the delay. I hope everything is okay.” The Zebra said as the other mirror also shimmered and within appeared the Image of a tall changeling. Surprisingly it was only when Remeta appeared that Cadance began to relax and rested upon the cushions on the floor of the solar, with Luna, Celestia and Twilight following suit. All of the ponies sat quietly, waiting patiently as Cadance shut her eyes and gained her composure. It was obvious that there was a lot she needed to get off of her chest. For five minutes they sat, not saying a word.

“Well Cadance. Whenever you are ready we will listen to whatever you have to say.” Luna whispered, breaking the silence. Cadance opened her eyes again, all of a sudden remembering she was not alone. She took a deep breath and began to tell the story of what had happened.

Dawning Song is a special filly. In more respects than any of us realised. She astounds Shining Armor and I and makes us so proud and, at the same time, she scares us. She is different to other foals, She was the first child to be born in the Empire since it resurfaced; the first of the new generation of crystal ponies. Plus she’s a unicorn in a family known for powerful magic on both sides. Her lineage and natural crystal body this has given her incredible magical ability, not to the level of Twilight, but she would definitely be a contender for another bearer of the Element of Magic, in terms of ability at least, her focus is on the empire so she can't afford to have the extensive magical education Twilight had. Being a crystal pony means that her magic is amplified and concentrated by her body but she has more than just a unicorn’s power amplified by crystal, Trust me, at times she seems to hold more power than even I do.

For years we tried to figure out what gave her this power without her knowing we were doing it, and on top of that I need to prepare her for our eventual succession. Shining Armor and I wanted her to have the best possible childhood, and we still do. I am not immortal like Celestia and Luna, eventually I will die. When I do, it will be Dawning Song’s time to be empress, we want her to be able to live as close to how a normal filly does before that responsibility is thrust upon her.

When she visited, Twilight, joined me in quietly assessing her. We believe that we found the source of her increased power, somehow, she can tap into the energy within the Crystal Heart, or maybe it taps into her. It is vital thing for an empress of the Crystal Empire to know - no, something any citizen of the empire should know about. There are parallels to the Changeling Hivemind in that it connects all of our people but it instead connects our emotions, not our consciousness. The light - or during our bleakest hour, darkness - within the hearts of the crystal ponies powers the heart and it projects that light across the world. However, like magic in crystal ponies, magic within the Crystal Heart is amplified and, over the centuries, it has become one of the largest stores of magical energy, projecting only a fraction of the energy within it. We can barely comprehend the power inside of it! I doubt anypony alive could harness that energy, even Starswirl the Bearded would be completely overwhelmed. Dawn would be destroyed.

When I took Dawn to the tower of the Heart she said she felt something strange. Twilight and I can confirm that, when near to it, one does feel the connection to the light within it. Dawn, on the other hand described a much more powerful connection, she said she felt as if it was trying to communicate with her. This worried me enough not to take her up the tower again. I was scared of what else might happen. Nopony understands the Heart, even Celestia and Luna have no idea know where it came from. I refused to risk any dark magic from Cristamera’s last ruler touching my daughter.

A few months later we held the Reunification Fair, and you all remember what happened. It couldn’t have been the best end to the fair for my guests: being ushered out as their host was coaxed out of the room, sobbing with the unconscious body of the most important pony in the world in her hooves. She slept until late the next day, and had a fever for that entire week. Shining Armor and I barely left the room. We swore then that as long as it was within our power we would never let her near the Crystal Heart. That was half a year ago now. A week and a half ago we finally let our guard down, just by a fraction. We still refused to let her even enter the tower it is kept in but she was allowed to roam the palace without chaperone again. I will protect Dawn with my life, but I shall not make her a prisoner in her own home.

Our mistake was that we underestimated Dawn’s tenacity. We never imagined she would pick the locks to the three doors between her and the Heart. All the way up the tallest tower in Cristamera. We heard the scream and Shining Armor and I raced across the palace, he ripped the door to the tower off its hinges and then the one to the chamber it is kept in as well. She only just regained consciousness. This time she remembers going near it, she remembers hearing something. She said she heard a voice say “Soon”. What if it was Sombra? What if a part of him is still in the Heart. He understood it more than anypony else, he bent it to his will. What if that is what he plans to do to Dawn? I can not lose her! I will not lose my Dawning Song, my perfect little filly, to him!

Finally Cadance could say no more. The tears were too much. Twilight draped a wing over Cadance, not knowing what else to do as the other mares sat in silence.

“I am sorry, I just don't know what to do. I don't know what I can do.” Cadance managed to say between her sobs. They remained silent. This was the strong and compassionate Empress Cadance at her weakest point.

“It is not obvious how we must start? We must remove the Crystal Heart. Also while the filly has not done wrong, we must protect young Dawning Song.” Zecora suggested, the others nodded in assent.

“We know you need the Heart for the crystal fair but that is not for another eight months. Luna and I could hold the it for safekeeping in Canterlot. The pair of us along with Twilight can investigate it in more detail and try and figure out why Dawning Song is being affected like this. There are plenty of ponies we can send to keep an eye on her too, any of the element bearers would be happy to help, wouldn't they Twilight?” Celestia asked. Twilight nodded without hesitation. Before Celestia could continue she was interrupted by Remeta.

“May I put forward my own suggestion for a guardian for Dawn?” she interjected. She stepped backward and revealed a royal changeling resting beside her. The second changeling was a fully grown Royal Changeling, sharing the height and slender build of the princesses but she obviously younger than Remeta. She had probably only reached maturity within the last year or two. Her mane hung over one of her bright eyes, both the same dull gold as her mother’s. “My daughter, Espera, knows her way around Cristamera after she lived there for a year or two with Cadance to learn the intricacies of love magic. She loves Cadance much like how Dawning Song loves Twilight’s friends as well as Luna and Celestia as ‘aunts’ and she sees Dawning Song as a little sister. Most importantly Dawning Song can be protected by a powerful, trustworthy guardian without her knowing.” Suddenly Espera smiled and a wave of golden fire washed over her. Espera vanished and in her place stood a white crystal unicorn with a light blue mane. She winked at the ponies on the other side of the mirror. “I promise Espera will do everything in her power to protect Dawning Song and she can help her develop her magic.” Everybody turned to Cadance to see how she would reply. Cadance had finally stopped crying a wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Thank you girls. Thank you so much for the help. If you could take care of the Crystal Heart Celestia I would be extremely grateful but I could never take any of the elements of harmony from you, they are far too important to your defence.” Cadance said as a smile began to form on her face. The diarchs nodded and Cadance turned to the mirror with the Changelings looking back at her, ”Although I would love to have you around again Espera, we have missed you, and I know I can trust Dawning Song in your hooves.”

Espera grinned back at Cadance, “I’ll get ready to travel tonight. I’ll be there as soon as I can. expect me in three days, tops!” The mirror shimmered again as Remeta and Espera severed the magic allowing them to communicate with Cadance. Zecora said goodnight to Cadance and her mirror shimmered and became reflective once again. The three Equestrian Princesses similarly said goodnight to Cadance and teleported away, telling her they would return if ever she needed them again.

Once they had gone Cadance trotted out of the solar and down the hall. The hall bore paintings of major events in the Crystal Empire’s history but the oldest were those from Sombra’s reign. The paintings were magic and the very palace itself produced them to chronicle the Empire's history much like the stained-glass windows in Canterlot. For a great deal of the hall there were rectangles where the wall's colours were more vibrant. Paintings had been removed in Sombra’s reign. It was a shame that nothing was known of the Empire before Sombra, his reign of tyranny lasted over 150 years thanks to the dark magic extending his life.

One painting always caught Cadance's eye. Probably because it dwarfed all of the others. In the Centre stood Sombra, his robes flowing behind him and a cutlass suspended with dark magic above his head. Behind him stood an army of crystal ponies and floating above, in the background, was the Crystal Heart. Along the left hand side of the painting was a tear; somepony had clearly removed the other half of the canvas centuries ago. Upon the frame was a golden plaque reading 'The Price Paid For Victory'. Along with everypony else, Cadance assumed that this was in reference to Sombra’s defeat at the hooves of Luna and Celestia and the ‘Price’ paid was Luna’s fall to darkness following the attack on Sombra. Cadance had always wondered if Luna's corruption really was the 'Price', it seemed odd that the magic of the castle would choose to focus on Luna over the removal of Sombra.

Cadance sighed. She had far more important things to worry about than the an ancient tyrant and his portrait. She continued down the hall and through the palace.

Eventually Cadance reached the door, it was a basic wooden door painted light pink. Written on the door were the words ‘Dawning Song’s room. No Crowns!’ painted in light blue. If one looked closely they would be able to make out a faint pencil outline where Shining Armor had written the words for a very young Dawning Song topaint over. She still managed to trail off at the end and do a few rudimentary swirls, at least everypony believed they were swirls and not just dollops of paint on the door. Below the words were three drawings that would have been interpreted as splashes of colour to any other pony, but Cadance could understand them. She could clearly see herself, her husband and that special filly between them. Cadance pushed open the door and trotted in.

Dawning Song’s room had a light blue four poster bed in the centre and had the walls were painted the same light pink as the door. Passed out on top of a story book was Dawning Song. Cadance stopped and watched her sleep for a moment. The filly was primarily the same colour as Cadance but she had the same blue mane as her father but cut in a similar style as her mother’s, with highlights of the light blue of her bed. She had tried to get up and read but she just did not have the strength at the moment. She needed to spend some time and rest. With her magic Cadance lifted her daughter, the book and the covers of the bed. In a silent fluid motion Cadance placed the book back in its place on the bookshelf, folding over Dawning Song’s page, gently lowered the filly into bed and tucked her under the covers. Then Cadance trotted over to her husband sleeping on the sofa that had been moved into the room and lightly nudged him. Shining Armor’s eyes shot open in a moment of panic but he softened when he saw Cadance. He got up off of the sofa, lightly kissed Cadance and left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Cadance then walked over to Dawning Song, kissed her forehead and settled down on the sofa.

“I’m sorry mummy. I didn’t mean to get hurt.” Cadance heard Dawning Song say in an almost inaudible whisper.

“That’s okay Dawnie. Mummy knows, now try and get some sleep and you’ll feel better soon.” she replied. Cadance waited until she was completely sure that Dawning Song was asleep, as she always did, and then closed her eyes and let herself rest.

Author's Note

Hmmm... It's almost as if we're building up to something

6 The Recovery

Dear Diary,

Sorry I haven’t written in a while but so much has happened in the past few months! The main thing is that I have a new best friend. She’s my new foalsitter and she’s really really nice. Her name is Star Sapphire, it’s because her coat sparkles like a star and her mane looks like a sapphire, she’s really pretty. After I got sick trying to see the Heart Mum and Dad got really worried because I didn’t feel better for weeks and was even more sick than the last time! At first I didn’t want a foalsitter, I’m a big filly, but that was before I met Star. She doesn’t treat me like my aunties do, or like the palace ponies do. She treats me like a friend. She wants to play with me and not just watch me to make sure I don’t get hurt. The best thing is that if I go with Star I’m allowed to leave the palace grounds again and go around Cristamera, and even further out into the empire!

Just last week she took me to the seaside at Amethandria and we used our magic to have a snow waterball fight. She's a unicorn just like me! She was sure she was going to win but she forgot that I’m just as good at magic as she is, at least when it comes to stuff like that. Just picking up water and throwing it is easy! Star has been showing me some really advanced magic that she learnt from Mum a long time ago: Love Magic! Apparently she had lessons from Mum a long time ago like Espera did.

I miss Espera, we used to play hide and seek except she would disguise herself and I would have to find her in a crowd of ponies. She used to win all the time but after a long long time I found a way to get her. If I just waited long enough she would do this little twitch every so often. She said it was because she was trying to concentrate and the hivemind was really distracting. I found out that all I had to do was be patient and I would see where she was. Sometimes I let her think I didn’t know where she was and let her win. I liked making her smile when she thought she’d tricked me. That’s what I’m doing now diary because (Now of all the secrets I’ve told you diary this is the most secretest secret that ever was a secret, so keep this a secret) Star Sapphire is Espera! Nobody knows I know, especially Espera and Mum. I know Mum and Dad just want me to be safe and that’s why they asked Espera to look after me, because she’s the coolest pony ever and they think I won’t notice. As long as I pretend that I don’t know that Star Sapphire is Espera Mum and Dad won’t have to worry about me and Espera won’t have to leave. The only problem is that I won’t get to see the heart. I still don’t know what it is diary but I need to touch the heart. I don’t know why, but I need to get up there. Each time I’ve gotten near it I’ve felt something, the heart wants me to get to it, I know it. On the other hand though, I don’t WANT to get sick, that would be silly. Maybe Espera coming here is the perfect opportunity for me to get stronger, learn more about magic and the Heart, before going to the Heart again.

I gotta go now, Espera Sapphire Star and me are gonna go to the market to buy some ingredients. Second Helping says I can cook dinner today for Mum and Dad as long as Sapphire Star is there to stop me from giving everypony food poisoning again. Who knows? I might get my cutie mark from this, I’m getting to the age where it should appear. Would be weird having a cutie mark for cooking if I'm empress though. Auntie Pinkie was only a little bit older than me when she got her cutie mark so it can’t be too long. Auntie Jackie, Rarity and Dash told me about ‘The Cutie Mark Crusaders’, Jackie and Rarity’s sisters and Dash’s ‘almost sister’ used to get into lots of adventures in Ponyville trying to get their cutie marks. I don’t have any friends trying to get their marks too so I'm gonna have to work two, no, three times as hard to get my mark. Now that I think about it I would really like to go to Ponyville too, maybe Star will take me for a surprise visit for the aunties. Maybe Mum and Dad would want to visit Auntie Twilight too! I’ll have to ask later but for now I need to get some crystal berries.

Bye Diary

Dawning Song

Author's Note

If you're reading this that means you've stuck with this for this long for which I say: THANKS :D Your support is really encouraging

7 Extraction

As soon as Dawning Song was out of the castle the senior palace staff leapt into motion. Tight Schedule ran about the palace barking orders to the other ponies.

“Come along, come along ponies. We have at most an hour and a half before Mistress Song returns from her shopping trip with Mistress Sapphire. Her Majesty wants this packaged and ready for collection within the hour.” He called as he galloped throughout the corridors towards the Tower of the Heart. There he found a dozen members of the Palace guard unicorns and Prince Consort Shining Armor. “The packaging is prepared sir. We simply need to carry it there and magically sterilise before it is ready for transportation.” Tight Schedule said, bowing to Shining Armor. Shining Armor nodded in response before leading the guards up the stairs into the tower, stepping over the splinters left of the door after Dawning Song’s last attempt to reach the Heart.

The Chamber of the Heart sat atop the the tallest tower in the entire empire. it was a circular room that was totally empty save for the stairs leading up to the chamber and the round marble pedestal on which the Crystal Heart was perched. Although there were no torches or other lights in the room it was always bright, illuminated by the magical light from the Heart. Shining Armor eyed it warily. What's you're game? He thought, What's your interest in my daughter? Why is she affected differently to the others? You won't hurt her, nothing will as long as I'm around to protect her.

“Assemble around it. We’re going to lift it and carry it downstairs. For no reason is anybody to touch it, at all.” Shining Armor ordered the guards. Twelve streams of magical energy struck The Heart and it rose, slowly, from the pedestal. “Now, carefully stallions. Be wary for any spikes in magical energy. How are we doing Range?” Shining Armor asked the one guard not levitating. Outta Range fired a thin beam of scarlet energy from his horn into its and quickly released the magic.

“Nothing out of the ordinary. All magic levels stable. Looks as if The Heart is not reacting to our magic.” He informed the prince.

“Keep checking. I don’t trust this thing one bit. There’s definitely something dark going on here. The sooner we get it to Equestria the better.” Shining Armor said as he began backing down the stairs. As the guards crept down the tower Outta Range continuingly checked the magic levels in the Crystal Heart. He was unable to comprehend the sheer power held within the crystal but if there was any spike in power he would instantly know about it.

“Sir, if you don’t mind me asking. Why do we need to relinquish The Heart to the Equestrians? Surely it would be better to leave it under the protection of our own ponies and researchers. It is our greatest defense after all,” Outta Range blurted out as they reached the foot of the stairs. Shining Armor sighed and stopped in the door frame. We don't have time for this. The other guards paused as well but none of them ended their streams of magic.

“It's manipulative and dangerous. We are not sure of how it works, but it seems to affect crystal ponies—natural crystal ponies. You twelve came here with me along with the rest of our unit, none of us are affected by this thing like the other crystal ponies. We may be crystal now but we will never be naturally like this, it’s merely because of the magic of the Empire that we are like this. We attempted to have one of our own researchers, Studious Nature, look at it before we decided upon sending it to Equestria. Do you know him?” Shining Armor asked, his eyes fixed upon Outta Range, rage burning in them.

Outta Range nodded. “I brought him up to look at the heart after Her Imperial Majesty discussed the issue with a group of rulers from across the world. Studious Nature is catatonic. All he did was tap it with his horn and he almost shattered, shattered.” Outta Range gulped as Shining Armor took a step towards him.

“Dawning Song,” he continued, “your future empress, a unicorn with the potential to lead this world into a new age of harmony between all races—” Shining Armor normally would never make claims of that magnitude about Dawning Song, he and Cadance wanted her to be her own mare, with nopony deciding who she had to be. Just this once, We need to get this thing out of here. “—She stepped near this thing and something happened. We don’t know what but she nearly died. You have a choice Range: You can accept that your empress has made the right choice by entrusting this dangerous artifact with the two oldest, wisest and most powerful ponies in the world along with my sister and the Elements of Harmony; Or you deem them untrustworthy and risk my daughter and, more importantly, your future sovereign. Your choice.” By this point Shining Armor’s muzzle was almost pressing against Range’s. Go on, act smart Range.. “So what’ll it be Range?” I dare you. Instantly Outta Range saluted Shining Armor and began apologising profusely. Shining Armor softened and moved back towards the door. “Any more questions stallions?” The other eleven guards saluted Shining Armor and shook their heads. “Then let’s get this thing out of our nation before it does more harm.”

The group marched through the corridors of the palace excruciatingly slowly. The main staff had been sent clear of the guards for fear of the natural crystal ponies reacting to proximity with the Heart. Cadance was more worried about what the reaction would be if the move was public knowledge. They would likely react in a similar way to Outta Range, with bitterness and suspicion, but on a much wider scale. Eventually they reached the palace gardens where Tight Schedule was waiting, a pocket watch on a chain hung from his wing.

“Sir, there is a slight problem. A huge fire has sprung up across a large range of mountains in Equestria and Their Celestial Highnesses and Her Harmonious Highness have been called out to investigate the disaster.” The chamberlain informed the soldiers. “Nevertheless I recommend that we begin the sterilisation process and package the artefact.” Shining Armor agreed and released his magic holding up The Heart. Nine of the soldiers followed suit leaving Shining Armor’s chief lieutenants Burning Sword and Shieldbearer it up. Outta Range, Shining Armor and the remaining guards fired pulses of magic directly into it and slowly a thin film of iridescent energy built up around the crystal. The film built up until there was an inch and a half of shining light separating the Heart from the outside world. Once this was finished it was slowly lowered into a lead lined lockbox which was sealed by Shining Armor with an enchantment tied to his blood, meaning Twilight would be able to unseal it when it arrived in Equestria. Blood magic was painful to cast but in terms of security enchantments there was nothing more secure.

“Send word to Vigilant to prepare a train and get a squad together, no naturals in any circumstance. I’d say I can get to the station with this weighing me down by about midnight. I’ll take the squad with me to drop off this thing with Celestia. I’ll come back as soon as I’m sure it is safely locked down. I’d say a fortnight to make sure they do a proper job. Schedule, inform Cadance for me. While I’m gone Burning Sword and Shieldbearer are in charge of the armed forces. If anything major happens you two are to contact me via scrying, but only if it’s worth the magic.” Shining Armor ordered as the lockbox was placed onto a chariot and Shining Armor clasped the harness onto himself. The soldiers saluted him and Tight Schedule bowed as Shining Armor began to run through the palace grounds towards the rear exit. His muscles rippled under his crystal fur as he accelerated with the heavy box in tow.

At the same time as Shining Armor escorted the Heart to Canterlot, hundreds of groups of figures shambled towards it. Their clothes reduced to burnt rags and their fur long, shaggy and matted, the dogs began to move towards The Crystal Empire. They settled as beggars in every city and town in the empire, all needing a place to stay. They all had nothing to their names. The crystal ponies viewed their visitors with suspicion but they respected their empress’ wishes that they were to be allowed to live as refugees until the end of winter. The Equestrian Princesses had vowed to make dwellings in mountains near to the ones the dogs had come from—the very mountains that had been engulfed by the flames that had mysteriously sprung up in the diamond dog dens. Nonetheless the ponies were wary of the creatures with strange accents and gods living in their streets. It was unknown why they had all chosen to move to The Crystal Empire and not Griffonia or Zebrica or their native land of Equestria. Even Cadance had been unable to find out what had befallen the Diamond Dogs, she had spoken to plenty of them but they each seemed to have a different tale to tell. Some blamed the dragons, others Celestia, the majority just appeared to be confused as to what happened and simply followed the crowds. The confusion did nothing to stop the rumours and conspiracy theories did nothing but add to the apprehension the crystal ponies had towards their visitors. The crystal empire was by no means harmonious after Shining Armor left Cristamera.

Sparkling Wine and Good Vintage sat together just as had did every day since their return to the world. They always went to the same coffee shop; Roasted Bean’s was off of the main thoroughfare through Cristamera but was still close enough to their homes that it was only a short walk. They went at two o’clock, and stayed until around four o’clock. They always sat at the one table on Roasted Bean’s balcony where they were able to see the hustle and bustle going on everyday in the market at the other end of the sidestreet. They also both had a large black coffee, no sugar, with one biscuit. They would sit at their table and discuss whatever came to mind. They were lucky to have remembered their past life as vintners, it was a hobby of theirs to pedantically pester any who referred to them as anything as common as a winemaker, when looking at a wine list in a restaurant months ago. Recently though, their main conversation topic had changed to the diamond dogs that had settled in their city. There were five of them that were visible from the old ponies’ table and they would often discuss them as they drank their coffee.

Good Vintage took a sip of his coffee while he looked at the den the dogs had made for themselves, “I spoke to Doddery about them yesterday; the dogs. He thinks he knows, poor old pony, he just told me the theory we thought of weeks ago. It is plain to see that they are here merely for our riches.”

“Well more and more of us are realising it you know, it’s not just us olden ponies anymore. Finally the youngsters are beginning to open their eyes!”

“They’re planning something,” Good Vintage told his friend“something big. They’re too shifty-looking not to be. Especially the thin wiry one, not the scrawny one that always scrabbles for the paper and reads it first, the one that always brings food. What did you say he said his name was?” Good Vintage asked. Sparkling Wine took a sip of his coffee before rubbing his wings on his temples, trying to remember.

“Sebastian!” He suddenly called out triumphantly. Immediately he covered his mouth with his hoof. The two ponies slowly turned to see if any of the dogs were in their den, they weren’t so the two sighed in relief. “Oh he’s definitely the thief of the group, or at least the best thief. And the other one you mentioned, the scrawny one, that’s Lucian. I bet they use him as a lookout and that’s why he’s always at their den. Not sure why he’s not there today now that I mention it. What do you think?” He pondered. Good Vintage tutted before replying.

“He is probably out being a lookout for the others as they take from generous ponies that already give all they can. Why are they even here? What do they contribute to the empire? Nothing! The big one… Mark, now he would be a good worker. Think how many barrels of grape the beast could squash compared to us. You may be strong for an earth pony my friend but look at the size of him. He towers over the others. One thing I have noticed though, all of them, including the female, look up to Oscar. In any situation they do what he says, it is almost as if the beasts have some kind of government.” Sparkling Wine raised an eyebrow after his friend said this. “No, no I know it sounds ridiculous but bear with me old pony. We always assume every day that they go to steal from the honest hard working ponies, such being their way after all. The issue is that we never see what they take. What we do see however, is them going off and reporting to Oscar, even Nadia, the girl, seems to report to him. On top of this Oscar is only at the den three, maybe four, days a week. Maybe he has a supervisor he reports to. I mean theres no way these street rats are anywhere near the top of the pyramid but somewhere there is a central authority, a leader. He is the one telling the mongrels to steal from us. Other dogs are the thieves but these are just as bad. They are the ones who are telling the thieves where to go.” Good Vintage looked proudly at his friend who sat across from him, wide eyed, trying to work his head around Good Vintage’s theory.

“Well then,” Sparkling Wine began. “This lot must be stealing too because we never see other dogs here and they must be getting food somewhere. They must be stealing our food, maybe from our houses, they’re not that far. They probably follow us home and wait until we come here and take our things. Maybe they steal from Roasted Bean too. Oh the cheek of these mongrels, these beasts! I bet they’ve all come because Shining Armor left. If he were here we wouldn’t have this problem. A proper general is what we need and he fits the ticket more than anybody.” The ponies finished their coffees quickly, left exact change for them, and stomped out of the coffee shop to go home and check that all of their things were where they left them.

As they left they failed to see the two pairs of eyes buried deep within the den, hidden from the olden ponies’ view from their table. Nadia opened her eyes and refocused on the den, having finished reciting every word the old ponies had said. Lucien underlined his last sentence read the transcript back to himself. He rolled it up as Nadia prepared a vial of dragonfire and a disk with a ‘Ω’ symbol. She passed them to Lucien who sent the transcript off in a puff of black smoke.

8 The Change

Sparkling Wine opened the door to his home in a foul temper to find Good Vintage looking back at him looking jusrt as furious.

“We knew this would happen old colt. We knew it was only a matter of time.” Sparkling Wine grumbled. He led his friend through the house, pointing out the tipped over furniture and broken glass. A light was on upstairs. “I haven’t been up there, he doesn’t know I’m in. We’re gonna go up there and get the beast for what he’s done. If he wants to be an animal, we’ll put him down like one.” Good Vintage smiled as Sparkling Wine lifted up a floorboard to reveal two spears hidden there, neither of them knew why they had hidden weapons under their houses but they were certainly not complaining now. They crept up the stairs and pushed open the door to see the thin dog standing by Sparkling Wine’s bed with a knife in his hand. Fur was littered all around the room and the dog’s coat was cut short and through it strong sinewy muscles were visible. “Sebastian! You’re going to regret this dog. You diamond dogs will wish you never came here once we’re done with you..” Sparkling Wine roared as he lifted his spear under his leg. The dog laughed, putting the old ponies on edge. They had been counting on being able to intimidate the dog.

“Let’s go through what you got wrong there, shall we?” Sebastian asked, a grin grew across his face. “First of all my name is Sextus Pompeius, not Sebastian, but you two can call me Sextus, no need for formality between such good friends.” Sextus took a step towards the ponies who gripped their spears tighter and jabbed pathetically towards their assailant. “Second of all I’m afraid I’m not a Diamond Dog. I won’t go into the complicated social science of it all, that’s not my thing. We are the Crystállum Canini my gentleponies. A finer breed of warrior, an older breed. Once upon a time, when I was a pup, I thought myself a Diamond Dog. How wrong I was.” Sextus spat on the ground before laughing coldly. “Hey, there’s somewhere we agree after all! We both hate the diamond dogs.” Sextus laughed and took another step towards the ponies shaking in fright. "Finally, I’m going to wish I never came here once you’re done with me, was that it? No, that wasn’t quite it. My entire people is going to regret coming here. Well I don’t think I’m regretting anything right now. Even if I was old Vinty here isn’t in a position to make me regret anything.”

The ponies looked at each other in confusion and turned back to Sextus a second too late. The canine leapt forwards and plunged his knife into Good Vintage’s side, leaving the knife in a fissure in the pony’s body which left spiderwebs as his crystal body cracked around it. Sextus wrenched Good Vintage’s spear away from him as Sparkling Wine tried to jab at him. Sextus dodged the blow effortlessly and thrust his own spear at him. The spearhead went deep into the pony and caused him to instantly shatter into pieces. Good Vintage tried to scream for help but the shock was too much for him and all he managed was a weak croak. As he literally fractured all he could do was draw heavy breaths. “Tonight everything changes, and there is no room in this empire for a couple of ponies who can’t handle change. Thank you for the heads up about Shining Armor by the way.” Sextus snarled before pressing his foot onto the knife embedded in the pony and pushed down. He swept some of the shards of what used to be Good Vintage with his tail as he left the room. He walked out the front door and into the night, climbing the house and running across the houses. “Tonight, everything changes.”

Cadance sat upon her throne, her imperial tiara perched atop her head. Every day she tried to reserve time for her subjects so that they could come and speak to her directly about any issue they might have, she was even known to make home visits for ponies unable to make the trip. It was the final audience of the day and she was surprised to see a group of diamond dogs walk forward. It brought a smile to her face to see that the diamond dogs had cut their fur, they were finally starting to improve their appearances and trying to integrate more with the ponies. All she wanted was for them to live harmoniously amongst her ponies, sadly however, neither group had actually made a wholehearted attempt to work together. There were eight dogs in all, strangely they assumed a kind of pyramid formation with four of them at the back, a female and a huge dog in the middle and an old dog at the front standing next to a dog around the age of the female and giant dog. The old dog bowed to Cadance, his companions imitated him.

“Welcome. I am glad to finally have the chance to speak to one of you in the palace. I have been out into the streets to speak to some of you but you eight are the first to actually attend court for an audience.” Cadance said, beaming. The old dog smiled warmly at Cadance and addressed her.

“It is an honour Cadance.” He began. His informality elicited whispers of shock and embarrassment from many members of the court. Cadance, however, was unfazed, she had not always been an empress, she had not always been royal, she had not always been an alicorn. Deep down she still saw herself as just Cadance the pegasus and she was not offended by being referred to as such. “My name is Aetius Iulius, this is my son Iulius Octavius.” He gestured towards the younger dog beside him. “We thank you for welcoming the canini back to the empire.” Cadance was puzzled.

“Back?” she asked. “I am afraid I do not follow Mr Iulius.” Aetius merely laughed.

“I did not think you would.” Cadance was not happy with Aetius’ condescending tone. “Not many equines have memories of their past do they? You all can remember Sombra and your lives since the return but other than that it is a blank. Did you all believe life began with Sombra? No? Have you not wondered why you have no memories of your past? No? Why all you can remember the tyrant but not the paradise that preceded it? Maybe then Sombra was not the tyrant that ended a paradise. I can assure you that Sombra did end paradise, just not one you understand.” By now the court was hanging on his every word. “ Now you were curious as to why I thanked you for welcoming us ‘back’. I believe a few months ago you held a grand celebration for the return of Pursorubi, the last town of the Empire. The mules and towns were not all that returned Cadance. We returned to this world before Pursorubi.”

“You are familiar with the diamond dogs: savages, unfit for society. That is the fate you equines forced upon us. We are the Crystállum Canini equines. You may refer to us as masters or as enemies, it is your choice.” Cadance shot a look to Espera, disguised as Sapphire Star, in the corner of the room who quickly ushered Dawning Song out of the room and towards the guard station in the palace. Then Cadance looked at her guards already in the room, they were already prepared to strike when needed. She just wished that Shining Armor was here. “Octavius was liberated from the diamond dogs along with thousands of his brethren, they know nothing of the true crystal empire. I remember though. I was there. I am Legatus Augusti pro praetore. I lead the legions in place of our leader, Consul Maximus, cut down by the equines at the first battle of Cristamera. Overrun by an army the likes of which has never been seen since. You are a peaceful people, your army is complacent and weak.” Aetius said smugly. A nod to Shieldbearer was all Cadance needed to give to have every guard in the room to level his spear.

“You may outnumber my guards but they are trained and armed while you have no weapons, no armour. Leave Aetius. Leave our empire and never return. You may threaten me but you may never threaten my people.” Cadance announced, lifting a spear in her magic herself and aiming it at Aetius. Aetius laughed and turned to one of his companions who placed an object into a small jar in his hands, the emerald flame in the jar turned to black before vanishing. Moments later black flame erupted over all eight canini and suddenly they were clad in full armour: breastplates and war skirts. Shining steel swords and shields were held firmly and javelins were strapped to their backs. The female held a spear with a strange crystal cone in place of a spearhead.

“Thank you for keeping our empire safe for us Cadance.” Aetius said blankly to the shocked empress. He turned to the eight, now heavily armoured, canini behind him. “ Welcome home brothers.”

Shining Armor saw the smoke from outside Cristamera, he looked around and saw smoke from all directions with a town nearby. He sprinted as fast as he could towards the palace, towards all that was important to him.

“Sir! Finally you’re back.” He turned to see one of his lieutenants calling to him, galloping at top speed towards him.

“What in Tartarus is going on here Wild Wings?” Shining Armor growled, still on course to the palace.

“It’s the diamond dogs sir, the ones that arrived after the fires in the equestrian mountains. Somehow they’re armed and dangerous. We’re holding them but how could we have seen this coming? We’re woefully unprepared sir. We need your help. Where have you been sir?” The desperation in the pegasus’ voice was mirrored in the eyes of the other guards that assembled around them, by the time Shining Armor answered there were about seven of them in all.

“There were complications.” Shining Armor wished he had his armour and weapons. He would have to grab them before finding Dawn and Cadance. Waste precious seconds. “You are all sworn to secrecy on your empire and your oath to each other?” The ponies nodded, he had to trust them. He would need ponies he could trust if this all came out, better to tell them now. “We took the Heart to Equestria to investigate it, there’s a problem with it. Naturally crystal ponies are harmed by it, somepony’s already been killed by it. I took it personally to the Triarchs, it was only meant to take a fortnight at the most. As I said, things got complicated.”

“What sir? If you don’t mind me asking.” Asked a guard to his left, she shared her look of concern with her comrades.

“It’s… gone. Twilight and Luna were performing tests on it and it just vanished in a flash. We have no idea why, just that there was an unbelievable power spike in the seconds before it happened. That’s why I was gone so long, they quarantined us to see if the energy had any effect on us.” Wild Wings opened his mouth to ask another question but Shining Armor shot him a furious look. “Now soldiers, get to the east gatehouse and co-ordinate a counter-offensive. I will be with you as soon as I can.” Without another word the guards drifted left as Shining Armor increased his pace.

Buildings could be rebuilt, the other guards would save the ponies but he had to get to the palace, to Cadance, to Dawning Song. He had to get to his little filly. He ran the whole way, the blazing streets blurred together, all he could hear were the flames and the screams. He ran through the gardens and ripped slabs of stone from the garden and floated them in midair to form steps. He galloped up them and leapt into Dawning Song’s bedroom. He looked around to see Star Sapphire with a furious look on her face standing in front of Dawning Song. The filly was curled into a ball, tears streamed down her face as she tried to comprehend what was happening. Fear was all that she could process.

“Dawn. It’s fine. I’m here now Dawn, I’m here.” Shining Armor whispered as He walked past Star Sapphire and held his daughter in his hooves. She continued to cry uncontrollably. He set her back down and turned to the foalsitter. “I’m going to get Cadance. If I’m not back in fifteen minutes I want you to leave. I don’t care where, just get somewhere safe.” Star Sapphire nodded and Shining Armor turned back to Dawning Song. The filly looked at her father. “Dawn. I’m going to get your mom. If anything happens just know. We love you, we love you more than anything else. You’re the most special filly ever to be born, literally. It’s always been our dream for you to become empress, you can bring unending peace and prosperity, get rid of the inequality. Bring happiness, you’ve always been good at that. Make our dream come true Dawn, and never forget that we love you.” With that Shining Armor used magic to rip a chunk out of the wall behind Dawning Song’s bed, revealing his personal weapons and Armour which he promptly put on. “We love you.” He repeated before sprinting towards the throne room.

After his first turn around a corner he saw the first of the attackers. The canine did not even have time to think before the spear was plunged into his heart. His companion did have time to react however, and raised his shield to block the blow aimed at him. Shining Armor roared and his magic enveloped the shield. The canine’s eyes widened in shock as the metal rectangle contorted in his hand and wrapped around his wrist. He screamed in pain as Shining Armor had what was once the soldier’s shield shield jerk upwards, snapping the canine’s wrist, he dropped his spear to hold his now limp appendage. Seeing his chance Shining Armor thrust his spear again and killed the canine. He lifted the canine’s two javelins and continued running, three now floating above him.

Octavius laughed as he felt the resistance against his sword disappear as the pony shattered with his blow. They were holding the reinforcements at the door while Cadance hid behind her shield with what was left of her guard, the rest being merely shards by her hooves. While they had eight dogs originally they had been reinforced by a further dozen almost immediately after Aetius’ plan began. For the false empress’ credit she had managed to kill four fully trained canini personally, with her guards whittling them down to the six canini that guarded the door, and Numeria who stood facing Cadance, her spear aimed directly at the pony’s heart. if Cadance lowered her shield for even a second Numeria would kill her. Due to their training being based on fighting each other, none of the canini but those that returned with Aetius were fully prepared for the magic the equines held, especially Cadance who managed to use magic to snap the necks of one of the canini before the fighting had begun. A window shattered to his left and Octavius wheeled around, sword in hand, ready to kill the equine trying to sneak up on him. He smiled when he saw seven new soldiers reinforcing them.

“How goes it?” Aetius asked. The leader of the group explained the situation to the Legatus and his protege at his side. The soldier explained their current situation. Thousands of ponies had fled the city but that was of no consequence. The guards had quickly retreated to the palace where they were blocking the entrances to the palace but they were slowly being overwhelmed. “Only a matter of time soldier, then we will have back our empire.” Countless reports appeared over the next half hour from every own in the empire, each reporting the success of the legion. “It has all led to this Octavius.” Aetius beamed smugly at Cadance and her guards, still holed up behind their forcefield. “Now it is time to take our seats at the head of the greatest war machine in the world. Eventually they will thank us, I am sure of it. We shall bring order to them all. Their ‘harmony’ is unsustainable and unreasonable between species. Order is stable, it is permanent. Order is universal. You shall make a fine regent Octavius” Octavius’ face fell.

“Regent, my Legatus?”

“But of course. Now that we have succeeded here it is time I have my own pups, my heirs. Oh how I wish you could succeed but we must be led by the true canini, the line of Maximus. It is the way. You understand.”

“I am not sure that I do. What of the equality of the canini? The ancient canini are the minority, we are the future. You mean you plan to cast us aside?”

“Not at all Octavius, in time the crossbreeds will evolve to become superior like the ancients.”

“So we are inferior sir?”

“For now, I have great plans for you though Octavian. You will rule as my pups grow. You will make the perfect teacher. I know you understand.”

“Of course my Legatus.”Octavius smiled for a moment before swinging his spatha at Aetius. Quick as a flash the old dog rose his sword to meet Octavius’. His face awash with fury.

“Treachery? I expected more Octavian. Come the, let me show you the superiority of the time of Maximus.” The two fought at the centre of the throne room, all the while Numeria kept her eyes locked onto Cadance’s, her spear ready. The bodies of canini soldiers littered the doors, sprinkled with shards of crystal ponies, nevertheless soldiers from both side poured into the fray.

Octavius and his mentor were evenly matched, neither seemed able to gain the advantage until Aetius feinted to the left and swiped at Octavius cutting deeply into his left arm. Octavius howled in pain and dropped his shield as Aetius began to swing again to finish the fight. With a renewed ferocity he brought up his sword and went onto the offensive. Aetius held his shield up as Octavius slammed his sword against it repeatedly, roaring with rage. Suddenly the young dog dropped to the floor and sliced at Aetius’ legs. Aetius fell as the sword severed his feet from his legs. As he writhed in pain he watched Octavius walk towards him and take his finely made gilded sword from his paw. Aetius looked directly at Octavius as the Legatus’ own blade swung at his neck.

Sextus and Lucius jumped into the throne room with more soldiers as Aetius’ head rolled towards them. There was a stunned silence in the room. As one Lucius, Marcus and Sextus dropped to one knee, right paw resting on their heart in salute, and bowed their head to Octavius. The other soldiers followed suit.

“Hail Legatus.” They all cried in unison. Octavius smiled and mimicked the gesture. His left arm still hung limply at his side. He tore the cloak he wore around his shoulders and threw it to Lucius.

“Lucius, shroud the Legatus in this. He will received the greatest burial we are capable of. No one will ever forget his services to the canini.” He turned to the soldiers. “Today is the genesis of the second great canini empire. We are the greatest soldiers, the greatest inventors, the greatest scientists, the greatest minds. We are the dominant species of this world. For too long the equi have ruled this land with their peace. Peace gained through cowardice and treachery. We will bring true peace through submission. We will gift the equi and the griffins and the dragons with the laws and stability gained under the rule of one. I promise every soldier will have a farm, where they may live and raise a family. No pup will die cold and alone. No longer will we be seen as freeloading beggars, as thieves, as beasts. Today begins the fight for home. First our empire is regained, then we expand. Long live the empire. Long live the canini. Long live you all!” The soldiers roared the last three phrases Octavius said back to him. In minutes he had gone from murderer to leader. Octavius quickly jerked his head to the side as a javelin flew past him and embedded itself in the wall behind him. A cut bled on Octavius’ cheek. Numeria gestured for another guard to take her position aiming at Cadance and ran to Octavius.

“Who dares?!” She shrieked. As if on cue another javelin flew in through one of the side windows, narrowly missing Numeria. All of a sudden Shining Armor in his full golden and purple armour jumped into the throne room through the window. No less than thirteen javelins levitated around his spear.

“I do.” He said calmly. All thirteen javelins flew out from around Shining Armor, each and every one leaving a soldier dead. Shining Armor could see that their leader was worried, scared ever, he clearly hadn’t planned on him getting to the throne room. Suddenly Shining Armor’s spear darted across the room and hit the chandelier which began to fall down towards Octavius. The canine would have been killed has Marcus not run forward and caught it. The huge canine was forced down onto one knee as he struggled to hold the weight of the chandelier. Undeterred, Shining Armor fired a bolt of magic directly at Octavius. With lightning-quick reflexes Numeria thrust her spear out into the path of the magic. The head of the spear began to glow and four canini grabbed Shining Armor and Wrestled him to the ground. As Shining Armor hit his assailants with more bolts of magic more and more soldiers leapt into the fray to subdue him. Almost drained completely of energy. Shining Armor was forced to watch as Octavius took the spear from Numeria and step towards the shield and speak to Cadance, blood still flowing from his cheek.

“We are not like you mules, we have no magic flowing through our veins. We cannot will the weather to be how we wish it. We cannot animate objects to do what we will. We possess no affinity with the ground to help feed our people. Your dominance is based upon this power but now that advantage has gone.” Octavius said as he approached the bubble of purple light cutting Cadance and her remaining guards off from the rest of the throne room. “Numeria’s spear is tipped with a head made of pure crystal, the purest of crystal.The horn of a crystal pony.” Shining Armor was so shocked that he stopped struggling to get free from his captors. “One of your ponies stumbled accross us so we took what we could. Since then Numeria has been waiting for the opportunity your darling husband just gave us. The bolt of energy intended to kill me has been absorbed by the spear. Now all that energy is stored at the tip of this spear, longing, begging to be free. All it needs is a target. Oh think of all that can be achieved with this technology. No longer will you be able to defeat us with your magic. Never again will you use it against us. Never again” Octavius began to speak louder as he neared the bubble.

“Once you used your magic to almost destroy us, to take away our empire, claim it as your own and wipe us from history. You reduced the Crystállum Canini, the mightiest and purest of races, to mere savages. Savages you deemed not to be fit for society, and treated as such. No effort has been made to improve us our standing or treat us as equal. While you live in your cities and palaces we were forced into caves. You even forced us to rely on you for the most basic luxuries of life. The Sun and the Moon! Today we begin to take back what was taken from us. Today we begin to take back our world!”

Octavius jabbed forward with the spear. Every eyes in the room looked on in amazement as the spear went straight through the shield. From its entrance point a blood red spiderweb began to grow across the wall of energy until finally it shattered. Javelins flew from soldiers all around the throne room, killing all Cadance’s remaining guards. The spear head had noticeably dimmed but still glowed slightly with energy. Cadance began to charge her horn with power, planning on sending out a shockwave powerful enough to incapacitate every canini in the palace. “I am afraid I cannot allow you to use your energy like that Cadance. I have far greater plans for it. And even greater plans for the little princess.” Cadance’s mind filled with fear and rage as all her thoughts turned to her daughter, she sent out a mental pulse. The pulse was subtle enough that none without training in mind reading or a similar magic would be able to detect it though. Espera got the message however and used her magic to teleport herself and Dawning Song as far away from the palace as she could, sending a pulse back as she did. Cadance barely had time to recognise the pulse had been emitted before Octavius’ spear tapped the base of her horn, sending the energy still was still charging back into her, knocking her out cold.

Octavius stood on the balcony that overlooked the front gates of the palace. The canini soldiers that had taken Cristamera had been called there at three in the morning to hear a speech from their leader. All of them were tired from the fighting and even those that were not in Cristamera were forced to wake up to hear copies of the speech sent to their respective commanders. “Today we have taken back our empire my brothers and sisters. Today we reminded the world of what we are, what we can do. So many of us lost their lives for us to bask in this moment and bask we shall. Now is the time to purge our empire of the mules and welcome our brethren to this paradise. All canini are welcome here, all those left to rot in caves by cruel tyrants. We will make our home here and then we shall expand. We shall take this world for our own and no creature will ever forget us again. To celebrate our victory I offer the chance to retire to every soldier from the old empire. They shall have the chance to work as farmers, shop owners, administrators, civil servants; your lives are yours. All canini in bondage are free to live in our empire as citizens, not as slaves. Our young shall train, they shall learn, they shall grow, and they shall fight. All the land will know their glory, and then their children shall do the same. It is our role to facilitate glory, the glory of the empire, the glory of Aetius and Maximus, the glory of the canini. The glory of you, my brothers. The glory of you, my sisters, be you of the time of Maximus or today. I promise the sun will set when you wish. The moon will rise when you will it to. It will rain and snow and the sun will shine and the crops grow when you decree. Just follow me and we shall rule, and our children shall rule, and their children shall rule. I simply have one question: will you rule?” The roar from the crowd that had totally forgotten how tired they were was all Octavius needed. “Then let us work.”