"I'm only going to be gone for a little bit, Pinkie."
A light purple alicorn said to her pink friend. The dark night sky loomed upon them as the stars twinkled like jewels. Five ponies surrounded the princess, one especially shedding many tears. All the ponies where bundled under Ponyville's train stop.
"B-but it feels like forever!" whined the pink party pony as she grabbed a tissue and blew into it.
"Pinkie, darling, Twilight is only going to Canterlot to spend some alone time with Princess Cadence, it's not like she's moving away forever." a white unicorn with a rich curly violet mane said.
Pinkie Pie embraced Twilight tightly, still crying dramatically. "T-Twilight! Remember meeee!" she sobbed.
"She's only going for two weeks! Not even whole month!" a cyan pegasus said as she tried to pry Pinkie off the princess.
"Pinkie! I'm going to miss my train! Stop it!" Twilight snapped as she levitated Pinkie off of her. Her pink party friend wiggled desperately to get free and hug her friend again but failed.
Smokey scent hit Twilight's nostrils. She turned around to see a crystal train heading towards them. "The train is here!" she exclaimed. The train finally screeched to a halt and two guards came out, both crystal ponies.
"We have arrived for Princess Twilight Sparkle." the crystal pony unicorn guard announced. The purple alicorn respectfully bowed at the guards before turning around to say good-bye to her friends.
"Bye girls! I'll miss you!" she cried out.
"We'll miss you, too!" the ponies yelled in unison. Once the door shut Pinkie dropped to her hooves.
Twilight laid her seat. The Crystal Empire train looked a lot different from your regular Ponyville train. Since it was dark out, each train seat was next to a firefly lamp. Twilight pulled a blanket over her head (they had those in every seat). She expected to see Princess Cadence in the crystal train, but she wasn't there.
Stop it, Twilight! Maybe she didn't feel like coming to greet you! She isn't your puppet! Now stop! Twilight silently scolded herself.
After what seemed like hours to Twilight, the conductor yelled, "We have arrived at the Crystal Empire!"
Twilight, who was finally relieved to stretch her legs after she sat in that cramped seat, hopped off board and sighed. She looked around, the sun was beginning to rise. Wow. Maybe I have been on that train for hours
The purple princess trotted to the Crystal Empire.Twilight felt like a vampire at that point, blinded by the light. The walls and floor, made entirely out of crystal, made Twilight flinch. At last she arrived at the door. She knocked on it, and was greeted by an orange colt with crystal armor and blue hair.
"Hey, Sparkle!" he waved a hoof at her.
"Greetings, Flash Sentry." Twilight dipped her head, trying to sound all princess-like. Flash stood there, embarrassed he didn't greet the way Princess Twilight did.
"Flash, I'm only joking." Twilight said as she looked up. The pegasus guard sighed in relief, "Good. I don't want to disrespect the princess, now do I?"
"Nope." giggled Twilight.
"So, what brings you here to the Crystal Empire?" Flash asked.
Huh. Funny, I thought Cadence would tell her guards I was coming. Twilight thought, but she pushed it away.
"Princess Cadence invited me." Twilight explained.
"P-Princess C-Candence?!" stammered Flash Sentry, "As in the Princess Cadence?"
No, the other one. Twilight thought sarcastically, but she didn't dare say it out loud. "The one and only." Twilight said, wondering why Flash was so suprised.
"But why would she invite you today? Are you sure you didn't mistake your visit?" Flash questioned her.
"I'm pretty sure it's today. Even positive."
"I-I don't think you want to come in here."
"Flash, please-"
"Twi, all due respect, but you really don't want to-"
"Flash." Twilight said bitterly. She was beginning to lose her patience. How dare he not let her in-
Ugh! Twilight! Stop acting like your a queen! He's just and equal pony with equal rights.
Yeah, but your a princess, and he's just a guard. Twilight argued with herself.
Where do all these greedy thoughts keep coming from-
"Um...Twilight?" Flash interrupted her thoughts, "Are you okay? You look like you just ate a mouthful of sour maggots."
"Ah-um, yes. Sorry. But..what's today?"
"Um...nothing! Just forget I said anything!" Flash said. He let her pass, but he cringed as she went up the stairs.
Where is Cadence? Twilight wondered. The pink princess hadn't greet or even seen Twilight. Was she hiding something? Twilight shrugged it all off. Maybe she's tired. After all the sun is beginning to rise.
She stopped in her tracks. She shook her head fiercely.
Where do all these bad thoughts keep coming from?
Well, they aren't really bad...
Twilight sighed and kept on trotting. Her hooves made a clicking noise as they touched the ground.
Click. Click.
She tried to focus on something else other than Cadence's delay. She stooped for a minute to look around the place. Ribbon hung from each window, letting in beams of light. Banners with the Crystal Empire swung from each end on the ribbon, and the biggest chandelier Twilight'd ever seen hung above.
They really spruced up the place since last time I was here.
Twilight finally reached Cadence's bedroom door. She held her breath.
Relax, Twilight, it's not like anything bad is going to happen...right?
She knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Twilight heard it very muffled, but she wanted to make sure so she knocked again.
"I SAID COME IN!"
Twilight flinched a bit but opened the door anyway. She smelled..sadness.
She saw Cadence, she lay in her canopy bed. Her mane and tail was mussed up and her usually bright purple eyes were sticky with tears and bland.
Her room was dark expect a drawer with two candles on each side of a frame with a picture of...it looked like Chrysalis but without her holes.
"Cadence? What's wrong? Who's that?"
"Chrystina. But you know her as Queen Chrysalis." Cadence's voice was raspy and hoarse.
Twilight's jaw dropped.
"Bu-but she tried to kill you! How can you be crying about her?"
"There was a reason," Princess Cadence snapped, "I called you here for that, too. I need to tell you the history of Chrysalis."