Musician's Medley

My name is Crystal Agate! I’m a white earth pony with some of the cutest blue curls this side of Equestria. At least that’s what everyone says. My eyes are green (I wish they were blue like my Mom’s) and ever since I played alongside the Octavia Philharmonic, I  wear a cute red bowtie. It’s a great conversation starter.

I’m not here to brag, but I love my life! Everyday I see new things, meet new ponies, even some famous ones like Octavia Philharmonic! She’s my favorite. I get to travel all over Equestria. I’ve been to Fillydelphia, Canterlot, Ponyville (That one was my favorite) and Hoofington, and you know what I do there?

But my story is a different kind, and it starts in the beginning.

I grew up in Canterlot. Birthed at Canterlot Hospital to my mother, Sterile Agate, her cutie mark is an I.V. bag, and father, Olsen Agate, his cutie mark is a scalpel. My father actually directed my birth and, from what he said before he left, had to fight Sterile over every little detail of the C section, where to put the knife, how much solute to put in the I.V., whether he wash his hooves twice like regulation states, everything, and my dad couldn’t get a word in edgewise sometimes.

If I didn’t make this clear enough, my entire family are doctors; my mother is a physician and a professional brain surgeon. My dad is also a surgeon, mainly working with damaged organs and foreign object removal, anything except the brain, that’s Mom’s territory. He knows almost everything there is to know about surgery. My older brother Jack is into the technological side or medicine, mostly nanotechnology, and hopes to cure cancer with tiny little robots that do his bidding; his cutie mark is a strange metal bug backed by a blue cross and blue shield. Even my older sister, Cross, her cutie mark is a orange and red swirlie lollipop in front of the red cross, is a doctor. She’s a pediatrician and works with little colts and fillies.

My family wasn’t like normal families. First off, my brother Jack taught himself calculus at age ten, my sister at age eleven. My mom memorized the names of all two hundred and five bones in a pony by age eight, and learned every muscle, tendon, filament by age ten. She was even the first to perform brain surgery on a unicorn!

While other fillies and colts learned how to fly a kite, we learned about surface tension, photosynthesis, and thermodynamics. While we weren’t pushed to learn complex ideas (although Mom did push both, Jack and Cross into their rooms sometimes), we were bred to learn them. This is really important, so let me give you another example. I mastered algebra around age seven and calculus at age nine. No normal filly at that age would even have the attention span to sit through math problem after math problem of derivatives and antiderivatives .

You might think this is some kind of gift from Celestia, right? Well, in a sense, it is, but every gift has its price. I never had a friend until I was six; always alone in school, I only really conversed with the other students during tutor sessions, and they were so ungrateful that I stopped. I was ostracised because of my above average brain size, and always had three times the workload compared to the others. That, and holding a conversation that didn’t deal with how to deal with ruptured spleens was somewhat of a feat before I met Peach. You’ll understand soon enough.

I didn’t care about any of that though, since I had my big sister, Cross.

Cross was thirteen when I was born, and very quickly became my favorite, even more so than Mom. Everytime she came home, she and Jack would climb up to my room and shake my favorite rattle over my crib. I’d grab for it with a jubilant smile plastered on my face, and when it got boring, she’d spice things up. They’d take me into the backyard, even before I was two, and teach me about the world; from pony anatomy to algebraic equations, they taught me everything they knew, and even at that age I remembered every detail.

There was no fun, from the moment I could sit up on my own, a medical textbook, meant for med school students, was placed in my lap. I quickly swept through elementary math, english, and science before my second birthday, using blocks and paper to show, Cross what I learned. I advanced through multiplication, long division and the anatomy of insects, frogs and other mammals by the time I was three. Something bothered me though, normally a mother, or big sister in this case, would praise younger siblings for their achievements, but Cross seemed to get sadder and sadder the more I learned. She still strived for me to learn, pushing new subjects like history and mythology in front of me, but I wouldn’t understand her sadness until after I got my cutie mark.

When I started school at age five, I innately knew everything they taught. Never did I get a wrong answer, and I was quickly called a know-it-all by the others, but I already went over that.  School was easy, too easy and I wanted to go home and do something more challenging. I skipped a full week of school, locking myself in my room with a calculus textbook open in my lap. That didn’t go well and I ended up with detention for two weeks, twenty pages of work, a three page essay on why skipping school is bad and a two hour lecture from Mom. Even Cross, the first to come to my rescue, stayed away during that.

Jack was more into the mechanical aspect of the advancing medical field, with the tech spread throughout his room – all things he made – and the shirts he wore to bed. Jack was more of a nuisance than anything else. He loved me like any brother would (he came to my rescue once when a colt tried to beat me up after school), but when I accidentally stepped on one of his creations, be it his model airplanes, the one thing he did outside of medicine, or his nano tech models, I might as well be the destroyer of worlds.

My sister, Cross, kind of crossed between medicine and therapy, mainly interested in the care of foals and young fillies and colts. She was as sweet as the lollipop on her flank.

The two would debate everything, from dinner to how airplanes worked. They’d bounce ideas off one another and fight tooth and nail to perfect each one, but one time, when I was two and just learning how to walk, they involved me in one of their more, heated, topics.

I had broken out of my playpen after I finished an open heart surgery on doll, Molly, using the plastic Surgeon's set, Mom bought me, and decided to look for some books. I shifted through the charts and textbooks stacked neatly at the foot of the couch. I had decided on pathology and radiology when I heard the phrase “You can’t do that to foals” be shouted from upstairs. I knew that if I were caught outside my playpen again it’d mean Jack spanking my behind.

I could hear their footsteps on the stairs right in front of my pen and decided right then that I wouldn’t make it back in time. I hid under one of the mats you wiped your hooves on, shaking as each hoofstep drew closer.

Cross and Jack wouldn’t even noticed me if I went back to the safety of my playpen, they were so caught up in their argument, and as I shook under the mat, my tiny body barely poking out, I didn’t realize just how vulnerable I was.

Neither of them realized that I was lying in the middle of the hallway and stomped on three of my legs, breaking them like twigs underhoof. Both my back legs snapped in two different locations, and my left forearm broke in three. I still remember the blinding pain, how I screamed for Cross, the blood and the slack jawed looks on Jack and Cross’s face when they lifted the towel.

Mom wasn’t home, she was in the middle of brain surgery, Dad right by her side. She took care of a Mr. Joal Starshower, he’ll become more important later.

Instead of panicking over the tidal wave of trouble they knew they were in, and how mad at me they should be, Cross and Jack dropped their argument, Cross falling to my side, stroking my head with one of her warm beige hooves, while Jack rushed into the kitchen to one of the wooden cutting boards and rushed up to his room. There he used the hack saw Mom got him two years ago, for his creations, to cut the board into four different strips, one for each of my legs.

I could see the worry in Cross’s face, her bright blue eyes glistening with tears. She stroked my head with one hoof and gently stopped me from moving my injured hooves with the other. Her soft voice, warm hooves, and tender eyes were what kept me together, and I held onto everyone of her words like a drowning pony would a life ring.

“Okay, Crystal, can you hear me?” I nodded, never looking away from her eyes. “Good, now Jack’s going to make some splints, I need to figure out what legs are broken.“ How she knew my legs were broken and not something else, I never found out. “I want you to scream as loud as you can when you feel pain, okay.” She didn’t need to tell me twice, but for some reason, getting permission to scream made me feel better. I don’t know why.

She pressed down on my right hoof, the one that wasn’t broken, getting nothing but my sniffles, but when she touched my left hoof, I thought my lungs would rupture. My yell was so loud, even Jack, who was all the way upstairs, had to cover his ears.

At that time, we lived in a house with neighbors as close as half a mile away, so I could scream as loud as I wanted and no one would show up with a gun.

“Shhh. it’s alright, I’m not touching it anymore.” Cross’s voice soothed me like a blanket. “I’m going to try the next one, remember to scream as loud as you can if you feel any pain, okay.”

I nodded, tears streaming down my face, yet, I felt calm knowing that Cross was by my side. I thought she’d never leave me.

Two more times, I screamed as loud as I could, and two more times, Cross soothed me. By the time Jack came back with the splints, I had passed out from pain and Cross had rivers flowing down her face. It was only now they thought of the trouble they were in.

Mom got home around ten, two hours after I got trampled on. She saw both Cross and Jack sitting on the couch, me in Cross’s lap, a hoof stroking my mane. Both of their eyes were mere dots, and a cold sweat broke out on their foreheads. Neither took their eyes off me though.

I’m glad I was asleep when Mom saw those three splints on my legs. All of them with red seeping through the white bandages.

Dad took me to the hospital, silently praising Jack for making the splints so well, while Mom erupted.

I ended up being stuck in the hospital, where Mom and Dad both operated on me, for two months. I could have left after a month, but the entire family demanded I stay till I could walk again, and with my parents being such important players in the hospital staff, most of which adored me. They got what they wanted.

You might think I got bored, but Cross and Jack came in everyday after school, right after school, Jack bringing stories and cool new mechanical toys he made while Cross snuck me treats like rice crispy treats. I didn’t realize it was one part of their punishment, but I wouldn’t care either way. Cross always found a way to make me laugh, even in the beginning when every little motion I made brought agonizing pain.

I specifically remember what Cross said when I asked her why she kept coming, day after day. “We protect our own.”

I came home, sleeping on Cross’s back. Jack carried all the pain pills and extra bandages we didn’t need, on his. Mom immediately told them to go to their rooms until dinner, taking me onto her own back. They didn’t resist.

I had three tight, hard casts, a fluorescent green one on my forearm, a purple one on my left back leg, and a red one on my right backleg. The entire hospital staff had signed each cast, and I still have them hanging on my bedroom wall to this day. I was so tiny back then!

Everything kind of went back to normal a few weeks later. Cross and Jack made sure to watch where they were going whenever they argued now, and Mom let them back outside about two months later. But something I loved about my siblings was that even after I got them into trouble, big trouble, they still loved me, still taught me everything school wouldn’t, and still gave me some of the biggest hugs.

I was six when my brother and sister left for Ponyville.

It was the first time the thought of losing the only two friends I have. I couldn’t do anything but wait. Whenever I tried to intervene in their argument I was thrown back into my room. Mom cried, for the first time, Dad yelled at them, and I couldn’t understand why they would want to leave me. They said it was their calling, that Ponyville needed skilled doctors like them, and they couldn’t ignore the call, but I still didn’t believe it. Something happened that made my brother and sister want to leave.

I still remember the fight. Mom screamed almost as loud as I did, and I cried, alone in my big girl bed, Molly by my side. It was a nightmare, one that got worse.

Jack was the first to curse at my parents, using words I don’t want to say, to describe Mom. Then Cross, a pony who you’d have to kill a kitten to make mad, joined in the cursing. It was so sudden, so stupid, and I still don’t forgive them.

When Mom came in to read me my bedtime story that night, the one thing she did for me before the dragon, she had a black eye. The first words out of her mouth were “You’re brother’s gone”. She let me gently touch her eye, and said she’d be fine, but something she said made me angry. “Jack’s no longer part of this family, Crystal.” Those words tore at my heart like sharp daggers at first, but seemed fitting later.

She said the same thing when, Cross left for Ponyville two days later, but at least she said goodbye to me.

The following days were all but heck. Something inside me twisted, writhed, waiting to crack. I began to hate my brother and sister. The two who loved me almost as much as Mom did. I wanted to hurt them like they did to Mom. Too tear both their eyes out, but it wouldn’t be enough. My hate soon evolved into something darker. I wanted them dead. Little did I know I would get my wish.

Mom was washing the dishes when she first heard about the dragon attack. I remember the shattering sound of a porcelain dinner plate breaking on the floor.

I was in the middle of the third edition of Medical weekly that day. Mom made me read them like she did, Jack and Cross. It’s a kind of pretense to get me used to medical terminology before she lays the thicker textbooks with sticky notes marking certain pages and certain terms that will be on a certain test. I was actually interested. But I screamed when that dish shattered.

Mom made me write letters to Ponyville to Jack and Cross. She didn’t want to take the train to see them personally, it was still too soon, and even though she thought them out of the family, she couldn’t hide her worry.

I sent them off the same day.

The very next day, someone from the royal guard knocked on our door, the golden armor of the solar army if memory serves. I was at school so I didn’t actually see the guard. Just heard about him through Mom.

I remember coming home that day, tree sap stuck in my mane from climbing one of the trees by the school. It was a very quiet, very peaceful place, perfect to read Medical Weekly. Mom sat on the couch, room dark, looking at the piece of parchment with Celestia’s signature. There was a long look in her eyes, dark and filled with worry. I walked closer, sap drooling out of my hair in long thick strands. Climbing that tree made me feel naughty, and part of me enjoyed it while another thought Mom would cut my head off before giving me a bath.

Mom patted the couch next to her and I quickly obeyed her order. I climbed up, leaving spots of sap on the furnishing like sticky mines, and to my surprise, Mom wrapped a hoof around me, not caring about the sap. She said that Dad left for Cloudsdale to help in the recovery. About two hundred orphan fillies and colts were lost and lonely, scared in what probably felt like a post war Cloudsdale.

I thought dragons hunted alone, everyone did.

I nestled against her chest. She smelled of thick globs of sweat, and her fur felt like a freshly beaten rug, clean and soft. “They’re all going. Everyone but us.”

“Cross?” I said almost on a reflex. She nodded.

“Both of them were called by Celestia herself to aid those injured in Cloudsdale. The dragon claimed around a hundred lives and injured well over three hundred,” She rubbed my forehead, her hooves getting stuck in so much sap that I questioned where it all came from, but she didn’t even flinch. “The first ponies Celestia will call on in a time like this are the Agates. It’s our job to help those injured physically or mentally. You remember the saying, right, Crystal?”

“When in doubt call an Agate?” I know how it sounds, but that’s what some ponies actually say.

“Yes, and I wanted to go as well, but someone’s got to take care of a certain blank flank.” She nuzzled me, and I felt warm, but I also felt her shake. “That and you’re only six, and it’s against the law, even for us, to leave fillies under the age of fifteen home for more than a day.” She turned away, looking at the little trails of sap I left on the carpet. “I just have a bad feeling about it all.”

“They’ll be fine, Mom,” I rested my head against her chest, making her gasp. “We are Agates after all.” I couldn’t remember the last time I was with Mom for so long before seven o'clock.

“Heh, you’re right, and hey, Celestia gave me the week off so how bout I teach you a few things after school?”

“Wha…” Never had I heard of Mom, my mom, taking time off from work. Two days after I was born, Mom went back to work, leaving me in Cross’s hooves, two days! Now she’s taking a full week off? “A week?”

“Yeah, now go take a shower.” Mom shoved me off the couch. “I need to make dinner and a lesson plan.” I was half way up the stairs, mind racing, when she added, “And make sure to clean behind your ears.”

Two days went by in a breeze.  School was boring as ever, but knowing I had Mom all to myself for another two days before Dad came home was like Christmas everyday. Mom taught me everything about bones and muscles, not the names, but how they work and what they’re made of. She’s so calm, slowly going through lesson after lesson like a musician through melodies, and she’s funny. One time, when we were going over muscular contractions, Mom decided to lay down on me. Now I was already under her stomach, but it was completely different from what I expected her to be. I thought she was either a god figure that thought she was better than everypony else, or a soft spoken mare that didn’t bother with words beyond when they were absolutely needed, and neither of these thoughts gave her a sense of humor. There were some hard moments too, like when I got stuck on a particular process, she’d get a little angry, but she’d stop herself and we took a break.

We always had tea right before and after my lessons, lemon tea, which is my favorite and calms the mind for better retaining of information. I also got to sit right besides her, and she always smelled of lavender. She made my meals and we ate together like a family would.

Now, on the third day with Mom, I took my break in one of the trees near our home. From birth I’d loved two things, other than learning, and those were climbing and food, particularly sweets, but now I was expanding my likes to books. Mom has a big collection of King Stephen novels and I decided to read some.

“No, don’t go in there!” I half shouted, giggling to myself. “She’ll burn you alive!” My eyes blurred by each line, heart racing as I fell into the deep abyss of reading.

It was King Steven’s latest novel, Starter of Fires, about a little girl that sets things on fire… WITH HER MIND!!! It was well, hot, and I couldn’t put it down. I had quietly taken it from Mom’s bedroom without her permission, and was already half way through. It was Saturday, which meant no school, and I had been sitting in the tree, sap oozing into my fur yet again, reading for about three hours.

“Oh, what did I tell you, guns don’t work if their barrels are melted.” I shook my head, smile plastered on my face as pony after pony burned alive. It was nothing compared to the stuff I saw in Medical Weekly. I broke out into another fit of laughter when another dumb henchman was set ablaze, but this time, something caught my eye.

Walking down the quarter mile driveway was a large white figure. She’s huge, was the first thing to come to my mind, and the closer she got the more I could see. There were golden horseshoes on each of her hooves. A gold breast plate with a large amethysts gem in the middle. A crown, a horn and… my mind froze. I stared as none other than the Princess Celestia casually strolled up my driveway.

I leaned forward, looking for anything that could disprove this, but nothing showed. She was a large alicorn with wings that easily span six feet, a horn about two feet long, white fur, amethyst eyes, it was her. The princess was walking up to my house, and she didn’t look happy.

I leaned more, hoof out like I was trying to touch her. I didn’t notice Starter of Fires fall to the ground, or Celestia’s attention shifting, all I could see was the white of her fur, fresh snowfall, and silently wonder what it felt like.

Then I leaned too much. And fell.

A scream welled up, ready to burst with the first branch I hit, and it came, loud and fearful, but the branch didn’t. I felt a warm tingle all around my body, and when I opened my eyes, saw a yellow glow. I had stopped falling.

But before I could sigh with relief, I moved, completely against my will, to the ground. It wasn’t bumpy like a rollercoaster, but smooth like sledding down a shallow hill.

“Crystal, I presume.”

I opened my eyes when I felt myself stop moving, and gazed upon the horror of my ruler. She was pure white and had soft eyes yes, but she was really big, so big that with one well placed hoof, my entire life would end. It was like an ice cube fell into my stomach. I couldn’t move or say anything. Just watch in horror as the giant figure grew closer and closer. Her eyes looked sad, but there was a smile on her face, a warm smile that did nothing to melt this fear. I tried to run away, but the magic held firm. Her eyes were three times the size of mine and there was a long, sharp horn that could easily pierce my heart resting atop her head.

“You should be more careful, my little pony.” I was so close, I could feel her hot breath touch my nose. She smelled of pine and was huge! Twice as big as Mom, maybe more. “If I wasn’t here, you could have hit your head on that tree branch. That’s not fun.” Her voice felt sweet, like candy by the fire with a good book, and slowly, it soothed me.

I laughed, quiet at first, then louder. How could I be so stupid? Celestia wasn’t a tyrant that stabbed any pony who dared defy her. She was mother to all of Equestria, and mother’s never hit their children.

“Is something funny?” Celestia said, eyeing herself like she had a giant spider riding her back. “Did I do something?”

“No, I was scared of you,” I said before breaking out in fits of laughter. “How stupid is that?”

I felt Celestia’s magic dissipate and I landed on the grass, busting my gut with laughter. “That is humorous, my little pony, but not as uncommon as you may think.” She knelt down besides me. “Fillies have wet themselves at the sight of me, and I can not blame them. I am in fact, seven feet tall with the power to raise the very sun and moon.” She went silent after that, listening to my laughter grow and grow and eventually joining in.

I rolled in the grass, hooves pressed against my stomach as tears streamed down my face and laughter roared out of my mouth. Celestia was more composed, sitting still with her head held high as chuckles left her.

When it was over I sat up, realizing I was covered in tree sap again, and looked at the Princess. “Why are you here?” I asked looking at the golden sap.

“Is your mother home?” Celestia’s voice was somber, which had me worried, and she lit her horn, getting rid of the pesky sap. “I have some very grave news to give to the both of you.”

“News?” I said, staring at that horn with jealousy, “Well, Mom’s inside making lunch, but I think she can talk.”

“Oh, I know what to do.” Celestia grabbed me in her magic, lifting me up to her eye level before moving towards the house. “Play along.”

I nodded, confused and excited at the same time. Not everypony gets to meet the Princess, and even fewer get to play a prank with her. At least I think that’s what she was doing.

We walked up the front porch, me floating, and Celestia knocked loudly on the door, stifling a giggle as she said in her best western accent: “Come out, Sterile, I have your filly!”

There was a moments pause before Mom shouted from the kitchen. “Keep her, I’m not coming out.”

“You better come out Sterile, or I’ll tickle her until she pees herself.” She turned to me with an evil grin. “Then I’ll take pictures and put them on the front page of the newspaper.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, but I will.” A poof of purple smoke came from my left and a white feather appeared. “I will.” The feather got its own bubble of yellow magic and started moving towards my left hoof.

“Ah, you’re not actually going to make me…” I stopped when Celestia turned towards me. Her evil grin telling me all I needed to know.

“Come out here, Sterile.”

“Mom! Help!” The feather inched closer and closer until I felt its soft touch on my vulnerable belly, but before anything happened, the door opened and I felt two hooves grab me.

“Good, you’re safe.” It was Mom, but sounded defensive, like Celestia would actually hurt me. “Did she touch you?”

“Mom, what are you talking about? It’s the Princess, not a serial pedophile.”

“Sterile, it’s me, could you please open the door?” Celestia said, her voice muffled.

“Princess?” Mom’s voice was thin, and for a second I swore she shook. “Lunch is ready, Crystal, go grab some while I take care of the princess.”

“Uh, okay“ Mom let me down and I walked to the kitchen. There were three hay and daisy sandwiches with Mom’s special sauce, one I still can’t recreate, on the counter. I wanted to ask Mom to get me one, but the door closed the moment I turned around to ask. I decided to grab a chair.

I was in the middle of my first sandwich when the door opened again, and Celestia and Mom walked through.

“Crystal, could you come to the living room, please,” Mom said. She sounded defeated, and I could hear a groan in her voice.

“May I finish my sandwich?” I asked.

“No, just get over here.”

I was confused. Why would Mom sound like a sore loser in front of the Princess? Isn’t it a great honor to be visited by her? I complied either way, setting my sandwich down on the table and wiping my face with a napkin before heading into the living room. Celestia sat in one of our couches while Mom sat in the other. Mom looked like she was about to cry and attack Celestia at the same time. Her hooves shook, and I could tell by the way she looked down that something wasn’t right.

I climbed onto the couch and squeezed myself between her hooves, sitting on her lap. She placed a heavy hoof on my head and I smiled briefly before looking ahead at Celestia.

“Okay, now that everyone’s here,” Celestia said clapping her hooves together. “Sterile, have you told little Crystal about the curse?”

Curse? I thought. This was the first time I’d heard the word used outside of story books. Agates strictly believed that there was an answer to everything, one that didn’t involve superstition and things like curses, so why Celestia would ask such a question was beyond me.

“Don’t you trust me, Celestia?” Mom said, “I tell all my children about that when they are old enough. I’m Crystal’s mother so I’ll decide when that is.”

“As expected,” Celestia said, nodding. “Crystal, would you come here for a minute?”

“What, me?” I said, jumping a little at the sound of my own name. “Uh, is that okay, Mom?”

“Yes, just get it over with.”

I expected her to push me onto the floor, but she just lifted her hoof and gently nudged me. I got up, jumped down and headed over to Celestia’s couch. “Yes, Princess?”

For the third time that day, I was lifted by magic and rested on Celestia’s thigh. I blushed briefly at how, close, I was to her. Everything was displayed in front of me, especially her giant belly. I turned to her wings, remembering how she planned to tickle me until I wet myself. There was a single feather out of place, just in reach… but I couldn’t, that’s not proper… but it was so tempting. When would someone ever have a chance to tickle the Princess Celestia? Never, and it would make a great story to tell my children (if I had any), I’d only get one chance though.

“Crystal… Uh, what are you… ‘ow’” Celestia winced as I grabbed the feather. Immediately I went to work, brushing the soft end against her tender belly, feeling it twitch. She started to laugh and I could see her body writhe. “Wow, she’s nothing like Cross… is she… Sterile?” she said between laughs. “I think… this… is payback for… earlier.”

I moved up and down her belly, touching her armpits and hooves, but staying away from her more sensitive areas. To me, it lasted for an hour, but in reality it was a minute, yet I enjoyed every second like it was a full minute. But everything must come to an end eventually.

I was completely unaware of anything, not Mom, not even Celestia’s laughter, and especially the lack of reaction from both. I didn’t even know Mom had that thing of lipstick on her, but I did when it hit the back of my head like a bullet.

I rubbed the back of my head, glaring teary eyed at Mom who glared right back. She didn’t seem angry, just annoyed, but part of her looked amused, the way a mother pig looks when her piglets fight.

“Thank you, Sterile,” Celestia said, the feather in her grasp, “I don’t know how long I could have lasted.”

“You could have done that for yourself, you know?”

“Yes, but where where’s the fun in that?”

“Fun?” Mom raised an eyebrow, “Nevermind, just get whatever you’re doing over with. I want you out before Crystal’s lesson.”

“Mom!” I said, almost yelling. “You can’t talk to the Princess like that.”

“It’s fine, Crystal,” suddenly a giant white wing cut off my view on Mom, “I expected her to be like that.” I turned around, white surrounding me like a cocoon, and was face to face with my savorn, “Hi” She touched my nose and I fell back against her wing, arms protecting my face. “I haven’t laughed like that in a while, but if my guards were here, you’d be pinned to the ground with three spears in your face, right now. You know that, right?”

The thought never occurred to me. “Uh… you’re not going to throw me in jail, are y-you.”

“Don’t worry, my little pony, nothing’s going to happen to you, but do make a note.” She was so close, I could smell her breath… minty with an after thought of pomegranate, and I could see her giant eyes like amethyst orbs shoved into a gentle creature.

“I’ll make this quick so your mom doesn’t get any ideas.” Her horn lit and there was a bright flash. When I opened my eyes, a golden card, kind of like a business card, floated in front of me. “I don’t think this is necessary,” Celestia said, “but I like to play things on the safe side.”

“Wh-What is it?” I just realized it, but I was completely disconnected from Mom. If something did happen, no one would come to save me.

“It’s an invitation to the castle, but let me explain my reasoning.” She placed the card in my lap. “You know your mother loves you a lot, right?”

“Of c-coarse, Princess,” I was becoming very claustrophobic with Celestia’s giant head inches from me. “Why would you ask?”

“Well, because I think she loves you a little too much?”

“That doesn’t make sense, a mother can’t love her children enough, right?“

“Of coarse, Crystal, but your mom crossed a line. Remember when you were two, how Cross and Jack broke three of your legs?”

“Yes.”

“Well, visiting you wasn’t their only punishment.” She looked over her wing for a moment then back to me, took a deep breath and said: “Out of the three of you, your Mom loved you the most, so, she got extremely mad when you got hurt.” For a moment I thought I heard fear in Celestia’s voice. “Your mother loved you so much that she… hurt, Jack and Cross a lot.” She paused, gauging my reaction, then added: “As punishment, not–”

“I don’t believe you!” I shouted.

“Again, this is just a precaution, don’t take it personally, but if anything happens. If your mom hurts you in anyway, run to the castle. If the guards see that card, you’ll be let in and I can solve the problem.

“Okay,” I nodded, stuffing the card in one of my pockets. “Just a precaution, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, Crystal,” Celestia lifted her wing. I felt Mom stare at the back of my head like I touched her in the wrong place, or worse. “But I’ve got one more thing to tell you two, and it’s not going to make you smile.”

“Then I don’t want to know!” Mom shouted. I could hear tears in her voice. “Everytime I see you it’s bad news! So just go away.” I felt myself lift off from Celestia’s thigh, Mom’s arms wrapping tightly around my midsection. “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all, so just leave!”

I waited for Celestia to do something. Slap her was kind of what I hoped for, but I got nothing. She just sat there for a moment before getting up, eyes blocked by her ethereal mane.

“I’ll go, but you’ll hear the news eventually. Do you want it to come from me… or them?” She moved towards the door, and I struggled to break free. I had to stop her, I didn’t know who was them, but I knew it couldn’t be good for Mom, so I had to stop her… but it was useless. I couldn't break Mom’s hold on me.

“I’ll give you one last chance, Sterile. Will you take it.”

“No, just get out of my house!”

“Mom!” I shouted.

“Okay,” Celestia opened the door, ignoring my pleads for her to stay, and left.

Mom let me go and I ran to the open door. Celestia was still walking down the driveway, but I could see her guards coming to meet her.

“Mom, please,” I shouted, but stopped when I saw the tears rolling down her face. “Mom?” I walked to her and she grabbed me in a tight hug. “Mom? What’s wrong?”

“I-I don’t hate, Celestia. I just can’t take any more bad news. Cross and Jack already broke my heart and they’re doing our job for me. I’m alone with you. I-I wouldn’t be able to take it if something happened to them.”

“But I’d rather hear whatever news Celestia has from her, not whoever this them is. They… They sound really mean.” I rested my head on her chest, hearing her sobs grow with each breath. “Please, she’s probably just as sad about it as you might be.”

“Just get her then!” Mom shouted right into my ear. “I-I don’t want to hear if from them either, but promise me one thing.”

“Anything, Mom.”

“Promise me, that no matter how bad the news is, you won’t leave like Cross did. Please.”

“I promise.” The words came out smooth and easily.

“Then bring her back.” She tightened her hug before letting go.

I ran to the door, busting through with my head, planning to tear her from her guards despite the chance of spears in my face, but, that wasn’t necessary.

“Is she ready?” Celestia said not even ten feet from the porch.

“I… uh, yes,” I looked around, her guards were no where to be seen. “Please, come in.”

Once more, we sat on the couches, me in Mom’s arms with Celestia looking right into Mom’s eyes. She took a deep breath. “Well, there’s no more stalling. You know about the dragon that attacked Cloudsdale three days ago, right?”

“Yes,” Mom said. “Olsen, Jack and Cross went to help with the injured.” Her eyes looked solemn before going wide, “Did they do something? Are my children in jail?”

“No, that isn’t it.”

“Then what happened?” Mom sounded angry and I coujld feel her hooves tighten around my waist, digging into my flesh. “What happened in Cloudsdale?”

“It’s just that… another dragon made its way to the city–”

“What happened!?” Mom shouted, suddenly crushing me with her hooves.

“It’s just that… well,” she took another shuddering breath. “Jack Agate, Cross Agate and Olsen Agate all… perished.”

There are a lot of advantages with living in a home filled with doctors. You get free health care, never have to wait in line to see a doctor, have well versed and well paid parents that understand how to take care of children, but if I had to point out one negative, it would have to be death.

“Y-You can’t be serious, Celestia?” Mom said, eyes wide and her death grip turned as loose as a corpse's. “Tell me this is a joke.

“I’m sorry,” Celestia’s voice was somber and full of regret.  “But Jack,” I could see tears falling from her face, and felt my own perking at the edge of mine, “Cross, and Olsen Agate are… Dead.”