Going to the Crystal Empire over the summer had sounded like a dream, until Diamond Tiara had learned that her friend Silver Spoon was not going to follow her there. Maybe it wasn’t so much of a blissful vacation trip as she had expected as she agreed to take the train there.

She had been told that Princess Cadence herself would pick her up at the station. Wouldn’t that be glorious? Spending time with a Princess. It isn’t Celestia, or even Luna, but an Alicorn Princess, nonetheless.

Sharing the radiance of the beloved Cadence had sounded like a dream, almost too good to be true. At least, the Princess had actually showed up, and alone.

What had she agreed to? Why had she gone along with, what is to come? Destiny. The sign on her flanks, of course.