The Key

by TrixieLuvsMagic

Rating: everyone
Tags: Sad, Drama
Length: 2213

Fiara Spark had a reputation of perfection to maintain. She was the cousin of a princess and future ruler of an empire. She was beautiful, and never had problems with her mane. The only problem was... She didn't want to rule. She hated her reputation

"Fiara Spark, you are never to find out what's in this locked book. Ever! If you even try to find out why we're your adopted parents, or who your real parents are, there will be dire consequences. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Those were one of the last words before Fiara lost her freedom forever when she was very young… She had a reputation, and it was her duty to maintain it. She didn't know very well of her parents, but her cousin, Princess Cadence, adopted her and decided to train her to become a proper ruler, since Cadence and Shining Armor's new daughter was still too young, she'd need a young and lovable role model until she became a princess as well. Fiara Spark would become a ruler of an empire, possibly choose a suitor, and maybe even have fittings for gowns and a crown. She'd be a princess, the dream of little foals all over Equestria. The only problem was… She didn't want to.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-02-29 17:32:29 UTC

Happy Birthday, Princess

Sunlight streamed through the crystal glass windows. Fiara Spark, a young, beautiful alicorn mare yawned and crawled out of bed, half-asleep. She weakly walked towards a mirror, and grabbed a brush with her magic, brushing her mane that was frizzy and all over the place. Another day, another long set of duties and responsibilities. Moments after she finished brushing her hair, there was a loud knock on the door.

knock, knock

"Come in." She spoke, tired. It was one of the crystal guards specially used for important occasions by order of Princess Cadence.

"Princess Fiara, time for breakfast." The guard softly said.

"Please don't call me Princess. I'm not even an official princess yet. I... I'll be right down." Fiara replied.

"...Of course. Your Highness..." The guard answered, and swiftly left. The young mare sitting near the middle of the room sighed, closing the doors behind her with her magic. She made her bed, brushed her teeth, took a quick shower, and made her way to a special dining room for the rulers and nobles of the Crystal Empire. Only used for special celebrations, and for the visits from important ponies on occasion. The golden doors flung open as she pushed the guards standing at attention out of her way.

"Oh, there you are!" A tall, white colt chuckled. It was Shining Armor, Cadence's husband and Prince of the Crystal Empire.

"Come here, sleepyhead. We have a surprise for your Birthday!" Cadence said, having a slight songbird tone to her sweet voice. She sat down at her seat, and waiters brought by on a silver platter, her favorite breakfast. There was chocolate chip waffles, a small side of her favorite fruits inside a fancy dish with ice to keep it cold, a tall glass of apple juice, and a neatly fresh-baked chocolate chip muffin. She silently ate her breakfast and Cadence had left the room for about a minute, coming back with a large box wrapped in paper, tied with a crystal bedazzled bow.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Open it!" Shining laughed. She tore the paper off and opened the packaging. It was a music box, custom made with love. It was blue-green, her favorite color. It had a carved and colored image of her cutie mark on the top, several gems on the sides, and when she opened it, there was a photo of her family on the inside of the back. It played an upbeat and calming tune, and Fiara smiled.

"I love it. Thank you both!" She chuckled and grinned widely.

"Happy Birthday Fiara, we're glad you enjoy it." Cadence blushed.

After about an hour of celebrating, she went back towards her quarters to get ready to do her daily royal duties. Fiara walked in silence up the stairs to the few floors from the top tower where many private quarters were arranged. There was her room at the end of the hallway, and she entered inside, closing the doors behind her. She longed to learn why her forced destiny was so important. She wanted to know what value a music box would have to a mare like her. She opened the box and peeked inside. There was a small flap from behind the picture, it was glued on. She tore the paper image off and she was surprised with what was behind it. It was a small, purple, key.

Finding Out the Truth

Fiara Spark levitated up the key with her magic, the top was fashioned to resemble some sort of crown, there were three amethyst stones placed carefully underneath the crown, and it sparkled in the light. She didn't know what it was supposed to open, so she went to the royal library to find out information about it.

"Your Highness!" The royal librarian said, happily. She had a light brown and silver mane, a yellow coat, and blue eyes. Her cutie mark were a few crystal shards surrounding a book. Fiara sighed. She fake-smiled at the librarian mare, and walked towards the several sections of books, looking for any lead to the key hidden in her gift. She found nearly nothing, to her dismay. After she finally gave up, she bang her head against the wall, right by a shelf in the Forbidden Books section. A small medium-sized book fell down. It was golden covered, had gems decorating it, and there was a lock in the middle used to open the book.

"History of The Crystal Empire's Royal Families?" Fiara questioned. "It's worth a try." She got the purple key out of her saddle bag, and was a few moments away from inserting the key inside when she heard running straight towards her.

"Step away from that book, this instant!" It was Cadence, Shining Armor, and what seemed like two crystal guards.

They couldn't fully see Fiara, so she slipped the book into a bag, zapped up a not well-designed replacement and slammed it into the shelf, dashing away as fast as possible. They tried to catch up to her, but failed.

Now she had done it! Cadence obviously knew it would be her own daughter, but she did it anyways! "What an idiot I was... I deserve to be arrested by the royal guard or banished to another world..." Fiara thought to herself. She slipped the book out of her saddle bag, locked the door, and inserted the key inside the lock, turning it slowly. The pages swiftly turned to the last generation before Fiara had been adopted by Cadence or when Flurry Heart was born. Names of her ancestors came and gone, as the time in the book was catching up to her name. It was arranged in who ruled, or would rule, first before the other, then that one before the next, and so on.

And there said it, in black, bold ink. Her mom's name.

Princess Amore.

"The records of Princess Fiara's father's birth to her are unknown, since he died of old age before she was born, which was years before King Sombra ruled the Empire and took over the land. Princess Amore, before she eventually killed as well, had given her one baby daughter to traveling villagers from Saddle Arabia, where they took her back to their country to be raised until she was a foal, and old enough to care for herself until she had her own parents. She was later adopted by Princess Cadence." That's where the story of the past generation ended. Her mother had died by king Sombra when Fiara was a newborn foal. The records of her dad are missing. And then she knew the truth, she could've ruled in Sombra's place, but she was too young. And Cadence had taken care of her for the next...Ten...Years.

Fiara Spark's Destiny

Fiara had a shocked look on her face, and was in tears. Her parents, were dead. Dead. She had so many thoughts in her head, there was no room to think. She started smashing things around the room, and then trashed her tiara off, taking a long look at it. The crystal pink heart, the golden rims, disgusting. It made her sick to see her reflection in the crown's jewel. She chucked it across the room and it smashed against the floor, nearly cracking into little pieces. She yanked it back up with her magic, fuming, and put it back neatly on her head. She cleaned up the mess, left the room, and walked along the halls depressed. Having a shrouded look on her face, she went to the royal kitchen and grabbed an apple for a snack. She was going to take a nice walk, to ease her nerves. She told the nearby guards at one of the palace entrance/exits where she was going, and that she'd return as soon as possible.

"I have to go. I'm taking a walk, and shall return as soon as possible." Fiara spoke out, taking a bite into the apple.

"Of course your Majesty." The guards replied, and they let her through.

Fiara was...Depressed. She sulked a bit, walking along the streets while crystal and normal ponies waved and even bowed in her presence. She fake-smiled and waved back at most of them and even said "hello", but it wasn't usually intentional. And when she eventually came back to the castle, her parents were waiting for her. She knew she was in trouble.

"Fiara, how could you?" Cadence lovingly questioned. "You stole this book, opened it with this , and lastly, you didn't even tell us! Why would you do this? You could've just told us it was important to you, and asked us about your past." She continued. Cadence had a few tears streaming from her face. Fiara looked timid, and small. She rubbed her hoof around, scratching the ground.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you earlier. But we couldn't stand the thought of seeing you so upset. Having a destiny you might not even like, your parents being...Gone, and etc. We're truly sorry." Shining spoke out.

"Y-you really mean it?" Fiara replied. She smiled weakly, tears in her eyes. They nodded. Fiara was escorted inside with her parents, and a few guards, and was sent to her room immediately to await her punishment for what she did. Only, her punishment never came.

Cadence had later entered her room, and shut the doors behind her.  Fiara now was in bed. She was tired from what happened yesterday. cadence petted her mane to wake her up, and Fiara's eyes opened weakly.

"Mom?" She said, calmly.

"Well, look who woke up, it's the Princess monster! Rawr!" Cadence teased, smiling. Fiara chuckled. She blew her pink and black bangs out of her face, and got up out of bed. She yawned, and Cadence grinned.

"What do you want, Cadence?" She questioned, tilting her head.

"You've slept all day and now the suns setting. Shining and I were worried about you, and he asked if I should go to see you. So, I came." Cadence replied. "Now, down to business about what you did." Fiara's smile fell. before she could say anything, she was smacked hard somewhere on her cheek. She had been hit by Cadence's hoof. She had never been hit before, especially not by her. Rubbed and noogied, maybe. But not this.

"Wha-?" Fiara gasped.

"How, in all of Equestria from Manehattan to Griffonstone, did you believe that you could steal a book about our family history, and use this key to open it!" Cadence raged, holding up the key with her magic. "What made you think you could be a thief of your own family? We didn't want your past to be revealed, because if you found out, we imagined you would've killed yourself. Or maybe even try to hurt us. We are very sorry, too. But there's no excuse!" She continued. Cadence was truly upset, and it was all her fault.

Which destiny do YOU want? (Final Chapter)

After a long, angry argument, Fiara hated her mom. Mostly because how she reacted over a book, but it did involve a few hundred secrets that she remembered her parents didn't want her to know about. It was an emotion she despised to feel, even if it was short-term or fake. Hate. The word flooded her mind and she couldn't stand it. She asked herself, is there was an easy way to get rid of it and bad memories? Of course not. Could she think of something else to make it, a good thing? Unlikely. Would her parents understand how she felt and give her a destiny that wasn't forced on her? Even less likely. Guards had come by and brought her dinner. Her parents decided to eat by themselves, for her sake. Since she might be too angry to even look at them right now, mainly Cadence. She ate her dinner in silence and put the tray on her dresser. She sighed. Thoughts raced through her head, and she knew there was only one way she could get rid of all of it. Not a memory spell, not a healing brew, no. She would run away from home. It was a drastic idea, but she knew it'd be for the best. She packed up her stuff inside a small crystal suitcase (she loved crystals), and put some food and beverages in her saddle bag. She opened the window, preparing to fly outside, and she glanced at the mirror. She decided to leave her crown, and a note.

Dear, parents,

I am running away from home because I don't want to live out a future that I hate and do not want. I'm gonna live out the rest of my days in another Equestrian nation and will never return. Don't bother trying to find me. I have left my crown, you can give it to Flurry Heart and abuse her heart and such, instead. Goodbye, and thanks for taking care of me and making me the mare I will be today.

Yours truly,

Fiara Spark

With a smile, some tears, and some confidence, she took off. Never to be seen again.

And that is the story of Fiara Spark. The princess who refused her destiny for something more, and never came back.