In the frozen north, protected from the cold by a powerful magical artifact, lies the Crystal Empire, home of the crystal ponies. A tall, shimmering crystal castle stands at the center of this shining city, which is home to Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor, the kind and benevolent rulers of the empire. And at the base of the castle, their eldest daughter, Flurry Heart, was currently speaking to a lineup of royal guards.
“Alright, listen up!” she began, looking at each of the stallions in charge of guarding the castle entrances. “This is an important day for me. Tonight, I’m going to introduce my parents to my boyfriend, Diamond Shine, and I don’t want anything to ruin this occasion. I plan on standing here by the Crystal Heart to greet him when he arrives, but if for whatever reason it takes me longer than expected to get ready, then I want you to have him wait here for me.” She fixed the stallions a glare, and added, “I don’t want you or anyone to take him anywhere else, even if they’re other guards. You’re to have him stand at the Crystal Heart, and you’re to protect him with your lives!”
“Your highness,” one spoke up. She turned to look at him, and he asked, “What does Diamond Shine look like?”
Flurry Heart smiled as she thought about the love of her life. “That’s a good question. His coat is white, his mane is light blue, and his cutie mark is made up of crystal berries.” She sighed happily as she thought about him. “He’s a kind, hardworking stallion, and if things go well then you’ll be calling him Prince Diamond Shine in a couple years.”
Her smile fell as she glared at the lineup of guards. “So, that being said, he better not come to any harm when he’s visiting the castle. If I find out that something happened to my boyfriend under your watch, I’ll be very angry, and considering that I had the power to destroy our empire when I was just a foal, I don’t think you want me angry, do you?” The guards paled, and quickly shook their heads. “Good, I’m glad to hear that. Now, go back to your posts, all of you.”
The bunch of them went back to guarding the four entrances to the castle, and Flurry Heart slumped, feeling rather guilty for threatening the guards like that. They have to fear me, at least for tonight, so they’ll ignore any other orders they were given, she reassured herself, even if it felt like she was being a bully.
Flurry’s ears perked up as she heard a chuckling from behind, and she turned to see her old Crystaller, Sunburst, trotting over from one of the staircases. “Wow… Never seen you talk to the guards like that before!” he said. “Trying to take your dad’s place as Captain of the Royal Guard?”
She smiled, and she trotted up to the old stallion to give him a warm hug. “Hey Sunburst, sorry you had to see that,” she said when they separated.
“What was that all about, Flurry?” he wondered. Others might have referred to her as Princess Flurry Heart, but most of them hadn’t helped raise her, or tutor her in magic since she was a foal. Far as she was concerned, he was just as much a member of her family as her parents or siblings.
She grimaced, but admitted, “The whole reason I was talking with the guards was because I’m genuinely worried that Dad ordered them to arrest my boyfriend on sight. I figure if I make them afraid of me, then they’ll listen to my orders, and ignore any orders that Dad gave them…”
Sunburst frowned. “Flurry, your father would never do that.”
“How can you be sure?” she countered.
He chuckled softly, and asked her, “Did you ever hear about what happened when your aunt Twilight started dating your uncle Flash?”
Flurry’s brow furrowed as she shook her head. “First I’ve heard of it,” she answered.
“Doesn’t surprise me; your dad was pretty embarrassed by the whole thing, and your mom wouldn’t have wanted to bring up any uncomfortable memories,” said Sunburst. “Well, what happened was that your father learned that your aunt Twilight was dating your uncle Flash, and he tried having Flash reassigned to border patrol along the badlands. Fortunately for him, a Princess outranks the Captain of the Royal Guard, and she was able to stop your uncle from being sent away.”
Flurry grimaced. “You see? That’s why I’m so worried, and now I know he tried doing that before!”
“I’m not finished,” Sunburst said, raising a hoof to silence her. “So, after cancelling that reassignment, your aunt Twilight came straight here to confront your father.” He winced as he remembered the bits of Twilight’s scolding he heard as he carried a young Flurry Heart away from the shouting. “Needless to say, she wasn’t at all happy with what he tried to do, and frankly neither was your mother. Your aunt Twilight gave your father quite an earful, and he soon realized how close he came to destroying his relationship with your aunt because of his overprotectiveness.”
“So then what happened?” the princess wondered.
Sunburst smiled as he told her, “Your father apologized, to both your aunt and your uncle, for trying to get in the way, and he promised to never interfere in their relationship ever again. He finally understood that he needed to give your aunt space to live her life and make her own choices, or else he’d end up losing her forever.” He reached a hoof out to rest on Flurry’s shoulder as he told her, “He won’t do anything to ruin your happiness, and he certainly won’t do anything that could risk your relationship with him.”
“I hope you’re right, Sunburst,” she replied, reaching up to hold his hoof. “I don’t want anything to ruin this dinner.”
Sunburst smiled as he pulled away. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
She looked pleadingly at him as she said, “I’d feel a lot better about it if you were there.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Sorry Flurry Heart, on any other day I’d say yes, but tonight’s mine and Starlight’s anniversary, and we’ve got plans.”
Flurry Heart gasped. “Oh my gosh, really? That’s tonight?! Congratulations!” She grinned and hugged him tight. “I’m so sorry I forgot, I’ve been stressing out about this dinner and—“
“It’s fine, really,” he chuckled, holding her close.
She pulled away and grinned at him. “So, how long has it been now?” she wondered.
He grinned back as he answered, “This year marks our twentieth anniversary, Flurry.”
Her jaw dropped. “Twenty years? Wow, that’s a huge deal!”
Sunburst laughed and nodded. “It sure is! And to think, we wouldn’t have gotten to year one if your mother hadn’t convinced me to tell Starlight how I felt about her…” He sighed happily as he thought back to all the years he and his wife had been together. “It’s hard to believe we’ve been married that long.”
“So what are you two planning tonight?” Flurry asked.
He brought a hoof to his chin as he thought about their plans. “Well, first we were going to have a quiet walk in the park, watching the stars, then after that a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant, and after that, well…” His cheeks turned red, and he told her, “Your mother was kind enough to book us the honeymoon suite at the fanciest hotel in the empire.”
Flurry snorted and laughed at that. “Oh yeah, that sounds like Mom, alright!” She managed to stifle her laughter, and added, “You must really trust your kids to leave them alone overnight…”
He looked sheepish as he told her, “Well… I mean, I do trust our kids, but your father offered to send a royal guard to visit the house while we’re away.”
“Better safe than sorry,” she replied, then grinned at a thought that sprang to mind. “Speaking of, you and Starlight better make sure you use some protection tonight, or else you’re going to need a foalsitter for your twenty-first anniversary.”
Sunburst blushed and pawed at the ground. “Yes, well… Anyway! I’d better go, big plans and all that!”
Flurry chuckled, and nodded. “And I should get ready as well. Goodbye, Sunburst.”
“Bye Flurry!” he replied, turning away to head on home.
She watched him trot away for a moment, before she turned toward one of the staircases leading up to the castle. It was time to get ready for her big night.
= = = = = = = = = =
A couple hours later, Princess Flurry Heart was standing by the Crystal Heart as it spun idly at its place beneath the crystal castle. She wore a light blue gown, long and flowing, and she wore golden ribbons in her mane. It was perhaps a bit fancier than what was needed for a dinner with her parents, but she knew that Diamond would be dressed up and she wanted to show him some solidarity.
As she waited for her boyfriend, she glanced at the guards standing at the entrances. She liked to think that Sunburst was right, that her father wouldn’t do anything to the love of her life for fear of damaging their own relationship, but she still felt better about the whole thing by standing there to observe the guards. Even if her earlier speech to them didn’t give them pause, having her there as a witness would stop them from following any such orders.
The sound of hooves trotting toward her snapped Flurry out of her thoughts, and she looked up to see her boyfriend, Diamond Shine, dressed in a fine gray suit jacket. She smiled as she trotted over to meet him halfway, and the two shared a long, tender kiss. “You clean up pretty well,” she told him after the kiss was broken.
He snorted and grinned. “I’d hope so, this suit was expensive! Never thought I’d ever need to get dressed up like this…”
“Well I’d say it was worth it,” Flurry replied. “So, ready to meet my Mom and Dad?”
His smile fell and his ears drooped as he looked up at the castle above them. “Oh, yeah…”
She frowned at her boyfriend’s reaction. “Diamond? Is something wrong?”
Diamond Shine flinched, and looked sheepishly at her. “Well, it’s just… It’s sorta overwhelming, y’know? I mean, it’s easy to put aside your royal status when we’re together, but I’m about to meet the rulers of the Crystal Empire! And I’m just a simple farmer, to boot…”
Flurry brought a hoof up to cup his cheek, gazing into his eyes. “They won’t care about that. As long as you’re good to me, as long as we’re happy together, then that’s all that matters.”
He nodded, then asked, “So, any advice for me before we head up?”
She smiled, and told him, “All you have to do tonight is be yourself, okay? When my parents see the kind of pony you are, they’ll come to love you as much as I do”
“Just gotta be myself…” He smiled and nodded. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Flurry gave him a tender peck on the lips, then she took his hoof in hers and led him to one of the staircases.
It didn’t take the couple very long to reach the lobby, where Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor were waiting for them. “Well hello there,” said the princess, greeting the stallion with a warm smile. “You must be Diamond Shine. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“L-likewise, your highness,” he replied, dipping into a bow before her and her husband.
“No, no, none of that,” Cadance said, her horn lighting up as she telekinetically lifted him back onto his hooves. “You’re dating our daughter, there’s no need to be so formal. After all, if you and Flurry Heart get married, then you’ll be calling us Mom and Dad anyway, right?”
Shining Armor balked at that, and turned to frown at his wife. “Honey, don’t say stuff like that! You know they haven’t been together long enough to even talk about marriage…”
Cadance scoffed at him. “On the contrary, six months is long enough to at least consider marriage. Not everyone needs to date for five years before they finally get engaged…” She cocked her eyebrow at her husband, a not-so-subtle jab at their lengthy courtship.
The prince blushed and mumbled something that Diamond couldn’t hear, though Flurry and Cadance both giggled at his sheepish response. Knowing how it felt to be teased by a beautiful princess, Diamond Shine decided to have mercy on Shining Armor by asking, “So, uh, where’s Flurry’s brother and sister? Aren’t they going to be having dinner with us?”
“Not this time,” Cadance answered. “I love all our children, but I was hoping that Shining Armor and I could get to know you without any youthful interruptions. So, they’re having dinner elsewhere in the castle.”
“We got them the best pizza in the empire, so they don’t have anything to complain about,” Shining Armor added. “Speaking of, I hope you’re hungry; the royal chef really went all-out tonight.”
“Sure am!” Diamond Shine replied. “Lead on.”
= = = = = = = = = =
It had been a nice dinner, and they’d had a nice long chat as they filled their bellies with the delicious feast provided by the royal chef. True to Flurry’s word, her parents didn’t mind one bit that Diamond Shine was a crystal berry farmer, to which he was thankful. In fact, they seemed to have a lot of respect for his profession, especially when it involved one of the unique crops of the crystal empire. It was nice to know that the royal family appreciated his family’s work.
As they conversed, he came to realize that her parents were normal ponies just like everyone else. He was raised to revere the Prince and Princess, to bow whenever he saw them and to show them the utmost respect, but it was obvious to him now that his parents were still traumatized by King Sombra’s reign, and worshipped the royal couple due to old fears of punishment that would never come. He was glad to see that they weren’t so different from him, and it made him feel more worthy of dating Flurry Heart.
They eventually made their way to a sitting room, where they continued their talk. Flurry Heart was rather quiet by this point, letting her parents and boyfriend talk as she thought about the night thus far. Everything had been going well, just as she had planned, which was why she was so horrified when she heard the next words to come out of her mother’s mouth.
“So, Diamond, would you like to see some of Flurry’s foal pictures?” the princess asked, summoning her daughter’s photo album in a flash of magic.
“Absolutely,” he replied, much to his girlfriend’s dismay.
Flurry pouted, mouthing “No!” to her mother, but the elder princess simply smirked and nodded to her daughter as Diamond Shine trotted over to sit next to Cadance. This wasn’t good, not at all. She thought she’d prepared for every contingency—Her father’s overprotectiveness, Sombra’s ghost returning to haunt the castle, a surprise visit by the neighboring Yaks—but she didn’t account for her mother, the princess of love herself, actively sabotaging this enjoyable evening!
Cadance grinned as she opened up the photo album. “Trust me, you’re going to love this…”
And so began an embarrassing trip through memory lane, as her mother happily recounted the events of every single photo in the album. From her first days as a foal to her school years, nothing was sacred as her mother was happy to tell Diamond Shine all about her childhood. There were plenty of cute photos of her in the album, to be sure, but there were still far too many embarrassing photos for her liking.
After a while, Flurry thought that it couldn’t get any worse. For a moment, she thought that maybe they were finished with the embarrassing childhood photos, until her mother flashed her a wry grin that made her blood run cold. “Now this next one is very special…” she told Diamond Shine.
“Oh?” he asked, looking curious.
Cadance looked over at Flurry with bemused smirk, and told him, “This next photo was taken as an official family portrait, during a rather odd phase of Flurry’s life…” She flipped the page to show him the photo, and the crystal stallion burst out laughing.
Flurry was mortified, as she knew exactly what photo he was looking at; a family photo taken several years ago, right before her mother found out she was pregnant with her little brother. She’d gone through a goth phase, and the photo showed her standing between her parents, decked out in black clothes with black highlights in her mane. Her father looked ready to burst out laughing, and her mother had a strained smile on her face, trying hard to support her daughter but obviously screaming internally.
She grew out of it eventually, and she was thoroughly embarrassed by the whole thing. She liked to think that the birth of her little brother wiped the memory of her goth phase from the minds of the crystal ponies, but apparently her mother had hung onto the physical evidence.
“It’s a good thing it wasn’t just a phase, or this would be sooooo embarrassing…” Cadance said, grinning at her eldest daughter. It was obvious she was having far too much fun with this, and Flurry just knew she was getting some long-sought revenge for that family photo.
Flurry’s horn lit up in a yellow glow as she tried to grab the photo album away from her mother. “Mom, give me the photo album!”
“Not on your life!” her mother replied, her own magic holding it tight.
Suddenly, a pink aura gripped Flurry’s ear and tugged it, causing her to wince and squirm in pain. “Ow! Owowow!”
“Flurry, stop fighting with your mother,” Shining Armor said, his horn glowing as he gave her ear another tug.
“Ow!” she cried out. “Well tell her to stop embarrassing me!”
Diamond Shine couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of his girlfriend being scolded like a naughty little filly, but he decided to have mercy on her. “You know, it’s getting pretty late. I should head home before my parents get to worrying.”
Flurry flashed him a bright smile, thankful for him ending this torment.
Shining Armor glanced between the two, then shrugged as he let go of his daughter’s ear. “Yeah, I suppose it’s gotten late. You and Flurry can say your goodbyes, and then I’ll show you out.” Just because Diamond seemed like a good stallion didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to give him a talking to. He had to make sure that the crystal pony knew what would happen if he hurt his precious daughter.
The two got out of their seats to say their goodbyes. “Thanks for inviting me here, Flurry, I had a real good time,” said Diamond Shine.
She snorted derisively at that. “Yeah, I’m sure you loved laughing at those old photos.”
He smirked in response. “To be fair, you did a fair bit of laughing when my mother showed you my old foal pictures.”
“Yeah, well…” she pouted, knowing she didn’t have a leg to stand on.
Diamond simply chuckled, and kissed his princess, who slowly returned the kiss with a blush on her cheeks. “Love you,” he told her when the kiss was broken.
“Love you too,” she said, giving him a gentle nuzzle. “No doubt Dad’s going to have a talk with you on the way out. Don’t let him scare you, okay?”
“Okay,” he replied, then turned to Princess Cadance. “It was nice to meet you, yo—er, Cadance.”
“Likewise,” she replied with a warm smile. “Have a good evening, Diamond Shine.”
He nodded, and followed her husband out the door. With them gone, Flurry turned her gaze toward her mother, glaring at the elder princess. “Mom, why did you have to embarrass me like that? We were having such a good evening, and then you had to go and pull out the photo album!”
Cadance looked quite proud of herself as she told her eldest daughter, “I’ll tell you why; because I promised myself years ago that I would have my revenge, and tonight I finally got it.”
Flurry Heart just blinked in response, completely thrown off by that answer. “R-revenge? What the hay are you talking about?”
Cadance snorted, and answered, “Sweetie, I loved you from the moment I found out I was pregnant with you, but you saw those foal pictures; you had a big head, a long horn, and huge wings. It took me several painful hours to push you out! When I finally had you in my forelegs, I was so very happy, and I knew all that effort had been worth it, but I also promised myself that you’d pay for all that pain you put me through.”
Flurry pouted at her mother. “So all that embarrassment was revenge for my birth?”
“Not all of it,” Cadance replied with a smug grin. “I also wanted payback for that family photo you ruined. I mean, really, you could have just worn your crown and smiled, but no, you insisted that that was how you were going to be, and that you needed to be true to yourself!”
Flurry Heart could only blush and scowl at her mother. “I’m sorry, okay? Is that what you want to hear? I really am sorry for ruining the family portrait… Even if it had to be retaken a year later…” she muttered the last bit.
Cadance smiled at her daughter. “Apology accepted.” She chuckled at her daughter’s scowl, and told her, “If it makes you feel any better, I approve of your boyfriend. He’s a good stallion, and I know you two will enjoy many years of happiness together, whenever he works up the courage to propose to you.” She gave her daughter a sly smirk, and added, “Just don’t let him take too long…”
“I won’t,” Flurry Heart replied. “So long as Dad doesn’t scare him off…” Her eyebrows rose as that comment reminded her of her earlier talk with Sunburst. “Say, Mom? Do you think you could help me pick out a nice anniversary gift for Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer?”
