Winter Aria

by Arcanum -Phantasy

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, Alternate Universe, Sad, Drama, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Flurry Heart, Shining Armor
Length: 57805

When a daddy Unicorn and a mommy Alicorn get together and love each other very much, they get a rambunctious little Flurry Heart. When a daddy Siren and a mommy Windigo get together and love each other very much they get...a very lonely creature.

When a daddy Unicorn and a mommy Alicorn get together and love each other very much, they get a rambunctious little Flurry Heart. When a daddy Siren and a mommy Windigo get together and love each other very much they get...a very lonely creature. But maybe Flurry can change that.

Published 2018-01-18 06:40:06 UTC
Last updated 2020-12-06 03:21:35 UTC

Chiller

The sun rose high in the sky, the frozen land beneath it turned into an ever expanded blanket of dazzling crystal. The only thing that could rival such a pristine image of natural beauty was the massive empire of literal crystal seen half a mile away from the highest peaks of the Granite Tip Mountains to its south. Braving these very same mountains were three teenage fillies. One was a dark-blue Earth Pony with a short, sky colored mane and tail while the other was a dark-red Unicorn with a flowing pink mane and tail. Both of them had the standard prismatic gleam shared by most of the ponies native to the Crystal Empire, but one odd trait separated them from their peers, their eyes. The blue filly had one eye that matched her coat while her other was a startling shade of blood-red while her crimson sibling was the opposite. This gave them a fair share of bullying in their younger years, but it wasn't anything they couldn't get through. Besides, their small defects were nothing compared to what the leader of their little group had to contend with. She was an odd sight to behold, a snow-white Alicorn with a two toned blue and purple mane cut short with curls that weaved around her ears like a small crown. Her tail was similarly styled and colored but left to grow into something resembling a dress' train. Draped over her back was a pair of saddlebags bearing her cutie mark, a snowflake with a heart made of diamond at its center.

"Flurry," whined the blue Earth pony as she struggled to keep up with her High Royal companion. "Are we there yet?"

Flurry Heart sighed as she turned towards her impatient friend.

"Not yet Sapphire. Just a little further."

The blue pony, Sapphire, let out an aggravated groan as she grudgingly tailed her friend as her crimson companion watched the exchange with mild interest.

"You know asking her that over and over again isn't going to get us there any faster, right?" the red Unicorn asked, tone flat as a board.

Sapphire glanced over her shoulder at the monotoned Unicorn and fixed her with an annoyed glare.

"Aw can it Ruby!" she snapped. "My hooves hurt and I'm freezing my Cutie Mark off here!"

Ruby glanced down at the red and blue chisel that decorated her sister's flanks.

"They look secure enough to me."

Sapphire turned her attention back towards her front with a low growl, various curses muttered under her breath. Flurry watched the exchange from the corner of her eye and sighed.

"Can't the two of you go ten seconds without fighting about something?"

"No," Ruby answered flatly, earning another irritated groan from Sapphire. "Believe me. I've tried."

"Well, maybe if you showed some bucking emotion we could get along better!" Sapphire snapped.

"Or perhaps you should learn to keep that temper of yours under control," Ruby countered, completely unfazed.

"Whatever, robot," Sapphire grumbled.

"Hot head," Ruby replied evenly.

"Ice Queen!"

"Brute."

"Doll!"

"Cave Pony."

"DO YOU EVEN HAVE A SOUL?!"

Ruby grinned as she through a foreleg over her seething sibling's shoulders, giving her a gentle half-hug.

"Love you too sis."

Sapphire looked like she was about to respond with an insult, but stopped herself at the last second. Instead, she just swallowed her vocal barb and with red cheeks muttered ,"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

Flurry let out a soft chuckle as she watched the scene play out behind her.

"You two are so weird sometimes."

"N-No!" Sapphire snapped, face almost as red as her sister. "You're weird!"

That got another chuckle out of the small princess.

Sapphire glowered at her as she shook herself out of her sister's embrace.

"Whatever! Are we there yet?!"

Flurry Heart sighed as she stopped and turned to face her two friends.

"Yes," she deadpanned and pointed off to her left.

The two fillies fallowed where Flurry's hoof was pointing. About ten feet away from them stood a massive cave entrence. A thick cloud of what looked like fog leaked out of it like smoke form a dragon's jaws, a fact that added an extra layer of ominous atmosphere to the stone passage. Sapphire gave the cave a dithered glance before she shifted the same look at Flurry. Ruby merely raised a brow at the cave before parroting her sister's actions.

"It's a cave," Ruby intoned flatly.

Flurry let out an irritated groan as she rolled her eyes at her friend's less then stellar reactions.

"Its not the cave I wanted to show you guys, its what I found inside the cave."

"I would've assumed as much," Ruby calmly replied.

"Nothings living in there, right?" Sapphire asked, a slight quiver in her tone.

Flurry gave her friend a sympathetic smile. One of their explorations when the trio were little led them to a cave not too different from the one they were standing in front of. The big difference though was that this one wasn't inhabited by a massive Snow Beast.

"I promise," she smiled as she put a hoof on her nervous friend's shoulder. "There is nothing dangerous in that cave. And if something does show up, you've got us to watch your back."

Ruby nodded in the affermative, a faint smile decorating her muzzle.

Sapphire sighed, the tension visibly reduced with the action before she gave her company a weary smile.

"Alright, thanks guys."

But it was quickly replaced with the filly's trademark glare as she added, "But if it turns out that some pony-eating monster lives here, I'm telling your dad it was all your idea! Deal?!"

"Deal," Flurry smiled as she shook hooves with Sapphire. "Now c'mon! You two are gonna love this!"

With that, Flurry confidently trotted through the misty opening. Reluctantly, Sapphire and Ruby fallowed, both fillies on high alert to be on the safe side. What caught the twins off guard as they fallowed their fearless leader into the unknown was how hot the cave's interior was. If the two of them didn't now better, they would've assumed that they had inadvertently stepped into a sauna, not some random cave in the mountains. Much to their surprise, that assessment wasn't too far from the truth. After roughly five minutes of walking, the three fillies stood in front of a large pool of steaming water. Sapphire stared at the pond-sized hot spring with a look of slack-jawed shock, while widened eyes were the only signs of excitement from Ruby. Flurry bore a smug grin as she took in her friend's reactions to her find.

As it stood, natural hot springs were extremely rare in the Frozen North, and by extension, greatly sought after. Not only did they relieve stress in addition to the usual benefits one would come to expect from bathing in the heated water, but it gave the prismatic coats that Crystal Ponies took pride in a near polished shine comparable to a carefully shined gem. It was this trait in particular that got the attention of mares in The Empire that were looking to get a stallion's attention. Naturally, this made the use of such springs rather costly and as it stood, only some of the mid to higher nobel houses in the Crystal Empire could afford to make use of them for any repeated number of times. As far as Ruby and Sapphire were concerned, Flurry had just led them to their own private mine of Celestial Diamonds and none of the ponies present were eager to change that for the foreseeable future.

"Well?" Flurry giggled as she removed her sattle bags. "Are you guys gonna get in or stare at it all day?"

Sapphire was the first to recover and with the biggest grin a pony could make, ran towards the spring.

"BONZAI!!" she cried as she rushed into the steaming water.

As soon as she found a spot that she could lay down comfortably and avoid drowning, she let out a contented sigh, a rare look of peace decorating the fiery-tempered teen. Flurry let out a small snort of amusement at her friend's antics before she shifted her attention back to her sattle bags. It was at that moment that Ruby had managed to make it over to her, a somewhat uncomfortable look on her normally neutral face.

"If I had known we were going to do this, I would've brought a towel."

Flurry snickered as she pulled a few towels out of one of her bags.

"Got cha' covered," she winked. "Now head in before Sapphire takes all the glitter for herself."

Ruby nodded, a faint smile decorating her muzzle, as she calmly made her way to the spring. Smiling, Flurry laid out three neatly folded towels a safe distance away from the spring just in the off chance her friends would decide to turn their relaxing soak into an all-out splash fight. Next to that she spread out the various snacks she brought for when they needed to cool off. All of it was perfectly organized by size, color, and most likely order of consumption based on what she had observed in her many interactions with her friends. In many ways, she blamed her small obsession with organization on her Aunt, but while she wasn't as devoted to it as Aunty Twilight, she could still appreciate the security that a little order provided.

"Come on, Flurry!" Sapphire groaned. "Get in here before Ruby has to drag you in."

"Why do I have to do it?" Ruby sighed, enjoying the hot water's warm embrace.

"Cuz you have magic and I'm not moving."

Ruby gave her sister a half-hearted glare and said, "A small part of me wants to argue with you over that, but a bigger part doesn't give a flying buck."

Sapphire gasped.

"What?" Ruby asked, head tilted in confusion.

"Since when did you swear?"

Ruby glowered at Sapphire.

"Just because I don't make a habit out of it like you do does't mean I don't do it."

"It's true," Flurry said as she approached the steaming pool. "You should've seen what happened the time Onyx knocked over one of her paintings. I think she created a few new swears that day."

Ruby blushed as she suddenly became very interested in the hot spring's floor.

"Y-Yeah, I lost my temper that day and said some things I'm...less than proud of."

This got a shocked look out of the blue Earth Pony.

"Seriously? Where the buck was I when this was going down?"

Flurry giggled while Ruby let out a small stream of light chuckles. As she let Ruby turn into a brand new shade of red, Flurry eased herself into the water. A grateful groan escaped her lips as she let it wash away her accumulated stress and the soreness in her muscles. In spite of what many ponies think, being a Princess was a lot harder than it looked. Granted, she didn't have to go to school and put up with some of the normal migraines most had to contend with. Instead, she had to learn from private tutors that all seemed Tartarus bent on jamming everything from Advanced Magical Theory to Royal Etiquette Lessons into her head all at the same time. In the span of an hour. Add to the fact that she had to deal with constantly being watched, be it from guards that wanted to keep her safe or normal citizens who couldn't seem to see anything beyond the nonexistent crown she "wore" everywhere she went and it was a miracle she hadn't snapped under the strain. Honestly, if it wasn't for Ruby and Sapphire she probably would've had some kind of mental breakdown due to the strain her birthright put on her.

It was because of that that the young Princess found herself smiling wearily as she let the loving hug of the spring's water envelope her. This was something she needed more than her friends could ever possibly imagine. No fanfare. No special treatment. Just some time to truly be herself with two of the most important ponies in her life doing something as simple as relaxing and enjoying the moment. Of course, like most moments of peace, it was over before she was ready or willing for it to be.

"So Flurry," Sapphire giggled with a mischievous smirk. "You got your eye on anypony lately?"

Flurry blinked, then let out an annoyed sigh as she leveled a flat stare at her blue friend.

"Really Sapphire?"

"What? Just thought I'd ask," she shrugged, ignoring the slight glare coming from the Alicorn in front of her.

"First off Sapphire," Flurry groaned. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to meet anypony who isn't afraid I'll blast them to oblivion? Plus, I think Dad would put a hit on anypony who could even get that far."

Sapphire visibly cringed at that.

"Oh...right. Kinda' forgot about that. Sorry."

"It's alright," Flurry sighed. "But now that you mention it," she smirked."How are things going for you and Opal?"

Sapphire staggered back, suddenly very uncomfortable.

"Uh, well, we're making progress."

"She hasn't said two words to him yet," Ruby said, tone showing a minimal level of interest in the conversation.

"RUBY!!!" Sapphire whined, face turning beet red.

"What?" she asked, a slight hint of feigned innocence in her voice. "You've known Opal Heart for over a year now and you have yet to even give the poor colt so much as a 'hello'."

Sapphire gave her a glare that slowly shifted into a smug grin.

"Oh yeah? How are things going between you and Quartz Mark?"

Ruby raised her brow slightly at her sister's question.

"We're doing well. As a matter of fact, we're planning to meet up this weekend to talk about what steps we should take in his project."

Sapphire's jaw dropped at her sister's confession.

"You guy's are dating?! When the Tartarus did that happen?!"

A faint blush decorated Ruby's muzzle as she processed Sapphire's outburst.

"I-It's not a date. We're just meeting up to complete a project."

"Is it for school?" Flurry inquired.

"No," Ruby answered flatly.

"Where are you going to meet him?" Sapphire smiled.

"The Tornado Café,"

"Is it going to be just the two of you?" Flurry added.

"Yes."

Sapphire and Flurry shared a knowing smirk and in perfect sync sang, "It's a date!"

"You two are impossible," Ruby grumbled, face turning a brighter shade of red then her coat could ever hope to hide.

The other two fillies laughed good-naturedly as Ruby tried to recover from her needling. Just then, an unwelcome feeling washed over the young Alicorn. A feeling she was all to familiar with as she had to deal with it on a daily basis; the feeling of being watched. As subtly as she could, she took in her surroundings to better get an idea of who or what could be watching them, but nothing obvious made itself known. Still airing on the side of cation, she channeled a small amount of magic and levitated a few Frost Apples to her friends and herself. Of course this was a trick her father taught her to hide a low level Scanning Spell. It wouldn't be able to give her a detailed look at what was watching her, but it should give her a general idea of what their size, shape, distance, and intent was. As she took a casual bite out of the white apple in her telekinetic grip she took note of what the spell was able tell her.

So, she thought , careful to keep her pokerface around her friends. They're about twenty feet away from us in one of the tunnels leading deeper into the mountain. No wings or horn, roughly about our size and pony-shaped. They don't seem to have any gear on them though. Does that mean they live here?

The information the spell gave her did set her a little at ease, considering it was a single small pony, but what made her a little nervous was how hard it was for it to read the pony's intentions. It was like the figure was curious about them but afraid to make a move towards them. Like it thought they would try to hurt it. Confused, she kept the spell running a little longer just to make sure the mysterious pony didn't try anything as she continued to enjoy her time in the hot spring with her friends. Eventually, the three fillies decided they had spent enough time in the spring and after a thorough wipe-down with the towels Flurry packed, they made their way out of the cave.

"We should totally do this again sometime!" Sapphire smiled, practically bouncing out the cave entrence.

"Agreed," Ruby nodded. "It was fun."

Flurry nodded in agreement.

It was just the kind of refresher she needed, but with that in mind, she knew she was going to have to come back again in the near future. Unfortunately, it was not going to be for a relaxing soak. As the three of them started the long hike back down the mountain, Flurry levitated a small bundle of snacks into the cave mouth. A small offering to whoever called the cave home and hopefully make future negotiations go a bit smoother.

See you later, she thought, a slight smirk decorating her muzzle.

***

Flurry Heart was not a very happy pony. After three hours of boring lessons on the importance of Mana Stability in casting, she had to find a new way to sneak out of the castle. Add to that the fact that the perpetual storm surrounding the Empire had started to pick up, the young Alicorn found herself to be in a rather nonplused mood as she entered the now menacing "Spring Cave" from the day before.

With weary eyes, she took in her surroundings and frowned. Something wasn't right.

Why's it so cold in here? she thought, her breaths coming out in thick puffs. Where's all the steam?

Flurry let out a shiver as a frigid breeze passed over her from the cave's heart. This didn't make any sense! Yesterday the cave was a sauna all the way to the entrence, but now she was half way through the main tunnel to the spring and she was shivering her flank off. As she continued, the cold continued to grow until she eventually started to see portions of the stone walls become devoured by ice and snow. By the time she made it to the threshold that led to the main chamber holding the hot spring, the walls, floor, and ceiling were completely covered with ice while the room itself was flooded by a thick cloud of fog. Now beginning to feel scared, she cast her Scanner Spell on the next room. With it, she was able to make a startling discovery, not only was the Earth Pony from before there, but they were giving off a massive amount of magic. In fact, the magic coming off of the mystery pony seemed more like Unicorn magic than what she was used to sensing from a typical Earth. Not entirely sure what to expect, Flurry quietly walked into the frigid chamber. The second she set hoof into the room, she was hit with the most intense chill she had ever felt. It was as if the air itself had turned into pure cold, so much so that if it wasn't for her affinity for Ice Magic she would've choked on it. As it was, the shock was enough to get a startled yelp to slip past her lips alerting the other pony in the room to her presence.

"WHO'S THERE?!" the figure roared, their voice a near perfect imitation of her Great Aunt's Canterlot Voice if she was a stallion.

"My name is Flurry Heart," she said, a slight tremble from the chilled air in her voice. "My friends and I used the hot spring here yesterday."

The figure seemed to ponder this for a moment before answering with a booming, " AH, YES! THE THREE INTRUDERS FROM BEFORE! WHY HAVE YOU RETURNED?!"

"Well," she shivered. "I was wondering if you could find it in your heart to let us use it again in the future."

Another pause, but when the figure responded his tone felt as cold as the foggy air.

"NO. THE SPRING IS FOR MY OWN PERSONAL USES AND I WILL NOT LET OTHERS DEFILE IT. I NEED TO REPARE THE DAMAGE THAT YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS DID TO IT AS IT IS."

Flurry's ears drooped as she hung her head in shame. This was not how she thought this would've gone, but if the cave pony didn't want to share the spring then it was his choice. It was for all intensive purposes, his spring after all.

"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered, teeth starting to chatter as her resistance to the cold started to thin.

The figure huffed.

"I DON'T NEED YOUR APOLOGIES. JUST LEAVE THIS CAVE AND NEVER COME BACK."

With that, the figure began to move towards one to the paths further into the cave systems.

"Wait!" Flurry exclaimed, hoof outreached blindly in the direction her Scanner Spell positioned the unknown pony in.

In her desperate attempt to try and work something out with them, her wings flew open, quickly blasting the fog away. What she saw made her jaw hit the floor. Standing ten feet away from her stood a white Earth Pony colt. His mane and tail were long and a startlingly brilliant shade of sky blue that gave his glistening coat the look of polished marble in contrast. In fact, his coat looked more like it was made of crushed pearls than of fur. But what dominated the young Alicorn's attention the most was his eyes. Never before had she seen such a dazzling shade of green, nor had a pony looked at her with so much fear. Before Flurry could recover from the shock, the colt slammed a fore-hoof into the ground and the chilled fog from before burst out of the ground. The room was instantly filled and the nearly suffocating cold from before returned along with it.

As Flurry regained her bearings a much less menacing voice echoed through the cave walls.

"Please. Just go away."

And with that, the unknown pony disappeared into the caves, well outside the reach of Flurry's spell. So, left with little else to do at the moment, she turned , and granted the colt's wish.

Snowfall

A sigh slipped past Flurry's lips as she dully looked over the contents of her Zoology textbook. In front of her stood her Tutor and Godparent Sunburst reading from his own copy of the same book magically held up to his muzzle. Though she did try to listen to him and be a good student, it was quickly becoming a losing battle. No matter how hard she tried, her mind kept wandering back to what happened two days ago when she confronted the mysterious "Cave Pony" as she had come to call him. Everything about him raised so many questions that she wasn't sure how to ask. How could he survive in the Northern Wastes all by himself? As weak as her Scanning Spell was, she was fairly certain that nopony aside from the two of them were in the cave. Unless his family lived in the inner cave systems. But that still left another question unanswered: why don't they live in the Empire? And then there was his appearance. Flurry had seen plenty of Crystal Ponies in her young life and while she couldn't consider herself an expert, she could say that she'd never seen a pony's coat sparkle the way his did. It looked like he was covered in polished gems instead of fur.

Was that what happens when you use a hot spring too much? She thought as she turned a page in her book. Nah, if that was the case, all of the Nobles would look like that.

Aside from the colt's strange appearance, one other thing about him demanded her attention; the look of sheer terror she saw in his green eyes. It was more than the anxious look of an antisocial pony, he was genuinely terrified of her. That, combined with the drastic shift in tone he displayed before and after his reveal made Flurry decide to honor his request. For now at least. Even as she sat there in the middle of the castle library letting Sunburst continue his lecture on a subject who's interest was lost long ago, Flurry felt her adventurous spirit start to become restless.

Why was he so scared of me? I wasn't gonna hurt him. And what was the deal with that cave anyway? One day it's full of steam and warmth, the next, a freezer. What the hay is going on up there!?

No sooner had she thought that did something in her textbook catch her attention.The left page was dominated by the image of a massive pony-like creature that was completely snow-white. It's coat gave its blue eyes an added sense of anger as the creature glared out at the reader. The wild winds and snow that whirled around it in the background gave its already intimidating profile more definition. Looking at it sent an involuntary chill down Flurry's spine, something that didn't go unnoticed by Sunburst.

"Are you alright Flurry?" he asked as he approached his student.

Flurry jerked out of her momentary discomfort and smiled at Sunburst.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine," she chuckled. "But what is this thing?"

As she asked that, she pointed at the strange creature in her book. Sunburst glanced at the creature and let out a sad chuckle.

"That," he sighed. "Is a Windago."

Flurry blinked in confusion.

"What's a Windago?"

For a moment, Sunburst gave the filly an incredulous look that quickly shifted into understanding.

"Oh, that's right. Hearths Warming isn't really celebrated here is it?"

Flurry tilted her head in further confusion.

"Hearths Warming?"

With a soft chuckle, Sunburst smiled at his student and gave her a basic rundown of the holiday in question as well as the Windago's involvement in the holiday's inception. Flurry looked back at the picture of the Windago again, but instead of fearing it, she felt kind of sorry for it.

"So they got kicked out of their home because Equestria's founders couldn't get along?"

Sunburst stared at Flurry in shock. True, he had heard the legend of Equestria's founding several times since long before Flurry was even born, but he never thought of it quite like that. While it was a confirmed fact that the leaders of the three tribes were never on the same page when it came to coexisting prier to the events of Equestria's founding as a kingdom, not a lot of information could be found about the Windagos aside from their apparently antagonistic behavior towards ponies. As a result, it was never really confirmed whether or not they were native to the land or just a threat that followed the three tribes from their ruined lands.

"That's an...excellent question Flurry," replied a gobsmacked Sunburst, his hoof brought to his chin in thought. "While it is true that our history is full of accounts of the naturally hostile nature of Windagos, we don't have any information on anything beyond that such as their origins or if they even have a culture to study."

"But then," she mumbled, still staring at the picture. "Why doesn't anypony go and talk to them?"

"Well, it's not quite that simple," he sighed. "For starters, Windagos don't seem to speak any discernible language that anypony beyond another Windago could understand and given their violent nature most don't seem to be particularly chatty when they encounter ponies. Plus, their nearly impossible to find in this day and age so further study in regards to them are mostly based on theory and debate."

Flurry nodded, eyes still locked onto the image of the Windago as she took in Sunburst's lecture.

He does look a lot like this.

It was at that moment that she noticed something a little odd about the picture.

"Hey, wait," she exclaimed, casting an inquiring glance at her teacher. "How could they use magic and fly if they don't have wings or horns?"

"Ah, I was wondering when you were going to ask that," he smiled before pushing his glasses up is nose. "It's theorized that they channeled their magic much the same way Earth Ponies do. But instead of drawing in magic from the land to strengthen their bodies, the Windagos would use it to preform a form of midlevel Cryomancy that would allow them to simulate flight and defend them against perceived threats. There are even ancient reports of them being able to walk on clouds and bodies of water thanks to this power."

Flurry's eyes widened in shock.

"B-But if they could do all that, how did the founders get rid of them?"

At that, Sunburst gave her a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head as he tried to find the right way to explain.

"That's just it," he groaned. "Nopony knows."

Flurry raised a brow at that.

"What do you mean? What, they just up and decided to leave just like that?!"

"Actually, yes that's exactly what they did."

"WHAT?!"

Sunburst cringed as the filly's outburst echoed through the library. After clearing his throat and pushing his glasses back into place, he resumed his explanation.

"After the Fire of Unity saved the founders from the Windago's magic, they no longer had the violent energy needed to maintain control of the land and without a bountiful source of negativity to feed off of, they were no match for the Founders and their forces. So, they left with the only collateral damage between the two groups being the few ponies foolish enough to attack them as they moved towards the Northern Mountains before disappearing completely."

As she let that sink in, she gave the picture another glance with a heavy heart.

I wonder if he's lonely.

With that thought echoing through her head Flurry continued her lessons, the seeds of a plan taking root.

***

Ruby sat quietly, her sketchbook propped up in front of herself with a pencil gripped gently in the red glow of her magic. The bright mid-morning sun warmed her back as she enjoyed the calm air of the currently empty park. For that moment, there were no worries. No fears. No trials and tribulations. Just her, a sketchpad, and her muse.

"What cha' up too?"

A slight smirk graced Ruby's muzzle as she took note of the welcome company literally hovering over her shoulder.

"Good morning Quartz," she smiled, eyes still locked onto her craft.

The white crystal Pegasus let out a slight chuckle before he let himself drift back onto solid ground behind her.

"Morning."

Still grinning, the colt craned his neck to get a better look at his friend's work. Struck with an odd mix of joy and irritation at her friend's antics, Ruby gave her work one last stroke before she presented it to her eager guest. She watched as his eyes scanned the drawing, measuring the subtle changes in his demeanor as he did so. By the time he gave the pad back to Ruby, his hyperactive energy seemed to level out and his grin was a lot more relaxed.

"You were just chilling before school, huh?" he sighed.

Ruby nodded, her own faint smile gracing her muzzle. However, she was doing backflips just under the surface of that smile. While many at The Empire's Crystal Academy considered her to be an excellent artist, only a handful knew the true power of her work. The truth being that she put her emotions into her work, literally. Though it was less noticeable in some of her more basic scribbles, when she put genuine effort into it, she could make anypony who saw her work feel a specific emotion. Even if it was a passing glance, if she put her happiness into the portrait, the pony in question would be filled with that joy. it was also for that reason most ponies avoided her, for fear of what would happen if she was angered while drawing. It was during that time in her life that she came to curse the crossed red and blue pencil and paintbrush that marked her flanks. That was, until a certain ivory Pegasus with lavender eyes and a spiral of runes for a cutie mark saw her work.

Quartz's smile grew as Ruby took back the almost complete drawing in her magic. The second she had her gear safely tucked away, he through a foreleg around her shoulders and pulled her into a friendly half-hug.

"I'm glad," he laughed. "You've been so tense lately I was afraid something bad was gonna happen."

She could only give an affirmative grunt as she felt her face burn from the contact. It was in times such as this that she was glad she had a red coat.

"So," he said as he let her out of his embrace. "You still up for this weekend?"

Ruby shook off her embarrassment and with her poise once again neutral nodded.

"Awesome!" he cheered. "This is gonna be so cool!"

Ruby nodded, her calm expression hiding her amusement at her friend's enthusiasm.

"By the way," he added. "Have you been doing anything different with your coat lately?"

"No," she asked, brow raised. "Why?"

"It looks...shinier than usual."

Before she could respond, Quartz's eyes drifted towards the sky and gasped.

"Ah crud!" he gulped. "Class is gonna start soon! We'd better get going!"

With that, the energetic Pegasus turned and bolted towards the park's entrence, a scarlet Unicorn not too far behind, a bright smile gracing her blushed muzzle.

***

Sapphire let out a sigh as her almost glazed vision passed over the class from her desk in the back of the room. The pony at the front of the classroom had long slipped out of the teen's center of interest along with his now droning lecture. What did have her attention was the dark-purple Unicorn colt six rows ahead of her and what her sister said the day before. It wasn't as if she couldn't talk to colts or anything. Hay, she did it all the time. But every time she locked eyes with Opal she would get so nervous that talking became a near impossible task. It was something she always had trouble with and for the life of her she couldn't figure out why that was the case. Even when she was doing her stone carving, the second her mind drifted to the colt she would lose all of her focus and in some cases, her temper. Something a certain headless dragon statue could attest to.

What the hay is wrong with me? she thought as she glared a hole into the back of Opal's head. Why can't I talk to him? It's the easiest thing in the world for bucks sake! Just walk up to him and say 'Hi, I'm Sapphire Trail.' or something like that. It's. Not. That. HARD!!!

As she thought that, her grip on the pencil in her mouth started to tighten as her frustration built upon itself.

How can simple communication be so tough? Learning how to fight from Master Maud? That was tough. Talking to one of the hottest colts in class? EASY!!!

It was then that she took note of her thoughts and with a frustrated sigh, dropped her almost splintered writing implement onto her desk.

Maybe I should ask sis or Flurry for some tips or something.

With an irate groan, she shook the thought out of her head and huffed.

No. This is my problem Celestia damn it and I'll fix it myself! As soon as I figure out how I'm gonna do that anyway...

With a defeated sigh, she continued to stare at the back of her crush's head, not sure who she wanted to hit more; him for being so cute, or herself for magically loosing her spine around him. Not helping her was the fact that Opal Heart was friends with her sister's apparent Coltfriend. A fact that gave her scarlet sibling the power to find over a dozen ways to rib her with just a simple question. The only thing that kept Sapphire from hating her sister for that was the apparent denial she had in regards to her own relationship.

With an aggravated groan, she shifted her attention towards the slightly less annoying stallion at the head of the class. Though she found this to be a pointless type of distraction as less than an hour into his lecture the school bell signaled the end of class.

"Well," she muttered under her breath. "So much for that."

After she aggressively shoved her supplies back into her sattle bags, she headed towards the classroom doorway into the polished halls beyond with the rest of the class. As she moved, her thoughts kept cycling through her current situation and the lack of sense she could make out of it. On the way to the door, her shoulder knocked into a nearby student, which pulled her out of her thoughts enough to rile a small amount of her infamous temper.

"Hey! Watch it pal!" she snapped, dual toned glare at the ready.

Her rage died instantly when her red and blue orbs locked onto a pair of hazel ones just a few inches away from her muzzle.

"Oh, my apologies, " Opal said with a slight bow. "It seems I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. Are you okay?"

Sapphire just gawked at him, her mind long since shutdown.

C'mon brain, a small part of her pride yelled, desperate to get the rest of her to wakeup. He's right there! Say something. ANYTHING!!!

"Uh, are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

JUST BUCKING SAY SOMETHING DANM IT!!!

"H-Hi," she stammered.

Opal raised a brow at her strained response.

"Greetings. Again, are you okay?"

Stiffly, she nodded in the affirmative with a newfound interest in the floor.

Though Opal didn't buy the filly's performance, he decided against calling her out on it. Instead, he smiled and said, "Good to note. Have a good day Miss?"

"S-Sapphire Trail," she stuttered, gaze still centered on the ground.

"Ah, yes," he sighed in relief. "Sapphire Trail. I'll make sure to remember that name."

With that, he gave her a reassuring smile and made his way out of the classroom. The second his lime-green tail slipped out of sight Sapphire snapped out of her stupor and the events from the last few seconds sank into her mind. As her mind began to process what happened, she wandered almost aimlessly towards a wall at the left of the door and gently pounded her head against it.

Well, she thought bitterly. You talked to him. Congratulations!

"Stupid," she muttered as she finally made her way out of the classroom, a large part of her feeling like a swift leap off of the Crystal Castle's tallest tower was more than in order.

***

Silence reined supreme in the nameless cave, its soul inhabitant taking solace in its familiarity as he went about his daily routine. After his home was invaded by those three ponies, he felt it was wise to strengthen his defenses. Especially in regards to the "winged Unicorn" as he had come to call her. Even a day later, he couldn't believe she was able to dispel his Haze Spell so easily. It was possible that his Shout Spell drove his focus away from Haze just enough to make it possible, but even that would require a significant amount of power. Regardless, it still meant one thing in the end; he had been seen. This left him with only two options: fortify his home against the inevitable hunting party that would be coming for him, or find a new dwelling. And while most would consider the later to be the most logical choice, certain ties to his current nest made him more inclined to choose the former.

With a weary sigh, he charged more magic into his left fore-hoof and slammed it into the ground. A dense cloud of frigid fog exploded from the point of contact, adding to the already thick cloud that filled the cave. The colt let out an annoyed groan as in spite of the condition of his surroundings, his scale covered body was coated in sweat. With narrowed eyes and a frown, he staggered towards the small pond at the center of his home's main chamber. Unlike the rest of the cave, the one foot diameter of the lake wasn't covered with frozen earth and the fog it produced didn't freeze flesh in seconds. Once he reached the edge of the lake, he once again channeled his magic into his left fore-hoof and dipped it into the steaming water. The second he released his magic, the water let out a loud hiss as its already staggering temperature spiked a few more degrees. The colt let out a content sigh as he pulled his hoof out of the boiling water. With a quick shake, all of the accumulated sweat on his body flew off, turning into small flecks of snow on the way to the cave floor.

In spite of his fatigue, the colt smiled as he took in the fruits of his labor. Thanks to him, the interior of his home was now zero degrees fahrenheit with the spring at its heart just over two-hundred degrees. This way, if anything tried to enter his domain, they would be instantly frozen to their core and if by some miracle they managed to get past that, he could ram them into the boiling lake. The idea of cooking a pony alive didn't sit all to well with him, even if they were planing to kill him, but odds were that nopony would be able to get past his new Haze. It was his mother's specialty after all, and she made sure that he could use the spell at her level as an absolute minimum. After layering the spell fifty times, he made sure that nopony could get in without paying the consequences. As it stood, only an extremely high-level Cryomancer could set hoof inside the cave let alone harm him.

It was at that moment that he heard the unmistakable sound of hoofsteps coming from the tunnel that led to the main chamber from the outside world. He quickly and quietly moved toward one of the tunnel openings on the opposite side of the room. As he waited to see how this encounter would develop, he heard something unexpected fill the halls of his dwelling; humming. The possible hunter was humming a happy and structureless tune as they closed in on his location. As they got closer, he found himself getting lost in the rhythm, continuously wondering what note was going to be hit next to either make the song more stable or disjointed as they progressed. His musings were interrupted when the singer stopped at the mouth of the chamber and ended their solo. For a fleeting second, he hoped his visiter would recognize the danger and leave, but to his disappointment, he heard them resume their advance towards their imminent demise. He closed his eyes, already prepared to dispose of the body when a familiar female voice snapped him out of his moment of premature morning.

"Whew, it's freezing in here!"

He watched in abstract horror as the winged Unicorn from before stepped into the room, completely unharmed by the Haze surrounding her. In fact, as he watched her, he saw the spell start to dispel around her. Not as completely as it did before, but enough to keep her safe while allowing him to maintain his concealment. It was while he observed this that he also noticed the sattle bags strapped to her sides were unaffected by his spell as well. To say he was shocked would be the understatement of the century. He put everything he had into the spell surrounding them, yet this strange pony was barely even bothered by it.

How is this even possible? he thought as he watched her levitate a book out of one of her sattle bags to read. As it stands, only those with an enormous amount of magic should be able to do what this pony is doing. Just how strong is she?

No longer able to hold back his curiosity, he called out to the pony.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to never come back."

The other pony's ear twitched and with a soft smile she looked up from her book toward his general direction.

"Oh, hey Cave Pony! How are you doing today?"

The "Cave Pony" blinked, momentarily taken aback by the filly's forwardness.

"I-I'm fine I suppose, but that doesn't answer my question."

Flurry's smile turned mischievous.

"Reading, duh. It's nice and quiet here. Perfect place for some reading."

"Cave Pony" raised a brow at that.

"While I agree with that, I thought I told you to leave."

"And I did," she said as she went back to reading her book. "Now I'm back."

He let out an aggravated groan as he tried to find a way out of this.

"I also thought I told you to never come back."

"No, you said my friends and I couldn't use your spring, and we wont. You never said anything about us coming back to do anything else."

"Cave Pony" glared at Flurry

"Then I'll say it now. Get out now."

"Make me," she grinned cheekily.

For a moment, silence passed between the two ponies before the cave's resident let out a defeated sigh.

"Fine, but could you do me a favor?"

"Sure," she smirked. "What is it?"

"Could you hum for me?" his tone colored by his blush. "Not every time your here if you don't want to or anything. I just really like your voice."

Flurry smiled and nodded.

"Deal. By the way, what's your name?"

The colt considered not answering or lying, but it didn't seem fair to deceive her at this point. And besides, he really didn't like the idea of being called "Cave Pony" on a regular basis.

"Alto. My name is Alto."

Flurry smiled as she closed her book to once again look in his general direction.

"Nice to meet you Alto. I'm Flurry Heart.

Frost

The sun shined brilliantly through the Crystal Castle's prismatic structure as its inhabitants went about their busyness. One such denizen took great lengths to make themselves as hard to notice as possible as she carefully crept around the mostly empty halls.

Alright, Flurry thought as a confident grin formed on her lips. So far so good. Now if I can get to the kitchens I should be home free.

She was just about to take a step forward when a soft cough behind her made her freeze.

"You know, your Highness," a calm male voice chuckled. "The best way to sneak out of your own house is to not look like you're trying to sneak out."

Recognizing the voice, Flurry turned around to meet the grinning face of a light-gray Unicorn stallion in silver armor.

"Oh, uh, hey Captain Onyx. What's up?" Flurry asked, flashing a grin she hoped didn't look forced.

Onyx Moon just smiled at his combat student as her pitiful display of deception slowly crumbled.

"Nothing really," he shrugged. "I was just doing my rounds like always, and just happened to see somepony acting suspicious."

Flurry laughed awkwardly, all the while her eyes were eager to look at anything but her father's Captain.

"You're not gonna let me go until I say something, are you?"

Onyx feigned shock and put a hoof to his face before he responded with, "What? Why, whatever could you mean your Highness? I am nothing more than a simple Guard. I lack the power to prevent you from doing anything that you wish. However," he smiled as his posture switched back to its much more lade-back nature. "If you are going to do something dangerous, it is within my power to let my Prince and Princess know."

Flurry sighed, a relieved smile decorating her muzzle as she locked eyes with Onyx.

One of the things that she had to learn as a Princess was how to fight, both as a means of protecting herself and the ponies of her future kingdom. At first, the role of trainer belonged to her father, but after they moved past the bare basics of self-defense, it became apparent that Shinning Armor couldn't function as a suitable sparing partner for her. This led to Onyx stepping in to fill the role, to which both parties were equally grateful for. Unlike her father, Onyx had no reason to holdback any more than what was strictly necessary and he was a very patient teacher that knew when to push and when to pull back. He also never kept himself at too far a distance from his students, a trait that got Flurry to see him as something of an Honorary Older Brother. As such, the two of them developed a secret code of sorts. If she was caught in the act of doing something Shinning Armor wouldn't agree with, he would play the "rank" card. A practice that became all the more common when the teenaged filly's adventurous nature became apparent in recent years. If she could prove that she could handle it, he would cover for her, but if she couldn't, she wouldn't get very far before the Captain would have her caught in his magic field and brought to her parents for a lecture. The last time she tried to push her luck, he was cruel enough to bring her before her Aunt to receive a lecture. Those were the longest three hours of her life.

"Don't worry Onyx," she smiled. "I'm just heading out to a friend's house."

His brown eyes scanned her for a moment before his demeanor shifted into a more legitimate state of relaxation.

"Oh, that's all?" he laughed. "If that's the case I won't keep you any longer than I already have."

With that, he bowed and made to turn the opposite direction, but stopped at the last second to add with a smirk, "By the way, I think I remember the Cooks saying something about a batch of frost berry muffins getting made a few minutes ago. Might make a nice snack for somepony."

Flurry's face lit up at the mention of her favorite treat.

"Really?! Thanks for the heads-up Onyx! I was just thinking of heading to the Kitchen on my way out!"

"You're welcome your Highness," he bowed with a laugh. "Have fun on your little trip."

"Thanks, I will," she beamed.

With that, she turned and bolted down the hall opposite of her surrogate brother. Onyx only chuckled as he did the same, his pace much more sedate then his student's.

"Kids," he mumbled under his breath as he resumed his daily rounds.

***

A gentle breeze passed through the tranquil silence of the Granite Mountain tunnel systems. Only the occasional drip of water and crumble of loose earth broke the silence. At the network's heart stood a lone colt, his emerald eyes closed and body completely still. To an outside observer, he looked to be doing nothing more than impersonating a statue, but below the surface, an extensive network of activity was taking place. Slowly, he took a deep breath through his nose, all the while, he gathered his magic into his core. Then, he both his breath and magic out through his mouth with a soft whistle. Instantly, the young cave-dweller was given near perfect image of the surrounding tunnels in his mind's eye. It was a simple trick he'd developed over the years. By linking his magic to his voice, he could create a form of sonar. It wasn't very strong in open spaces, but in the confines of his subterranean home, it gave him a nearly flawless security system. Because of that, he decided to name it The Echo Spell.

After repeating the spell three more times, he let out a relieved sigh and let himself relax.

"No intruders," he muttered to himself. "Good."

Flurry Heart was going to make another visit today and the last thing he wanted was for the whole thing to be cut short by any "uninvited guests". He also refrained from using Haze due to how it cut her last visit short. As it turned out, even the Cryomancy of an Alicorn had its limits. However, she promised that she would do whatever she had to to come back the next day. It was at that moment that Alto felt something he hadn't felt in a very long time; anticipation. He was actually looking forward to today as opposed to seeing it as just another day he had to survive. It was a strange feeling for him to say the least, but not an unwelcome one.

Not sure what one should do in this kind of situation, he gave the main chamber of his home a scrutinizing look over. Aside from the hot spring, their wasn't anything else to be seen or could be manipulated. Alto let out a disappointed growl at this fact.

"Perhaps I should have found some ways to decorate ," he muttered.

With a reluctant shrug, he stepped through one of three openings into the tunnels deeper into the mountain. As a means to kill time, he decided to take a look at his current resources. After a moment he reached the desired chamber and grimaced. The room was about ten feet in diameter with a large pile of snow at its center. Light filled the room from the ceiling thanks to the mirror-like natural ice formations that guided it through the intricate network in the mountain. With a sigh, he turned away from the chamber to move further into the tunnel network. As he did, his thoughts drifted to what he thought about his approaching guest.

She seemed nice, he mused as he took a left turn into a tunnel. Very pushy, but nice. Maybe Mom was wrong about ponies.

He stopped and violently shook his head, desperate to dislodge the treacherous thought.

No. Mom wouldn't lie about something like that. Ponies are dangerous creatures that will kill you if you aren't one of them. She proved that perfectly.

A rush of painful memories flooded his mind. A splash of red fluid tainting the snow. Screams of pain from two combatants. The thud of their bodies falling to the ground, one completely motionless while the other desperately clung to life. A pair of glazing blue eyes and a fading female voice begging him to keep a promise. And then, a silence more cold and final than the last freshly fallen flake of snow.

Alto tightly closed his eyes and willed the memories to the back of his mind.

Stop it Alto! That was a long time ago! You need to focus on what's going on here and now.

With that, he took a deep breath and let it out. All the while, his mind managed to repress the dark memories like it had several times in the past. However, his body still trembled from the trauma they made him relive. He sighed in shame over his momentary laps into weakness, then resumed his march through his underground home.

After a few minutes of silent travel, he came to an opening out of the tunnels. As he stepped into the light of the outside world, he took in the view just beyond the threshold.

The mid-afternoon sun shined its rays across the frozen peaks of the shorter mountains scattered in the distance in a way that made Alto think of a sheet of diamonds. At the heart of the horizon stood a glimmering collection of true gems that, while beautiful, filled him with dread. With a shiver that had little to do with the cold that surrounded him, he pulled his attention away from the view and towards the reason he made his pilgrimage. Tall white trees towered over him, their leafs a light blue with cream colored berries the size of grapes dangling among them. There were ten trees in total, all of which grew in a circle around a lake that was at least twice the size of his hot spring. As he made his way towards the body of water, he gave the trees a scrutinizing look which gradually shifted into a satisfied smirk as his gaze crossed over the last tree.

Good. it looks like they're ripe enough for harvest. They should go well with the rest of today's meal.

He stopped at the lake's coast and gazed into the still waters before him. Beyond his reflection he saw pure darkness, like shadow given liquid form. But while most would show fear in the face of such a thing, Alto merely gave a sigh of resolution. Then, with a mix of irritation and determination in his heart, he dove into the icy dark water. Not even a second later, the dark waters were filled with a bright blue light as the cave pony's body began to change. His forehooves widened until they slightly resembled fins while his hind-legs melded together with his tail and became a fish's tail. At the same time, his mane turned into a fan-like dorsal fin that started at the crown of his head and continued down his neck before it came to a stop at the base of his tail. One his transformation was complete, he took a deep breath then made his way to the bottom of the underground lake. Once there, he gathered some of his magic into his mouth and cast Echo to get a more detailed "look" at his surroundings.

What he found brought a smile to his muzzle.

Ten feet away from him stood a large cluster of Snow Crabs, more then half of which was just the right size for fishing. Liking his lips, he slowly swam towards his quarry, careful not to alert them to his presence. The last time he tried to catch the tasty crustaceans, he was so hungry that he recklessly charged into a cluster without thinking. Most of the cluster tunneled into the ground while the bigger and bolder ones introduced him to their dreaded claws. Now he was a bit more cautious when it came to hunting them, but not any less eager to sink his fangs into them. He slowly circled them, his eyes carefully taking note of any crabs that were both large enough to provide a meal and foolish enough to turn its back to him. eventually, he saw his opportunity as one of the largest members of the cluster crawled away from the safety of its peers to go examine a rock a whole seven feet away. With an excited smile, Alto zeroed in on his target and before it could react, he struck. Like an eel, he snapped the oblivious crab up in his fangs before he stopped its heart with a small blast of sound from his mouth. After the poor creature went limp, he charged back to the surface, to deposit his prize onto the coast before he dove back down to repeat the process all over again. it was when he brought his tenth crab to the surface that he decided that he was done hunting and pulled himself out of the water. Once out, his body quickly shifted back to its original form. Still dripping, he walked over to his small pile of trophies with a proud smirk before he shifted his attention to the trees around him.

Next comes the easy part.

With that thought in mind, he channeled his magic into his hooves and jumped foot into the air. Once at the zenith of his jump, he activated the spell. Instead of falling back to earth, he stayed suspended in the air, small trails of mist falling away from the soles of his hooves. Then, as casually as one would when climbing a set of stares, he stepped higher into the air until he was parallel with the nearest tree's branches and berries. He took a deep breath then let out a bellowing howl of sound into the tree's branches. A moment later, the air was filled with the rapid patter of hundreds of light-yellow berries hitting the ground. With a satisfied smirk, he made his way to the next tree in the circle to do the same to its neighbor. Five minutes later, all ten trees were liberated of their bounty, all of which was gathered into a massive pile next to the ten dead crabs.

"This should last for a while," he smiled as he took in the literal fruits of his labor.

Still smiling, he walked over to one of the trees and pulled a large basket with rope handles out from a hole in the ground. Once he had it in position, Alto scooped as many hooffuls of berries as he could into the basket then put the crabs on top. Then he grabbed the rope with his mouth and began to pull the loaded basket into the tunnels.

After a few quick twists and turns, Alto once again found himself in the main chamber of his home. Humming a happy tune, he grabbed three plump crabs by their legs with his mouth and dropped them into the hot spring, then stuck his right forehoof into the water. A small chunk of his magic flowed out of the submerged hoof into the warm water, then like many times before, it weakened what little cold space existed within. Instantly, the water shifted from a comfortable bath into a boiling cauldron. While the crabs cooked, he scooped out a few hooffuls of berries into a neat pile a foot away from the spring then began dragging it into the tunnels to be stored in one of the nearby chambers. Once that was taken care of, he returned to the main chamber to check on the condition of his prepared offerings. A smug grin decorated his muzzle as he casually reached his hoof into the boiling water to be greeted by a thoroughly cooked crab upon its return. After repeating this two more times, he set the small meal beside the pile of berries he arranged earlier and set himself down beside it to wait for his guest. A wait that was surprisingly short lived, as not long after he took a seat, a soft symphony of disjointed humming could be heard coming from the northern tunnel into his domain. As the song grew louder, Alto's mind was at war with itself. Half of it wanted him to run or be ready for a fight while the other was excited by the prospect of finally talking to somepony. It was a kind of longing that he hadn't felt since he lost his mother and he was more than eager to satisfy it. Besides, he knew that hiding was pointless in regards to the approaching pony. She could find him through the Haze spell and even knew he was there before she dispelled it the other day.

She also has a really pretty voice, he thought, a slight heat coloring his cheeks.

Once Flurry stepped into the main chamber the humming stopped, snapping the cave pony out of his musings as he looked at the filly. The look of shock she gave him made him a bit nervous, but that weakened as her expression changed into a soft smile.

"Hi Alto," she said as she cautiously approached him.

"Hello Flurry Heart," he nodded, tone just barely above a whisper.

Once the young Alicorn was a respectful three foot distance way from the colt she settled into a comfortable position opposite of him. It was at that moment that Alto noticed the full sattle bags she carried on her barrel. This got a raised brow out of him, but otherwise, he maintained his calm mask.

Flurry giggled, which drew Alto's attention away from the sattle bags.

"Just Flurry's fine," she smiled.

"Very well," he nodded. "I'm sure you're hungry from your trip, correct?"

Before Flurry could answer, her stomach let out a loud growl. The filly let out an awkward chuckle as her face turned beet red. The sight brought a smile to his face as he motioned towards the previously ignored pile of food to his left.

"I have a few crabs and berries if you want some."

Flurry looked at the offerings and her jaw dropped.

"How did you get these?!" she gasped, shock decorating her tone.

Alto blinked.

"I collected them. There's a tunnel that leads to a grove and underground lake."

Flurry gave him a stunned blink before she looked at the crabs and berries.

"This is a Cave Water Crab! They'er so rare just one of them could buy a small castle! And these are Star Cherries! You could use these to make everything from antidotes to curse repellents and then some!"

Alto looked at the food in surprise. Though he didn't understand what she was telling him about the berries, he did understand that what laid before him was a lot more valuable then he initially thought. It still didn't change how he perceived the objects, but it did give them a bit more respect in his eyes.

"Are these really that special?" he asked, picking up a Star Cherry and popping it into his mouth.

Gawking at him, Flurry's horn shined and a dark green book floated out of her left saddle bag.

"Are you serious?! Just one berry could cure a whole village of ponies of almost any illness!"

As she said that, her magic opened the book and flipped through the pages until it came to the one she needed. "Look for yourself!"

With that, she levitated the book towards him before letting it gently rest on the ground before him. He looked at the open book, but no sign of comprehension appeared on his face. Instead, he looked confused.

"I never had the chance to ask you yesterday, but what is this?" he asked, pointing at the book. "And what are these marks all over it?"

Flurry's jaw dropped.

"Wait, you've never seen a book before?"

Alto nodded, a little unnerved by her behavior.

"Then I guess you don't know how to read either."

Alto tilted his head in confusion then said, "What's reading?"

If Flurry could be anymore shocked, she would've turned into lightning. Less then three feet away from her sat a pony her own age that had things that could make a Canterlot Noble drool and he couldn't even read. No, he didn't even know what books and reading was. If her Aunt found out about this, she would lose her mind at the perceived impossibility of the matter.

"B-But didn't your mom teach you?"

Alto flinched at the question, a sudden interest in the floor taking hold of him.

"N-No, she didn't," he said somberly. "She never got the chance."

The weight of those words sunk Flurry's heart like a led brick in a pond.

"You don't mean...She's?"

He nodded.

"A-And your dad?"

"A day before I was born. Mother said it was from some sort of illness."

She gaped at him as a soul crushing sadness filled her heart. The thought of loosing her parents was too much for her to handle on its own, but to become an orphan in such a lonely place was heartbreaking. She could only imagine what Alto was going through and even that was proving to be to much for her.

"I-I'm so sorry," she gasped, tears threatening to form in the corner of her eyes.

"It's alright," he sighed, a sad smile decorating his muzzle. "It was a long time ago. Thanks to what she taut me when she could I can keep our home and myself safe. I miss her, but I know she wouldn't be happy with me if I let her passing get in the way of my promise to her."

A bit of curiosity slipped pass Flurry's sadness at that last part.

"Promise? What promise?"

Realizing that he may have said too much, Alto shook his head and said, "Don't worry about it. By the way is it a good thing?"

Confused, Flurry raised a brow at him.

"Is what a good thing?"

"Reading," he said glancing once again at the book that laid before him. "Is it a good thing to know how to do?"

Flurry blinked, then giggled at the complete one-eighty the conversation took. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who felt the need for a change of topic.

"It depends on the book," she smiled. "Sometimes I get stuck reading something really boring and I can't wait to just get it over with, but when I find something really fun to read, I can't bring myself to put it down."

"I see," Alto said, intrigue coloring his tone. "Could you maybe, teach me how?"

A nervous laugh slipped pass the Alicorn's muzzle as she considered the offer.

"I could try I guess, but I'm not really a teacher, so..."

"That's fine," he smiled. "It was just a thought."

An awkward silence filled the room as its only inhabitants contemplated what to do next. Eventually, Flurry broke it with a proposition.

"How about I read the book out to you? That way we can both enjoy it."

Alto thought about it for a moment, shrugged, then nodded in the affirmative.

"That could work. Do you mind if I sit next to you?"

"Not at all," she beamed. "Just make sure you bring some of those crabs with you. I'm starving! "

With a soft smile he grabbed two of the crabs with his mouth and closed the gap between them. It was then that Flurry realized what it was about the colt's appearance that she found so odd all this time. It wasn't that his coat had a strange shine to it, he simply didn't have one! In place of his fur was a finely interlocked curtain of scales that covered his entire body. Each one was small like the ones one would find on a fish and gave off a brilliant prismatic sheen that for a moment seemed to hypnotize the young mare.

"Flurry?"

Flurry blinked out of her trance as her mind processed Alto's voice. A blush decorated her face as she realized she had been staring at him longer then what could be considered polite by most.

"I-I'm fine," she chuckled awkwardly as she took one of the offered crabs in her magic.

With a bit of focus, she was able to strip the shell off of her meal before she sampled the delightfully tender meat. As she enjoyed the rare delicacy, a loud crunch filled the air as her companion took a large bite out of his crab, shell included. She watched him take another bite with morbid fascination, which changed to shock when she noticed his fangs. Traits such as fangs and even claws weren't anything foreign to the young Princess, as she had spent time around creatures such as Changelings and Dragons sporadically throughout her short life, but to see such traits on a pony was a very surreal experience to say the least.

It's probably a Windago thing, she thought as she finished off her crab.

It was then that she remembered that Alto wasn't the only one to bring something to this get-together.

"Oh! Hold on!" she smiled as her horn once again summoned something from her sattle bags. "I almost forgot about these."

The item in question was a small blue tupperware container that she levitated in front of themselves. With a smirk, she opened it to reveal four freshly baked muffins. Each one was the size of a baseball and covered with hazy gray berries. The scent they gave off was like nothing Alto had ever experienced before and with each sniff he took, the more eager he was to change that.

Flurry took note of her friend's reaction and with a bright smile said, "Frost Berry Muffins, one of our Head Chef's best treats. I practically grew up off of these and let me tell ya, nothing can top them."

Alto looked up at her in surprise then said, "Can I..."

"Go ahead," she laughed. "Least I can do after you gave me a crab."

Elated, he scooped a muffin out of the container with his hoof and placed it in front of himself. At the same time, Flurry levitated the long forgotten book over to herself.

"So," she smiled as she levitated her own snack out of the container. "What do you want me to read first?"

"Maybe the one with the marks on the outside," he said, eyeing the cover suspiciously.

"Alright," she giggled, then cleared her throat. "Super Naturals, A beginner's Guide to Botany and Medicine."

"Botany?"

"It's the study of plants," she explained as she opened the book to the first page.

He nodded in understanding and as she started to read the first page to him, he took a bite out of his muffin. Without a doubt, it was the greatest thing he had ever eaten.

Sleet

Sunlight trickled in through mostly drawn curtains into a room full of, what could be politely called, organized chaos. Countless books on stones and minerals covered the floor in sloppy and disorganized piles, most of which seemed ready to fall over at any moment. A desk in the right corner of the room was far from safe from the same fate as the floor, as in addition to books, it also housed a vast assortment of chisels and hammers. It was also host to a small bundle of incomplete stone sculptures of varying shapes and sizes, all waiting for their mistress to give them form. At the heart of the room stood a bed that said mistress occupied, a small tuft of dark-blue mane served as the only damning evidence.

A door creaked open and a red Unicorn with a dark-pink mane and tail let herself in, her face its usual stoic expression.

"Sapphire," she monotoned as she approached the lumpy bed. "Time to get up."

An irritated grumble was the only response she got as her sister shifted around under the covers.

Ruby sighed then started to shake the bed.

"Come on Sapphire," she groaned. "If you don't get up now, you won't get any breakfast."

"I'm not hungry," Sapphire snapped, her tone muffled by her fortress of blankets.

Ruby's eyes widened slightly at that. The only thing stronger than her sister's temper was her appetite. One time, she watched her sister devour an entire extra-large pizza on her own just because she was dared to by Quartz. To hear that the blue Earth Pony wasn't hungry was likely the first of many signs that the world was ending. That, or she was ill with some sort of horrible disease.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she looked for some sort of gap in Sapphire's defenses.

"No. My life is over," Sapphire groaned. "Opal probably thinks I'm a total freak or something!"

Ruby let out a sigh that was a mix of relief and exasperation.

So that's what this is all about, she thought as she moved to where she heard her sister's voice on the left side of the bed.

"I highly doubt Opal thinks that," Ruby sighed as she tried to pull Sapphire's blanket off of her with her mouth.

"Whatever!" she snapped as she fought against her sister's attempts. "I'm not going to school! BUCK OFF!"

Ruby froze before she let the blanket slip out of her grip. With a frown, she stepped away from the bed and walked over to the open door. Once she made it to the threshold, she turned towards the bed and with a hard glare, tapped into her magic.

"Sapphire."

"What?!"

"Language."

A second later, Sapphire found herself and the surrounding covers enveloped in a red aura.

"Ruby?" she growled cautiously. "Don't you da-"

Before Sapphire could finish, both pony and blanket flew into the air before being violently separated.

"You are so dead," she glared as she hovered above her bed.

"After breakfast," Ruby sighed as she turned and left the room, her cross-armed sister hovering not far behind.

Sapphire glared at her sister throughout the journey to the kitchen, a fact that dragged another sigh from the irritated Unicorn.

"Why are you still sulking about it? It was three days ago."

Sapphire pouted angrily as she avoided eye-contact.

"Like somepony like you would get it."

This stopped Ruby in her tracks as she telekinetically moved her sister in front of her.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you really that clueless?" Sapphire snapped, pointing at Ruby. "You've been practically dating Quartz for a year now while I've only talked to Opal for less than a week! And I made a complete MULE of myself!"

"Is that why you've been avoiding him?"

Sapphire's face was a cross between shock and righteous fury before it shifted to shame as she looked away. Ruby sighed then let a small smile slip pass her stoic mask.

"How about we make a bet?"

This got a raised brow out of the blue Earth Pony as she shifted her attention back to the red Unicorn.

"You talk to Opal today, and if he hates you, I'll dye my mane black. But if he doesn't, you have to wear a dress for a day. Deal?"

Sapphire gave her sister a harsh glare as she weighed the odds in her mind. On one hoof, she risked making a total fool of herself, but on the other she could have a good distraction for a few days after the fact. Besides, what was the worst that could happen? It's not like she could make Opal hate her more than he already did.

"Fine," she frowned, as she pointed her hoof out at Ruby.

Ruby smiled as she tapped her own forehoof into her sister's and set her back down onto the ground before dispelling her magic. In silence, the two continued their journey to the kitchen, one frowning while the other had a triumphant smile on her muzzle. As they stepped into the kitchen they were greeted by their parents. Lapis Helm, a dark-blue Crystal Pegasus stood by the stove making a plate of pancakes while her husband, Agate Lance, sat at the table sipping his coffee. As the two young mares joined the red Crystal Pegasus at the table, Lapis turned and balanced two plates of pancakes on each wing as she approached the table. With lightning fast reflexes, she slid each plate in front of each pony before setting her own and taking her place at the table.

"Ten seconds," Agate smiled as he stared at his wife. "Top form as always honey."

"Thanks, dear," she smirked as she gave him a gentle peck on the nose.

Sapphire cringed at the display.

"Could you to be any less cool?" she groaned as she dug into her breakfast.

"Well," Agate grinned. "We could show your baby pictures to everypony the two of you bring home from now on."

Sapphire choked on her food and after a quick gulp of orange juice managed a strained "What!?"

Lapis let out a soft chuckle.

"Don't worry my little Sapphy. I'll make sure he doesn't do that," she winked.

"Mom!" she whined, face turning a brilliant red. "I keep telling you not to call me that!"

"Correction," Ruby said as she used a knife held in her magic to cut up her pancakes. "You told her not to say it in public."

"You know what I mean!" she growled as she took a savage bite out of her food. "Or maybe you'd like it if I started calling you Ru Ru again."

"Actually," Ruby smirked. "I would. That way I can go back to the good old days when you were cute and wanted to be the princess of a candy kingdom.

For a moment, it looked as though Ruby had a red Earth Pony for a sibling as both anger and embarrassment fought for dominance in Sapphire. It was then that the blue teenager tapped into her ace in the hole for this verbal sparring match.

"Maybe Quartz Mark would like it if I called you that."

This got a pause, but not out of the red Unicorn like Sapphire was hoping for.

"Quartz Mark?" Agate asked, brow raised and lips in a firm line. "You wouldn't happen to mean Fine Print's foal, would you?"

Before Sapphire could answer, Ruby nodded.

"The very same. We have an assignment together tomorrow and Sapphire thinks that means we're dating."

A look of shock broke through Agate's blank mask.

"You mean you two aren't going out?"

Again, Ruby nodded.

With that, Agate slapped his left hoof across his knee and grimaced.

"Great, now I owe Fine twenty bits."

Lapis burst-out laughing at her husband's antics.

"Maybe," she added, once she regained enough of her composure to speak. "You shouldn't make bets against the head of Crystal Academy's Statistics Department, dear. The odds are never in your favor."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered as he took another sip of coffee. "I was so sure I'd win this time."

Lapis just sighed.

"You may be a good judge when it comes to battle, but you fail miserably when it comes to romance."

"I don't know about that," he smirked as he turned to face his wife. "Miss Blue Comet."

The twins watched the display with one expressing disapproval while the other showed disinterest. Until Sapphire's frown turned into a malicious smile.

"Speaking of bets, Ru Ru's gonna be walking around with a black mane for a while. Just a heads up."

That got the two grown pony's attention.

***

Quartz Mark stared with listless eyes at the front of the class. All the while, the teacher droned on and on about things that barely held onto his attention by the thinest of threads. At times like this, he wished he lived in Ponyville like his cousin Question Mark. If what he wrote to him was true, then a monster attack would happen right about now and he would have a reason to get out of class early.

Then again, he thought as he took a few notes. Miss Sardonyx would probably drag the monster into class and give it a two hour lecture about how much damage it did.

A grin grew on his face as he imagined his magenta Crystal Unicorn teacher mouthing off to a giant dragonoid with tentacles in a classroom. This shifted to a concerned frown when he noticed a dim multicolored glow come out of his left sattle bag.

Huh, what's got Opal so worked up? he thought as he watched Miss Sardonyx. The second she turned her back to the class to write something on the board, Quartz reached into his bag and pulled out a brown, faintly glowing, notebook. Once he opened it, he got his answer. Quartz rolled his eyes after he read what was written on the page.

"Are you sure?"

With a barely suppressed groan, he wrote "Yes" beneath the question. A moment later, a response appeared and this time, not only did he fail to hold back an annoyed groan, but his hoof became familiar with his face.

"Then why is she avoiding me?"

"I don't know Opal," he wrote. "Maybe its some mare thing or something."

"I suppose. Do you think Miss Ruby will be able to figure this out?"
He shrugged then wrote, "Maybe. They are sisters after all."

There was a long pause, but Quartz swore he could hear a sigh in the classroom just before more print appeared on the page in front of him.

"That would be a massive weight off of my shoulders. I just hope I didn't do anything to make her hate me."

He stifled a small laugh as she wrote, "Dude, trust me. If she hated you, you'd know."

"What do you mean?"

"In Junior High, this one guy couldn't take a hint and when he tried to make a move on her, she bucked him through a wall."

A muffled choking noise could be heard in the back of the classroom moments before a new message appeared.

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah," he sighed as he wrote, "That's what happens when you mess with a mare that chisels rocks with her bare hooves.

Another long pause in the "conversation" came to pass. It was in this moment of calm that Quartz wondered why he gave his friend one of the two enchanted journals he made. Granted, it was when they were a lot younger, but that still made him wonder from time to time. Originally, the journals where meant to help the two of them keep in touch when Opal went on his family's monthly trips to Canterlot. Now, they were used so the two could pass notes to each other in class every so often. Except for the occasional dirty joke, Quartz tended to leave his journal alone during class, even though the class in question was about as interesting as watching ice melt half of the time. He mostly did this so that his studious friend could focus. The only time he broke this rule was when Opal started the "conversation" himself. This didn't mean that Quartz was looking forward to the covert messages though. Opal only pulled out his journal when he was so distracted by something that he couldn't focus on the teacher and absolutely had to get it off his barrel.

This time, the young Pegasus had to help his Unicorn friend get through the most difficult thing ever known to ponykind: understanding mares.

May the Princesses have mercy on my soul, he thought with a sigh.

It was then that Opal sent his response.

"Okay. So. She doesn't hate me at least. That's good. Do you think you could give me some advice?"

"Shoot," he wrote with a shrug.

"How do you date a filly?"

Quartz's mind stopped for a moment after he read his friend's message.

"How the hay should I know? I'm not dating anypony."

Another brief moment of inactivity, then another message appeared on the pages.

"Really? I must be really bad at this. Because the way you and Miss Ruby act around each other, I would've thought the two of you were together."

Quartz's face turned bright red as he hastily scrawled his response.

"We're just really good friends! That's all."

"If you say so."

He could practically see the rarely shown cheeky smile on his friend's muzzle as he wrote that.

"Do you want my help or not, Heart Hooves?"

"Sorry, sorry," he wrote, penmanship slightly shaky. "I'll be good."

With a sigh, Quartz responded with, "Okay, I'll check and see how things are from Ruby at lunch. Once I know what's going on, we can take things from there. Sound good to you?"

"Yes," Opal wrote, a relieved sigh heard in the background. "Thanks Quartz Mark."

"No prob. Now let's get back to listening to the teacher before she starts to suspect something."

***

The gentle crackling of flames from a fireplace was the only sound that could be heard in the jade living room. Countless bookshelves covered the walls , all of their contents painstakingly organized by size and title to make them easier for the home's residents to find what they needed at a moments notice. Closer to the heart of the room were some of the standard furniture one would find in such a room; a couch and coffee table. Both were made of polished dark-oak with plush green cushions and pillows decorating the couch while a fresh cup of tea decorated the table. Taking full advantage of the couch's comfort was the rooms sole occupant, a light purple Unicorn mare with a dark-violet mane and tail with light-blue streaks running through them. Held in her magic grip was a book that happened to grab her attention at the moment as she let herself relax after a long days work. The moment of peace was broken when the front door to the house opened, announcing the its only other resident's return from work.

"Welcome back," Starlight Glimmer smirked, eyes still glued to her book as Sunburst stepped into the living room.

"Thanks," he sighed as she flopped next to her into the couch.

The weary sigh that slipped pass his muzzle didn't go unnoticed as Starlight looked away from her book to take in her coltfriend's condition.

"Did you try to teach Flurry how to teleport again?" she asked, worriedly taking in his drained profile. "You know you don't have the magic reserves for that!"

Though it was true that Sunburst was a brilliant mage, his skills were more on the theoretical side. This was mostly due to a defect in his body's mana network. According to Princess Twilight, the condition was called Mana Rot and while it sounded bad it was manageable as well as curable if the Unicorn in question got proper treatment. If not, anything beyond basic levitation would be a long-shot at best. If they tried, the fatigue would negatively effect their health in many unpleasant ways. There were cases of Unicorns with the condition that tried teleportation only to slip into comas or suffer a heart-attack from the strain. While the condition made things difficult for him, Sunburst was receiving treatment and it didn't prevent him from taking advantage of his brilliant photographic mind. Though it didn't change the fact that when the poor stallion occasionally forgot his limits, he looked like he ran a marathon with lead weights tied to his legs.

Sunburst laughed as he nuzzled his marefriend's cheek.

"No, I've learned that Princess Twilight is the better teacher in that particular department," he smiled. "Though I suppose we could say she took after her more than Prince Armor."

"What do you mean," Starlight asked, brow raised.

"All day today, Flurry wanted to know everything she could about Windagos."

"By everything do you mean-"

"Everything. Their hight, weight, lifespans, favorite food, even if they could have foals like ponies do or if they made them using magic. She even asked me if they had fangs and scales instead of fur, if you can believe that. I don't even know where she got that idea, but I digress."

Starlight giggled then responded with, "I guess she has the Sparkle Gene after all. I remember how Twilight would spend hours studying the ins and outs of anything new she stumbled across when I was living in the Castle of Friendship."

Sunburst hummed in understanding then let out a winded sigh before he continued.

"Of course, when she asked about scales I mentioned Sirens and she changed her research topic to that. Fortunately, the Crystal Empire Archives have more detailed information on them then they do on Windagos."

"Well, that's good," she smiled, snuggling into his side affectionately. " If she's anything like Twilight, that should keep her busy for a while."

"Hopefully," he sighed.

He loved his Goddaughter. She was the closest thing he had to a daughter (at the moment), but even he could admit to her being quite the hoofful at times. Still, it did fill him with some joy to see his only pupil take an interest in something enough to properly research it.

"Though I suppose that wasn't the weirdest thing she had me teach."

"Oh really?" Starlight asked. "What could top that?"

"She wanted me to teach her how to teach somepony to read."

A long pause filled the room before Starlight broke it with a confused "Huh?"

***

"A. B. C.... D?"

"That's right," Flurry cheered, gently nudging the colt sitting next to her.

"Good," Alto faintly smiled as he looked at his new friend/teacher.

For the last couple of days, Flurry had been teaching her new friend how to read. While the first couple hours of the first day were slow going, she was shocked by how fast he was able to grasp the material once he became able to identify the letters. Now she was helping him memorize the order and while it was taking him a while to get it, he was making steady progress. She knew that it was only a matter of time before he mastered this too.

"I would hate it if all your hard work was wasted because I couldn't understand all this."

Flurry frowned at that.

"Could you please stop talking like that? Hanging out with you is not a waste of time, studies or not."

"Sorry," Alto cringed before he returned his attention to the alphabet book in front of him. "I'm still not use to being taught like this. Mom was always more, aggressive with her lessons."

From the moment she started teaching him, Alto seemed to have this almost militaristic attitude to the lessons. While she could understand why he had that approach, considering his circumstances, she wasn't happy about it.This was a problem Flurry was determined to fix no matter what. It was like her Aunt said, "The pursuit of knowledge is an adventure, not a path to a destination".

"It's fine," she sighed. "Just don't treat this like it's life or death. I'm trying to teach you how to read, not fight a Cave Beast."

They both chuckled a bit at that before they looked back at the book. As Alto continued to list off the letters of the alphabet, Flurry's mind drifted to his last comment. While the records were pretty sparse on information, what she was able to dig up seemed to clash with what she was witnessing. In the records, it said that Windagos were fiercely protective of their foals. Some of them said it was to the point that if a dog barked at them, the mother would flash freeze it. It was also written that the only times a Windago was ever seen acting kind was when they were with their foals. Yet, everything Alto said about his mom made her out to be rather harsh or borderline cruel. Strict magic training, physical performance drills, even sparing matches against her that lasted until he was able to land a blow on her or he came close to passing out all amounted to pure torture from her perspective. It was because of this that she avoided asking him questions about her directly, but after all this time, one question sat at the forefront of her mind and refused to leave until it was asked.

"Hey, Alto?"

"Yes?" he asked as he shifted his attention from the book to her.

"Why are you all alone? I mean, where's the rest of your family?"

A flicker of pain crossed his face as he looked away from her, eyes hidden by the bangs of his mane.

"A pony from the shining place killed her."

Flurry's heart sank into her stomach.

"Oh....I-I'm so sorry."

"I-it's fine," he sighed, a painfully fake smile on his face as he looked at her again. "Like I said, it was a long time ago."

For a long moment, the two were locked in a silent stare down, one set of eyes fighting to hold back tears that the barely living green ones refused to shed. Eventually, the fight proved too difficult for the young Alicorn to win and a small stream of tears fell from her eyes. Startled, Alto tried to think of a way to comfort his friend, but no such method came to mind. Instead, he acted on impulse and did what his mother did when he cried and wrapped his forelegs around her. The hug was awkward, as he had never given one before, but after a while, Flurry's tears stopped and she returned the kind gesture.

"Thanks," she sniffled, their embrace continuing.

"No problem. Are you okay? I didn't hurt you did I?"

"No," she smiled.

"Then why were you crying?" he asked, letting go of her.

"Because," she sighed. "You wouldn't do it yourself."

He blinked at her in shock before he again hid his eyes behind the shadow of his bangs.

"You are such a strange pony."

Another awkward silence. And like the last one, it was broken by the Alicorn's cautious curiosity.

"Do you want to talk about her? Your mom I mean."

"Why?" he asked.

"I want to know about her. And maybe talking about her will make you feel better."

"Feel better? But I'm not sick."

"But you're not happy either."

He wilted at that, before saying, "I don't need to be happy to survive."

"I guess," she smiled. "But it helps."

He stared at her in stunned silence, then with a defeated sigh gave her a hard glare.

"Fine, but this story is going to take a long time to tell so we may as well put all the books away first."

"Got it," she smirked as she grabbed all of their supplies with her magic and placed them back in her sattle bags.

Once all the necessary materials were safely stored she got herself comfortable as she waited for Alto to begin his story. The story of his mother's inevitable death at the hooves of a pony.

***

A dense haze filled the cave air as its soul inhabitants stared each other down. One was a snow white five-year-old colt with scales in place of a coat and a light-blue mane and tail. HIs opponent was towering full grown Windago mare, easily the same hight as Princess Celestia herself. Her glowing blue eyes beheld the colt with a fierce glare that Alto's own emerald ones mirrored.

"Again," she demanded.

With a growl, Alto channeled his magic into his hooves. With a hard stomp, it pored into the ground and rose out towards her in the form of five-foot long spikes. With a casual flick of a foreleg, she shattered the magic blades. A disappointed frown crossed her muzzle as she looked at Alto.

"Too frail. Do you wish to tickle your enemy? You will not get a second chance in battle. Your first strike must also be your last if you are to have any hope of survival in this land. Now, come at me as if you intend to kill me!"

"B-But mom," Alto panted. "I don't want to hurt you."

An understanding smile crossed her lips as she beheld her son.

"I know Alto, but you need to learn this. You are not strong enough to spar against the native beasts and I have already taught you everything I can in the arts of evasion and defense. Your Haze is almost as powerful as mine, but that won't be enough to protect you against the beasts here. And then there are the Ponies."

A shiver ran down Alto's spine at the mention of the beings that ruled the land. His mother told him countless stories of of the cruelty of the Pony race. How they attacked her family when she was just a filly and took her sister from her.

"The Ice Fang is one of the most lethal spells a Windago can wield. If used properly, it can end a battle before it can truly begin. After all, no enemy can stand without their head or heart."

"R-Right," he said with a nod. "But mom..."

A sad chuckle slipped past her lips as she approached her troubled foal and nuzzled his cheek.

"I know my son. Perhaps we've practiced enough for today. Let's-"

She paused, a sound further down the cave network drawing her attention towards one of the tunnel connecting their cave to the rest of the network.

"Mom?"

She shushed him, slowly moving towards the tunnel. She stopped two feet away from it, ears straining for the sound she hoped was just her imagination. To her horror it wasn't as she heard it again; the unmistakeable clink of chainmail. She slowly packed up, eyes never leaving the tunnel entrance.

"Alto," she whispered tone urgent. "No matter what happens, I want you to stay hidden."

"O-Okay mom," he whispered, taking cover behind some stalagmites in the farthest corner of the chamber.

For five minutes, all they could hear was the clinking of metal growing steadily louder. Soon, the last thing the two cave dwellers wanted to see stepped into the chamber; a Unicorn pony dressed in heavy silver armor. For a moment, they just stared at each other, Windago slowly crouching into a defensive stance while the pony stared in shock before doing the same. Neither moved, neither seemed to breath as the tension began to build between them. Then, in the blink of an eye, they struck! The Windago conjured a maw of ice spikes at the pony's hooves that he countered with a barrier before firing a bolt of magic at her. She dodged before she filled the chamber with a thick cloud of freezing fog. Acting quickly, the pony countered with a bubble barrier to cut himself off from the air around himself and protect himself from the Haze spell. Next, he drew his sword and after coating it in his magic, let it faze through the barrier. The Windago dodged the blade before she conjured one of her own out of ice. The two blades clashed, both held in the air by their master's magic as they tried to end their opponent. As the blades struck, the Windago conjured another maw of ice blades beneath the pony which he dodged at the last second. The two continued to trade blows, neither able to land a critical hit though coming dangerously close to one several times. It was like a dance, both moving with grace and purpose as they tried to kill each other with ice and blade and magic beam. Then, it finally happened. Both combatants once again found themselves staring each other down, both riddled with minor wounds and slightly winded. The pony held his sword unsteadily with his magic while the Windago had six spikes of ice floating at her sides. Both knew that they had enough energy for one last strike and one way or another, it would be their last. In a flash, they struck. Blood covered the pure white snow as the two fighters fell, time seeming to flow in slow motion for the lone spectator as Alto watched his mother fall, a blade plunged deep into her chest while the pony was reduced to a perforated frozen husk.

He cried out to her as he ran to his mother's side, tears running down his eyes.

"D-Damn it all to the storm," she coughed, a trickle of blood running down the corner of her muzzle. "Why did this have to happen now."

"M-M-Mother," Alto trembled, tears mixing with the blood that pooled beneath them both.

"Hu-Hush my son," she whispered, a weak smile gracing her muzzle as she beheld him. "Th-This was what all of your training was for. You know what you must to survive. Do what I couldn't and survive. Survive...and know that I...will...watch over you....always."

As she said that, her own tears joined her son's in the pool of her own blood and the light from her eyes faded away. Just like that, the windago died, a solid ice statue in her place. Alto stared at her body, and with tears in his eyes, he let out a howl of pure pain to the heavens. It echoed through the caves like the roar of a dragon, letting everypony unfortunate enough to hear it feel the colt's pain. The pain of loss.

***

Flurry stared at Alto, tears poring down her face as he finished his tale. The colt stared back, confused and concerned for his companion's well being. Then, before he could ask if she was alright, she threw her hoofs around him in yet another tight embrace. Still not use to such contact after so many years, he flinched, then closed his eyes and reveled in his new friend's warmth.

"You don't need to cry for me anymore," he sighed. "I've moved past it. I just need to survive."

Flurry pulled herself away from him, wiping her tears away. When her foreleg left her face, Alto reeled back at what he saw. A gentle smile. Sad sapphire blue eyes. It was not a look of pity, but something that he had long forgotten until that exact moment; understanding.

"I'll cry for you as long as it takes," she sniffled. "Until you figure out how to do it again."

"Another lesson?" he smiled.

"Yeah," she said with a smile of her own. "One that you can't rush through."

"I guess you're right," he sighed. "In the meantime, can we get back to reading? I want to learn at least that quickly."

"Nope," she pouted. "You can't rush through that either. Learning is an adventure, not a destination."

"It is?" he asked, brow raised. "Who says?"

"My Aunt," Flurry said with a smug grin.

"She's just as strange as you are," Alto replied flatly.

"Thanks," she giggled, then levitated a book out of her bag. "Now let's get started."

"Yes please," he said with a nod.

Ice

Ruby didn't usually express herself. This was a common fact that everypony that knew her acknowledged as easily as the sky being blue and ice being cold. Some even thought she was a doll made to look like a pony that moved with magic due to how stone-faced she could be most of the time. So when everypony saw her walking towards Crystal Academy with a wide grin on her face, many thought they were seeing a new Changeling tourist from King Thorax's hive. That is, until an equally impossible sight came into view. Sapphire stomped behind her sister in a bright pink dress covered in frills and ribbons. A white sun hat with a pink rose tied to the base sat on her head as the ultimate final accessory to the filly's shame.

"Ruby," Sapphire growled. "I'm gonna kill you."

"Now now sister," she chuckled. "A deal's a deal."

Sapphire merely growled at her as memories of the previous day flashed to the forefront of her mind.

***

"So wait," Sapphire gulped, staring into Opal's eyes as they walked through the park. "You don't hate me?"

Opal blinked, confusion heavy in his frame as he stared at her.

"No, of course not!" he exclaimed flummoxed. "If anything, I thought you hated me."

"What! Why?!" she exclaimed.

"Well, you were avoiding me," he offered lamely, looking away sheepishly.

"Are you kidding?" Sapphire demanded, dragging the colt's eyes back to her own. "I was only doing that because-"

Her face turned red hot as she took note of what she was about to say and clamped her jaws shut. Her blush only grew as she stared into her crush's startled eyes. A frustrated growl shot past her lips as she forced herself to look away.

"Whatever," she growled, stomping ahead of him.

Opal let out an exasperated sigh as he followed, chalking the filly's actions up as yet one more mare mystery to be unraveled.

***

Sapphire's head was a mass of mixed messages as it waged war with itself over how to feel about her situation. On one hoof, she was over the moon with joy that Opal didn't hate her. On the other, she wanted to tear the nearest pony's head off over what she was being forced to wear. The confusion only grew more chaotic when they made it to the front of the school gates as Opal came into view in addition to the bane of the twin's existence.

"Wow, nice dress Slap Fire," an orange Unicorn filly with a pink mane and tail said with a jeer.

"Yeah," her neighbor smirked, a white Earth Pony filly with a brown mane and tail. "Almost makes her look normal, doesn't it?"

They both laughed while the twins leveled a pair of glares at them.

"Sherbet, Sunday, what have I told you about harassing them?" A silver coated Pegasus filly demanded, her platinum blond mane and tail sporting a lone teal streak as they shined in the light.

Both fillies cringed while Ruby and Sapphire's glares narrowed.

"Sorry Platinum Scales," they said in unison.

The Pegasus sighed then turned to face the twins.

"Sorry about that. I've tried to get these two to see reason, but they are just so stubborn."

"That's fine," Ruby said, using her muted nature to hide her anger towards the Pegasus. "We can't help what others do when we aren't around."

"Still," Platinum frowned, giving Sherbet and Sunday a sharp frown that made them flinch. "I wish my friends would see how much of a disadvantage attacking you two is. The cons far outweigh the pros in such an arrangement."

She gave Ruby an empty smile as she added, "Wouldn't you agree?'

Ruby sighed, then nodded.

Gains and loss, that was always what it came down to for Platinum Scales. While she wasn't a bad filly per se, the way she judged things according to value made her an extremely difficult pony to deal with.

She gave Sapphire a careful look over and frowned.

"Though they do have a point. That color clashes horribly with her coat. Lavender would've been a much more complimentary color choice."

Sapphire was about to tell the metallic-colored mare where she could stick her advice when her sister beat her to the punch.

"With all due respect Platinum, would you do us a favor and mind your own business?"

Platinum blinked at that, then nodded in understanding as she turned away and walked towards the school gates. Her friends gave the twins a pair of sharp glares before they joined the Pegasus. Keeping a ten foot distance from the difficult trio, Ruby and Sapphire let out tired sighs as they reluctantly followed.

Their sour moods dropped when two colts joined their group.

"Hey Ruby," Quartz smiled as he landed next to her, startling a few nearby fillies.

"Hello Quartz," she said evenly as a small smile graced her muzzle.

"Greetings Sapphire," Opal smiled, taking note of the mare's new look.

"Um...H-Hey Opal," Sapphire stammered, face heating up.

A knowing smile spread on Ruby and Quartz's face as they carefully snuck away from the pair.

"How long do you think it'll be before they get to the dating phase," he smirked as he watched his friend talk to Sapphire.

"If left to their own devices?" Ruby mused. "About the time Flurry has a foal."

"Probably," Quartz chuckled. "Opal's smart, but he's a total dork when it comes to reading ponies."

"A blessing compared to Platinum Scales," she frowned.

"Ugh, don't remind me," he shivered, fluffing his feathers.

Ruby giggled lightly at that.

"Is everything ready?" she asked.

"Yep!," he said, nodding enthusiastically. "It's all set."

"Excellent," she smiled.

As they discussed their plans for the day, Sapphire glared daggers into the back of her sister's head.

"I am so going to get back at her for this," she growled.

"They really do look like a couple,"Opal mused.

"Tell me about it," Sapphire groaned. "I bet Flurry'll have a coltfriend before they figure it out."

"Flurry?" he asked, only for realization to replace confusion a second later. "Ah, that's right. I forgot the two of you were Princess Flurry Heart's friends."

"Yep," she frowned. "She doesn't have that many of them, cuz "Princess". Makes things kind of hard in that department. It's a miracle we became friends with her in the first place."

"Sounds like it," he frowned. "How did you two manage it? You're not from a secret Noble Family, are you?"

Sapphire chuckled at that.

"Tarterus no. Our dad's the head of the Empire's Training Camp for the Guard and our mom's a retired stunt flyer. Dad went up to the castle to talk to the Royal Family about some changes he wanted to make to the camp's way of doing things and he brought Ruby and I with him. We wandered off and found Flurry moping in a courtyard in the middle of the castle grounds. We knew who she was, but she looked so sad so we went over to her to talk for a bit. Before we knew it, we were running through the castle playing tag. We've been friends ever since."

He smiled then turned to face his friend.

"Quartz and I met in Grade School. I still have no idea how we became friends. He was the troublemaker who dragged the two of us into the craziest adventures while I kept us out of the hospital. He's just as much the pain in my flank now as he was all those years ago, even with your sister keeping him cautious. All the same, I could never ask for a better friend."

Sapphire smiled, turning to watch her sister talk to her "not" coltfriend. Her smile turned absolutely wicked as she gave Opal a sideway glance and said, "Wanna spy on them after school?"

"Absolutely," he smirked.

***

The Tornado Café was a very subdued and quiet place, despite the wild impression its name would lead others to believe. It wasn't a very formal establishment either, though its location in the Empire's Noble district did make it so the ponies there gave off a certain level of refinement that maintained the peace out of respect. Simple wooden tables and chairs filled the main service room as patrons went about their business quietly drinking tea and enjoying scones as they read the paper or books. In a corner of the room sat two teenage foals, one with a stack of notecards covered with drawings set on the table in front of her while her companion had what looked like a silver pen in front of himself.

"These the ones?" Quartz asked, vibrating with excitement.

Ruby nodded, a faint smile gracing her muzzle as she hoofed over a notecard. Grinning like a fiend, the snatched the card, flipped it over to its blank back, placed the pen in his mouth and went to work. As the pen-tip slid across the paper, sharply angled symbols formed across it in blue glowing ink. When the whole card was covered with glowing symbols, the flipped it back to the side with Ruby's drawing.

"Awaken," he said, a hopeful smile spread across his muzzle.

Slowly, the card began to glow and the dragon drawing slowly began to rise off of the card. In a matter of seconds, a small dragon about the size of a figurine stood on the notecard. The small creature growled and snarled across the table at its creator, who sported a wide smile that matched her companion's as they silently cheered to the heavens.

"It worked!" Quartz silently exclaimed, hoof-pumping in his seat.

Ruby let out a relieved sigh as she took a sip of her tea.

"Thank The Heart," she smiled. "If I had to draw anymore dragons, I was going to start seeing them in my sleep."

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said, laughing awkwardly. "It's a lot of work getting the runes to work together sometimes. One wrong style stroke and things just don't work right."

"I understand," she nodded. "I'm just glad you found a combination that worked."

"Hey, " he said with a roughish smirk. "I didn't get a runecasting Cutie Mark writing poetry, you know?"

"Indeed," she smiled, using her magic to pick up the enchanted notecard.

The second she took the card off of the table, the dragon vanished and the illustration that birthed it returned. She carefully examined the intricate collection of symbols with an artist's appreciation as she placed it next to the stack of cards.

"If we intend to make this game of yours stand out, we're going to need to do more than this."

"Figured as much," Quartz shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "Can't say I mind all that much if it gives us a chance to hang out like this."

"Agreed," she giggled. "Perhaps we could try adding more than dragons to the game. Do you think the Pillars would be good additions?"

"Maybe," he hummed, putting a hoof to his chin in thought. "I kinda want to add ponies that aren't already famous first. Let it stand on its own hooves for a bit first, you know?"

Ruby nodded, then said, "That makes sense. It wouldn't do us any good if it only became popular because Starswirl was in it. Do you have any ideas?"

"Kinda," he shrugged. "I'm still working out the kinks in what I want them to do so their just ideas right now."

"Like what?"

"You know," he mumbled, a slight blush coloring his cheeks. "Basic things."

"Like?"

"Like a martial artist pony, a high mage, a mercenary, a scribe, a cleric, and an illusionist."

"Oh," she smiled. "Those sound-"

Her mind caught up with her as she thought about what her friend said and a faint blush colored her cheeks.

"You want to put us all in the game?"

"Maybe?" he said, smiling sheepishly. "What do you think?"

"I-I love it," she stammered. "B-But how did you know I was practicing illusions?"

"Caught you talking to Miss Trixie after school last week," he smiled. "I just sorta guessed from there."

"Oh," she said simply, then grimaced as she added," It was supposed to be a surprise."

"Sorry," he frowned.

"It's okay," she sighed, then smiled and said, "I'll just have to make sure my lessons pay off in the end."

"Huh?"

"You'll see," she giggled.

***

Shining sat with a face of pure stone as he stared at his Guard Captan across a polished marble coffee table. His companion held his usual carefree smile as his leader's eyes drilled into him with the force of a thousand spears as he casually poured himself a shot of gin from the bottle on the table.

"Tell me," Shining said, tone cold as ice.

Onyx casually threw back his shot and asked, "Tell you what, your Highness?"

"You know what," Shining said, his shot glass shaking in his magic's grip

"Do I?" he asked with a smirk.

Shining glared at his Captain, then growled, "I know my daughter's seeing a colt somewhere. I can feel it in my bones. Now, as Prince of The Crystal Empire I am ordering you to tell me who he is!"

Captain Onyx simply smiled at his superior and refiled his glass.

"Well?!" he demanded.

Onyx stared calmly at the fuming father and said, "I can't give you a name I don't have, your Highness."

Shinning glared a hole into the collected Light-gray Unicorn as he took another drink.

"Permission to speak freely?" he asked, sliding a shot across the table to the angry stallion.

He nodded, ignoring the offering.

"I think you need to ease up on her."

"What?" Shining growled.

Onyx continued, ignoring the Prince' ire as he nursed his new shot.

"She's coming close to that age and there's nothing either of us can do about it. If you try to tie her down, she's just going to rebel harder. It's just a fact of life."

"So, what? Are you saying I should just let her do whatever she wants!?" he asked, furiously slamming a hoof onto the table.

"Of course not," he chuckled. "She may be growing up, but she's still a filly. What I'm saying is that you come to the middle of the two extremes."

"Explain," Shining said, raising a brow.

Onyx chuckled.

"Let her make her own decisions and learn from her mistakes. She isn't stupid or helpless by any definition of the words, so we need to stop treating her like she is."

"We?" he asked, anger simmering into a small impatient ember as a half-smile formed on his muzzle.

"What can I say?" he shrugged, finishing off his drink. "The filly grows on you after a while."

Shinning chuckled, finally taking notice of his Captain's offering as he took it with his hoof.

"I don't know if I can do all that," he sighed. "I look at her and I still see that sweet little filly, snuggling with her Whammy in her crib."

Onyx smiled at that and said, "Good thing I'm around to keep you in check then.

"I thought I only had one wife," he joked.

"What kind of honorary Big Brother would I be if I didn't keep an eye on my baby sister from time to time?"

Shining laughed, then gave the stallion a conspiratorial smile as he said, "Now about that colt.

"Haven't a clue," he shrugged, downing a shot.

Shining glowered at him, earning a smirk and eye-roll from Onyx.

"Take it from me sir, with the kind of power Flurry has at her disposal the whole empire would know if anypony did something to her."

***

The caves echoed with laughter as Alto guided Flurry through them. After spending so many days in the Main Chamber, Flurry's adventurous spirit demanded she explore further into the mountain. While hesitant at first, Alto agreed to show her the deeper parts of his home so long as she promised to stay close to him. The tour was better then she expected, as walls of pure ice and dazzling crystal greeted her everywhere she went in the mountains deepest tunnels. A cluster of giggles fell out of her when a flock of ice bats took roost on Alto's back. It turned into wonder when he casually turned his head to the small creatures and let out a few small squeaks to them. They let out a few similar cries in response to which he nodded before responding with a squeak. When they flew off, she asked him what that was all about.

"They were asking who you were," he said simply as he guided her through the tunnels.

"You can speak ice bat?" she asked.

"Something like that," he shrugged.

"That's so cool!" she exclaimed, voice echoing around them loudly.

"Cool?" he asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Figure of speech," she giggled.

"I see," he nodded. "Is it a good one?"

She nodded, a trace of sadness in the smile gracing her muzzle.

Sometimes she forgot how sheltered her friend was. While he was surprisingly well spoken for somepony so young, he was absolutely clueless when it came to common phrases. It was like somepony gave him a dictionary to read and nothing else growing up. Though, it did make sense when she thought about how his mother raised him.

"And this is one of my harvest points," he said, walking through a near cave opening.

Flurry followed him and gawked at what she saw.

A small orchard of Star Berry Trees greeted her with a deep lake at its center. The late afternoon sun bounced off the surrounding snow like crushed diamonds, adding a mystical quality to the already magical grove. Flurry walked in awe as she entered, the magic in the air frizzing her fur and fluffing her feathers. A faint smile grew on Alto's face at the wonder on her face as he took point at her side. Much like the day he shared his food with her, she made all of the things he thought so little about in his life seem so much more exciting. Be it interacting with ice bats or just spending time together in the main chamber, she made it all seem so relevant to him. The days began not with him focused exclusively on survival, but doing so as he waited for her to brighten his day. He looked forward to her visits and it hurt when she had to leave. It was all so new to him that it scared him a little.

He raised a brow when something in the distance caught his friend's eye. What he saw when he followed her line of sight drew a deep scowl across his face. The Shining Place was hard to ignore this time of day as the sun seemed Tartarus bent on reminding the world it existed. Alto would never forgive it for sending the pony that killed his mother. If he could he'd tear the crystal oasis to the ground, leave the ponies to the unforgiving wrath of the snow and ice like he had been for years. A week ago, that desire was the closest thing he had to an ambition as he went about his day, but now?

He turned his head towards Flurry and his scowl turned shameful.

Whenever he thought about destroying the Shining Place, her face would instantly jump to the front of his mind. The look of absolute heartbreak on her face as her home crumbled around her like thin ice. The sight of her shivering in the cold as the power that allowed her to resist his Haze finally reached its limit and she fell to the cruel elements. It tore him apart inside like a million ice blades. He liked her smile. He liked her laugh. He liked the way she made everything around him so much brighter.

What is happening to me? he thought, placing a hoof on his chest.

"Hey, Alto can I ask you something?" She asked, still staring into the distance.

"Y-Yes," he stammered, abruptly dragged out of his musings.

Sheepishly, she turned towards him and fidgeted in place as she struggled to find her words.

W-Well, here goes nothing.

"I-I was wondering if...maybe....I....I could bring my friends here again."

Alto blinked in shock at her for a moment , then narrowed his eyes.

"Flurry," he said warningly.

"I know! I know!" she exclaimed. "J-Just hear me out for a second!"

HIs posture remained tense for a few seconds, then he let out a deep sigh before nodding for her to continue.

"Okay," she sighed, then smiled shyly as she continued. "A couple days ago, they asked me if we could come back to the spring. I told them we couldn't and they started asking me why. Well, Sapphire did. Anyway! I had to come up with a bunch of reasons why they couldn't come up here and I think they bought it, but Ruby's really good at spotting lies so I don't know how long that's going to last! They could come by tomorrow for all I know and..."

The tiny Alicorn wilted as she let out a sad sigh, then forced out the words.

"And I don't want them getting hurt. They aren't like me Alto. If you used your Haze on them like you did to me, they'd die. I know you don't like ponies or The Empire and you have every right to after what happened to you, but their my best friends and I don't want them getting hurt. I don't want to have to choose between them and you."

As she said that, tears started to slide down her cheeks, dotting the snow as a heavy silence descended upon them. Alto knew that there was a possibility that the other two would return. Flurry did after all, but thanks to her repeated visits he had pushed the thought to the back of his mind. As far as he was concerned, it was a problem he would deal with when it became a problem that needed dealing with. How he planned to go about that gradually changed as he spent time with Flurry, but he was still hesitant to give ponies a chance to do to him what they did to his mother. The tears staining Flurry's face made his decision much clearer as he struggled to find the words that needed to be said.

"The quiet one seemed nice," he said, tone muted and soft as he fought past his fear.

Flurry blinked in confusion, then smiled weakly as she wiped away her tears.

"That's Ruby," she smiled. "She's really nice and likes to draw and paint. She can be a little hard to read sometimes, but she's a great friend."

He nodded, then said, "The loud one makes me nervous though. I-It might take some time before I can be around her."

"Yeah," she said with a rueful smile. "That's Sapphire. She can be kind of rough, but she's really nice when you get to know her."

"I-I see," he stammered, fear starting to choke him. "Th-They sound nice."

Flurry took a step towards him and placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder. The warmth from her hoof and smile eased his troubled heart as they stared into each others eyes.

"You trust me, right?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Then you can trust them too."

For a moment, they stayed like that as Alto's mind went to war with itself, but as he stared into his friend's eyes one side took dominance in the struggle. With a sigh, he gave her a wained smile as he nodded.

"Thanks Alto," she smiled.

"No problem," he sighed.

With that, she walked back into the caves. As she did, Alto couldn't help but notice just how much her coat dazzled in the light. Just like her smile.

Slush

Snow crunched softly under their hooves as three teen ponies with loaded saddlebags made their way towards a familiar mountain cave. The leader of the group nervously gnawed on her lower lip as she walked, a nervous stone settling in her stomach as her friend's home came into view. Flurry knew that there was no reason for her to be so nervous, that Ruby and Sapphire wouldn't do anything bad to Alto. It was more that she didn't know how they were going to react to him that had her so on edge.

"You okay Flurry?" Sapphire asked, giving her a concerned frown. "You look like you're gonna be sick."

"I-I'm okay," Flurry stammered, forcing a smile.

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked, a faint trace of concern creeping into her features.

"Y-Yeah," she giggled. "Just a little nervous is all."

"Why?" Sapphire asked, raising a brow.

"Well... there's a reason Alto doesn't live in The Empire," she frowned.

"And that is?" Ruby asked.

Flurry paused, choosing her words carefully as they crossed through the mouth of the cave.

"Let's just say, he didn't get the best first impression when it came to ponies."

"You say that like he isn't one," Ruby said evenly.

"He isn't," Flurry sighed. "He's-"

She froze. After all this time spent with Alto, she knew he wasn't a Windago, even if his mom was. His powers and appearance didn't match all of the facts she gathered about his mother's species. Granted, he had some of her abilities such as Air Walking and Cryomancy, but none of the records said anything about Windagos having scales or the ability to use Sonumancy.

"I...don't know what he is," she frowned, then smiled as she added, "Other then a really good friend."

"If you say so," Sapphire shrugged.

"Agreed," Ruby nodded.

Flurry giggled at that then resumed her march through the cave, her friends not far behind her. She stopped just at the entrence to the Main Chamber and turned to face her friends, a serious frown coloring her face as she stopped them.

"Before we go in, I want to set a few rules. Okay?"

They nodded, a bit of shock briefly crossing their faces.

"Alright," she sighed. "Like I said, Alto's first contact with ponies wasn't the greatest one in the world. As a result, he doesn't trust ponies very much. It's only because of me that he's willing to give the two of you a chance. So, here's the rules. Rule one: No using the spring unless he says so. Rule two: No coming here without me. Rule three: Let him come to you first. I cannot stress that enough. He's almost at my level when it comes to Cryomancy and if he feels cornered-"

"Got it," Sapphire shivered. "Don't spook him and he won't turn us into Ponycicles."

"Right," Flurry sighed.

"Are there any other conditions?" Ruby asked cautiously.

"Not really," she lightly chuckled. "Are you all ready?"

They nodded.

"Well, let's go," she smiled.

With that, they crossed the threshold into the main chamber, each nervously swallowing as they braced themselves for the tensest meeting of their lives. It was as silent as a tomb as they walked around the spring, giving it a wide birth so as not to offend their host. They looked around, Ruby and Sapphire sporting a pair of nervous frowns while Flurry's was more of concern.

"Alto?" she called, making her friends jump at the sudden break in the silence. "Are you there?"

"Y-Yes," he said, voice echoing evenly from all of the chamber's branching tunnels.

She gave a relieved sigh as she smiled sadly at the set of openings.

"It's okay," she smiled. "Nopony's going to hurt you."

"I-I-" he stammered, a faint tremble shaping the fear in his tone.

"Oh Alto," she said, worry starting to settle in her gut.

Maybe it's too soon. He's probably not ready to meet other ponies yet. Maybe it's not too late to call it quits for today and try again later. Ruby and Sapphire know about him so they aren't going to just pop in unannounced.

As she tried to find a way to salvage the situation, Ruby moved to her side and stared at the five tunnels in front of them.

"Alto?" she asked, tone calm and steady as she stared at each threshold in turn.

"Y-Yes?" he asked.

"Hello, my name is Ruby Strokes, but many call me Ruby."

"N-Nice to meet you," he stammered, the fear in his tone slightly weaker. "Y-You're friends with Flurry, right?"

"I am," she nodded.

"She says your nice," he said feebly. "That you're an artist."

"I am, on both accounts," she smiled. "I would be more then willing to show you some of my work if you'd like."

"I would, but...I-I can't move my hooves."

"That's fine," she said patiently, levitating a small stack of paper out of her right saddlebag. "You're near one of the tunnel entrances, right?"

"Y-Yes."

"Then throw a rock and I'll levitate the pictures to you."

"N-No!" he screamed.

Ruby flinched, then let an understanding smile form on her muzzle as she gave Flurry a brief glance.

"Okay, what if I give them to Flurry and let her hoof them over to you?"

"T-That should be okay."

With that, she let Flurry take the papers in her magic grip and "let go" as the lavender aura around the pictures turned blue. Flurry approached the tunnel entrances, confused on how she was supposed to figure out where he was. Before she could resort to her Scanning Spell, a faint high-pitched ringing came from one of the tunnels. It was too distinct to be wind, but subtle enough to confuse those not familiar with the normal sounds of the caves. She focused on it as she stared at the tunnels, then slowly made her way towards the middle path. Seven feet into the path she came across Alto, a mix of shame and fear covering his face as he locked eyes with her.

"Alto?"

"Flurry," he gulped, breath coming out in desperate gasps. "I-I-"

She threw her hooves around him in a tight embrace, gently rubbing his back as he trembled in her grip.

"It's okay," she whispered. "Nopony here wants to hurt you. They just want to meet you."

"I know," he sighed. "B-But I'm scared."

Flurry smiled, then pulled back enough to lock eyes with her friend. She could see the fear in his eyes, but they showed so much more then just that. She saw frustration, doubt, curiosity, but most of all, she saw conviction. He refused to let his fear consume him completely, no matter how much he wanted to. He was fighting against his instinct to flee what he perceived as danger for her sake.

Flurry looked at the stack of pictures that Ruby gave her. She knew the kind of effects her friend's art could have on ponies. Once, she was on the verge of breaking down from the burdens of her station when she was little and Ruby gave her a painting. It was an image of a tranquil field of flowers with a clear blue sky towering above it. The scene delivered a feeling of peace and hope to all who gazed upon it and was a welcome respite after a long day of studying. It was this knowledge that lead to her letting go of her friend and passing the stack of paper to him. She watched him as he slowly sifted through her friend's work. As his eyes scanned the images, his fear seemed to melt away like snow in the summer sun. His trembling gradually lessened until it ceased altogether, a strong fire slowly burning in his eyes. By the time he got to the last sheet of paper, the fear and doubt had vanished from his eyes as determination took dominance.

"I'm ready," he said, voice quiet but full of strength as he hoofed back the papers.

"Are you sure?" she asked, taking the pictures in her magic.

He nodded, then made his way towards the tunnel opening. As she followed him, she gave the last picture a quick glance. It was a pony standing in the middle of a burning forest, a look of conviction decorating his face as he guided a group of foals through the inferno to safety. Countless scars and burns covered the stallion's body as he moved forward in the face of danger. Flurry smiled as a fire burned inside her while she followed her friend out of the tunnel towards the Main Chamber.

Everything is going to work out. I just know it!

***

This is so not working, Flurry thought.

While her friends took Alto's appearance better then she thought they would, it didn't make the heavy silence that surrounded them all anymore comfortable. It wasn't fear that kept everypony's muzzle sealed, it was the shear lack of common ground. While Ruby was able to test the waters with her art, Sapphire was left completely in the dark as to how she could break the ice with Alto. She didn't know how to approach him in a way that didn't cause problems in the long run as she stared at the alien colt. In a lot of ways she wasn't surprised that he was so strange, considering he was a friend of Flurry's. She knew both her and her sister were an odd pair as well, so even a creature like Alto didn't stand out that much to her. In fact, she thought he looked really cool. The way his scales caught the reflected light in the cave reminded her of freshly fallen snow while his sky-blue mane and tail was like a clear winter sky. Just looking at him got her creative juices flowing and the fact that she couldn't think of a way to connect with him through it frustrated her greatly.

It's the crap with Opal all over again! she thought, jaw tightening as her temper flared. No! Buck that! I am not going through all that again!

With a frustrated growl, she rose to her hooves and stomped towards the cave entrance. Everypony present exchanged confused looks before flinching when an angry yell echoed through the cave followed by the sound of shattering stone. Alto gave Flurry a raised brow, who gave him a sheepish smile in return. His ear flicked as a small series of chipping noises echoed off of the walls, quick and frantic at first, but they slowly became steady as time went on. Eventually, the tapping was replaced by hoof steps as Sapphire returned to the group, something small held in one of her hoofs as she stared at the ground.

"I'm not very good with words," she grumbled. "But I am with my hooves. I don't have my tools, so it's not as smooth as I want it to be, but here. This is what I think of you."

As she said that, she placed what she had in her hoof in the middle of the group circle. It was a small stone figurine of Alto. He was sitting with his legs tucked under himself with his head held up high with pride, his mane covering the left half of his face in a way that made his faint smile more pronounced, The natural layer patterns and dents in the stone almost perfectly matched the effect his scales had on his appearance as the small flecks of quartz in the rock gave the figurine his ice-like shine.

"This is how you see me?" he asked, picking up the small replica and examining it in wonder.

"Yeah," Sapphire grumbled, still staring a the ground as she took a seat beside her sister.

A small smile graced his muzzle a he turned towards Sapphire and said, "Thank you. I was afraid that I scared you."

Sapphire's gaze jumped off of the ground towards Alto, shock decorating her face.

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, you weren't talking to me," he said with a confused frown. "I thought that I scared you. The Storm knows I was scared of both of you earlier."

I still am, he thought, fighting back a faint tremble as he stared at Sapphire.

An irate groan rolled out of Sapphire's muzzle as she face-hoofed.

"Like I said," she sighed, letting her hoof fall to the ground. "I'm not good with words most of the time. I didn't want to say something that'd scare you off. Especially since Flurry managed to get you out here, but I couldn't think of anything to say."

"This seems like a good start," he smiled, gesturing to the figurine.

"It could be better," she sighed. " I could've made something really awesome if I had my gear."

"Even if you say that, I still like it," he said, holding the small carving to his chest with a smile. "Thank you."

"N-No problem," she stammered, a faint blush coloring her cheeks as she fidgeted in place. "Name's Sapphire Trail by the way, but you can call me Sapphire if you want."

Alto smiled, then said," Nice to meet you Sapphire, I'm Alto."

With that, the awkward atmosphere between the four foals thinned as Alto and Sapphire exchanged smiles.

***

Echoes filled the tunnels as four sets of hooves moved through them for the first time. Left with little to do in the Main Chamber, Alto offered to show Ruby and Sapphire the rest of his home. Flurry and Alto stood at the head of the group while the two newcomers marveled at the natural crystal found inside the tunnels as they moved.

"Just a heads up," Flurry smiled. "The Ice Bats here are really friendly."

"I noticed," Ruby monotoned.

Curious, Flurry looked over her shoulder at her friend only to fall over laughing at what she saw. Ruby's entire back, neck, and the top of her head was covered with Ice Bats. Sapphire wasn't fairing much better as the curious creatures nestled onto her back while she glared at them. Alto took in the scene and smiled as he let out a small series of chitters and squeaks. The Ice Bats gave him a few squeaks then flew off of the two fillies into the deeper parts of the tunnels out of sight.

"Thanks Alto," Sapphire sighed, checking on her saddlebags. "I thought they were gonna- HEY! THOSE LITTLE SHITS STOLE MY CANDY BAR!"

"Oh the tragedy," Ruby mumbled, rolling her eyes as she checked her own bags. "Whatever will you do now that they..."

She froze, earning nervous looks from the rest of her party as they cautiously backed away from her.

"Uh...Sis?" Sapphire asked with a gulp. "You okay?"

"Ruby?" Flurry asked, protectively resting a wing on Alto's back.

"They took Opal's pen," she said, tone colder then the ice that slicked the walls. "He gave me that as a gift last week to help me draw."

The look she aimed at the tunnel the bats flew down sent a chill down all but Alto's spine as it passed them. Instead, it made him send a quick glance at the figure on his back and an understanding smile graced his muzzle.

"Hold on," he said, then turned towards the tunnel.

They watched as he closed his eyes, then he opened his mouth and a sharp whistle filled the caves for a second. Flurry and the rest flinched as they felt their ears pop and ring as Alto remained motionless. A grimace formed on his face as he opened his eyes.

"Of course they would go there," he grumbled, walking through the tunnel.

"Huh?" Flurry asked, just barely hearing him over the ringing. "Hey! Wait up!"

With that, the small group followed him further into the tunnels. As they moved, Flurry noticed a steady drop in temperature the further they moved. She wasn't alone as Sapphire and Ruby huddled closer to her for warmth with each step they took. Eventually, she had to put her wings around them and cast an Insulation Barrier around herself to keep them from shivering. Eventually, the cold grew to the point that the tunnel was filled with a dense fog not dissimilar to Alto's Haze Spell, but not anywhere near as lethal. Flurry kept her friends close as they traversed through the fog, eyes locked onto Alto's back to keep from getting lost. She nearly walked into him when he suddenly stopped in front of another opening flooded with fog with a deep frown marring his muzzle.

"Flurry," he sighed, staring at the opening. "Did you tell them about my mother?"

"No," she frowned, shaking her head.

He sighed, then said, "I'll answer any questions they have, but not until we return to the spring, understood?"

They nodded.

With that, he walked through, the fillies not far behind. They stepped into a large chamber covered top to bottom with solid ice crystals. The dense fog filled the chamber with a shimmering aurora that dazzled off of the walls like a liquid rainbow constantly flowing through the air. The floor looked like a polished mirror as the four teenage foals walked in as they stared in awe at the spectacle around them. Awe turned to shock when their eyes settled on something against the far wall opposite the door. It was an ice sculpture of a sleeping mare. She was roughly the same size as Princess Celestia, but lacked her wings and horn. LInes of frozen tears trailed down her face from a sharp pair of closed eyes that held strength and compassion in equal measure as her head laid on its side. In the light of the glowing fog swirling amongst the frozen crystals, she laid as an embodiment of beauty and power that few could hope to match. For Flurry, she was something different. knowing what she was staring at, tears formed in the corners of her eyes as for the briefest of seconds she saw her own mother in the mare's place. She barely noticed it when Alto placed his figure in a corner of the room or retrieved her friend's stolen property from where his mother laid.

"Let's go," he said somberly as he passed them.

Flurry nodded, then guided herself and her friends out of the room. The walk back to the Main Chamber was a quiet one, the sisters not sure how or if they even should break the silence while Flurry fought against the pain that filled her. It was one thing to hear about a death, but it was something else entirely to see the end result of it. When they finally made it back, Flurry let go of her friends and took point at Alto's left side as she hugged him.

"Thank you Flurry," he sighed, lips pulled into a frail smile as he gently pulled himself free.

He turned towards the two fillies, not surprised to see cautious confusion coloring their faces.

"I promised an explanation," he frowned. "So here it is."

With that, he retold the tale of his mother's death. It was hard for him, it always was to revisit those old memories. However, he found the pain to be less intense with Flurry at his side, especially when she wrapped a wing around him at the halfway point. When he finished, Ruby and Sapphire fell to their haunches, shock clear on their faces as they stared at him. A shock that was shared by Flurry as tears started to slide down Sapphire's cheeks as she threw herself at Alto in a tight embrace. Ruby wasn't far behind, though she was a lot more tender in her approach as she wrapped her forelegs around the colt. Alto blinked owlishly at their reactions, not sure what to make of the situation he found himself in.

Are all ponies like this? he thought, only for a small smile to grace his muzzle as Flurry added herself to the group hug. And why do I feel so warm inside?

Aurora

Being Captain of the Crystal Guard was not an easy job. Being detached from time stinted the Empire's advancement in many things such as technology and certain magical practices as well as certain social elements. As a result, The Crystal Guard still used the same training conditions that were in effect under Sombra's rule. The end result was a fighting force that most modern forces thought thrice about before attacking the crystal oasis. As the Captain of such a force, Onyx Star was no weakling by any stretch of the imagination. He survived countless battles with nothing but his skills and magic to keep him alive under the rule of The Empire's tyrannical leader. He stared death in the face more times then anypony in the whole kingdom combined and walked away with a smile. As ruthless as Sombra was, he was nothing compared to the new pair of forces he had to face. As bad as Sombra was, at least he wasn't a parent.

May The Heart give me strength, he thought with a sigh as he walked the near deserted streets of The Crystal Empire's Residential District, the shadows of early evening blanketing everything in sight.

Staggering at his side was an equally drained Sunburst, his glasses crooked and sitting on the edge of his muzzle. The poor stallion was so tired he couldn't even dredge up enough energy to correct them, as he walked like a zombie towards his home.

"Your mare has spirits at home, right?" Onyx asked, lips pulled into a weak smile.

He nodded, then said, "Wine mostly. We don't usually drink the hard stuff."

The Captain was silent for a moment, then shrugged and said, "I'll take what I can get."

A weak laugh slipped past Sunburst's muzzle at that as they walked.

"The Empress sure put you through the ringer," Onyx sighed. "Is she really that obsessed with Flurry's love life?"

"More than you know," Sunburst groaned, finally finding the strength to push up his glasses.

"If Emperor Shining Armor is anything to go by, I think I can get an idea."

Both stallions laughed at that, the sources of their own strains from the day coming back to mind. As they staggered through the streets, salvation in the form of Sunburst's home came into view. Both stallions gained their second wind at the sight as they forced their trembling legs to move forward. The second they were within forelegs reach, they slammed a hoof against the front door. A few seconds later, Starlight opened the door with an annoyed glare that quickly turned into concern when she saw the states of the two stallions.

"What happened to you two?" she asked, quickly getting out of the way and using her magic to help keep them on their hooves. "You guys look like to went a couple rounds with Tirek!"

"Coffee table," Onyx groaned as he moved towards the living room. "And bring the strongest brew you've got. Believe me when I say we've earned it this time."

"How so?" she asked skeptically with a raised brow.

"Flurry may or may not have a coltfriend," Sunburst groaned as he slumped onto the couch.

"I'll be right back," she said quickly as she almost ran to the liquor cabinet in the kitchen.

Onyx laughed at the mare's antics as he took a seat next to Sunburst with a groan as pain and relief flooded through him.

"Do you think this will be the last time we deal with this insanity?" the gray Unicorn sighed.

"Unless this mystery colt puts a ring on her horn, I doubt it," Sunburst chuckled.

As he said that, Starlight entered the living room with a bottle and three shot glasses hovering next to her.

"So, what's the news?" she asked, loading and distributing the glasses to the two stallions and herself.

Both stallions grabbed their shots and threw them back before giving each other questioning looks. After a couple seconds, Onyx broke the stare down and smiled.

"Fine, fine, I'll go first. My story's a bit more exciting anyways."

"Sword fights usually are," Sunburst chuckled.

"Sword fight?" Starlight asked, nursing her shot.

A roughish smile graced his lips as he gave his account of his day.

***

Shining and Onyx stared each other down, panting heavily as they held a training sword and shield with their magic. The two of them had been fighting for hours, both having their own reasons to cross blades that day. Onyx smiled as he pointed his blade at his leader.

"You'll need to try a little harder than that to if you want to know what I know."

"I intend to," Shinning growled from behind his shield. "Get ready!"

"Bring it," he said, smile turning predatory.

Shining let out a battle cry as he charged, shield leveled just below his line of sight as he prepared to thrust with his sword. Onyx saw the strike coming and parried as he sidestepped his attacker. Shining shifted his momentum and made a sharp turn to shield-ram his opponent in the side. Onyx brought up his own shield and countered with a ram of his own at the last second. The two stallions stood in a deadlock as they each tried to push the other over. Both were very well built by Unicorn standards and had a stubborn streak to match, a pair of facts that made the situation they stood in a real nail-bitter for everypony watching the dual. Seeing an opening, Shining swung his sword at Onyx's neck, only for the attack to be blocked by the gray Unicorn's own blade. As they pressed against each other, they swung their swords at each other in a wild frenzy in a desperate attempt to shatter their opponent's focus. For hours, the training room was filled with strained grunting and the clanging of metal as a battle of wills was waged. Eventually, their bodies did what their spirits refused to do and yielded as they both fell to the floor like a limp sack of potatoes. The clattering of weapons was fallowed quickly by the sounds of gasping wheezes as the two stallions rolled onto their backs across from each other.

"T-T-Tell...me....what you.....know!" Shining gasped, staring at the ceiling.

"F-Fine," he wheezed. "I'll tell you."

They laid panting for a few seconds, then Shining forced himself to look at Onyx

"W-W-Well? Wh-Who is Flurry dating?"

A shark-like smile spread across Onyx's face as he said, "I have no bucking clue."

***

Starlight nearly spat her drink when she heard what Onyx told Shining Armor, a fact that made the Guard Captain's grin only grow as he studied her reaction. While this wasn't the first time the Guard Captain pulled a stunt like that, it never ceased to amaze her how he could be so by the book one minute and burn said book the next. It was one of many things that made her wonder why Sombra didn't kill the stallion when he had the chance.

"I can't believe you actually told him that," Sunburst sighed over his shot.

"Hey, he asked what I knew and I told him," he shrugged. "Maybe now I can get back to doing my job instead of getting interrogated every couple of hours."

"I wish I was that lucky," Sunburst groaned.

"What do you mean?" Starlight asked, refilling drinks.

"Princess Cadence asked to see me after Flurry's lessons today," he sighed.

"That doesn't seem so bad," she smiled. "Doesn't she do that at least once a week anyway?"

"Yes, but usually its about her studies," he grumbled, staring into his drink. "This time was different."

***

Sunburst smiled as he put his books into his saddlebags, another day's hard work completed as his God-Daughter's tutor. While he was happy to teach the young Alicorn everything he knew, he still liked to get back home to spend time with Starlight. A sentiment they both shared as she stated one night after an especially draining day at Crystal Academy. The job of a teacher is never an easy one.

The door to the private study room squeaked as somepony let themselves in. Startled, Sunburst quickly looked over his shoulder, only for a nervous smile to grace his muzzle as he turned and bowed.

"Good afternoon your highness."

Cadence smiled softly as she took a step towards the kneeling stallion.

"You don't need to do that," she giggled. "You're practically family, remember?"

"O-Oh! Right," he laughed awkwardly as he pulled out of the bow.

"Now, how has Flurry been doing lately?"

"Excellent," he smiled. "She's excelling in everything I'm throwing at her. At the rate things are going, I'll be able to move her to my more advanced courses. She really does take after her Aunt."

"That's my girl," Cadence beamed, pride radiating off of her.

A sly smile grew on her muzzle as she said, "By the way, has she met anypony new recently?"

"Not that I know of," he stated, blinking in confusion at his ruler.

"Are you sure?" she asked, leaning slightly towards him. "She hasn't mentioned meeting anypony, a colt perhaps?"

"No," he gulped. "Nopony comes to mind."

"Then maybe some other boy? Maybe a Griffin?"

"No," he frowned. "She hasn't mentioned coming across any boys recently."

"Oh, come on Sunburst," she giggled. "I have my ways of knowing these things. I just want a name is all."

"B-But I'm serious!" he stammered. "She hasn't told me anything!"

Cadence sighed, then asked, "Has she been acting strange lately?"

Sunburst thought for a few seconds, then said, "Well, she has taken an interest in Windagos and Sirens lately, but that's all."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Well," he frowned, not comfortable with the intensity in the Alicorn's eyes as she smiled down at him. "Now that I think about it, she did ask for tips on teaching somepony how to read earlier this week."

"At what day?" she asked frantically, a wide smile gracing her lips.

"Uh... Wednesday?"

The Princess let out a happy squeal at that as she cantered in place.

"I knew it! Oh, my baby is tutoring somepony in secret! It's just like how I met Shining!"

"Uh, I see," Sunburst gulped as his instincts demanded he run from this situation as fast as his legs could take him as he moved towards the door. "Well, I'll just be heading home then."

The sound of the door locking echoed through the room with the finality of a judge's gavel. Sunburst gulped as he locked eyes with a smiling Cadence.

"Not yet," she beamed. "I want to see just how much more you know."

***

Everypony in the room shivered at that.

"Welp, I guess I really am the lucky one," Onyx sighed, downing his shot. "How long did she have you?"

"Three hours," he sighed, finally downing his own drink with a grimace. "By the end, she was asking me if there was a way for a pony and a Changeling to make foals together."

Starlight gawked at that.

"Wait," she blinked. "She thinks Flurry's dating a Changeling?"

"I guess so," he shrugged, refilling his shot. "By that point I was just telling her what she wanted to hear."

Onyx and Starlight stared at him, dumfounded.

"What? I was tired and just wanted to get home."

"It's true," Onyx chuckled. "The poor stallion looked like he ran a marathon."

Sunburst let out a tired chuckle at that as he leaned back in his seat.

"I don't get it," she frowned. "Why don't they just talk to Flurry directly?"

Both stallions looked at her for a few seconds, then frowned as unpleasant memories came to mind.

"D-Don't you remember what happened the last time they got between her and a colt," Sunburst asked, struggling to maintain his composure.

"Just that it didn't end well," she said, a hint of unease coloring her tone.

"Quite the mild assessment," Onyx replied with a somber frown as he refilled his shot.

"Well," Sunburst started. "When Flurry was five, a colt got lost on the castle grounds. Flurry ran into him and they became fast friends from what I heard. Then Prince Shining Armor found out and started watching the two of them like a hawk."

"That...must've been awkward," Starlight cringed.

"The colt certainly thought so," Onyx sighed. "I was doing my rounds when the Emperor scared the poor boy off. Apparently, his constant hovering reminded the colt of Sombra and started giving him nightmares. When he told Flurry that he couldn't be her friend anymore, it destroyed her."

"It got even worse when she found out why," Sunburst added, a pained frown coloring his face. "She yelled at Shining with tears in her eyes, telling him that she hated him and that she was never going to talk to him again."

A hint of recognition crossed Starlight's face at that as she asked, "Is that why she didn't talk to him for a year?"

Both stallions nodded.

"Since then," Onyx continued. "Both Emperor Shining Armor and Empress Cadence promised to stay out of their daughter's social affairs unless directly asked by her or I tell them that something is wrong."

"Hence, today's insanity," Sunburst sighed as he downed his shot. "I just hope that if it's true, this mystery colt can handle himself.

"Seconded," Onyx sighed, clanking his glass against his friend's and downing it. "I don't think i could stand to see her so shattered again."

"Yeah," Starlight said, staring into her drink.

A peaceful silence filled the room as the two stallions tried to catch their breath while Starlight tried to process what she was told. Flurry would often come to her when things got to be too much for her at home. She knew that the teen filly had a lot of things that she needed to sort through and was more than happy to help her along the way. While the idea of her God-Daughter finding a coltfriend was a welcome one, it still put her a little on edge.

No point in making a big deal out of nothing, she thought with a sigh as she took a sip of her drink. There isn't enough evidence to know for sure if she has her eye on somepony yet. And if she does, well, we'll cross that road when we get to it. In the mean time though.

An impish smirk grew on her muzzle as she asked a question that earned her a pair of sharp glares.

"So, does she have a coltfriend?"

***

Flurry glowered at her bedroom ceiling, plush blanket covering her lower half as she laid in her queen-sized bed. She let out a frustrated growl as she rolled to her side and pulled her stuffed snail to her chest as she digested what she witnessed a couple short hours ago.

After another day of teaching Alto how to read, she came home to find that her parents had been sticking their muzzles into her social life again. Not as openly as they had with Diamond Shard, but just as blatantly. It took everything she had not to snap at her father when she saw how tired Onyx was after he was done with him, and seeing her God-father so drained broke her heart. But what really riled her up was the apparent reason why her parents interrogated her honorary family members.

"I don't have a coltfriend," she grimaced, squeezing Whammy. "I'm probably never going to have a coltfriend. Who the hay is going to want to date somepony like me? Who the hay could?"

Frustrated tears started to fall as a returning enemy reared its head; a desire for normalcy. She wished she was a normal pony. She wished she could go to normal school like her friends. She wished she could grow up like a normal pony and become a Princess later like her aunt and mother. She wished she was normal so bad it hurt.

Stop it Flurry, she thought, taking a shaky breath. There's no point in crying about all this. You've got friends. You've got your family. You've got your extended family. You've got ponies that love and support you. You've got this.

She took a deep breath and stared at the distant wall and smiled. Hanging by the door was the painting Ruby gave her so many years ago. As she stared at it, happy memories started to ease to the forefront of her mind. Time spent playing with her friends. Spending time with her aunt in her library when she was little. Venting to her God-Mother when things got too difficult for her. Her lessons with her God-father and how he tried to make even the most boring topics fun. Her sparring sessions with Onyx when he had the time to spare. Crawling in bed with her parents when she had a bad dream when she was little. All of them eased the storm of loneliness in her heart as she stared at the painting. A light giggle made it past her muzzle as more recent memories surfaced. Her time in the caves were quickly becoming her favorite memories as she recounted all her time spent with her new friend. Every time she spent time with him, she learned something new and unexpected. Chief among them being how somepony so strong could be so timid among ponies.

I wonder how he would react to coming to The Empire? she thought, only to shake her head with a frown. No, he'd be terrified! This is the home of the pony that killed his mom after all! But still...

As she let that thought linger, other images started to float around in side her head. She could see herself and Alto taking lessons from Sunburst and spending time around the castle together. She saw Alto sitting across from her at the dinner table with her parents as they talked about random points of interest from that day. Trips through the city with Ruby and Sapphire came to mind as they window shopped or had lunch at a small restaurant together. An image of the two of them walking through the castle halls at night together came to her, both leaning close together as they enjoyed each other's company.

Her eyes went wide at that last thought as her face started to heat up. She let out a squeak as she pulled the covers over her head.

No! Bad Flurry! she thought, her blush starting to spread to her ears. It isn't like that! We're just friends! Besides, he'd never want to come here in the first place!

"But," she mumbled, head just peaking out from her blanket. "Maybe...that'll change. Someday."

Hail

Crystal Academy had everything a student could hope for. It had the best teachers from both The Empire and Equestria. It had the best chefs to cater to the student's every need. The only schools that could compete with it financially and academically were Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and Canterlot University. As such, the school's recess area was very well constructed. It was the size of a park with half of the area being dominated by a cafeteria built like a five star café with lapis lazuli walls and spotless crystal windows with golden frames. The remaining space in the area was taken by a shady forest fenced off from the rest of the campus by steel cage walls enchanted to keep the trees from growing past the area. In a clearing in the forest, two students laughed as they enjoyed their scheduled break time together.

"No way," Sapphire giggled. "He really did that?"

"Yep," Opal nodded, taking a pull from his juice pack. "I still have no idea how he managed to find a parasprite nest. Those are usually rather hard to find given the swarm's nomadic nature."

She shrugged then said, "Guess Quartz's got a good set of eyes."

"And the sense of a drunk Griffin," he sighed.

"Maybe Ruby'll knock some sense into him," Sapphire smirked. "If not, I could give it a shot."

"As much as i would like Quartz to develop a sense of self-preservation, I don't think violence is the best option," he smiled.

"Have it your way," she shrugged. "But if he breaks my sis' heart, I make no promises."

"I'll be sure to warn him," he chuckled.

Sapphire smiled as she enjoyed a bit of her lunch, a rare sense of tranquility wrapping around her like a warm blanket as she enjoyed Opal's company. All the while, she mentally kicked herself for her previous stupidity. If she had just talked to him sooner then she would've done this months ago. It was almost enough to make her laugh at how sad that was in the grand scheme of things. But of course, reality has its own kind of humor and it's always the kind that has somepony as the butt of a joke.

"Ah, there you are, Opal Heart," said a familiar voice.

Red hot anger filled Sapphire as she turned towards the voice to see Platinum step out into the clearing from behind a tree.

"I have been looking all over for you," she said with relief, ignoring the venomous glare Sapphire aimed at her.

"I see," Opal said, face hidden behind a blank pokerface. "For what reason?"

"My father is hosting a party at the family manor next month," she said, tone prim and proper as she hid her own emotions.

That was one of the things that irritated Sapphire the most about the filly. Even with years of experience dealing with her sister's muted nature, she could't see past Platinum's pokerface. It was like trying to talk to somepony wearing a blank mask through a curtain, you could get a small trace of a hint as to what they think about something, but never enough to get a clear picture.

"I heard," Opal said evenly.

"Well, I was wondering if you would be attending."

"No," he said with a fine trace of venom in his tone. "My father will be, but I have other arrangements to attend to."

"I see," she said, giving Sapphire a brief glance. "That's a shame. Father would've loved to see our families bond in a less professional sense. It would've been a great benefit on both sides of the tether, though I suppose it would be hard for us to compete with somepony that has High Royal connections."

Opal furrowed his brow at that, but before he could respond, what little patience resided in Sapphire finally ran dry.

"What the buck is that supposed to mean?" Sapphire growled, rising to her hooves as she locked eyes with Platinum.

"There is no need to maintain the act," Platinum stated, meeting Sapphire's glare with her own level gaze. "Obtaining a HIgh Royal's favor is quite the bold and effective social move. With Princess Flurry Heart as an ally, there are few in The Empire that can oppose you or your sister. It is only natural that Opal Heart would choose to aline with you as opposed to my father or I given that fact."

Before Sapphire could respond, Opal took a step towards the Pegasus and said, "Do you really think that's the reason I want to spend time with Sapphire? Manure! I want to spend time with her because she's good company. Any kind of advantages I could get out of befriending her are irrelevant as I would've done so even if she wasn't friends with Princess Flurry Heart. To make such a baseless assumption is not only uncouth, but borderline insulting as far as I'm concerned."

Platinum blinked, but otherwise remained stone-faced as she said, "While a pretty sentiment, you can not fool me. Everything in the world is determined by value, gains, and losses and to claim otherwise is simple foolishness."

"Then I suppose I am a simple fool," Opal said evenly, placing a hoof on Sapphire's shoulder. "At least that way I have actual friends instead of resources."

Sapphire smiled in the face of such a simple act of kindness as she locked eyes with Platinum. The Pegasus flinched slightly, internally surprising Sapphire as she waited for a response.

"Say what you want, but I know the truth of your actions. Even if you refuse to."

With that, she turned and walked away from the pair. As she did, Sapphire swore she saw a stray tear slide down her cheek just before the shade of the trees could hide it. She froze as she struggled to process what she saw, her mind torn between shock and wondering why she cared as she sat down next to Opal to enjoy what was left of their lunch break in peace.

***

Alto frowned as he watched Sapphire work, a light series of tinks filling the cave as she used her tools to shape a hoof-sized piece of stone as she saw fit. Ruby sighed as she watched her sister, while Flurry gave her a worried frown.

"Are you okay Sapphire?" Alto asked, taking a seat next to her. "You seem to be on edge."

"I'm fine," she growled, straining to keep her temper reined in as she worked.

Alto bristled at that, but refused to let his instincts dictate his actions as he said, "No you aren't."

Sapphire's head snapped towards him, a harsh glare piecing through him like a spear as they locked eyes. A long stream of swears formed on her tongue, but they all died the second she opened her mouth. The fear and concern in Alto's eyes shocked the anger out of her, replacing it with shame as she let out a rueful sigh.

"Some crap happened at school today," she frowned as she went back to her work.

"School?" Alto asked, his fear fading away with his friend's rage. "What's school?"

"It's a place you go to to learn about things," Flurry explained, taking a seat next to Alto and draping a wing across his back.

"What kind of things?" he asked.

"Reading, writing, math, history, and a bunch of other things," Flurry smiled.

"Oh," he said, staring at Sapphire's work. "What happened?"

Sapphire sighed, then said, "I...don't want to talk about it."

"It has something to do with Platinum, doesn't it?" Ruby asked.

The blue Earth Pony froze, then frowned as she nodded.

Seeing the confused look Alto was giving everypony, Ruby took a seat next to Flurry and explained.

"Platinum Scales is a classmate of ours. While she isn't a bad pony, she has a rather narrow view of the world."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"When she looks at something," Ruby continued. "She only sees its value and what it could get somepony in the future. Anything else is nothing but a distraction or irrelevant to her."

Alto seemed to understand a bit, but Flurry could see that he still didn't quite get it.

"Remember the Star Berries and how I told you about how valuable they were?" Flurry asked.

He nodded.

"That's how Platinum sees everything. If she was here, she'd be trying to convince you to sell the berries and crabs because of how rare they are. Then she would try to get you to let ponies use your spring to make another profit."

Alto frowned at that.

"Explain how that doesn't make her a bad pony," he grumbled.

"Because she would believe that she'd be helping you," Ruby sighed, earning the attention of the rest of the group. "You see, she legitimately wants to help ponies, but severely lacks the social skills necessary to know that her actions could be seen as malicious or manipulative."

"Can't she learn?" Alto asked.

"Doubt it," Sapphire grumbled, returning to her carving. "Her folks did a real number on her from what I saw."

"Sapphire!" Ruby snapped, glaring at her sister.

"What?" Sapphire groaned, not taking her eyes off of her project. "I'm just saying what you're all thinking."

Alto looked back and forth between the two fillies in confusion. Flurry sighed as she tried to explain.

"Platinum's dad is an expensive lawyer and her mom's the head of one of he biggest banks in The Empire. They married each other so they could improve their social standing and finances."

"Does that mean they have a narrow view of the world too?" Alto asked.

"Very narrow," Flurry frowned. "My mom oversaw their wedding and told me she didn't sense any love between them. Everypony thinks that they only had Platinum so they could have somepony inherit their resources or add to what they already have."

"They don't love her?" Alto asked, a trace of pain coloring his tone.

Everypony froze for a moment at that, then frowned as they all debated as to what answer the question with.

"I.....Don't know," Flurry frowned, staring at the ground.

"I like to think they do," Ruby said somberly.

"If they do, they have a really shitty way of showing it," Sapphire sighed, putting her tools down and locking eyes with her friends in turn.

"What do you know Sapphire?" Ruby asked, raising a brow.

"Just that she has a really screwed up view of friendship," she said.

With that, she told them about what happened during Recess. Ruby's brows shot to the top of her forehead while Flurry's jaw hit the floor. A somber frown decorated Alto's face as she stared at the ground, several thoughts running through his head as he tried to make sense of his new friend's tale.

"She really does have problems," Flurry gawked. "How can she be so clueless about making friends?"

"I wish I could plead ignorance, but the answer is as plain as day," Ruby frowned, staring at the ground.

A heavy silence settled into the cave as they processed what had been told. Then, Alto seemed to come to an agreement as he nodded and stood up.

"Sapphire," he said, grabbing the filly's attention. "Are you sure she was crying?"

Sapphire blinked, then said, "Maybe? I could't really tell. Why?"

Alto nodded, then resolutely said, "Teach her."

"How to cry?" Sapphire asked, the confusion on her face mirrored by the other fillies present.

"How to make friends," he said, a soft smile gracing his muzzle.

***

Platinum Scales walked with purpose through the elegantly decorated halls of her family's estate, her hoofsteps clopping hollowly off of the surrounding oak walls and marble floor. Tall cathedral windows let in light from the outside world that flooded the building with light all the way to its hight vaulted ceilings. A sliver of melancholy entered her posture as she took in the empty silence around her. Her mind drifted to the organized chaos that was Crystal Academy and all the ponies there. The tiniest traces of a smile graced her muzzle as she pretended to walk through the private school's halls instead of her own home's. The illusion broke when she found herself standing in front of the doors leading to the dinning room. Her stomach lurched as she stared at the door, gulping as she reached for the door. As she turned the nob, she purged her features of even the slightest trace of emotion before entering the room beyond.

The dinning room was a massive fifty-by-thirty room furnished in the same oak and marble as the rest of the manor with a twenty foot long ornate wood table at its heart. The table had three place settings, one on each end with the remaining set in the middle on the side that faced the doors. The wall opposite the doors was dominated by two large windows covered with thin silk curtains that failed to keep out the the rays of the late afternoon sun. As she took her seat at the table, she noticed the two most important ponies in her life at their places on either end of the table. A milk-white Unicorn Stallion with a metallic gray mane and tail sat to her left, his gray eyes scanning several sheets of paper held in his magic grip. A light-green Pegasus mare with a mane and tail colored a darker shade of green sat at her right, her teal eyes tracking her daughter.

"You're late," the mare said evenly.

"My apologies," Platinum said, tone hollow as she picked up her utensils. "Sherbet and Sunday needed help with their homework. I am better at math then them and thought they could use the help."

"Indeed," the stallion said, not taking his eyes off of his paper work. "Those two have the makings of running a large ice cream company someday. A small corporate ally, but an efficient one if your tutoring gleans the correct results."

"Thank you father," Platinum nodded, taking a bite of her salad.

"Be that as it may," the mare added. "You live by a very strict schedule. Do be sure to better prioritize your time in the future."

"Yes mother," she nodded. "I will."

"Good," Platinum's mother said, a hint of finality in her tone. "Now hurry and finish your dinner. Your self-defense teacher will be arriving soon and I will not have you move any further behind schedule then you already are."

"Yes mother," Platinum said, a familiar empty pit forming in her stomach as she ate.

***

The air was alive with the sound of motion, a wide open ballroom the stage of a fierce battle between two ponies. Hooves clacked across a large black and white checkerboard styled marble floor as the two ponies dueled, one a young Pegasus while the other was a black cloaked Earth Pony. The dance-like movements of their strikes were reflected in the polished shine of the black oak walls and polished silver panels on the room's vaulted ceiling. Platinum panted heavily, breaking away from her opponent in a low crouch with a wide smile. Strapped to her wings were a pair of wing covers made of navy-blue mithril fibers with a wooden covering affixed to the front of her wings. Her heart pounded in her chest as a wild thrill flooded her body like a drug. Gone was the mask she wore in the face of her suffocating life. Now she could be her real self.

"Your movements are too wild," her teacher said, her tone calm and casual. "Focus."

"Understood!" she cried, then charged towards the mare.

A single flap of her wings added more speed to her charge, leading to her moving into striking distance in a matter of seconds. Her teacher stepped back just out of reach of Platinum's strike as she slashed her wing at the mare, only for the Pegasus to disappear a moment later. The mare slid to her left to avoid another swipe from her student's wing. A small burst of air was the only clue as to what Platinum's next move was and she reacted by putting a foreleg up just in time to block a wing strike to her head. Platinum flashed her teacher a wild smile as she pulled her wing back from the gold-coated foreleg and disappeared. The Earth Pony danced around all of Platinum's strikes, each attack quickly followed by a change of direction and angle as a futile attempt to confuse the mare's defenses.

"You need to plan your strikes," she said, casually dodging another strike with a simple head-tilt. "While the Pelting Storm style requires one to constantly change position, none of your attacks should be instinctual. Know what you want to hit as you are trying to hit your first target."

"Yes Miss Gold!" she said, aiming for two separate parts of her teacher's body as she plotted how best to get to them.

Platinum's movements slowed slightly as she tried to incorporate her teacher's words into her actions, but remained just as relentless. At the same time, her smile refused to leave her face. How could it? It was the one time each day that she could be free. While she trained, she didn't need to worry about how she carried herself or what others thought of her. Companies? Business? Alliances? None of that mattered. For her, the only thing that mattered at that moment was her form and the thrill of using her skills in combat. All for the sake of her truest dream and ambition.

Platinum took another boosted charge at her teacher and brought her wing up for a neck strike from the front. At the last second, Gold caught the wing with her hoof and used her free hoof to grab the young mare's barrel before she flipped her onto her back. Platinum gasped as the wind flew out of her, eyes wide as she stared up at her teacher who firmly pinned her in place with a forehoof.

"And finally," Gold added calmly. "Never be predictable."

Platinum laid panting for a few moments, then smiled as she laughed deeply.

"H-How did I do?" she panted

Gold smiled as she removed her hoof, then said, "Better, but your form was a bit sloppy. Did something happen recently?"

Platinum's smile faded.

"Yeah. Opal said he wasn't going to father's party."

Gold frowned.

"That is Radiant Heart's foal, correct?"

Platinum nodded, then pulled herself to her haunches.

"He's one of the only noble foals around my age that I can talk to, so I was hoping he would come to the party."

Gold sat across from her student as she let her vent, her orange eyes heavy with sympathy as they peeked past the hood of her cloak.

"Did he say why he wouldn't be coming?"

"Yeah," Platinum sighed, staring at the ground. "He want's to spend time with Sapphire Trail."

"I see," Gold frowned. "What of your friends from school?"

"That wouldn't work," Platinum grumbled. "It's a noble's party. You have to be part of a noble family to attend."

Gold nodded in understanding, her distaste for the alienating nature of The Empire's high ranking families barely hidden behind the shadows of her cloak's hood.

"It's not fair," Platinum whimpered as more of her bound emotions manifested. "How can I compete with somepony with High Royal connections? I could amass the resources of the entire Crystal Empire and it wouldn't even come close to what Sapphire could give him and no matter what I do, I can't get Ruby Strokes and Sapphire Trail to aline with me. I even keep the bullies away from them, but they still avoid me."

As she talked, tears started to pour down her face in a steady stream. When she locked eyes with her teacher, a look of desperate fear was plastered across her face.

"What am I doing wrong Miss Gold? What can I give them? I don't know what to do and it terrifies me!"

Gold pulled Platinum into a gentle embrace and the flood gates burst for the young mare as she balled into her teacher's golden coat. They stayed like that for several minutes, Gold gently stroking Platinum's back as she cried herself out. In time, the teen pony ran out of tears as she pulled herself out of Gold's embrace.

"Better?" Gold asked, a kind smile gracing her muzzle.

"Yeah," she nodded, sniffling. "Thank you, I really needed that."

Gold nodded, then frowned as she said, "You cannot keep going on like this. Keeping your heart sealed outside of training isn't healthy, no matter how strong a pony may claim to be."

"I-I know," Platinum said, raising to her hooves. "But I don't have any choice. As long as I live under my family's roof, I must abide by their rules. To do that, I need to keep up the act."

She again locked eyes with her teacher, her face void of emotion and posture the definition of elegant poise in spite of the sweat covering her coat. With a flash, her training wing-blades morphed into navy-blue bracelets on the base of her wings as she folded them to her sides.

"If I plan to join the Royal Guard, I will need all the resources I can get."

Glacier

Sapphire groaned into the cafeteria table her face rested against while Opal and Quartz shared uncomfortable looks. The café-like setting of their surroundings did little to change their mood as they prepared for the coming disaster.

I can't believe he talked me into this, she thought bitterly as she reluctantly pulled her head away from the table. I mean, seriously! Why the tartarus should we do this in the first place?!

A brief memory of what happened in the forest yesterday flashed through her mind.

Oh...right...

She let out another frustrated groan as she let her head fall back onto the table.

"Are you okay Sapphire?" Opal asked, placing a hoof on her shoulder.

"Kind've," she smiled wearily as she turned her head towards him. "Just wish I was a bitch right now."

Both colts blinked owlishly at her.

"Did I miss something?" Quartz asked, turning towards his friend.

"A better question is did we miss something?" Opal frowned, raising a brow at his newest friend.

Sapphire sighed.

"Let's just say, a friend of Flurry's made us take a look at things a little differently yesterday."

Quartz and Opal tilted their heads in confusion at her non-answer, but a set of hoofsteps caught their attention before they could question her any further. A barely contained groan slipped past Sapphire's muzzle as she looked past her stone-faced sister. As expected, Platinum Scales stood slightly behind Ruby at her left in her usual unreadable presentation. What earned Sapphire's sour response was the pair of glaring fillies standing behind the crimson Unicorn.

Right, she thought, mentally rolling her eyes. Almost forgot about them. Great.

Without saying a word, Ruby stepped away from Platinum's group and took a seat at the sister's left. Sunday and Sherbet quickly moved to Platinum's sides as she took a step towards the table.

"Ruby Strokes said you all wished to see me?" she asked, tone empty of anything beyond professionalism.

"Yeah," Sapphire grumbled. "Kind've."

Platinum's friends stared at her skeptically while the silver filly shifted her gaze towards the two colts of the group. They both shrugged as they waited to see what this was all about.

Ruby cleared her throat to get everyone's attention.

"Today," she started. "We wanted to try getting to know you better."

"Really?" Platinum blinked, a faint trace of surprise slipping past her mask.

Ruby nodded.

"I see," the Pegasus nodded. "I will try to be a good resource to you all, if I can."

It took every ounce of willpower Sapphire had to keep herself from face-hoofing when she heard that. Instead, she let out an exasperated sigh and frowned at Platinum.

"Are you okay?" Platinum asked, staring at the fuming Earth Pony.

"I'll live," she said stiffly.

Remember Sapphire, you need to play nice.

An awkward silence befell the group as they all struggled to find a way to break the ice.

Well, guess I'll get things started, Sapphire thought as she leveled a board frown at the new additions to their party.

"So, got any hobbies?"

"Not particularly," Platinum shrugged. "Between school, martial arts training, and learning the finer points of my family's affairs I am left with very little free time as it is."

Everypony raised a brow at that, while a challenging smile formed on Sapphires muzzle.

"You do martial arts?" the blue Earth Pony asked.

Platinum nodded.

"My parents insisted that I learn one."

"Really?" Sapphire asked, her smirk deepening. "What's your style?"

"Pelting Storm," Platinum replied. "And you?"

"Shattering Echo," Sapphire said proudly. "Learned from one of the four remaining masters in all of Equestria."

"I see," Platinum said, a small smile slipping onto her muzzle. "Perhaps we can have a sparing match some time."

"Hey, I'm game if you are," Sapphire laughed. "Give me a time and place and we'll take it from there."

"I'll see if I can make some room in my schedule for it."

Sunday and Sherbet stared at their friend in shock as they watched the two fillies start to bond. A similar reaction was mirrored by the blue Earth Pony's friends as they watched the interaction. The only pony that didn't look like they were trying to imitate a fish was Ruby. A faint smile graced the scarlet Unicorn's lips as she enjoyed the unexpected turn of events before her.

It looks like I owe Flurry a milkshake tomorrow, she thought as she used her magic to pull out a sketchpad from her saddlebags. Best loss I ever had.

***

Platinum stepped into her bedroom with purpose, her eyes calmly taking in her surroundings as her door slowly closed behind her. A massive queen-sized bed with gold colored silk sheets and covers. A small mountain of down pillows owned the head of the bed as the mattress laid in an ornate oak canopy-style bed frame in front of a large window that dominated the wall opposite the door. To her left was an equally extravagant work desk with an ornate crystal mirror hung just above it. The wall opposite it was dominated by a massive wardrobe big enough to hold twenty grown ponies with two large mirrors built into its doors. A gold chandelier hung from the ceiling filling the room with light curtesy of enchanted crystals welded into the metal. The second her bedroom door closed, she let out a tired sigh as her whole body almost sagged to the ground. A ragged groan slipped past her muzzle as she dragged herself across the room towards her bed, her hoofsteps muffled by the blood-red carpet beneath her.

Finally, she thought as she buried her face into her pillow. I thought mother was never going to let me leave the table.

As always, her mother had asked her why it took her so long to return home from school. When she said she was spending time with Ruby and Sapphire, the mare practically held her ransom at the table. For what felt like hours, Platinum was forced to listen to her mother's plans for the two fillies connections once her daughter managed to get in their good graces. Her father wasn't much better, but he at least kept his plans brief and practical in comparison to his wife's bold declarations. She had to practically bite her tongue off when her mother started talking ill of Sunday and Sherbet, but she managed to keep her temper under control. Just like all the other times her mother put down her friends.

Cantankerous old cow! she thought, savagely bitting into her pillow. I hope she rots in Tartarus!

Her wings twitched as her fighting instincts reacted to her rage. If there was anything positive she could say about her "mask" it was that it helped her keep such urges under control, but just barely. Hearing her mother talk about her friends like bank stamps made her blood boil hotter than molten lead. If she didn't need the mare, she'd show her exactly how far along she was in her training.

"Worthless cow," she hissed, spitting out her pillow.

Then, slowly, a smile formed on her muzzle as her thoughts shifted to more pleasant things. Sharing a table with the twins. Talking about martial arts with Sapphire. Her heart pounded like a bass drum with excited fear as she sat surrounded by those she wanted to connect with the most. Had it not been for her mask, she would've done backflips right in the middle of the cafeteria.

"I did it," she giggled. "I'm alined with Ruby and Sapphire! By some miracle, they have decided to add me to their list of connections! I can join the Royal Guard's combat division! I can finally move out from beneath mother's hoof! I can finally be me!"

Now I just need to make sure I don't buck this up.

Her smile wavered as she felt something warm and wet slide down her cheek and hit her hoof. Startled, she wiped her cheek. When she pulled her hoof away she was greeted by the sight of freshly shed tears soaking the appendage.

"Wh-What? Am I crying?" she asked, voice trembling as her smile shrank. "Why am I crying? I'm happy, so why am I crying?"

More tears joined the first as they fell into her pillow. She forced herself onto her haunches as they dotted her pillow and blanket.

"And why can't I make them stop?"

***

Ruby and Sapphire walked through the streets, the normal city racket surrounding them as they quietly contemplated the strangeness of their day.

"Hey sis, is it weird that I want to hang out with Platinum now?" Sapphire asked, face scrunched up in confusion.

"No more then it is that I feel the same," Ruby said, face blank of emotion. "Though I wonder if her friends will accept us quite as willingly."

"No kidding," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "If looks could kill."

"If only," a now familiar female voice said from behind the twins.

With a groan from Sapphire, they stopped and turned to lock eyes with the glaring faces of Sunday and Sherbet.

Oh joy, the twins thought as the two fillies closed in on them.

"I'm gonna cut to the chase," Sunday said, face just inches away from Sapphire's. "What do you two have planned?"

"Huh?" Sapphire asked, backing up a step.

"Don't huh us Slap Fire!" Sherbet barked. "Spill it!"

"What are you two talking about?" Ruby frowned.

"Oh please!" Sunday growled, rolling her eyes. "The two of you have been nothing but awful to Platinum since the start of high school and suddenly you want to be friends with her? Dragon shit! What are you planning?!"

Ruby and Sapphire stared at her, eyes wide with shock as they took in her words. Sapphire was the first to recover as she leveled a harsh glare at the two fillies.

"Do you really think we'd pull that kind of crap? Buck you!"

"What did you say!?" Sunday demanded, righteous fury decorating her features.

"You heard me," she growled. "Now buck off!"

"Not until you tell us why you suddenly give a damn about Platinum," Sherbet growled. "She has enough to deal with already. The last thing she needs are a bunch of plot heads making things worse."

All the anger fell out of Sapphire's features as her thoughts drifted back to what happened in the caves the day before.

"We want to help her," Sapphire sighed, a sad smile gracing her muzzle.

Ruby nodded.

Sunday and Sherbet glared at the twins.

"I don't believe you," Sherbet growled.

"That's fine," Ruby shrugged. "We still want to and we will do what we can, regardless of whether or not we have your support."

With that, they turned away from the distrustful fillies and went on their way. They barely took five steps before a call from Sunday made the stop.

"Wait, please," she said, tone almost pleading.

The twins turned their heads towards the pair.

"L-Look, my dad's shop isn't far from here," she said, eyes staring at the ground. "I-If you guys are serious, lets see if we can figure something out."

"Sounds like a plan," Ruby said, turning to face the pair. "But why the sudden change of heart?"

"We'll tell you at the shop," Sherbet frowned. "It's a bit more private."

"If you say so," Sapphire shrugged, turning around to face Sherbet.

With that, they followed them down the street presumably towards Sunday's father's ice cream parlor.

***

The Frozen Crystal was one of the best ice cream parlors in The Empire and a massive tourist attraction for anypony who came to visit. The three story crystal building was made from a single massive piece of amethyst, right down to the furniture and appliances within. Said appliances were enchanted to function like their mechanical counterparts with mana-charged crystals functioning as lights above each table. The resulting atmosphere was very calm and intimate for a place that many came to for a simple scoop of ice cream. Perfect for those who wanted to unwind after a long day at school or work.

"So," Sapphire started, staring over her cherry shake at the pair sitting across from her and her sister. "What did you want to talk about?"

Sunday sighed as she stared into her namesake, a heavy frown marring her features like a scar.

"What do you guys know about Platinum?" she asked somberly.

"Not much," Ruby said, taking a sip of her blueberry shake. "We know that she comes from money and has a complicated home life."

"And that she has the social skills of a sea sponge," Sapphire said bluntly, earning her three glares from her table mates.

"What?" she said defensively. "She does!"

Ruby groaned while Sunday and Sherbet let out dejected sighs.

""Complicated" isn't how I'd describe it," Sherbet frowned, staring at her shaved ice like it had insulted her.

"What do ya mean?" Sapphire asked.

The pair were silent for a few seconds, seemingly picking their words. Finally, Sunday sighed and spoke.

"Her folks have a really warped view of things. The first day of High school, Platinum approached us and asked us to show her what dad's kitchen looked like. We didn't think that much about it and agreed. We weren't friends with her yet, but there was something about her that made us worry."

"Turns out it was a good call," Sherbet frowned. "When we brought her to the kitchen, she wanted us to lock her in the freezer."

"WHAT?!" the twins exclaimed, jaws dropped and eyes wide.

Sunday nodded, face solemn as she continued where her friend left off.

"Obviously, we didn't do it, but then she started to break down. It was horrible. One minute she was like a blank slate and the next she was balling her eyes out. We managed to calm her down, but when she stopped wailing she started apologizing."

"For what?" Ruby asked, a hint of concern on her face.

"For being weak," Sherbet frowned, practically spitting the words out like a poison. "Her words, not mine."

Sunday looked like she just bit into a lemon as she nodded.

"Apparently," Sunday added. "She started to get chest pains, but the doctors couldn't find any physical causes for them. They eventually figured out that they were emotional and when her mom found out she was a total bitch about it."

"How?" Sapphire asked, her tone calm in spite of the rage growing in her heart.

Sunday and Sherbet's hooves trembled with rage as another heavy silence fell upon the group.Then, with burning eyes Sunday said words that were laced with more venom then a cobra's bite.

"She said that Platinum had no right to feel that way. That those pains were a sign of weakness and the weak had no place in the world. Since Platinum couldn't stop the pains, she tried to do the next best thing. We eventually talked her out of it by hiring her to be our math tutor and she's been our friend ever since."

Ruby and Sapphire sat in stunned silence for a moment as they struggled to process what they had just heard. Then, Sapphire's mane bristled like the spines on a porcupine as a look of pure hate marred her face.

"Let. Me. At. Em," she hissed.

"Easy sis," Ruby said, tone calm in spite of the trembling hoof she placed on the blue Earth Pony's shoulder.

As Sapphire struggled to rein in her temper, Ruby shifted her attention back towards the pair.

"Why has nopony done anything about this?"

"Her dad knows the law like Slap-er, Sapphire knows her way around a chisel," Sunday spat, looking sheepish for a second in the face of her momentary slip. "It's hard to build a case against him and his wife can make things hard on ponies financially so long as she doesn't step too far outside the law. Their really good at guarding their flanks, unfortunately."

"Damn," Ruby hissed.

"Maybe you could get Princess Flurry Heart to do something?" Sherbet asked, tone hopeful.

The twins shook their heads, much to the filly's disappointment.

"Flurry's not old enough to give orders," Ruby explained. "And even if she could, she can't take a foal away from their parents without fallowing the laws of the land."

"Buck," Sherbet quietly snapped, lowering her head in defeat.

"Is there nothing we can do?" Sunday asked, staring at the table. "I hate seeing her in so much pain all of the time!"

Another heavy silence formed on the table, but a light tore through it as a plan started to form in Ruby's head.

Ruby smiled, then said, "There are a few things actually."

"What?!" Sunday and Sherbet asked, desperation plain on their faces.

"First, I will need seven sheets of paper and every pen, pensile, marker, and color of paint you can find. Next, Sapphire is going to need a few pieces of amethyst, the bigger the better."

"I think I can manage that," Sunday said. "Dad keeps a few spare pieces in the back for repairs."

"I can get the other stuff," Sherbet smiled. "My mom runs a crafts store and is always testing out new products."

"Perfect," Ruby smiled.

"What are you planning, sis?" Sapphire asked, a crooked smile gracing her muzzle.

Ruby's smile widened as she said, "We are going to make those pains go away."

***

Gold blocked another frontal strike from her student just before the filly vanished. A faint smile graced the older mare's muzzle as she observed her student's movements. They were still wild, but held a light elegance to them as she tried to slip past Gold's defenses. She also noticed how different the Pegasus' smile had become, now lacking battle madness as genuine happiness crept to the surface. A warmth filled her heart at the sight as she started to fear that Platinum's heart had been damaged too far to mend. After two hours of training, Gold called it an evening and let Platinum wind down as she leveled out her breathing. Once the teen stopped panting, she approached her student and leveled a knowing smile at her.

"Did something good happen recently?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Platinum beamed, wiping her sweat-soaked mane out of her face. "Ruby and Sapphire decided to make me a connection! Can you believe it?"

Gold inwardly recoiled at her student's choice of words. She knew how Bit Coin's teachings damaged her student's view of the world. It was one of the reasons Princess Cadence allowed her to train and keep an eye on the filly. It killed her that she couldn't do anything more for her student, but even a lieutenant is bound by the law. Instead, she became a shoulder Platinum could cry on and a voice of reason when the need arose.

"That's great," Gold smiled.

"Yeah!" Platinum grinned, practically bouncing in place. "Now I need to figure out how to be a good resource. Any suggestions?"

Gold's smile wavered at the mention of the word "resource" as she put a hoof on her student's shoulder.

"If you genuinely want to be good to them, then the answer is simple."

"And it is?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Don't do anything."

"Huh?" Platinum blinked.

Gold let out a sad chuckle at the confused look on Platinum's face as she continued.

"Let things happen when they do. Help them when they need it and let them help you when you need it. But most importantly, be real."

Platinum gawked at the last statement, fear slowly creeping into her eyes as she backed up.

"I-I don't know if I can do that," she stammered. "W-W-What if they don't like me, the real me? I-I don't want to mess this up, Gold."

"You won't," Gold smiled, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "But they need to meet you, not your mask. Will you let them?"

For a moment the two stood in silence, confident orange eyes locked with trembling teal ones as the younger mare waged a war with herself. Then she turned her gaze to the ground as she timidly said something that made a faint smile form on her teacher's lips.

"I-I'll try."

Iceberg

Alto went over the list of letters in front of himself, eyes narrowed in concentration as he tried to make sense of them. In spite of his friend and teacher's wishes, he was dead set on mastering the art of reading as quickly as possible and was making excellent progress in that regard. In the last couple of weeks, he had already mastered kindergarden level reading and was already well on his way to mastering first grade. While his progress both pleased and annoyed her, Flurry couldn't help but feel a little proud of herself for helping Alto. At least, when she could keep her thoughts anchored to the present. As Flurry watched him work a couple feet away from her, her thoughts kept wandering between the previous day and the colt's present lesson. As it did, her curiosity slowly started to grow. A faint heat started to form on her cheeks as she recalled the previous day's events in full.

***

"You want us to teach her about friendship?" Sapphire asked, raising a brow.

Alto gave a resolved nod.

"How the hay do we do that?"

"Spend time with her," he said, taking a step towards his new friend. "Talk to her. Give her a chance."

Sapphire reared back a little in the face of the colt's insistent tone.

"I don't know if that's possible," Ruby frowned, earning Alto's attention.

"It wound't hurt to try," he said, voice empty of doubt.

He gave Flurry a brief glance and a ghost of a smile before locking eyes again with Ruby.

"If somepony like me can make friends, then so can Platinum Scales. She just needs somepony to try."

Silence filled the cave as they all thought about what Alto said. Then, Sapphire let out a weary sigh as she broke the silence.

"What the tartarus? I'm willing to give it a shot if you are sis."

As she said that, she shrugged towards her sister. Ruby stared at the ground as she quietly mulled over her options. After a few seconds, she nodded in agreement as she looked Alto in the eye.

"It's worth a shot," she smiled. "She seems rather focused on us already."

Alto nodded in appreciation as he then retook his seat beside Flurry. The two fillies went back to work on their projects while Flurry eyed her neighbor quizzically.

"Are you sure that will work?" she asked.

"Absolutely," he nodded, then closed his eyes as he leaned into her. "It worked for me.

Unbeknownst to him, Flurry's eyes widened as her cheeks turned beet-red. Ruby and Sapphire looked away from their projects as they watched the exchange, toothy grins spreading across their muzzles. Flurry's blush spread to her ears as she guessed what they were thinking.

Oh pony feathers!

***

Flurry shook her head, desperate to disperse both her bad thoughts and the blush they birthed.

He's just a friend! Just. A. Friend!

But as she thought that, he seemed to shimmer before her eyes in the reflected light of the cave's ice crystal ceiling. The intense concentration in his eyes as he carefully analyzed the words in front of him reminded her of the first time they spent time together, so eager to learn and serious like an eagle searching for its prey. The fierceness in them along with the knowledge of how gentle they could be at times sent her heart a flutter in ways that were completely new to her.

"He is kind of cute," she whispered to herself.

"Hmmm? Did you say something?" Alto asked, looking up from his worksheet.

"Nope!" she squeaked, eyes wide and face burning. "J-Just thinking out loud!"

"Oh, okay," he smiled, then looked back down at his worksheet.

Flurry sighed in relief then looked down at the ground with a frown.

What the heck is wrong with me? she thought, her legs fidgeting beneath her as she sat. I-I shouldn't be feeling like this, right? I mean, Alto's just a friend right? It's not like I'm...am I? NO! I'm not.....amI?

A small groan slipped past her lips as she rested her forehead against the frigid cave floor, feeling the start of a migraine forming just below her horn.

"Are you okay?" Alto asked, concerned.

"Uh, yeah," Flurry said, an uneasy smile gracing her muzzle as she looked up at him. "Just a headache. Nothing to worry about."

"I see," he frowned. "Maybe we should take a break."

"Y-Yeah," she stammered. "Maybe that'll help."

Why did this have to happen? she thought with a sigh as she put all their books away. Maybe Starlight can help me figure this out.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Alto asked.

"Yes," Flurry sighed as she levitated her now loaded saddlebags by the cave's exit.

She could tell he didn't believe her, but was too mentally frazzled to form a more believable explanation. What he said didn't help matters all that much either.

"Do you want to use my spring?"

Flurry blinked at him, mind slowly processing what her friend said.

"Your what?" she asked dumbly.

"My spring," Alto repeated, his concerned frown deepening. "Would you like to use it?"

Flurry stared at him in shock again for a few seconds, then fidgeted in place as she asked, "Are you sure?"

He nodded.

"It should help with your headache and you seem tense."

Flurry gulped, then said, "I-I don't have a towel."

"I can take the water out of your coat," he said, tone absent of argument.

Her face reddened as she imagined various ways her friend's magic could dry her, some ways less chaste than others.

NO! BAD FLURRY! BAD, BAD, BAD FLURRY!

"O-Okay then," she stammered, face partly hidden behind the shadow of her bangs.

A faint satisfied smile graced his muzzle as he nodded at her and moved towards the spring. Flurry staggered to her hooves as she followed, her mind a total mess as it struggled to make sense of the situation she was in. On one hoof she as happy that Alto was letting her use his spring, but on the other she couldn't get her rebellious thoughts to focus on the strictly platonic nature of the gesture. As such, her heart started to hammer in her chest as she stood on the edge of the spring, the source of her mental tug-o-war to her left. She gulped as she turned her head towards him and he nodded. She took a quick breath and eased herself into the warm waters before her.

Immediately, her tension dissolved in the spring's loving embrace. A pleased hum slipped past her lips as she eased herself into a comfortable position in the shallows, eyes closed to better enjoy her situation. A slight ripple in the water's surface caught her attention as she peeked an eye open towards their source. Alto practically slithered into the water with a grace that would've made a sea snake green with envy. She marveled at how the water slid past his scales as he waded through the spring and how his mane and tail seemed to trail behind him like paint. Her marvel turned into jaw-dropping awe as his body started to change right before her eyes. Alto's body shimmered as his hind-legs merged together with his tail and morphed into a fish's tail as his mane turned into a dorsal fin that spread from his head to the base of his new tail. As he glided through the water towards her she noticed how his forehooves had widened to be more like fins. She was mesmerized as she watched him take a seat beside her and blushed when she realized just how long she had been staring at him.

"Better?" he asked, a faint smile gracing his muzzle.

Pursing her lips, she nodded and lowered her head until the lower half of her muzzle was below the water.

He gave a satisfied nod then leaned against her, his tail coiled around her protectively like a sea dragon guarding his treasure. The comparison made her blush harder as she tried to ignore how close Alto was to her. Just like yesterday, his scales felt nice against her coat. They were tough and flexible like chainmail, but held the same kind of warmth she remembered every time her cousin Spike hugged her. Another thing that became hard to ignore was the muscle she could feel beneath them. Alto lacked the heavy build that was common amongst most Earth Ponies. Instead, he had a much leaner build that was built for speed and agility. A feature that made more sense when she took his new form into account. As she reveled in her new confusing situation, a question that had been nagging at the back of her mind made itself known.

Flurry raised her head out of the water and asked, "Alto, can I ask you a question?"

Eyes still closed, he nodded.

"W-Why did you want Ruby and Sapphire to be Platinum's friends?"

"Because they wanted to," he said evenly.

Flurry blinked, not sure she heard him right at first.

"W-What?"

Alto sighed as he pulled his head out of her shoulder.

"They wanted to help her, but didn't want to admit it. I could taste it."

"What do you mean?" Flurry asked, locking eyes with her friend.

"While they were talking about her, I could taste ozone. Mother told me that means hesitation, usually in the face of a daunting task. There was also a hint of berries, a sign that they wanted to help."

Flurry gawked at him, then sputtered, "You can taste emotions?"

He nodded.

"Mother could too. It helped us avoid the ponies from The Shining Place."

"O-Oh," she muttered, staring at the water below her. "That's cool."

Alto smiled then moved back into his previous position.

An awkward silence filled the cave for a few minutes, Alto enjoying Flurry's company while said Alicorn struggled to keep her frazzled mind from short-circuiting.

She gulped, then asked, "A-And w-what do you taste now?"

She felt his jaw move a little on her shoulder as he said, "Cinnamon and....mint? It's a strange mix with a little bit of sour berries. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Y-Yeah," she stammered, face burning. "J-Just a little tired."

"I see," he said, a hint of concern coloring his tone. "I'm sorry I can't do more to help."

"N-No," she stammered, lips pulled into a small smile as she draped a wing across his back. "This is perfect. Just what I needed. Thank you Alto."

"You're welcome Flurry," he smiled.

With that, the two of them sat in silence, enjoying the spring's gentle embrace along with each other's company. Flurry's smile grew as she peeked at the peaceful expression on Alto's face, a million thoughts drifting through her head as she enjoyed the view. Shyly, she gripped his hoof beneath the still waters and leaned a little further into his side.

***

Starlight yawned as she closed her book and put it on her nightstand, her covers shuffling lightly as she moved. She flinched when she saw how late it was on her bedside clock. She smiled sheepishly at the sleeping figure of her coltfriend under the covers next to her. Chuckling to herself, she scooted into Sunburst's side and got herself comfortable. Just as sleep started to creep in on her, a small flare of magic in the kitchen caught her attention. A sigh slipped past her muzzle as she reluctantly pulled herself out of bed.

This is what I get for staying up too late, she thought ruefully as she made her way to the kitchen. I wonder if we have any coffee left.

Just as she expected, when she rounded the corner down the hall from the bedroom the kitchen light was on and the faint clinking of glasses being moved around could be heard. She sported a small smile as she stepped into the kitchen to do the same line of work she retired from in Ponyville when she moved to the Crystal Empire. Her smile faded slightly when she saw how frazzled her God Daughter was.

The young Alicorn was a mess as she struggled to keep a steady hold of a glass in her magic as she turned on the tap to get some water. Her mane was a messy rats nest with strands sticking out at odd angles around her ears. Her tail wasn't much better as it flicked back and forth like it belonged to a frustrated cat.

"Flurry?" Starlight asked, cautious as she took slow steps into the kitchen.

Flurry Heart jumped then spun to face the mare. What Starlight saw filled her with even more concern. Flurry's eyes were red with tears and she looked absolutely miserable.

"Hey," she whispered, gently wrapping her forelegs around the distraught filly. "What's wrong Flurry?"

Flurry sniffled, hiding her face in her godmother's shoulder as she tried to organize her chaotic thoughts.

"I...." she started, voice shaky she leaned into Starlight like a crutch. "I.....made a new friend recently."

"I see," Starlight smiled, letting Flurry do this at her own pace. "Is it anypony around the castle?"

Flurry shook her head.

"I met him when I was exploring outside The Empire."

"Oh?" Starlight asked, raising a brow as a sly smile spread across her muzzle. "What's he like? Are we talking about another Flash Magnus or Rock Hoof?"

Flurry chuckled at that, then smiled as she said, "A little of both. He's really nice, but extremely shy around new ponies. He's really strong too. He used an ice spell once that pushed my tolerance to the limit when we first met."

A mix of surprise and worry filled Starlight upon hearing that. Alicorns possessed a naturally high resistance to magic, especially in regards to magic linked to their special talent. Luna and Celestia had a natural resistance to dark and light magic respectively while Twilight and Cadence could resist mental or emotional manipulation. The fact that this colt was powerful enough to overpower Flurry's resistances to his magic was just as impressive as it was concerning.

"Does he have a name?" she asked, masking her worry with a smile.

"Alto," Flurry answered with a faint smile.

The care in Flurry's voice as she said his name made the older mare's smile more genuine as the hidden implications of it made itself known.

"Nice name," she chuckled, pulling out of the hug enough to look Flurry in the eyes. "Tell me more."

And Flurry did. Naturally, she kept some of the most important facts about her new friend under her mane such as his living arrangements, appearance, and family situation, but was fairly open about everything else about him. As she talked, Starlight was happy to see the Alicorn's mood gradually improve. She especially seemed to brighten when she talked about how she was teaching him how to read.

"Sounds like a really nice colt," Starlight smiled.

"Yeah," Flurry smiled, staring at the ground. "He's a really good friend."

Her smile shifted into a frown as she added, "But there's a.....problem that's come up."

"What kind of problem?" she asked, a trace of edge entering her tone.

Eyes still locked onto the ground, Flurry gulped as she elaborated.

"Lately...I've been having some...feelings around him."

"Feeling?" she asked, raising a brow.

"Like...maybe.....a.....crush?"

"Oh," Starlight blinked. "So what's the prob-"

Realization hit her and she visibly cringed.

"Oh...yeah....Shining Armor might make that a little difficult."

"Th-That's not it!" Flurry blurted, cheeks burning. "I.....I...."

"Flurry?"

A heavy silence filled the room as the two ponies struggled to find their voices, but in time Flurry was the first to break it. Her eyes glistened with tears as she looked up at her Godmother and said something that shocked her like a lightning bolt.

"I don't want to have a crush on him. I just want to be friends with him but......I can't help it!"

Starlight pulled her into another hug as she let the filly cry out her frustrations into her shoulder. A rueful smile graced her lips as she remembered being in a similar situation about two years ago.

"It's not easy seeing a friend that way, huh?" Starlight sighed, earning a shaky nod from the shook teen. "It's even worse when they're hurting. You want to be a good friend, but you also want to be so much more to them."

"Y-Yeah," Flurry hiccuped. "I-It's horrible! The worst!"

Starlight let out a small chuckle at that.

"And the dreams aren't helping," Flurry pouted, her face turning beet red at the memories.

"Dreams?" Starlight asked, pulling out of the embrace to lock eyes with the Alicorn. "What dreams?"

"Well," she fidgeted. "It's all normal stuff at first. I'm just doing my normal things like walking though the palace or studying with Sunburst, but now Alto's there. We're laughing and having fun together, but then things get....different when its all over."

"What do you mean?"

"The dreams always happen in shifts. First we do the normal things when the sun is up in them, but when the day ends things are different. A couple of nights ago the second the sun went down, Alto and I were in a line at an amusement park to get on the Tunnel of Love together. In another we were in a cabin in the mountains somewhere....s-snuggled under a blanket together in front of a lit fireplace. Hay, a couple hours ago we were at some seaside resort sitting in a jacuzzi with fancy umbrella drinks!"

"I see," she smiled. "Is that all?"

When Flurry's blush spread to her ears and steam started to leak out of them she could guess what happened next.

"Wow, you've got it bad," the Unicorn sighed, shaking her head.

Flurry let out a dull whine as she nodded.

"W-W-What do I do?"

Starlight smiled.

"Easy. Be patient."

"Huh?"

Starlight giggled as she lead her stressed Goddaughter to the kitchen table. As they took their seats, a quick set of spells from the hostess got to work making a pot of tea for them.

"Right now, you're at war with yourself. You want to be closer to Alto, but you're afraid to get too close for his sake, right?"

She nodded, a bit of shame marring her features.

"Well, that's a good thing."

"What?!" Flurry squawked, a slight crack in her voice as she sat bolt upright.

Starlight smiled, then elaborated.

"The fact that you're so worried shows just how much you care about him. It also shows how much he trusts you with that care. That's pretty rare these days."

"I-I guess," she mumbled, staring at the table. "But what do I do? I can't just spring this on him out of the blue. There's no telling how he'd take it!"

"Of course you shouldn't," Starlight chuckled. "That's why I said you needed to be patient."

"Huh?" she asked, locking eyes with the smiling mare.

"Spend time with him like you always have, but instead of fighting with yourself you need to admit to yourself that you have a crush on him. Then, when the right time comes, tell him how you feel."

"How will I know when that is?" Flurry asked as a steaming pot of tea and a pair of tea cups floated onto the table.

"Oh you'll know," Starlight said cryptically as she poured both of them some tea. "Until then, just let things happen at their own pace. You don't need to rush through this.

"Right," she nodded, then took a sip of her tea.

A cheshire's grin spread on Starlight's face as she added, "Just don't try anything in your dreams just yet. I don't think Cadence is ready to be a Grandma yet."

Tea splattered against a well timed light-blue barrier as the sound of Flurry coughing filled the room.

Icicle

Ruby sat at her desk, her bedroom wrapped in total darkness as she worked under the light of a single desk-lamp and her magic's red glow. The sounds of pens and pencils scribbling on paper was the only break in the silence as the Unicorn worked. All the while, a soft smile graced her muzzle as she concentrated on her latest creation.

Almost there. It just needs a little more shading and it will be ready.

Her magic's grip on the pencil wavered as weariness started to weigh in on the young mare's resolve. Through sheer force of will, she gritted her teeth and forced the writing implement to obey her. Just when her eyes started to droop, she let the pencil drop as a satisfied smile graced her muzzle.

"Done," she sighed as she levitated her tools away. "Now I just need to cast a Preservation Spell onto it and it will be ready for tomorrow."

Yawning, she cast the spell onto the paper in front of her. For the briefest moment, the spell illuminated the drawing just enough for Ruby to see it completely. A series of tired chuckles burst out of her before she managed to regain control of herself. She smiled a little as she understood what this meant and got out of her seat.

Perfect, she thought as she staggered to her bed a couple feet away. Assuming sis did her part, then we are ready to move into the next stage of the plan.

Her gaze drifted to a thin stack of paper sitting on a corner of her desk as she pulled herself into bed. The products of three days of tireless work. Her smile persisted as she let her exhaustion take her.

Now the real work begins.

***

The school cafeteria was a hub of activity like usual as students went about their business. Platinum stared at her two new friends with concern in a corner booth farthest from the front door. Both fillies looked like they hadn't had a decent night's sleep in days, Sapphire especially as she struggled to keep her head from slamming into the table they shared. She passed questioning glances at Sunday and Sherbet only to receive awkward shrugs for her trouble.

"Are you two okay?" she asked.

"Yes," Ruby yawned, rubbing some sleep out of her eyes. "Just some late night study sessions. Don't worry bout it."

"Yeah," Sapphire mumbled, head drooping just as much as her eyelids. "Studying..."

A soft snoring accompanied that as the blue Earth Pony's will power finally ran out. Ruby sighed as she nudged her sister awake, before summoning a square object wrapped in brown paper from her saddlebags with her magic. A faint smile graced her lips as she levitated the package to Platinum. The metallic Pegasus eyed it curiously before taking it with her hooves.

"What's this?" she asked, staring at the notebook-sized package.

"The first of many gifts we have for you," Ruby smiled. "The rest should be ready throughout the week."

"That won't be necessary," she frowned, setting the gift down on the table and nudging it back towards Ruby with a hoof. "The fact that you have decided to make me one of your resources is more than I could ask for. Anything else would be asking for too much on my part."

Sunday and Sherbet subtly cringed at that, while Sapphire let out a faint irritable sigh. They knew this wouldn't be easy, but they thought the real difficulties wouldn't come until later. Ruby, for her part, hid her frustration well as she nudged the package back towards the Pegasus.

"Maybe, but I still want you to have it all the same. It's normal for friends to give other friends gifts every now and then."

"But-"

"Think of it as an apology for all the hostilities over the years," Ruby smiled, nudging the package a little closer to the filly.

Platinum stared at the package for a moment, then sighed as she reached out and took it.

"Very well. Thank you Ruby Stokes."

"You're welcome Platinum Scales."

An awkward silence fell over the group as the Pegasus stared at the offered package like it was some great puzzle. Sapphire let out a small frustrated groan.

"Aren't ya gonna open it?" she grumbled.

"Right now?" Platinum asked, leveling a confused look at her.

"Might as well," she yawned. "Unless you want to carry around a present all day like Santa Hooves."

"Right," Platinum frowned, scanning the package in her hooves.

Geez, has this filly never seen a gift before? she thought irritably as she watched Platinum strip away her gift's wrappings. Then again, considering what Sunday and Sherbet told us, I shouldn't be all that surprised. Maker I hope this works.

Everypony watched with baited breath as Platinum tore away the last strip of wrapping paper. What was revealed earned some confused head-tilts from Platinum's half of the table and conspiratorial smirks from the twins. It was a drawing set in an expertly carved amethyst frame with flower like patterns carved into the soft stone. The drawing itself caught the Pegasus's attention the most. It was a small kitten, fur still soft and fluffy like goose down as small flowers flooded the background. The small creature's eyes were crossed as it stared at a butterfly resting on its nose with innocent wonder. The monochromatic drawing was drawn so well that the trio half expected the kitten to hop off of the page to greet them.

"Wow," Sunday whispered. "I knew she was good, but not this good."

"Yeah," Sherbet breathed, eyes tracing the frame.

Ruby and Sapphire mostly ignored their comments as they watched Platinum Scales. It was faint at first, but they could see it. Small cracks started to form in the Pegasus' mask as a small, genuine smile slowly formed on her muzzle as she stared at the picture. They knew what was coming when Platinum's cheeks started to puff up and she trembled, but when the damn finally burst they were shocked by the end result. Platinum burst into laughter as the picture's magic finally broke past the filly's defenses. It was a bright and wild sound like the first gale of spring as it filled the room, shocking everypony around her as the prim filly fell into a laughing fit for the first time in public. As she did, she looked like a completely different pony to the small cluster of fillies. Then just as quickly as it came, the illusion was shattered as Platinum pulled herself back together.

"I-I apologize for that," she coughed, a small blush coloring her cheeks as she scrambled to put the framed picture into one of her saddlebags. "A-Anyways, thank you for the gift a-and I look forward to what you have for me in the future. E-Excuse me."

With that, she staggered out of her seat and quickly trotted through the cafeteria's exit. Victorious smiles spread across Ruby and Sapphire's faces while confusion colored Sunday and Sherbet's.

"What just happened?" Sunday asked.

"Simple," Ruby smiled. "I filled her with laughter."

Sapphire chuckled at that while their two comrade's confusion seemed to grow.

At that moment, Quartz and Opal took seats next to their usual party members.

"Looks like it worked," Quartz smirked, playfully nudging the red filly to his left.

"Indeed," Opal said, earning a shy smile from the blue filly to his right.

"Can somepony please explain?" Sherbet asked.

"Well," Ruby started. "I'm sure you have all heard the rumors about my art, correct?"

They nodded.

"They're true."

The two fillies gawked at her for a minute, not sure how they were supposed to take the news. Sunday found her voice as she noted something that contradicted her ally's claim.

"Wait, we saw the picture too. How come we didn't turn into laughing loons too?"

"Simple," ruby sighed. "You weren't the targets for the spell."

Both fillies blinked at her, earning a tired sigh.

"When I discovered what my art could do to ponies, I tried to find a way to reduce the effects it had on them. Fortunately, Miss Trixie knew of a spell that could do just that and was willing to teach it to me. Now I can narrow the effects my art has on ponies based on certain specific conditions."

"Like what?" Sherbet asked.

"Like if a pony needs to laugh," Sapphire sighed, barely aware of the fact she was leaning into Opal as her fatigue started to catch up with her again.

"Or if a specific pony stares at it," Ruby added. "When I made that drawing, I put as much laughter and comedic memory into it as I could. I also made it so only Platinum could be affected by it and only when the effects were needed."

"And all of the other pictures are going to do the same thing?" Sunday asked, a trace of hope filling her tone.

"Something like that," Ruby smiled.

***

As soon as the door to her room clicked shut, Platinum's face twisted into terror as she let her mask fall away.

"Wh-What the hay happened today?" she stammered, setting her saddlebags down by her bed as she started to pace. "All I did was look at that picture and suddenly I..."

She stopped and her eyes wandered towards her bags. She heard the rumors about Ruby's artwork before, but ignored them. To her, it all sounded like the kind of gossip bullies started to alienate talent. Now that she stopped to consider what happened a few hours ago, the rumors seemed to hold a bit more weight.

Cautiously, she reached for her bag and pulled out the framed picture. A small bubble of giggles slipped past her lips the second she laid eyes on the kitten. It was with shock that she came to terms with something that she hadn't before; laughing felt good. No, that wasn't quite right. Of course it felt good to laugh, but at the time in the cafeteria it felt amazing. It was like she had been breathing stale air the whole time and was suddenly given a breeze of the freshest mountain air. It scared her, but also made her feel so happy at the same time that she didn't know what to do with herself.

"What have they done to me?" she asked, hiding the picture beneath her bed.

***

"Here you go," Sapphire smiled, handing Platinum a small square package just outside the school gates.

Platinum stared at the package, trepidation hidden behind her mask. It was much smaller then the previous gift she received, a roughly four-inch squared as opposed to the foot wide framed kitten hidden under her bed. Students gave them passing glances as they stepped around them through the open gates while Platinum battled with herself as to whether or not she should risk accepting the gift.

She let out a nervous sigh as she took the small package.

Sapphire's smile grew as the Pegasus cautiously tore the paper away and stared at what it held. It was another framed picture, only instead of being a drawing it was a painting. It was a peaceful ocean scene at night, dozens of shades of blue and violet making up the water taking up the bottom half of the background while a solid curtain of navy-blue dominated the top with specks of silver and gold for the stars reflected in the water. The foreground was a clear cream-colored coast with the black silhouette of a pony sitting on their hunches with their back to the viewer. To match the scene, the frame was covered with wave and seashell patters carved directly into the amethyst that made it.

Platinum's anxiety seemed to fade away as she stared at the scene. In addition, her thoughts seemed less muddled as she took in things as they were around her. The effects this painting had on her shocked her, but like the first one she found that she rather liked it.

"Thank you Sapphire," she said, lips pulled into a small smile as she stowed the painting away in her saddlebags.

"No prob," she smirked.

With that, Platinum gave a small nod and walked through the gates towards the school's main building. Sapphire watched her walk with a wide smile plastered across her muzzle for a minute before letting herself onto the school grounds.

Zen Painting delivered? Check!

***

Gold blocked an incoming arial strike from her student with a foreleg just before she vanished in a blast of wind to come at her from a different angle. The Earth Pony marveled at how Platinum moved today compared to how she did normally. Before, her strikes were wild as they tried to hammer their way past her defenses, but today they were more probing and precise. Most of her more powerful attacks were aimed at the softest points of the cloaked pony's guard and blind-spots. furthermore, the crazed fervor she often saw in the filly's eyes had dimmed somewhat. It was clear she still loved the thrill of battle, but now it wasn't quite as all-consuming as it once was.

Perhaps I should thank those fillies sometime, she thought as she dodged a wing-strike to the head.

"Enough!" Gold barked, freezing Platinum mid-strike.

"We're done already?" Platinum panted, folding her wings as she moved out of her fighting stance.

"Unfortunately," Gold smiled.

"Pony feathers," she muttered as she deactivated her training wing-blades. "I was just getting into it."

"Indeed," Gold smiled, placing a hoof on Platinum's shoulder. "Your form has improved significantly since yesterday. Am I right to assume that your new friends have something to do with this?"

"M-Maybe," Platinum stammered, blushing a little.

Gold chuckled.

"It feels good to have ponies care about you, doesn't it?"

Platinum nodded.

"Yeah. It's a little scary sometimes though."

Gold nodded as she let her hoof fall, then said, "Many first steps are, but are also worth it in the end."

A light giggle slipped past her muzzle as she nodded at her teacher. Both ponies were internally taken aback by how natural the act seemed to them. But while Gold was perplexed by the anomaly, Platinum found that she was too at peace to care for too long.

***

Platinum was putting her books back into her saddlebags as she prepared to move on to her next class. As she did, she wasn't surprised to see a dark-purple shape move towards her from the corner of her eye.

"Good afternoon Opal Heart," she said with a faint smile.

"Likewise," he smiled, his horn alight with magic as he manipulated something within his saddlebags.

"Am I to assume that this is yet another gift?" she asked, her smile growing slightly.

"Indeed," he nodded, finally managing to extract the package from his bags and levitated it over to her. "Ruby and Sapphire apologize that it took them so long to present it. The frame was apparently giving Sapphire trouble."

"It's only three days," she shrugged as she accepted the gift. "An artist can't be rushed and be expected to produce top quality work."

"I suppose that's one way to look at it," he said through a tense smile.

While they hadn't officially been friends for vary long, he still didn't like others talking about Ruby and Sapphire like commodities. Granted, he expected it from Platinum, but that didn't mean he was okay with it by any stretch of the imagination.

"Though please refrain from talking about my friends like that in the future," he said letting his smile fall.

Platinum blinked at him, then bowed her head to him as she said, "My apologies. I didn't mean to offend."

"I understand," he sighed. "Just try to be more mindful."

She nodded, then went to work unwrapping her latest gift.

As she suspected, it was another framed picture only this one was done with colored pencils. The scene made Platinum stare in awe, unaware that her mask had slipped as her eyes absorbed it in all its splendor. A milk-white Pegasus with a golden-blond mane and tail stood tall and proud with a sword gripped tightly in her mouth on the right side of the picture. The left was dominated by a mass of amorphous darkness, wispy tendrils coiling around the cold gray stone and sky as it pulled itself towards the mare. All of this took place on top of a mountain with bolts of lightning ripping across the sky like cracks in a mirror. The frame was carved to look like rough stone, like it was taken straight from the mountain's surface.

A shiver ran down Platinum's spine, though not out of fear or excitement. It was like she had just been hit by a gust of cold wind first thing in the morning. She carefully placed the picture into her bags and locked eyes with Opal. The colt flinched slightly at what he saw as the filly smiled at him. Her eyes held a lot more life then he remembered seeing in the past and the smile she sported was more genuine then he could remember.

"Thank you Opal Heart and let Ruby Strokes and Sapphire Trails know I like their gift."

"You're welcome and I will," he nodded.

With a small bow she turned and left, smile still present as she stepped out of the classroom.

Perhaps I should ask Miss Ruby to supply art for my cousin's counseling sessions, Opal thought as he stepped towards the door himself. The results seem promising to say the least.

***

The clinking of glasses and silverware echoed in the dinning room of Coin Manor as it always had at that time of day. As such, Platinum was not surprised when the usual silence dominated the first ten minutes of the meal nor what topic eventually broke said silence.

"Tell me Platinum, how goes your arrangements with the twins?" Platinum's mother, Bit Coin asked.

"Slow," she responded, eyes locked onto her baked salmon as she cut a piece away. "As I have said before, I don't want to give them a reason to question my worth as an asset. I am taking cautious probes with them to see just how far I can take things before I can proceed."

"Of course," Bit Coin nodded. "Though I suppose it would be so much easier if you didn't spend so much of your time with those two underachievers."

Platinum tensed at that as yet another daily routine started.

"Honestly, I have no idea why you still associate with those two. You have access to a Princess' ear and the most those two could provide for you is catering. It is time for you to mo-"

"With all due respect, mother," Platinum said, a faint growl coloring her tone as she locked eyes with the mare. "The two fillies you are describing have names and I would appreciate it if you used them."

Bit blinked in shock at her daughter's actions, only to glare at her a moment later as she said, "Excuse me?"

Platinum's eyes narrowed as the morning breeze she felt a few hours ago at school washed over her. Only now, instead of chilling her she felt a surge of strength. In that moment, she was the swordspony on the mountain staring into the abyss and her mother was the beast that came for her. She would always run from the monster, take shelter in the darkest hole she could find if it meant avoiding her progenitor's wrath. But not this time. She was done hiding.

"You heard me," Platinum said evenly. "And as for why I choose to interact with them? That is my business and mine alone."

Bit gaped at the gall her daughter was exhibiting while her father simply observed quietly behind some paperwork held in his magic.

Bit Coin's glare turned absolutely venomous as she leaned towards Platinum like a bird-of-prey.

"Listen here young lady. I am your mother. I birthed you and own everything from the bed you sleep in to the food in your gullet. You are my property. Your life is mine! If I tell you to abandon a bunch of useless pawns, you will do it! Do you understand me?"

Platinum matched her mother's glare with one of her own and with a cold growl said, "Yes," then smiled as she rose out of her seat and left the table.

"Where do you think you're going?" Bit growled.

"To my room," she smiled, not turning to face the mare as she walked. "I have to prepare for my Martial Arts lesson and I've wasted enough time here."

"Get back here!" Bit demanded, voice turning shrill. "We are not done here!"

Platinum paused, then restored her mask as she turned to face her mother.

"Yes. We are."

With that, she let herself out of the dinning room.

***

Platinum laid on her back, staring up at the sky under the shade of a tree in a park near the Academy. Before yesterday, she never understood the need to do so. The act would've seemed pointless in the grand scheme of things before, but when Quartz Mark saw how dazed she seemed he suggested she try her current activity.

"Nothing better then cloud-watching to help get your mind off of things."

"He has a point," she mused. "I don't think I've ever been this relaxed before."

The sound of grass under hooves made her ears twitch as two ponies moved towards her. A Faint smile graced her muzzle as she guessed what was to come. She dragged herself to her haunches as she turned her head towards the approaching ponies.

"Good afternoon Sunday, Sherbet."

"Hey, Platinum," Sunday smiled, Sherbet not far behind her as she reached into her saddlebag.

"Is this the next one?" she asked.

Sherbet nodded, finally managing to pull a small package out of her friend's bag with her mouth and offered it to the Pegasus. Smiling, Platinum tore away the wrapping and looked at the latest picture. Like the others, this one was held in an amethyst frame, only this one was decorated by cloud carvings. The picture itself was a scene that made the metallic Pegasus pause. It was a starving yellow colt with a messy brown mane wrapped in a tattered blanket sitting in front of a wooden table with a bowl of food sitting in front of him. A look of pure elation was plastered across his gaunt face as he stared at the humble offering. All the while, a pair of Pegasi stared down lovingly at him from above. One was a gold stallion with a red mane and onyx glasses dressed like a doctor while the other was a teal mare with a silver mane dressed like a nurse.

As she stared at the scene, countless memories of the time she spent with Sunday and Sherbet jumped to the front of her mind. The smiles they managed to coax out of her. All the times they helped her learn to talk to ponies. All the time they spent studying together after class. The time they stopped her from committing suicide.

Slowly, she looked away from the drawing and stared at her friends, truly seeing them for the first time. Since the beginning, she wondered why they treated her so kindly. For a time, she thought it was because of her connections, but that became less likely to her as time went on. Then she thought it was because they considered her good company and as she came to see them as the same, she became defensive of them. It was only now that she finally realized what she truly felt towards them; care. She cared about them. They cared about her. They weren't assets to each other. They were friends.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she quickly closed the gap between her and her friends and pulled them into a tight hug. The two fillies blinked in shock at the sudden embrace before smiling as they added to it.

"Th-Thank you," Platinum sniffled, burying her muzzle into Sunday's shoulder. "For everything."

"You're welcome,"Sunday smiled, gently tightening her grip on her crying friend.

"Yeah," Sherbet smiled, comfortingly rubbing Platinum's back. "We've got your back. Always."

The three fillies stayed like that for what felt like hours, two offering support as their friend finally understood the compassion her friends had been giving her over the years.

***

Platinum sat in her room staring at the wrapped package in her hooves with trepidation. Even now she could feel the effects of the past paintings running through her. Laughter came much easier to her then it had before. Her tension was mostly gone as images of calm seas entered her mind. The fear that hung over her head every time she saw her mother had greatly reduced itself. And the simple concept of compassion was a lot less confusing for her then it was the day before. Finding all these new things about herself was just as thrilling as they were terrifying for her, like finding out new things about a house you've lived in all your life. She was afraid of what would happen when she saw this last portrait, but she knew that it had to be done. So with trembling hooves, she tore away the wrapping.

The picture was the same size as the first one with an amethyst frame decorated with fire-like carvings on the left half while rippling water covered the right. The picture itself was something that made Platinum's eyes widen as she took it in. It was a picture of her hugging a copy of herself, both of with their wings open wide as they reached for the opposite ends of the frame. As her eyes scanned the scene, she noticed that while the two Platinums were drawn the wings were made of dozens of small pieces of paper cut into the shape of feathers with fine details drawn into them to make them look more organic.

As she stared at the portrait, her eyelids started to get very heavy. A loud yawn fell past her lips as she fought against her sudden fatigue. A fight that was quickly proving to be futile as the room started to spin around her. Suddenly, all her strength left her as she fell to her side, the portrait the last thing she saw before the world turned black.

***

When Platinum opened her eyes, she found herself laying on an ornate marble floor covered with sliver cloud carvings. As she pulled herself to her hooves, she noticed more things about the room she was in. The walls were made of pure silver and stretched far beyond her eyes could see into the sky above. Thick white clouds covered the ceiling just within her range of vision and fifty foot tall crystal windows decorated the walls. At the room's heart stood a throne made of her namesake covered with countless gems of varying sizes and worths. Sat upon the throne was a filly that looked exactly like her, the only difference being a plain white mask covering her face.

"So you have finally awakened," the double said, tone empty of emotion and identical to Platinum's own. "Good. I was growing tired of waiting."

"Who are you?" Platinum asked, a trace of fear entering her otherwise defiant tone. "What is all this?"

"Excellent questions," her double said, rising from her throne. "But do you really not know the answers?"

Platinum stared at her double for a moment, not quite sure how to answer the question. The masked pony sighed as she casually walked towards her baffled double.

"I suppose it's too soon for you to truly understand. That is fine. The fact that we are talking is a sign that you are on the right track."

"What do you mean?" Platinum asked, almost begging for her copy to make sense.

The other Platinum gently placed a hoof on her confused double's shoulder and said, "I cannot say what you don't already know. For now, all I can say is trust in your friends and your teacher. They will help guide you to a happier life then the one our mother has planned. Trust in them and be strong. And know that when you need me, I will always be there to protect you."

As she said that, the Platinum copy started to fade away. Only the mask remained when the double ceased to be, falling to the ground with a loud clatter. The noise made Platinum blink in surprise, but when she opened her eyes she was laying on her bedroom floor with the first rays of morning light creeping past her curtains. As Platinum dragged herself to her hooves, she noticed the portrait she received the night before laying on the ground not too far away from her.

That morning, before she left to go to school, five new portraits decorated the walls her room. Their owner hanging them with care and a true smile on her face as she did.

Chill

A dull ticking filled the room as a wall clock counted off the seconds as they passed. At the same time, Starlight's irritation slowly grew under the forced smiles of her captures. Shining and Cadence stiffly poured her a cup of tea as they struggled to find the words needed to get the answers they wanted.

"So," Starlight frowned, crossing her hooves. "Any reason why you two are holding me ransom in my living room."

"What ever do you mean?" Cadence asked, setting the teapot down on the table between them.

Starlight glowered at the Princess and Prince sitting across from her as she pointed at the two guards taking point at her front door.

"Oh, you know," Shining chuckled, waving Starlight's point away with a hoof. "Protocol and all that. Right Cadence?"

"Right," Cadence smiled. "You know, High Royal headaches and all that."

"I can only imagine," Starlight said flatly.

It's not like I spent ten years working next to one or anything.

The two sat in awkward silence, the sounds of sipping occasionally breaking the tension. It was clear to Starlight that the royal pair was struggling to find their words. At the same time, the Unicorn mare felt her own patience start to slip away by the second. If what Sunburst and Onyx told her was anything to go by, she could make a pretty good guess what this was all about.

"Nice weather today," Shining said, risking a glance out the window.

"Yeah, Maker forbid we get any snow around here," Starlight monotoned.

Both royals laughed awkwardly at that, gaze shifting back to their cups.

The ticking of the wall clock became the only thing of any authentic stimulation to Starlight as she used it to count off the seconds it would take for her captures to find some other topic they could use to beat around the bush.

Fifteen...sixteen...seventeen...eighteen...nineteen...twenty...

"So," Cadence started. "How have things been?"

Huh, twenty seconds. I think that's a new record.

"Not too bad," she shrugged. "Had to help my coltfriend find his second wind after his boss ran him ragged last week. Other then that? Nothing to really talk about."

Shining raised a brow at that as he turned to look at his wife. Cadence gave him an awkward chuckle that summoned an understanding nod from the stallion. They shifted their attention back to Starlight and were about to say something, only to pause as Starlight put up a hoof.

"What do you want to know?"

The finality in her tone made the two High Royals gulp.

"Are we that obvious?" Cadence asked, blushing sheepishly like a foal caught with her hoof in the cookie jar.

"A blind pony could see through you two," she sighed, bringing a hoof to her forehead to massage away the start of a migraine. "Now can we get to the point already? I haven't been getting much sleep lately and coffee can only do so much for a mare."

"How come you haven't been sleeping?" Shining asked, genuine concern entering his tone for the first time since the start of this meeting.

Starlight leveled a sharp glare at him and a chill shot down his spine.

"Anyway," Starlight growled. "You have questions and I have answers. Let's get this over with so I can take a nap before I get put in the dungeons for strangling somepony."

Shining and Cadence chuckled at that only for it to pitter out nervously in the face of Starlight's glare.

"Right," Cadence sighed. "Well, a name would be a good place to start."

Shining nodded in agreement.

"It would," she grimaced, taking a sip of her tea. "Too bad I can't tell you that."

Cadence gawked at her while Shining let out an irritated groan before slamming his head into the table.

"W-Why not?" Cadence sputtered.

"Because Flurry trusts me and I don't want to ruin that," Starlight sighed as she took a sip of tea.

"Well, what about where he lives?" Cadence offered.

"No idea," she frowned. "I never got a straight answer on that."

"He's at least around Flurry's age, right?" Shining groaned, face still planted firmly into the table.

"Oh defiantly," she chuckled, dropping a sugar cube into her tea. "Can't believe you had to ask that."

"My spell could tell that much, dear," Cadence smiled, rolling her eyes.

"Spell?" Starlight asked, raising a brow. "That wouldn't happen to be your Mirror Scrying Spell, would it?"

Cadence gulped, then with trepidation said, "M-Maybe?"

Starlight groaned as she once again had to rub away another headache.

"Really Cadence?"

"What?! I was curious!" she floundered, only to grimace into her cup of tea as she added, "It didn't matter anyway. The spell wouldn't show me who she's seeing."

"Lucky," the Unicorn snorted.

"What?!" both royals exclaimed, Shining finally finding the strength to pull his face away from the mare's kitchen table.

"Cadence, the last time you used that spell was when Sunburst and I started dating. You almost killed our relationship before it could even get started."

Cadence let out a nervous giggle before saying, "Well, your relationship was moving too slowly. I thought the two of you could use a little nudge is all."

"Most ponies don't start talking about weddings and foals on the first date," she deadpanned.

"Anyway," Shining sighed, earning the attention of the two mares. "Is there anything you can tell us about all of this? I don't want my daughter getting hurt and not knowing anything makes me antsy."

The Princess of Love nodded as she stared at the Unicorn, a look of desperation starting to form on both of their faces.

Starlight sighed, then said, "She's in a really confusing place right now. She's never had a real, honest to Maker crush before and its got her in a real tailspin. Right now, she needs time to figure things out and somepony she can trust to talk things out with."

"Hence the long nights I'd assume," Shining said, taking a sip of his drink.

Starlight nodded.

"Its also why I can't tell you guys certain things. She's in a really scary place right now and the last thing she needs are her helicopter parents hovering over her shoulder right now."

They both cringed at that as past memories of the last time they let their protective urges take over. That, and the consequences of said urges.

Shining let out a defeated sigh, then said, "Fair enough. So long as she's talking to somepony we can trust at the same time, I can deal with it. Just make sure that if something does come up you tell us right away."

"Of course," Starlight smiled, the tension from before melting off of her.

"Thank you," Cadence smiled.

"No problem," she giggled as she took a sip of her tea.

***

Flurry giggled at the face Alto made as he read a passage from a book of ponytales she brought out loud.

"Why would they go into a house made of candy?" he asked, staring at the page in awe-inspired confusion. "Didn't they think that was too convenient?"

"I guess not," she smiled. "They are kind of young in the story."

Alto hummed in agreement as he stared at the illustration of two foals entering a candy house. As he did, Flurry took pride in how far he had come with his lessons. True, she was a little disappointed that he took to them like a life-or-death battle, but she was still happy with the results. In a couple of weeks, he managed to move onto second-grade Equish and was on the verge of moving even further up in skill level. Until then, she was having a blast introducing him to countless fables and folktales that she was exposed to when she was little.

"I still think they should've known better," he sighed as he turned a page. "Then they wouldn't have had to contend with the Griffin Witch."

"But then there'd be no story," Flurry smirked.

"Yes there would," he frowned. "It would be one were they didn't get almost eaten by a Griffin."

Flurry blinked at him.

"I...never thought of it like that," she frowned, staring at the ground in thought. "What would've happened if they didn't go in the house?"

"They wouldn't get captured by the witch?" Alto offered, raising a brow.

"Besides that," she giggled, rolling her eyes.

Alto stared at the book as he tried to solve the riddle his friend gave him.

"Perhaps they would find more food deeper in the forest," he said, staring at the tall oaks surrounding the foals. "If places like the mountains surrounding The Shining Place has food sources, surely a forest would have some if they looked hard enough."

"Maybe," Flurry smiled. "But I don't think hungry foals would pass up a chance to eat a house made of cake if it was just sitting there."

Alto remembered the muffins Flurry brought with her once and quickly understood the foal's predicament.

"If cake is like muffins, then I understand," he said solemnly.

The seriousness in his tone brought Flurry to tears with laughter as she rolled onto her side. Alto leaned away from her, eyes wide with shock as he watched her ride out her laughing fit. As he did, he couldn't help but marvel at how pretty her smile was or how nice her laugh sounded. It shocked him how something so simple could make him happy. It was like her smile was sunlight, warm and unbelievably bright every time he saw it.

Flurry's laughter slowly ebed out as she rolled herself onto her belly.

"Y-You're a weirdo," she giggled, wiping a tear out of her eye. "You know that?"

"No, I'm a colt," he said, raising a brow.

Flurry instantly fell into another fit of giggles at that, her friend's wonder trading places with confusion as he stared at her.

Such a strange pony, he mused with a faint smile.

A smile that quickly turned into a look of panic as Flurry rolled into his spring half a foot away.

"Flurry!" he exclaimed, jumping to his hooves.

Seconds later, the Alicorn breached the water's surface, coughing and sputtering as she tried to orient herself.

"I-I'm okay," she coughed.

Alto let out a relieved sigh then moved to the spring's coast to help his friend out of the water. When he did, he paused as he got a better look at her. Until now, Flurry had always made sure to keep her mane out of the water. She claimed it was always a mess to deal with when it got wet. A small stream of mist puffed out of him as he took in his friend's new look. The slight curl of her mane that rounded her ears had straitened into a messy curtain that covered the top half of her neck while the one that kept her bangs out of her eyes failed to do their job. Her left eye was hidden behind a purple and light-blue mat that glistened brilliantly in the cave's refracted light. It wasn't just her mane, as her coat and feathers also shined with a small aurora under the light. A shade of blue colored his scaled face as his heart hammered in his chest. He stiffly reached a hoof out to help her. His heartbeat doubled when she grabbed it as she pulled herself out of the water.

"Aw man,"she groaned, looking herself over.

Alto snapped out of his trance at that then placed a hoof onto Flurry's barrel.

"Wait," he murmured.

Slowly, he channeled a bit of his magic into the water surrounding Flurry and went to work. A faint hissing filled the air as steam started to waft off of the Alicorn, but the dull heat from the vanishing water was nothing compared to the blush on her cheeks. She could feel his magic wrapping around her through the water as it did its master's bidding. It was like the world's greatest magically charged blanket, soothing and warm, but not suffocatingly so. The warm tingle of it as it ridded her fur and feathers of water sent a small shiver down her spine that had little to do with temperature as it moved across her body. Flurry's face burned brighter as she struggled to keep her thoughts from drifting to places she wasn't ready for yet.

Keep it together Flurry, she thought, a dull whine slipping past her lips.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concern heavy in his voice.

"Y-Yeah," Flurry stammered, offering him a nervous smile. "I'm just not used to drying off like this."

"Am I hurting you?"

"N-No! It just feels...weird."

"I see," he smiled, relieved. "Just wait a little longer. I'm almost done."

"Right," she sighed, closing her eyes as she let herself enjoy the gentle warmth of Alto's magic.

For a moment, the two stood in silence as their minds wandered. For Flurry, it was her growing feelings for the cave-dwelling colt at her side. For Alto, it was the sudden turn his life had taken recently. A month ago he never would've believed that he would befriend a pony, let alone three of them. They were so kind to him and treated him like one of their own almost immediately. It went against everything his mother taught him. That ponies were horrible monsters that would kill him on sight if they had the chance. The way she met her end strongly reinforced that belief in him for much of his young life. That is, until the day Flurry stumbled across his home. While he wasn't willing to completely disregard his mother's teachings, he was willing to accept that not all ponies were dangerous. One beautiful Alicorn filly in particular as he marveled at how Flurry's coat and feathers glistened in the light as they dried. A small smile spread across his muzzle as he admired his friend, more specifically how peaceful she looked as his spell did its work.

"There," he smiled as he pulled his hoof away from her now dry barrel.

"Thanks," she smiled.

A faint shade of blue blossomed on Alto's muzzle as he stared at her, an unfamiliar wave of nervousness washing over him as he tried to think of what to do next. He caught a glimpse of the book they had forgotten about a few feet away.

"Right," he mumbled, trotting towards the abandoned tome. "Back to lessons then."

Flurry was taken aback by the sudden shift, but then frowned and let out an irritated sigh as she followed him.

Colts!

"Right, where were we?" she grumbled as she took a seat by the book.

"I believe it was right here," he said, pointing at a part of the page.

With that, they went back to reading lessons for the duration of the day, though now things were a little different. They would often find themselves sneaking glances at each other only to look back at the book when they thought they were about to be caught. Small blushes of red and blue would pop up when certain thoughts wandered into their heads, Flurry's being more detailed while Alto's filled him with both confusion and awe.

When it was time to pack up for the day, both foals struggled to put their materials away. Neither of them wanted the day to end, but both knew that it had to be done. Flurry's resistance to the cold had its limits and the caves got dangerously close to freezing at night. Plus, Flurry knew that if she stayed that her father would send the entire Crystal Guard out to find her. It happened the first time she snuck out to Ruby and Sapphire's house when she was ten and she wouldn't put it past him to do it again.

"W-Well," she stammered, loaded saddlebags strapped to her barrel as she faced her friend. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," he smiled. "Goodnight Flurry."

"Goodnight Alto."

With that, she turned towards the cave exit only to stop at the last second as a series of faint coughs caught her attention.

"Are you okay?" she asked, turning back to face him.

"Y-Yes," he frowned, clearing his throat. "Don't worry, it's nothing."

"Okay," she said, not completely convinced. "Well... see you tomorrow."

"Yes," he smiled, rubbing his throat. "See you tomorrow."

***

"He really said that?" Starlight asked, smiling over her teacup.

"Yeah," Flurry giggled from her seat on her God-mother's couch.

"Colts," Starlight sighed, refilling Flurry's cup.

"I know, right?"

Both ponies shared a laugh at that, though were careful to not be too loud. The last thing they wanted to do was wake Sunburst at two in the morning. Especially in regards to what they were talking about at the moment. Granted, Flurry's parents had agreed to stay out of their daughter's business and let Starlight handle it, but there was always the chance they could relapse. While she trusted her coltfriend, she knew how insistent the two Hight Royals could be and the less he knew about his God-Daughter's situation the better. For everypony's sakes considering what happened to him and Onyx a couple weeks ago.

"I've got to say Flurry, this Alto sounds like quite the colt," Starlight smirked. "Think I'll ever get the chance to meet him?"

"M-Maybe," she stammered, frowning into her teacup. "He still doesn't trust ponies that much yet. I'll have to ask him tomorrow."

"Fair enough," she sighed. "We can't really rush these kind of things. Speaking of, how are you holding up?"

"B-Better," she said, a shy smile and blush decorating her muzzle. "I mean, now I'm not freaking out as much when I get home and my dreams are more...normal then they were before."

"Good to hear," she smiled, stifling a yawn behind a hoof. "Brings back memories of when Sunburst and I started dating."

"You had weird dreams too?"

"Dreams. Thoughts. You name it, I had it. Trust me Flurry, nopony grows out of what you're going through. Even Onyx's been there when he met Gold."

"Onyx and Lieutenant Gold are dating?" Flurry asked, eyes wide with shock.

"Dating? Flurry, they've been married for ten years now," Starlight chuckled. "You didn't know?"

Flurry shook her head.

"I haven't seen them together all that often and Onyx doesn't have a ring on his horn."

"Not surprising," Starlight mused, taking a sip from her cup. "They're major workaholics and Onyx is very traditional."

"What do you mean?"

"In The Empire, married couples have glyphs tattooed around their Cutie Marks. They are meant to symbolize the strong bonds between the two ponies and the love they share. It's an ancient custom that has fallen out of favor in the more modern parts of Equestria."

"But I never saw any glyphs around Onyx's Cutie Marks," Flurry stated, head tilted in confusion.

"He often keeps them hidden with a spell. As for Gold, have you ever seen her without her cloak?"

"Good point," she nodded. "But why keep it hidden?"

"Who knows?" Starlight sighed. "They never give me a straight answer when I ask them. My best guess is privacy, but its not really our business in the end."

"I guess," Flurry sighed. "But still, it's pretty crazy to think that they're together."

"Agreed," Starlight yawned. "But I think we should call it a night now. I'm about a step away from falling asleep here and you've got a test with Sunburst in the morning."

"Don't remind me," she groaned as she set her half-finished cup onto the table. "But yeah, it is getting kinda late, isn't it? Goodnight Starlight."

"Goodnight Flurry," she smiled.

With a small flash of light, the young Alicorn teleported back to her room in the castle while Starlight levitated the used kitchenware into the kitchen sink. A faint smile graced her muzzle as she ran the cups under water to be cleaned properly when the sun came up.

Looks like things are going to get a little more interesting around here.

***

Flurry groaned as she staggered through the tunnel leading to the main chamber of Alto's home. The test her God-father gave her wasn't particularly difficult, but it was tedious to the extreme. The idea was to teach her extremely fine magic manipulation by having her weave a single thread into the eyes of one-hundred needles in a single telekinetic sweep. Apparently, the idea came from both her Aunt and her Honorary Aunt Rarity when they visited a few months ago. While a small part of her liked the added challenge, a larger part of her wanted to strangle the two ponies for giving him the idea. She was just glad he decided against including a time limit like he wanted to originally. Otherwise there would've been some very colorful echoes running through the castle in her Great Aunt's signature voice.

At least now I can relax, she thought bitterly as she entered the main chamber.

"Alright Alto," she smiled. "Let's see what you think of Snow White and the Seven-"

Her smile died when she saw the colt lying on the ground, visibly wheezing at the chamber's heart. Her heart stopped and blood turned to ice in her veins as she ran towards him. When she made it to his side, panic started to grab her in a stranglehold as she got a better look at the colt's condition. His scales glistened with sweat as his breath came out in ragged wheezes. A dark-blue blush colored his cheeks and forehead as hacking coughs burst past his muzzle in small fits were he laid. He seemed so weak, so helpless.

"A-Alto?" she stammered, voice nothing more then a shivering squeak as she stared at him.

Tired, glassy eyes opened and scanned their surroundings, a thick haze dulling their normally sharp emerald green shine. When they locked onto her, she felt her heart break a little more.

"F-Flurry?" he asked, voice weak and gravely. "I-Is that you?"

"Yeah," she smiled, tears starting to fall as she took one of his hooves with one of her own. "I-I'm here."

"G-Good," he wheezed. "I thought it was...another hallucination. W-What's today's.....lesson?"

Her tears fell harder as she placed a hoof on his sweltering cheek and said, "Don't worry about it. Lessons are canceled today."

"N-*cough cough* No! Reading is...is..."

Before he could continue, his eyes slowly drifted shut as his fever sapped away what little strength he had to spare. Flurry's heart finally shattered when they closed completely and he fell into a gasping sleep. Her mind whirled as she struggled to think of a way to help. She could go get some of the Star Berries from Alto's grove, but she didn't know the way off of the top of her head. If she got lost, there was no telling how long it would take her to find her way back. She could try to heal him, but her knowledge of Medical Magic was extremely limited. She could try to teleport them, but she had never learned how to teleport others and just one wrong move could easily make things worse for him. Panic turned into despair as all hope for her friend seemed to dwindle away. Then, with a heavy heart, she channeled magic into her horn for a spell she never thought she would have to cast.

I'm so sorry Alto.

"AUNTY TWILIGHT!!! PLEASE HELP!!!"

For a second, nothing happened, but then a massive surge of power filled the cave as another pony teleported into it. Like Flurry, she was an Alicorn only just a head shorter then the Princess of Love that birthed the frantic Princess. Her coat was a dark shade of lavender with a similar colored stripe running through her flowing mane and tail along with a streak of magenta. Her purple eyes frantically scanned the room for her niece, only to widen in shock at what she saw lying at the filly's hooves.

"Flurry, what-"

"No time!" she cried, tears poring down her cheeks as she stared at her shocked aunt. "He's sick! Please aunt Twilight! He needs help!"

Shaking off her shock, the older Alicorn nodded and with a flash of magic the three of them were gone.

Cold

A thick quagmire of emotions flowed in the atmosphere as five ponies watched a bed-bound colt, rapid gasps and coughs the only signs of life from him as Twilight examined his condition. Shining Armor and Cadence stared at their new guest with a mix of fascination and worry. Starlight was in a similar state, but more for her God-daughter then she was for the sick colt. For good reason, as the young Alicorn looked to be on the verge of falling to pieces. The poor filly was trembling as she watched her aunt work with wide, tearstained eyes. Terror like nothing she had ever felt before ran through her veins like it had replaced her blood. Helplessness ate away at her soul as she watched helplessly as Alto struggled to stay alive.

With a soft sigh, Twilight canceled the Scanning Spell she was using to examine Alto and turned to face her family.

"W-Well?" Flurry stammered, voice choked as she stared at her aunt.

Twilight's face was unreadable as she turned her head towards Alto's sleeping form.

"The good news is that he's stable, for the most part. If he get's plenty of bed-rest and fluids, he should be able to make a full recovery in a few weeks."

"The bad news?" Shining asked, tense in the face of his sister's solemn expression.

"He's suffering from a strange case of malnourishment and his immune system is completely imbalanced. Unless we can figure out how to fix that, he could end up in this condition again."

The adults in the room shared uneasy looks at the news. While they were happy that the strange colt would recover, they didn't know what to do once he did.

While Twilight worked to get him stable, Flurry told both her parents and Starlight all about her friend. About how she found him while exploring the mountains surrounding The Empire with her friends. About how she was teaching him how to read when he asked about it. About how he was an orphan.

Starlight and Cadence stared at her with wide eyes, their hearts breaking for the colt. Shining's features were more guarded, an impassive mask hiding his emotions as he stared past his daughter towards the ill colt. Even now, his face was impossible to read as Twilight gave them her report.

"Y-You can fix him though, right?" Flurry stammered.

"Flurry," Twilight sighed, a sad smile gracing her muzzle. "He's-"

"Don't!" she snapped, teary eyes narrowed into a fierce glare. "You're the smartest pony in the world! You can do anything! NOW FIX MY FRIEND!!!"

As she said that, her eyes started to glow with power as her magic reacted to her anger. A cold wind started to howl through the room and the crystal floor beneath her hooves started to crack. Everypony reared back in the face of the young Princess' wild magic as she stared her aunt down. Twilight was unmoved by the display of power as she gave her niece a small smile. She weathered the storm as she slowly closed the gap between them and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder.

"I'll do what I can, but first I need to know as much as I can about him."

The glow in Flurry's eyes faded away as hope switched places with fear in her heart. Starlight, Cadence, and Shining all let out faint sighs of relief as the hostile magic in the room started to fade.

"W-What do you want to know?" she asked.

"For starters," Twilight smiled. "You said he lived in a cave in the Granite Mountains, right?"

She nodded.

"What kind of conditions did he live under?"

"W-Well," she sniffled. "He has a tunnel that leads to a lake full of Snow Crabs and a Star Berry grove for food and he told me he would melt ice when he needed more clean water to drink. He has a hot spring that he sometimes used to cook the crabs or relax when he needed."

"I see," Twilight smiled, gears already starting to turn in her head. "Does he interact with other ponies frequently?"

Flurry shook her head.

"H-He told me that I was the first one he's ever talked to. He's only just recently agreed to spend time with Ruby and Sapphire."

Twilight's smile widened as something clicked into place.

"Thank you Flurry," she smiled as she let her hoof fall. "I think I know what we need to do now."

A wide smile spread across Flurry's muzzle at that.

"A-Are you sure?" she asked, wiping tears out of her eyes.

Twilight nodded, then turned to face the other ponies in the room.

"I'm going to need some help gathering what I need, are you all up for it?"

"Do you really need to ask?" Starlight smirked, playfully rolling her eyes.

Shining and Cadence both nodded.

"Thanks," she smiled, then made her way towards the door.

Cadence and Shining followed with Starlight at the back of the pack. It was when she got to the door that she noticed Flurry's absence. Turning, she saw the filly in question standing by Alto's bed, eyes locked onto the gasping form of her new friend.

"Are you coming?" Starlight asked.

"Maybe later," Flurry said, a faint smile gracing her muzzle as she reluctantly tore her eyes away from Alto. "I-I want to keep an eye on him for a little longer. You know, just in case."

Starlight gave her an understanding nod, then let herself out of the room. The second the door closed, Flurry's smile faded as she went back to watching her friend sleep.

A soft pattering filled the room as tears hit the floor.

***

"The common cold?" Cadence asked, flabbergasted.

Twilight nodded, taking a seat at the royal table across from Cadence.

"If what Flurry said was true, it isn't all that surprising."

"What do you mean?" Shining asked, taking a seat beside his wife.

"Star Berries are very effective cure-alls, but are a bit unstable if they aren't refined into potions. According to my spell, Alto's immune system is capable of warding off a multitude of deadly diseases, but some of the more common ones that we've already developed resistances to can slip past it. It may look bad, but all Alto is experiencing is his first case of the common cold. A gradual IV drip of water, nutrients, and stabilizer potions should be enough to keep this from happening again in the future."

"Thank The Maker," Cadence sighed, sagging into her seat.

"The future," Shining muttered, then said, "What exactly is Alto?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Twilight frowned. "He's clearly an equinoid, but that doesn't exactly narrow things down by much. His scales are too thin to be dragon scales, so it rules out Kirin. He lacks any Changeling traits both internally or externally. Even the way his magic operates is different from almost anything I've seen."

"How so?" Shining pressed.

"Well," Twilight started, mentally raising a brow at her brother's behavior. "For example, his magic has a naturally high affinity for sound, ice, and water magic as well as trace elements of shapeshifting that I've only seen in Hippocampi magic signatures. In fact, he doesn't seem to have any pony magic at all."

"Is there anything else?" he asked, face still as unreadable as it was in Alto's presence.

"His body needs fish meat to function," she added, uncertainty coloring her tone. "Aside from that, there's nothing really of any note."

Cadence gulped at that, but Shining was unmoved. The stallion closed his eyes for a moment, carefully weighting his options as he processed what he knew of the situation. Then, he let out a sigh and looked at a guard standing by the dinning room door.

"You. Find the head maid. Let her know that I want one of the guest rooms on the third floor refurbished."

With a salute, the guard left to fulfill his duty while the two Alicorns stared at him with wide eyes.

"Honey? What are you doing?" Cadence asked.

"Something that I'll probably regret later," he sighed.

The two mares blinked owlishly at him.

"What? I'm not going to just throw him back out into the snow. We've got the room and at least this way Flurry's not running around in some abandoned mine."

"Maybe," Cadence sighed. "But what about Alto? He might not be too keen on the idea of being here."

"I think he'll find a way to deal," he said with a stiff smile. "I did when I met your parents for the first time."

Cadence gave his shoulder a playful punch as they all shared a laugh at his expense.

"All the same," Twilight smiled. "I think we should ask him what he thinks about living here before we start setting up a room."

"Right," Cadence sighed, then smiled as she added, "Though it is nice to finally see the colt that caught our daughter's eye."

"Really now?" Twilight smirked, giving the royal couple a playful glare. "Somepony's been keeping a lot of secrets recently."

"Twilight," both royals said warningly.

"Relax," she chuckled. "Even I know not to stick my muzzle too far into things like this. Only a tactless dork would do something so invasive, right?"

Both royals nodded, all the while chuckling awkwardly while avoiding eye-contact with the visiting Princess.

Twilight's smile faded.

"You guys," she groaned as she planted her hoof firmly into her face.

***

Sunburst frowned behind his book as he took in the state of his God-daughter. The poor Alicorn sat at her desk, more staring at her book then reading it. The sight reminded him of a pony-shaped doll being propped up in her seat as he tried to continue his lesson. It had been two days since Alto was brought to the Crystal Empire and while Princess Twilight's procedures showed progress, the colt hadn't woken up yet. That alone put Flurry on edge. Every chance she got, she would sneak off to his room and watch him. All the while praying that he would get well soon. That they could go back to the way things used to be. The last couple of mornings featured her waking up on the floor next to Alto's bed, hopeful smiles melting away when she was greeted by his fitfully sleeping face. To say that she was a wreck would've been an understatement as Sunburst watched her go through the motions in class. This wasn't the bright and happy filly he'd been teaching for years. This was an empty shell in her shape.

A sigh slipped past his lips as he snapped the book held in his magic shut.

"I think we should take a break from lessons for a while."

"Huh?" Flurry asked dumbly, staring up at her teacher.

"You've got a lot on your mind right now and I think the Great Griffon Wars will stay the same in the history books as they have for the past hundred years," he explained with a sad smile.

She shook her head.

"I-I'm fine, I just...I need something to get my mind off of..."

Sunburst smiled, then said, "I understand. Go off and spend time with your friends. Get yourself a treat from the kitchens. Do whatever you need to do to clear your head and then we can get back to your studies."

"But, what about the other tutors," she asked.

"Leave that to Starlight and I," he said with a wink.

"But...Alto," she whimpered.

"He's got the best doctors and nurses in The Empire watching over him. If anything happens, they'll let everypony know."

Flurry stared at him, conflict plain in her eyes as she debated with herself over what she should do. Reluctantly, she nodded and went about putting her books away. Sunburst watched her, heart slowly breaking in the face of how mechanical her movements had become. As she stiffly walked out of the room, he sighed and took a seat behind his seldomly used desk.

While he meant every word he said, he really couldn't stand to see his God-daughter so broken. She was normally so bright and happy, like the first sight of snow at the start of winter. But now?

He groaned as he rested his head on the table.

A knock on the door got his attention.

"Come in," he groaned, not raising his face from the polished wood.

The door creaked open as Captain Onyx let himself in. A sad smile graced his muzzle as he took in the state of his friend.

"Flurry?" he asked, levitating a nearby chair in front of Sunburst's desk before claiming it.

Sunburst nodded.

Onyx tsked before reaching onto his belt and pulling a hip-flask off of it.

"A bit early for a drink isn't it?" Sunburst asked with a rueful smile.

"It's coffee," he grumbled.

Sunburst raised his head at that, flashing a confused frown at the Guard Captain.

"You keep coffee in a hip-flask?"

"Only the really strong stuff," he sighed as he uncapped the flask. "Keeps the hooves steady."

"If you say so."

Onyx took a long pull, then slammed a hoof onto the desk with growl.

"I hate this!" he snapped. "I hate seeing her like this damn it!"

"I know," Sunburst groaned, leaning back in his seat. "But there's only so much we can do. I'm not a doctor and you're not very good at Medical Magic. All we can do is hope the doctors know what their doing and wait."

"Bucking Sombra," Onyx growled, taking another swig of his drink. "If the bastard'd let me learn field medicine I could do something."

"Or you would be grumbling about not knowing enough about modern medicine to be much help," Sunburst chuckled.

A mirthless bark of laughter filled the room at that before Onyx took another swig.

"Still," the captain sighed. "I wish I could help her.

"We all do," Sunburst sighed. "But like I said, all we can do is wait."

***

Ruby and Sapphire traded awkward glances as they watched Flurry down her twentieth milkshake in a row. While they could sympathize with her, even they thought this was a bit much. This was mirrored by the three new additions to their group as they watched the Alicorn order another drink with slacked jaws and wide eyes.

"Flurry slow down," Sapphire said exasperated as she pulled the shake away from the emotional filly. "You'll make yourself sick!"

"Give it back Sapphire," Flurry demanded, eyes a little unfocused as she reached for the drink. "You have no idea what I'm going through right now."

"And this is going to help?" Ruby asked evenly.

"Yes!" she snapped, finally managing to tear the shake out of Sapphire's grip.

Flurry was just about to inhale her latest victim when a question from Platinum made her pause.

"Are you sure?"

All eyes at the table locked onto the Pegasus as she seemed to stare straight through the Princess. Flurry's coat bristled in anger as she leveled a glare at the pony.

"What?" she spat, making the group flinch.

"Are you sure?" Platinum repeated, unfazed by the Princess' growing rage.

"Yes, I'm sure," she hissed.

"Liar."

The blunt delivery shocked the anger out of the Princess. So much so that she barely noticed it when Platinum casually took her drink.

"My teacher once told me that it isn't healthy to keep your real-self hidden all the time. Talk to your friends. We'll do what we can to keep other ponies from eavesdropping, so don't worry too much about that."

"Thanks Platinum," Ruby smiled as the trio left the table, one of them still holding Flurry's shake.

"No problem," she said, a small smile forming on her muzzle.

With that, the three fillies separated and took seats a couple tables away from the Princess and her friends. Flurry took in the sight with a faint smile before casting tired glances at her friends.

"She seems nice," Flurry sighed.

"She's getting there," Sapphire sighed. "She can be a bit of a headache sometimes, but she's a lot better then she used to be."

Ruby nodded, then said, "Now talk."

Flurry sighed, then told them what happened to Alto. While they were happy that he was going to recover, they worried how he was going to react to being in The Empire. Just meeting two new ponies was a herculean task in and of itself for him, but a whole kingdom?

"What are they going to do when he wakes up?" Ruby asked.

"Well, mom and dad want to let him live in the castle, but I don't think that'll work."

"No kidding," Sapphire sighed. "And if he's as bad as you say, you can't just send him back to the caves. No wonder you're so stressed."

"Yeah," she sighed. "And the dreams haven't been helping."

"Dreams?" they asked.

"Yeah," she mumbled, staring at the table. "They always start out the same. I come into the cave and find Alto on the floor, but then it changes."

"How so?" Ruby asked, a trace of hesitation in her voice.

Flurry gulped, then continued.

"Sometimes, he'll fade away. Sometimes he'll turn into ice and melt away. Once I called Aunty Twilight and she just blasted him. But the worst is when I find him...and...he's already....."

Tears choked the last of her words as she completely fell apart between her two friends. They threw their hooves around her in a double embrace as they helped the shaken Princess ride through her tears. In time, the tide of tears started to ebb and Flurry could think somewhat clearly again.

"Better?" Ruby asked, rubbing comforting circles into her friend's back.

"A little," she sniffled. "Thanks."

"Anytime," Sapphire smiled.

"I think I owe Platinum an apology too," she sighed, only to groan as her face started to turn a nasty shade of green. "But first, I think I'm gonna be sick!"

A bright flash of magic was all the warning the twins got when their friend vanished. A minute later, loud retching sounds could be heard coming from the little filly's room.

"I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing," Sapphire cringed as she stared at the restroom door.

"Both I guess," Ruby frowned. "Hopefully, we can help her get through this."

"Yeah," Sapphire sighed.

***

The room was quiet, the only disturbance being the gasping breaths of the bed-bound colt at its heart and the hoofsteps of a nurse looking over him. It had been two weeks since the colt was brought to the castle for treatment. Since then, nurses and doctors were made to work in shifts to keep him under constant observation. This allowed them to give Shining and Cadence constant updates on his condition.

The nurse gave the sleeping colt a sad sigh as she took the wet rag off of his forehead. As she swirled it around in a nearby bowl of cold water, she couldn't help but marvel at the colt's stranger attributes. Forcing herself to focus for not the first time, she fetched the rag and got ready to reapply it to the colt's forehead and change his IV bags. With her tasks completed, she made her way through the room's exit to tell one of the guards to find her replacement for the day. When the door closed behind her, the sound of sheets moving filled the room. Alto pulled himself into a sitting position, his rag falling to the floor with a wet splat. Slowly, his eyes opened to reveal hazy emerald irises.

A slow, haunting howl filled the castle, a cold breeze not far behind that sent a chill down the spines of everypony it touched.

Flurry

Color! Shapes! Shining walls. No cold. Not ice! New. New is dangerous! Screams. Others. Others are dangerous! Not cold ice is dangerous! Not cold ice hard under hooves. Echoes. Echoes of screams. Hot. So hot! Burning! Burning is danger! Moving shapes is new. Moving color is new. New is danger! Attack danger! Head spinning. Danger. Danger! DANGER!!! So hot. Kill hot. Hot will kill. Must kill hot! New Echoes. New is danger! Attack! Attack!!! ATTACK!!!

Find cold. Cold is normal. Normal safe. Cold ice safe. Find cold ice. Make cold. Cold. Flurry. Find Flurry. Flurry warm. Good warm. Soft feathers. Soft good. Good is normal. Flurry is normal. Flurry is safe.

"F-F-Flurry," Alto growled, hooves unsteady as he walked out of a hall flooded with ice and rubble.

***

The throne room was a chaotic mass of activity as guards and castle staff scrambled in a panic. Maids and butlers from the castle's east wing were in hysterics as medical staff tended to their injuries while the guards tried to relay information to both Prince Shining and Captain Onyx as quickly as possible. All the while, Princess Cadence tried to maintain some semblance of order among the members of the castle's staff that came from the unaffected wings. A full blown riot looked to be on the horizon. Flurry froze as she watched her fellow ponies act like scared, cornered animals. All the while, she could feel her friend's magic running wild throughout the castle.

"ENOUGH!!!" Shining demanded, slamming his hoof into the ground as his own version of the Royal Whee echoed through the room.

Everypony froze in the face of one of their ruler's anger as he rose from his throne.

"Captain Onyx, front and center!" he barked.

"Sir!" he called back, body ridged as he teleported in front of his lord.

"Form the guards we have into two groups. One group will be in charge of escorting non-combatants out of the castle until this matter can be resolved. The other will go to the castle's east wing and rescue any trapped or injured ponies. Should they encounter the hostile they are not permitted to use lethal means to bring him down. Is that understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" he called, only to smile as he added. "Though I don't think we need to worry about the little guy too much."

"Why's that?" Shining asked.

"Goldy," he chuckled. "That's why."

***

Alto stumbled through the halls without aim, his eyes glowing green and cheeks flushed blue with fever. Howling winds surrounded him like a small tempest as the walls and floor around him became caked in ice. Heavy pants poured past his muzzle as his unfocused eyes scanned his environment.

Flurry...Flurry...Flurry...

"There you are," a cloaked figure said as they stepped into the hall.

Alto paused, his muddled brain struggling to process what he was looking at. To him, a black blob with flecks of gold in the middle was moving towards him. The blob's voice was unfamiliar to him, and it filled him with dread.

New. New was danger. Attack. Attack! ATTACK!!!

A haunting wail filled the hall as Alto let out a blast of sound at the figure. She quickly jumped to the side and charged forward. When she made the one foot mark, a soft click could be heard as a wrist blade on her left forehoof activated. The second she was in range, she took a swing at him only to be thrown back into a nearby wall. She let out a frustrated growl as she pulled herself out of the small crater the impact made just in time to avoid a hail of ice blades. More blades came as she elegantly danced around the projectiles with the grace of a leaf in a windstorm. Another blast of sound came flying at her as Alto's fever-driven mind pushed him to find a way to end his threat, only for the unstable attack to shatter on contact with Gold's wrist knife. He let out a feral howl as more blasts of sound flew towards the lieutenant. At the same time, Gold struggled to find an opening to capitalize on.

Damn. He may be running on instinct, but those instincts are very keen! At this rate, it will be next to impossible to tranquilize him.

She risked a quick glance at the blade on her forehoof and grimaced. The tranquilizer rune on the blade was already starting to fade. If she didn't find a way to end this soon, she was going to have to resort to less efficient ways to get the job done.

Ice and sound met steel and tact as the two warriors clashed with everything they had. The hall was turned into the sight of an arctic storm with two ponies seemingly dancing in its heart. Alto was too delirious to know what was going on, but Gold knew that this couldn't go on forever. One of them was going to make a mistake. One way or another. Little did she know just how soon that time was going to come.

Alto let out a roar as spikes of ice burst out of the ground in front of him in a wide wave towards her. Her eyes widened and a single thought passed through her mind just before the frozen blades closed in on her.

Shit!

A scream of agony filled the air along with the sound of tearing meat and cloth. Alto stared at the gored remains as life started to fade from the mare's bright orange eyes, a growing pool of blood puddling on the ice covered floor.

***

"Let me go!" Flurry yelled, struggling against the bonds of her father's magic as she pulled herself towards the throne room doors.

"Flurry! Stop!" Shining growled, hooves slowly dragging across the floor as he tried to hold her back. "Let Gold handle this! She's more then-"

"NO!" she grunted, forcing herself to take a step forward. "H-He needs me!"

"How do you know that?" Cadence asked, desperately trying to talk her daughter down.

"I-I just DO!" she grunted, finally managing to take two steps through Shining's telekinetic grip. "Now let...me...GO!"

Shining's grip finally shattered as the young Princess' magic suddenly flared around her. She wasted no time as she bolted towards the doors, only to be caught in a barrier just short of her goal. A frustrated growl slipped past her lips as she let loose a blast of magic into the barrier.

"Flurry, calm down," Cadence begged, her heart breaking as she watched her daughter slam against her confines. "I know that this isn't easy for you, but you need to let the guards handle this. They know what their doing and will do everything in their power to stop Alto before he hurts himself. He'll be fine."

"No," she whimpered. "You don't get it. If the guards come at him the wrong way, they'll die!"

"What?" Shining asked, blinking in shock at such a claim.

"His mom taught him how to use his magic to survive, even if it means killing somepony. Nopony in The Empire knows how to use Cryomancy but me and he trusts me. So please, just let me go."

Shining stared at her and with a sigh, dropped his barrier.

"Go," he groaned. "We'll catch up as soon as we can."

"Thanks dad," she smiled, then wrenched the throne room doors open.

As the doors shut behind her, Cadence gave her husband a questioning look. The Prince answered with a sigh as he summoned his armor and spear to his side.

"She couldn't've fallen for a normal pony," he grumbled as he fastened his helmet into place. "It had to be some cave pony from Celestia knows where."

Cadence chuckled as she helped him secure his peytral.

"She's our daughter Shining. Since when has anything been normal in our families."

"Right," he sighed, securing his left vambrace. "Looks like the family curse is still going strong."

"And there's no sign of that ever changing," she giggled.

***

Alto stared blankly at Gold's corpse for a moment, then let out a cough as he turned away from it to continue his quest. He had barely took three steps when what sounded like shattering glass made him turn again. One of Gold's forelegs hung limp, a large icicle still running through it just below her elbow. Another snap filled the air as her other leg broke free from its confides. Then, a loud series of snaps filled the air as the gold coated mare tore herself away from the ice blades, pieces still lodged in her body as she landed on the floor.

"Fantastic," she grumbled as she examined the now tattered condition of her cloak. "Now I am going to have to schedule a trip to Ponyville. Rarity will not be happy."

She casually pulled an ice blade out of her neck as she cast the destroyed article of clothing aside. In doing so, her golden coat glistened in the light of the castle's chandeliers. Her silver mane and tail was cut short and wild with waves that covered one of her orange eyes. An anvil wrapped in golden vines was displayed proudly at the center of a ring of runes on her flanks along with the countless scars from past battles that dotted her coat. She barely reacted as she plucked the enchanted ice blades out of her body like weeds, the wounds rapidly closing behind them as she spat them into the crimson puddle beneath her.

Alto stared at the mare in confusion, what few parts of his mind that still functioned unable to understand why the strange gold blur in his vision was still moving.

"Well, I suppose this makes things a little easier," she sighed. "It's much easier for me to replace flesh and bone then clothing after all."

"Why...moving?" Alto rasped.

"Hm?" she asked, then smiled as she said, "You want to know why I'm not dead? Well, that's a bit of a long story, but let's just say that's something I'm not allowed to do. That's why they call me Gold Vine the Undying I suppose."

Alto let out a savage snarl as he conjured yet another cluster of ice blades and fired them at her. Gold stared at the incoming barrage with a smile as she casually weaved around them. Seeing this, the colt let out a blast of sound at her that she cut away with her blade before attempting to close the gap between them. Just as she moved within striking range, he jumped back and fired another blast of sound. She screamed, her foreleg dislocated at the shoulder as she was thrown back by the attack. A soft crunch filled the room as her leg healed herself before she landed on all fours ten feet away. A second later, more ice blades flew at her only to be knocked aside by her wrist dagger.

This isn't working, she thought, dodging yet another sound blast. Even if his fever is slowing him down, his instincts are too sharp. I need a better way to tranquilize him, and fast!

A small splash by her hoof caught her attention and a small smile spread across her muzzle.

A bit macabre, but it will do.

Quickly, she poured as much of her magic as she could into her blade and jammed it into the puddle of blood. The blade glowed as what was left of the Sleeper Rune's magic transferred to the puddle. The blood then shifted and slithered like a snake as it traveled up the blade to her foreleg until the entire puddle was now coiled around the limb. The parts that covered her leg hardened and morphed into pitch-black armor while the blood that coated her weapon stayed in its liquid state as it hugged the blade.

With a pleased smile she charged at her opponent yet again. Alto let out a howling roar as he fired another sound blast at the mare. The attack slammed harmlessly into the armor as she continued her three legged charge. The second she was in range, she swung out with her dagger. He jumped back, but just as the blade was about to miss, the blood on the blade sprang forth and added an extra four inches to the blade. A pained whine filled the air as the weapon scraped across Alto's barrel.

There! Now I just need to wait for the Sleeper Rune to take effect.

Her smile shifted into a confused frown as Alto continued his assault. Normally, when a pony is effected by the Sleeper Rune they start to get groggy before finally succumbing to it after a few minutes. Instead of instantly tiring, he seemed to grow more agitated by the second. She jumped back just in time to avoid getting a part of her muzzle bitten off. Wild winds filled the hall as the sick colt's fury seemed to grow. Gold channeled some of her magic into her blood armor and willed it into covering both of her forelegs. A second later a barrage of sound blasts soared towards her. She quickly fell to her haunches and punched the first incoming attack. More came and the mare battered them aside like flies, all the while waiting for the full effects of her rune to kick in. After three minutes of this, she started to grow concerned.

What is going on? It should've taken effect by now.

She squinted past the incoming attacks and whirling gales.

What she saw surprised her.

The colt's eyes were barely open as he continued his assault, seemingly fighting against the rune's power by sheer force of will. She marveled for a moment at the feat before refocusing on the task at hoof.

Okay, this posses a problem. I might need to hit him more than once, but if I hit him too many times he might slip into a coma. No, I need to wait him out, but how much farther can he push himself before his fever kills him? Come on Gold, think! What can I do to get him to calm down enough to let the rune do its work?!

No sooner had that thought crossed her mind did a voice familiar to everypony in the castle enter the fray.

"Alto!"

The raging colt froze, then shakily turned his head towards the source of the voice. Gold did he same and was greeted by the sight of a panting Princess Flurry Heart. All aggression faded out of the colt's features as he staggered towards her. A soft smile graced Flurry's lips as she met him half way. Gold stayed on guard as she watched, ready to jump into the fray should things head south. After all while she was immortal, Flurry wasn't quite there yet.

"F-Flurry," Alto said, a heavy slur distorting his speech.

"It's okay Alto," she smiled. "I'm right here.

The tired colt nodded, then made the last two steps needed to get to her before the Sleeper Rune's power became too much for him to beat. As he fell, Flurry caught him in her forelegs and held him close. For some time they stayed like that, with Flurry gently stroking his back as he grew more and more limp in her embrace. A soft snoring broke the silence as Alto finally fell into a deep sleep in her forelegs.

More hoofsteps filled the hall as two new ponies entered the former battlefield.

"Is he okay?" Cadence asked, approaching the two hugging ponies.

"Y-Yeah," Flurry smiled. "He's okay."

"Not quite," Shining frowned, pointing at Alto's barrel. "He needs to get that looked at."

Flurry looked were her father was pointing and gasped.

A long gash bled from Alto's left side all the way down to his navel. The young Alicorn leveled a sharp glare at Gold.

She shrugged helplessly at her and said, "It wasn't as if he gave me many options."

Flurry sighed before she shifted Alto's position in her grip to get a better look at the wound.

"Looks like a light scratch," Shining said, carefully examining the cut. "I should be able to take care of this."

As he said that, his horn glowed and the wound slowly closed. As he worked, Cadence took note of how Flurry was acting around the colt. A wide grin spread across her muzzle as many possibilities started to form in her head at what this could mean. More importantly, she wondered what kind of grand foals would come out of this in a few years. Flurry noticed the look on her mom's face and glared at her in a way that only an embarrassed teen could manage.

"Mom, no," she growled.

"W-What?" Cadence asked. "I haven't done anything."

Flurry gave her mother a deadpan then said, "I know that look. Its the "I wonder what that mare's wedding dress size is," look."

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about," she stammered, avoiding eye contact as her cheeks reddened.

"Right," Flurry sighed, staring down at her unconscious friend. "Whatever you say."

***

The castle was a mass of activity again as ponies went to work trying to repair the damage from Alto's rampage. For the most part, that involved a lot of fire magic to remove all of he ice and snow in the east wing. Any other damage was relatively easy to fix thanks to contractors that Cadence and Shining requested direct from Ponyville. Meanwhile, the three High Royals stood in the one room in the east wing that managed above all odds to avoid destruction. At its heart slept the very source of the destruction just two hours ago.

"Did he have any clothes in the cave?" Cadence asked, earning a groan from her daughter and husband.

"No mom, he didn't," she grumbled behind her forehoof.

"Caddy, please stop," Shining sighed. "The poor guy has enough to deal with. The last thing he needs is a crazy mother sticking her muzzle in his business."

Both Alicorns gave him a raised brow at that.

"Hey! I'm getting better about that!" he snapped. "Mostly."

"Right," they said in unison, rolling their eyes.

"Anyway," Cadence continued, staring at the sleeping colt. "I was just thinking that, with his complexion, he would look really good in a navy-blue suit. What do you think Flurry?"

"I think that if I come in here in the middle of the night to find you measuring my coltfriend, I'm going to plan a coup."

Both of her parents gave her questioning looks at that.

"What?" she asked nervously.

"Coltfriend?" Shining asked.

"I-I meant friend!" she stammered, face turning beet red.

Shining let out a dejected sigh while Cadence giggled.

"Oh Maker take me now," Flurry groaned as she tried to hide her reddening face behind a forehoof.

A bit of movement from the bed got everyponies attention as Alto turned towards them in his sleep. A bit of fear spiked through the group as his eyes opened a little towards them.

"F-Flurry?" he asked, voice horse and dry.

"I'm right here," she smiled, gently taking one of his hooves as she came to his side.

He nodded, smiling weakly as his still hazy eyes scanned the room. He barely acknowledged Shining Armor, but that changed when his eyes landed on Cadence. Slowly, they widened with recognition before tears dotted his pillow and a sad smile formed on his muzzle. Then, just before his exhaustion could reclaim him, he said one word that left everypony speechless.

"M-Mother."

As Alto went limp, an entirely new worrying look grew on Cadence's face as she approached the sleeping colt's bedside and fell to her haunches. Flurry staggered back, reached for her stunned father's belt, and pulled his hip flask free from its holster. After taking a swig and hoofing it back to him, a single thought shot through her head that she unknowingly shared with her father.

When did life get so bucking complicated?!

Winter

The royal dinning hall was silent, save for the sound of papers rustling as one of the three ponies sitting at the dinner table sorted through a two-inch thick pile of them with her magic.

"Fascinating," Twilight smiled as she scanned through the papers floating before her. "It all makes so much sense now!"

"I was afraid of that," Shining sighed as he leaned his head back in his chair. "So, what is he?"

"That's just it," Twilight giggled, smile widening as she stacked the papers into a neat pile on the table. "There are no records of what Alto's species is, but its clear what his heritage is."

"And?" Cadence asked, anxiously leaning forward in her seat.

"He's half Siren and Windago!" she cheered.

The two royals blinked at her in shock for a second.

"What?" Cadence asked, gobsmacked.

"Well," Twilight smiled, summoning a specific set of papers from her stack. "According to these reports from Lieutenant Gold, Alto was able to use ice and sound magic in manners identical to both of the two species without any mystic aura present on his body. This implies that his magic uses his entire body as its focal point instead of a single part of the body such as a Unicorn's horn. This would also explain his predominantly carnivorous traits in addition to the inherent transformative properties I found in his magic network. He's designed to function as a deep water predator that can walk on land when needed! This is incredible! Do you know what this means?!"

"My daughter is dating a mix of two creatures that tried to end Equestria over a thousand years ago?"
Shining asked with a weary sigh.

"No! Well... yes, but this means that the two species are still alive!"

Cadence and Shining's faces paled. Noticing their reactions, Twilight's smile faltered and she returned the papers to the stack.

"Bear in mind, I don't mean that they are alive in Equestria," she clarified. "There hasn't been a reported sighting of either species in over a thousand years."

"Obviously that doesn't mean much," Shining frowned. "Alto didn't just pop out of thin air Twilight and the last pony to see a Windago is a frozen corpse somewhere in the Granite Mountains."

"True," Twilight nodded. "But how many areas in Equestria are frozen over or flooded to a degree that would be habitable for creatures like Alto or his parents? The only reason he went so long without being discovered is because so little of The Frozen North is explored and he had access to an acceptable source of food and medicine. A source that, if what Flurry's said is true, is too small to sustain a large group of creatures as big as his parents for very long. Besides, the records don't hold back on details of how protective Windagos are of their foals. If there was a large colony of either creature in the area, Flurry never would've needed to call me."

Cadence and Shining let out sighs of relief at that. After everything that happened a month ago, the last thing they needed was an attack from legendary ice or sea monsters.

"Why were they here to begin with?" Cadence asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Twilight shrugged. "Aside from the climate, I can't think of anything that would draw a Windago to the Frozen North."

"So to sum it all up," Cadence frowned. "What we have here is an orphaned foal with nowhere to go aside from an unforgiving wasteland that they only have a chance to survive in thanks to a select set of natural abilities, correct?"

Twilight nodded.

Cadence turned towards her husband, eyes pleading for something that only made sense to the two of them. He sighed and flopped his head into the table as he caved to his wife's machinations.

"I already told you I'm fine with it," he sighed through the table. "You didn't need to do the face for this Caddy."

"Just wanted to make sure," she said, puppy dog pout replaced with a wide smile.

"I really feel bad for him," Twilight sighed as she stared at the stack of data in front of her. "Losing his mother at such a young age and having to survive for years in absolute solitude? There's no way I would've been able to do it."

"She taught him well while she could," Shining sighed as he pulled his face away from the table. "Most trained guards have a difficult time lasting a day out there and he did it for years. I can only imagine the kind of things he had to go through to get that strong."

"He's very well spoken for somepony that never went to school," Cadence added. "I wonder how much of that was from Flurry's lessons."

"Lessons?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, Cadence giggled. "Apparently, his mother never got around to teaching him how to read, so Flurry spent most of their time together teaching him. According to her, he didn't even know what books were before their lessons."

"WHAT?!" Twilight squawked, eyes wide and mouth hanging open in shock.

"Makes sense," Shining shrugged. "It's not like there was a library out in the frozen wastes or anything."

"No, no, NO!" Twilight snapped, instantly summoning a scroll, quill, and ink pot with her magic.

She frantically scribbled across the paper, all the while muttering, "Not going to let a foal be denied the beauty of books! I need to ask Flurry what she's exposed Alto to and take it from there. Maybe I can ask Spike if he has any recommendations before I leave. Assuming he can pull himself away from his marefriend of course."

"Pardon?" Cadence asked.

"Nothing!" Twilight said quickly, rolling up the scroll and setting it down on the table. "Anyway, I'm surprised your archives have so much information on Windagos and Sirens."

"So are we," Shining said, staring at the thirty ten-foot tall stacks of books and scrolls behind his sister. "They must've been pretty common up here at one point."

"Yeah," she said, frowning as she stared at the books. "Remind me to thank Sunburst for helping me find all of these."

"Where is Sunburst anyway?" Cadence asked.

"Well, let's just say he might be using some vacation days," Twilight chuckled awkwardly .

***

Starlight sighed as she stared at her sleeping coltfriend, a small puddle of drool forming on the sofa's armrest as he snored like a lawnmower.

Really Twilight, she thought with a sigh as she picked up the comatose stallion with her magic. Three days? Three days?! I know Sunburst knows The Empire's royal archives like the back of his hoof, but did you have to trap him in there for three days and nights straight?!

"Not everypony can go a week without sleep, you know," she muttered as she walked into the bedroom she shared with Sunburst.

She sighed as she tucked the near dead stallion in, then stepped out of the room to let him rest. As she made her way back to the living room, her mind ran through recent events and their possible ramifications. Needless to say, things looked like they were going to be a bit more exciting for a while.

"Who do I have to kill to get a dull moment?" she muttered to herself, a humorless laugh slipping past her muzzle as she flopped into the sofa. "I might as well've stayed in Ponyville at this rate!"

***

Gold sighed as she stood in front of her bedroom mirror, brush in hoof slowly trying to work her mess of a mane into some semblance of order. She was well aware by now just how much of a futile battle it was, but still enjoyed doing it when she had time to kill. The feel of the tool sorting through her mane helped her relax when the stress of her duties started to get to her. Of course, she had other ways to relax during her days off.

"Hey Goldy," Onyx smirked, letting himself into the room.

A soft smile graced her lips as she turned to face her husband.

"Hi Onyx. Off of patrol early today?"

Chuckling, he closed the gap between them and they shared a chaste kiss.

"Not much to do now that all the excitement's over."

He glanced at her nightstand and noticed a written letter. A mischievous smirk grew on his muzzle when he noticed an unused envelope laying next to it.

"You still haven't sent the letter?"

Gold frowned and turned back to her vanity's mirror.

"I'll get around to it," she grumbled as she ran her brush through her mane.

"Honey, it's been three weeks," he said flatly. "I doubt Rarity's going to give you that much hassle over what happened to your cloak."

She froze mid-brush, then set said tool down onto the vanity's table as she leveled a flat glare at her husband's reflection.

"You clearly never met the mare. One time, I brought my cloak in for repairs and she was in near hysterics over a small blood stain on the collar! When she sees the state it's in now, she'll skin me alive and turn my hide into a designer dress!"

"Yikes," he cringed. "Sounds like a real piece of work."

"And she wonders why she's still single," she muttered.

Onyx laughed at that then rested his head on top of her's as he hugged her from behind.

"How's your body recovering?"

She sighed, then leaned back into him as she enjoyed his warmth and the smell of ash that followed him like a relentless stalker.

"Slowly. Even with my curse reversing the damage, I can still feel the ice and frostbite. I suppose lungs and hearts take longer to recover from frost damage then stomachs."

A bitter laugh slipped past her muzzle as she added, "The Maker must be laughing their plot off right now. I crossed a scaled pony in the past and I burned, now I do it again and I am skewered by ice. What a cosmic comedy my life is."

Onyx flashed a crooked smile as he let his head slide from the top of her head to her cheek as he nuzzled her and said, "You know, I can help you forget all that for a couple hours."

A playful smile formed on Gold's muzzle as she locked eyes with her husband's reflection.

"Really? And what form of sorcery to you possess that can do that?"

His smile grew as he gave her cheek a soft kiss.

"Let me show you."

***

Eight foals slowly navigated the halls of the crystal castle, the castle's youngest Alicorn occupant leading the herd with purpose and an excited smile. While Ruby, Sapphire, and Opal were mostly unfazed by the castle's splendor, the rest of the group were not quite as reserved.

"This is so AWESOME!" Quartz gawked, zipping to random points of the hall.

"Y-Yeah," Platinum muttered, her posture stiff as she followed her new friends.

"Are you okay Platinum?" Sherbet asked from her left.

Platinum nodded.

"I'm fine," she smiled.

Meanwhile, her mind was running at a thousand miles an hour as she struggled to process what was happening.

The palace! I am in the PALACE! Must make a good impression! Must not insult Princess Cadence or Prince Shining Armor! I am in the PALACE! I AM IN THE PALACE!!!

Sunday placed a comforting hoof on her friend's shoulder.

Opal looked took a moment to look away from his friend doing a perfect imitation of a spastic hummingbird to give the newest members of their group a cautious glance over his shoulders.

"It would appear that this is their first time here as well," he noted.

"Yeah," Sapphire snorted from his right. "But trust me, the place gets old fast."

He nodded, then asked, "What is Alto like?"

A cheshire's grin spread across her muzzle as she aimed a knowing look at the pony whispering with her sister in front of her.

"What's he like Flurry?"

Ruby let out an exasperated sigh as she gave her sister a flat frown while the only reaction she got out of the Alicorn was a flick of her ear.

"A really good friend," was all Flurry said as she guided the group further into the castle's east wing.

Opal nodded and decided to let the topic drop. One thing his father taught him when it came to mares was that when they didn't want to talk about something, it was usually a wise move to drop it. Considering this was an Alicorn of all ponies, an extra level of caution seemed most appropriate.

After a few minutes of mostly silent walking, the visiting ponies started to notice a slight dip in temperature.

"Whoa, what the heck?" Quartz asked, finally returning to the ground.

"Right," Flurry chuckled as she continued to lead the group. "I guess I forgot to tell you all. Alto likes it cold, so the whole east wing is a lot colder than the rest of the castle. It'll take some getting use to, but I promise you'll be okay."

Reassured by the Princess' words, the newcomers continued to follow her down the hall. As they walked, the cold continued to grow. Soon, they were able to see their breath as they rounded a corner onto a sight that made all but Flurry stop and stare.

One of the rooms had a door that was framed in solid ice with small icicles hanging from the ornate doorknobs. A thick footlong carpet of snow stretched past the door like a welcome mat to all who came to visit. A slight fog filled the air with a small prism of color that bounced off of the walls like a chromatic pinball. Flurry took in their gobsmacked expressions with a giggle as she casually walked towards the door.

"You should see what it looks on the inside," she smiled.

Her friends shook off their shock and trotted after her. Once everypony was present, she turned the frozen knob and opened the door. They were instantly greeted by burst of fog as winter air surged past them, earning a wave of shivers from the group.

"Whew! That'll wake you up!" Quartz chuckled, fluffing his feathers.

Platinum nodded, while the non-winged members of the group battled a bad case of the shivers. Their jaws hit the floor when they saw what laid beyond the threshold.

The room had the bare essentials in terms of furniture. A bed sat at the heart of the room with a wardrobe in the left corner opposite of the door and a vanity set against the wall to the group's right. All of that were minor details compared to the the room's sole inhabitant's choice in decoration. The whole floor was covered in fresh snow that crunched under their hooves as they stepped into room. Icicles hung from every ledge or high place like downward growing flowers on the outer perimeter of the walls and ceiling. The wardrobe and vanity were incased in a thick layer of ice that caught the light from the room's only window like the crystals that made up the castle itself. The bed was buried under a thick blanket of snow as light from the frozen chandelier in the room's vaulted ceiling above it added to the spectral light show. Curled up at the center of the snow-bed with a book open in front of him was the one responsible for the room's current condition.

"Hey Alto," Flurry smiled as she left her stunned party by the door.

Alto flinched slightly as his attention jumped out of his book and towards the Princess approaching him.

"Hello Flurry," he smiled as he hopped out of his bed to meet her. "Is it time for today's less-"

He trailed off as he took note of the other ponies behind her. More specifically, the new ponies in the group. Alto's posture stiffened slightly as he tried to put Flurry between him and the group. The action earned a sad smile from the Alicorn as she gently placed a hoof on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

"It's okay Alto. Nopony here is going to hurt you. These are Ruby and Sapphire's friends. They're good ponies, like me. You don't need to be afraid of them."

Slowly, the tension started to fade, but it didn't disappear completely. At the very least, it had shifted from fear to caution as she lead the nervous colt towards the group. An encouraging smile from Ruby and Sapphire helped add to his courage as the distance between him and the group shrank.

"Everypony, this is Alto," Flurry said, gesturing to Alto. "Alto, these are Opal Heart, Quartz Mark, Sherbet, Sunday, and Platinum Scales."

As she said each name, the pony in question either nodded or waved at him. In the case of Platinum Scales however, the filly decided to do something a bit more formal as she greeted the Princess' friend. She approached him with wings spread and bowed before him in a manor more commonly demonstrated when one greeted Princess Celestia.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Alto," she said as she smoothly shifted back into a full stand.

He blinked in confusion at her for a moment, then smiled as he mimicked her actions.

"It is a pleasure to meet you as well Platinum Scales," he said, still smiling as he pulled out of his kneel.

It was Platinum's turn to look confused as she stared at the smiling colt. Meanwhile, Ruby and Quartz were struggling to keep themselves from bursting into laughter. Platinum's feathers fluffed nervously as nerves she was still getting used to having started to get to her. Alto noticed and took a step back from her, smile melting into a concerned frown.

"I'm sorry if I did something wrong. I'm still learning how to talk to ponies."

"N-No," she stammered, an embarrassed blush coloring her cheeks. "I-I just wasn't expecting you to do something like that."

At that moment, Sunday and Sherbet came to her sides and gave her encouraging nods. She took a deep breath and with much more confidence said, "I am starting to rediscover parts of myself that I kept buried for a long time. The transition has made me a little awkward, but I think I will be better off for it in the future."

"I see," he said, smile back as he retook a step towards her. "That's good. I wish you the best."

"Thanks," she smiled.

"Hey are those scales?" Quartz asked, getting closer to Alto to get a better look. "Dude, that's so cool!"

"U-Um...Thank you?" he said, not quite sure how he was supposed to react to the smiling Pegasus' comment.

Flurry giggled as she explained what Quartz said meant. Opal rolled his eyes good-naturedly as he added himself to the conversation.

"Don't mind him," Opal chuckled. "He's a good friend, but don't go along with any of his schemes unless one of us is in the room."

"Ha, ha," Quartz smirked, giving the Unicorn a playful elbow jab.

As the group mingled, Platinum, Sherbet, and Sunday broke away from the group. As they watched the group two feet away banter, they couldn't help but marvel at their new addition's appearance.

"What exactly is he?" Sherbet asked, intrigued. "Do you think he's half dragon?"

"I don't think so," Sunday said. "Dragon's hate the cold. Maybe Kirin?"

"But he doesn't have a horn," Sherbet protested.

"Well regardless of what he is, he seems like a good guy" Sunday smiled. "Right Platinum?"

"Huh?" Platinum said, blinking owlishly at her two friends before nodding and staring at the mysterious colt.

They shrugged, then returned to pony-watching. Unbeknownst to them, a soft smile formed on Platinum's muzzle as a light blush colored her face as she stared at the colt with the white scales.

Aria

Sunlight peaked past the horizon into a massive room made of crystal and ice. At its heart stood a giant round table with four thrones arranged like the four points of a compass. Outside, the sounds of crashing waves and seagulls could be heard in the distance. Four equinoid figures entered the room, two of which were a whole head taller than Celestia herself while the remaining two were a foot taller then them.

"There better be a good reason you woke us up this early Notus," one of the taller equinoids said, his voice deep and full of irritation as he took his seat at the north.

"I think you might like this news Boreas," the other tall equinoid, Notus said with a soft voice full of mischief as he took his seat in the south.

"I hope you can deliver on that promise," one of the shorter equinoids said, her tone bitter as she took her seat in the table's east side.

"Let's hear him out Eurus," the remaining figure said, her tone calm and collected as she took her seat in the west.

"Whatever Zephyrus," Eurus snapped casting a glare at the southern chair. "I'm just saying what you're all thinking."

"Anyway!" Notus shouted. "I think I know where our lost grandson might've wound up."

All the room's inhabitants froze, shock evident even in the dim light of early dawn in each of their features.

"I swear if this is one of your pranks-"

"I would never make a joke out of this Eurus,"Notus growled. "Even I have limits."

"Where is he?" Boreas demanded.

"The last place we would think to look."

As he said that, the table before them started to glow. On its surface was an image of a city made of crystal. Boreas stared at the image for a moment, then aggressively jumped to his hooves.

"Let's not waste anymore time! Gather both the Banshees and the Frosts! It is time we finally meet our lost grandson!"

"DAMN STRAIGHT!" Eurus cheered, all irritation purged from her voice in favor of excitement as she jumped to her hooves.

"He's alive," Zephyrus whispered, voice choked with happy tears as she reached a hoof out towards the image.

"I knew you guys would like what I had to say," Notus said, his proud smirk audible as he rose from his throne.

One by one the four figures stepped out of the throne room, the sun coming past the window just enough to catch a glint of scaled hind leg and a waving etherial tail as the last member of their group stepped past the threshold.

Author's Note

And that's all for Winter Aria. Man this was a pain in the neck to work on, but thanks to all of you out there this I was able to get this done. Now I'm going to finish The Gaps in F R I E N D S H I P and once that's done, I'll get to work on the next story in the series. Hope you guys are looking forward to Spring Symphony when that comes to print. Peace out everypony!

update

For those of you who wanted to know Gold Vine's backstory, I have good news for you. The following is a link to a prequel fic that will do just that! As for a direct sequel to Winter Aria, that will be made soon as well now that The Gaps in F r i e n d s h i p has been completed. Until then, I hope you all enjoy what I have in store for you all.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/480553/the-golden-trail