Times of Woe

When Old Timeotheus was still in power, there were many reforms and programs set in place to make Cantermost City the most powerful of the Equestrian Nations. He encouraged trade and exploration, building the harbor up to be as busy as it could become. He enhanced defenses by completing most of the wall. The southeasternmost portion was the last to be worked on, and unfortunately Old Timeotheus died before it could be completed.

Queen Celestia and Princess Luna had been trained in all the manners and formalities of royalty and continued working toward keeping up relations between theirs and other nations, but they were still ill prepared for the loss. They were still young teenagers when it happened, and suddenly found themselves in charge of a rapidly changing and growing city.

Their cousin up north, Cadance, was married to the ruler of the Crystal Empire. It wasn’t the marriage she had wanted. She always had her eyes on a particular stallion back home when she lived back in Cantermost. However, she was duty bound to create the alliance and end potential future conflict.

The resulting heir to the throne of the Crystal Empire, Gem Heart, was a spoiled child. Spoiled by his father who wanted nothing but to go out hunting rather than stay at home with his family. And when he was home, he let his son have whatever he wanted...

Rarity looked up from her desk.

It was early in the morning and she had once again fallen asleep thinking about work.

Soon, she would have to have dresses for the delegates to the Crystal Empire fully finished. She couldn’t afford having an apprentice dilly dallying through the streets during the work week, especially since they already had the weekends mandatorily off.

But it was finally the weekend.

Rarity looked behind her to make sure she wasn’t being followed. With a brief glance behind her and around the street corner, she shut the door and locked up before gliding away in her hooded cape.

She didn’t believe in keeping the shop open all week. She needed weekends like this. Weekends where she could tell all the seamsponies to leave for their own homes for a day or two. Very few shop ponies were doing it, but she wanted to do it.

It was the only time she had.

Her hooves lightly touched the cobblestone pathways as she headed toward the edge of the city.

Normally she would want to be noticed, to have all the peasants around her practically kneel before her. Cantermost was an important city, but her three feet of it was the most important.

Cantermost was an old city. Since the beginning of ponykind with Queen Aureola, there had always been some sort of rough civilization in the area. A few of the neighborhoods near the castle had been the original homes and shops, which eventually gave what they could to have the castle built.

This was a building of defiance against the unknown. The rest of the city was built to the east, toward the harbor, leaving the castle as a gate between the city and Everfree Country. It served as a helpful fortress for many years, defending against so many unknowns.

Rarity knew the city and all of its back alleys well.

She passed by a few random strangers on her way. A mint green pony and a white colored pony were looking through the flowers at the flower shop while three shop ponies tried to convince them which arrangements were best. She looked away.

Somewhere, off in the distance, a lightning bolt flashed through the sky.

As Rarity hurried along, she created a magic protective shield toward her bare hooves since the road had begun turning rocky and sharp nearing her destination.

An original graveyard lay next to an old church near the crumbling unfinished southwestern wall. The smell of fallen leaves and earthy material was everywhere and Rarity breathed it all in. Her eyes closed and her face in an intense line. She sighed.

It was the very first church in Cantermost.

Other churches sprang up elsewhere in the city over the years, leaving this one abandoned. Rarity hadn’t attended any in the city, so she couldn’t be sure if it was because of a change in religion, but it seemed more like the migration of ponies in general caused it. There weren’t any neighboring ponies for miles from here.

Certain pony families with ancestral ties to this area were still allowed to use the graveyard for their own.

Rarity walked by the scattered gravestones.

There was no plan at all to where they were placed and what sort of headstones they were. You would be afraid to even move a single rock for fear that it was the marker to an unknown peasant grave. Not that grave markers were really much more than that, but usually the better kept and more well known would have it clearly indicated.

“Sapphire Shores, born 14 BT and died 14 AT,” Rarity read out loud, “of influenza.”

This was one of Rarity’s favorites. The grave stone had dolphins and peacock feathers carved on the sides. To her, it seemed like this pony had a life of luxury and the spotlight. Several graves seemed similar to it, but she thought some were too flashy and showy.

But the one she came here to look for was a small one, with small colored glass beads on the side. It would have been too expensive and risky to put actual gems on the sides, so the family had to stick with this. Small amethyst looking beads were placed among rose colored ones in waving and curving patterns.

Rarity carefully read off the words carved on the stone. It took her a second to take a breath, but her voice was still a little shaky.

“Sweetie Belle, born 12 AT, died 15 AT.”

Her tears slipped out of her eyes and shone like gems.

Most fillies didn’t make it past childhood, but it still didn’t mean their lives were meaningless. Rarity always felt like her sister was destined for better than this.

She would visit the grave every other weekend or so but it still stung after all these years.

It still stung after their parents left for Cantermost and dragged Rarity away from the fresh gravesite. Still stung after Rarity opened her first shop and knew one pony wouldn’t be there to congratulate her. Still stung after a certain pony her sister’s age betrayed her trust. And still stung after all these years apart.