Just A Normal Day in Sequestria...
It's morning in Sequestria, as bright a morning as it can be in the deepest part of the ocean. Schools of guppies weave around my fins and tail as I dart down the narrow channels to visit my cousins, who have invited me over for a late breakfast. I'm really excited to see them - I haven't seen Silverstream in FOREVER, 'cuz she lives at that fancy school - and I'm eager to discuss all the events of the past few months over and over again with hippogriffs that will actually listen to me. I KNOW it's been, like, a YEAR since the whole thing happened with the Legion of Doom, but honestly, do things like that EVER get old? My mom would probably answer "yes" and that would be BORING, so I haven't actually asked her that question. Because no. Things like that NEVER get old.
There's just ONE thing that I REALLY, REALLY don't want to talk about.
And that's, well... let's just call it the incident.
I really, really don't want to talk about the incident.
'Why not?' you ask. 'Why would Princess Skystar NOT want to talk about something? Isn't talking, like, the whole point of her life?' Well, first of all, that is a REALLY narrow-minded view to have of me, and second of all, the whole "incident"... it was... ahem... a bit embarrassing and... a smidgen... just plain awkward. Just a little bit. Like literally just.
So, you see. I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT, for Celestia's sake. And I hope my cousins don't either or else SOMEPONY is going to EXPLODE.
Reaching the shiny opening to my aunt's house, I pause to knock on the "door", but before my hoof - fin? Hoof-fin? Swimming hoof? WHATEVER - can reach the glittery material - IS it wood? What is it, exactly? - I get yanked inside by a pair of pink hooves. Hoof-fins. SWIMMING HOOVES. That's what I like about my cousin Silverstream. She's exactly like me. I just KNOW she won't ask me any embarrassing questions. My cousin Terramar, on the other hoof... hoof-fin, I mean. Or is it swimming hoof? You know what? I don't CARE.
"SKYSTAR!" Silverstream squeals at the same time I cry "SILVERSTREAM!", wrapping me in an enormous hug. "I've missed you SO MUCH! It's been like FOREVER since we've seen eachother!"
FINALLY SOMEPONY WHO AGREES WITH ME. See? I told you. We're peas in a pod.
"I KNOW, RIGHT?!" I yell. "HOW'S FRIENDSHIP SCHOOL?! WHAT'S IT LIKE HAVING NEW TEACHERS? ARE YOU TOTALLY FREAKED OUT THAT THE LORD OF CHAOS IS ONE OF THEM?"
"Guys, we talked about all that in our meeting two weeks ago," Terramar points out in a dry tone. "And the meeting before that. And the meeting before that."
He keeps going on, but of course, we both ignore him. Two weeks is a long time.
"I learned this DELICIOUS new scone recipe from Profess - ," Silverstream began, showing me into the eating room. "I mean, just Pinkie Pie. Wow. It's SO WEIRD not calling her PROFESSOR anymore, ya know?"
I know.
"Aww, too bad we're underwater. I'd love to try them!!" I exclaim.
"That's okay. We have seaweed cakes and fish dip," Terramar replies. Both Silverstream and I look horrified, so he quickly adds, "It's not made from fish."
Silverstream laughs. "That's reassuring. C'mon, Skystar!"
We all sit down - well, float above - the woven seaweeed baskets that serve as chairs, and I hungrily look over the food. Silverstream's mom is an excellent chef and it's always fun having meals at her house, ESPECIALLY when she makes dips. Those are the BEST.
We all begin eating, Terramar immediately taking, like, a hundred of the seaweed cakes. Ok, maybe it's only FIVE of them, but honestly, what's the difference? Shelly and Sheldon would say that there isn't any, but seriously, who trusts their opinions. I mean, I can't be grouchy with Terramar today; I'm so happy just to be there with my cousins. I tell them that. Silverstream beams at me.
"Yeah... so, are we ever going to talk about... you know, the incident?" Terramar asks me.
Ok, maybe I can be just the TINIEST bit grouchy with him.
"What incident?" I ask innocently.
"You know," Terramar says, dropping his voice down to a whisper. "The one with the Dragon Lord."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I begin, before realizing that I sound way too much like Silverstream's Laughter professor, Discord. "I mean, yes, I do." That was worse. "Oh dear..."
"It's okay. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to," Silverstream tells me, glaring at her brother.
"I don't," I say shortly. That's true. THE INCIDENT IS THE LAST THING IN THE WORLD I WANT TO TALK ABOUT. But... then the thought of sharing my story with someone other than my mom is beginning to grow on me... really? Do I REALLY want to share my most embarrassing tale with Silverstream and Terramar? Well, who else would I share it with? It isn't like I have any brothers or sisters.
I realize that my cousins are looking at me expectantly.
"I just asked, do you want more tea?" Silverstream says politely.
"Yes," I say in a rather sorrowful tone.
Terramar frowns at me. "What's wrong? Don't you like the tea?"
"Oh, yes, I love the tea!" I exclaim quickly. Whoops. I went and miscommunicated. "I just wasn't saying yes. To that. I mean, I'd LOVE more tea. I wasn't, like, saying no to more tea. But I was saying yes to..." I sigh. My cousins look more confused than ever. "I want to tell you about the incident."
"Really?!" they both cry excitedly, their curiosity getting the better of them.
"Yes," I continue, "but you gotta promise not to tell a WORD of it to anypony else."
"Don't worry, cuz. Your secret's safe with us," says Silverstream faithfully.
Here goes nothing...
"It began like a perfectly normal day on Mount Aris. I woke up, ate breakfast, and went out for my usual morning flight around the mountain. I love my flights in the morning; they give me a chance to daydream without any teachers or business 'griffs yelling at me for getting in their way. I hate when THAT happens. Why do they always have to be so CROSS?
"Anyways... so, as I was saying, I was flying around the mountain when my mind caught on to a particularly juicy train of thought and I kinda lost my head to the clouds. In other words, I blanked out and my wings kept on moving without me. I have no idea how long I went on like that, but I was jolted awake by a sudden icy chill and found myself high above the Frozen Wastes, otherwise known as the Outskirts of the Crystal Empire.
"I had managed to remain at just the perfect elevation as to avoid most of the snow and frigid winds, but waking up I veered slightly off course and was quickly shoved in to the torrent of plain cold. I had never been so cold in my entire life. Shivering as I was buffeted about by the gales and snow plastered itself onto my mane, I tried flying downwards to land on the ground and find at least some amount of stability.
"That was a mistake. Soon, not only was I pestered by the snow in the air, but my feet were encased in ice as well, snow melted by the heat of my skin and then solidified again by the very, very, VERY low temperature. I couldn't rise back into the air; my wings had been completely frozen and I was afraid that I would break them. I was stuck in one of the famous blizzards of the Arctic Wastes and I literally couldn't move."
"How terrible!" Silverstream cries, horrified by my story.
"How in Mount Aris did you escape?" Terramar wonders. "Are you secretly magic?"
I shook my head. "No, but it was something like magic that saved me."
"Go on, go on!" they beg.
"Even blinded as I was by the wind and snow, I soon began to realize that I wasn't alone. About a dozen or so feet away from me I could just make out a rather dark shape, steadily moving towards me. Fearing lest it was the dark and horrible King Sombra that everypony was so afraid of, I began desperately struggling to break free, hoping that he wouldn't use one of his creepy murderous kill-ten-ponies-with-one-go mane-flips on me while I was so vulnerable."
Terramar blinked at me. "Mane-flips that kill ponies? Man, those Equestrians are weird."
"I was there when he took over," Silverstream objects, "and I saw him do nothing of the sort."
"Don't forget you were hypnotized the entire time," I tell her.
"I suppose that's true," she admits reluctantly.
"No matter what I tried, I just couldn't break free, and all the time I was struggling the dark shape was moving closer. Giving myself up to the inevitable, I opened my mouth to scream at him to go away...
"... but it didn't exactly come out the way I expected it would.
"'Gonna break free YEEAA - AAAHHH I'm running! Watch me 'ay YEEAA - AAAAH I'm running! I'M RUNNING, RUNNING WIIIILLLD -'
"'WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU SINGING ABOUT???' Dragon Lord Ember yelled angrily, coming close enough for me to both see and, regretfully, hear her.
"'Whoops!' I said in embarrassment, just loud enough to be heard over the howling of the wind. 'I thought you were King Sombra.'
"'AND WHY, EXACTLY, WOULD THAT HAVE HELPED IN THE LEAST POSSIBLE BIT - '
"'I know, right? Why the hay would I have been scared by that stupid song?' said a strange voice behind us.
"We both screamed - "
"Wait, really?" says Silverstream in awe. "Dragon Lord Ember screamed?"
"Wait, it gets better," I inform her.
"We both screamed and whirled around, but luckily there was nothing there but this strange red crystal, just standing there in the middle of the snow. It was sharp and pointed and about as high as two ponies standing on top of eachother. And, amazingly, the wind and snow seemed to swerve around it, so that it was completely "undecorated".
"I was the first to speak. 'Wow,' I said. 'I didn't see that before.'
"'Me neither,' Ember replied, staring at it in awestruck amazement. 'Wonder why the wind's avoiding it.'
"'Maybe they're having a quarrel,' I commented. Ember turned to me, a look of disbelief on her face.
"'... Seriously?'
"'Just look at it. They obviously don't like eachother.'
"'Riiiight,' said Ember, looking more weirded-out than I thought was normal. She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts and began walking towards the crystal. I grabbed her arm.
"'What?' she asked irritably, turning around.
"'What do you think you're doing?!' I hissed at her. 'That crystal just spoke in King Sombra's voice and you're going to go closer to it?!'
"'Why not?' she asked, shrugging me off of her arm. 'I, for one, am freezing, and if that rock's protected from the wind maybe it'll protect me from it too. You're welcome to tag along.' With that, she continued walking towards it.
"I didn't think it was all in all a very good idea, but I wasn't about to just let her face him - if he was there - alone. So, stomping my feet to carefully break off the ice, I followed her, filled with foreboding.
"When we reached the crystal everything happened like Ember had guessed, with no sudden attacks or ominous voices. We both huddled at the base of the rock, warming slowly up while watching all the wind and snow swerve past us. It was only when we were completely unfrozen that Ember finally decided to ask me who I was.
"'I'm Skystar, daughter of Novo, Queen of the Hippogriffs,' I said grandly.
"Ember looked at me in surprise. 'You're one of the heroes that saved us all from the Storm King?'
"'Yup,' I said proudly.
"'Wow,' she said, looking me over as if she had just seen me for the first time.
"And that's when the solid back of the crystal behind us disappeared, and we both fell, screaming, into darkness."
"Wait, what?!" Terramar cries. Silverstream simply stares at me with huge eyes.
"Yup," I say, taking a huge gulp of tea. "Into complete and utter darkness."
"Wow," Silverstream whispers, shivering. "You must have been terrified."
"Not as terrified as I was in the next few moments," I reply.
"The first thing I heard when I came to was a loud proclamation of, 'I AM DRAGON LORD EMBER! ALL WHO OPPOSE ME SHALL BE BURNED INTO A CRISP!' and a chorus of very bored-sounding "We know"s. Opening my eyes, my gaze went from Ember's blue feet, which were right in front of my face, to the strange, smoky-looking hooves of the creatures assembled in front of her. I groggily shook my head to clear it, then sprang to my feet, jaw dropping open at the absolute horrors to which those smoky hooves belonged.
"Their wings were very pretty, resembling a butterfly's in every way, but beyond that they were creatures from a nightmare. Their eyes were large and as black as a bottomless abyss, and they glittered with malice. Long snouts stuck out from their wrinkled, smoky faces, decked with dragon nostrils and rows of long, sharp fangs. Their manes were short and curled like smoke, rising into the air and slowly vanishing. Words simply can't fully capture how absolutely horrifying they were.
"'Aw, look, she's awake,' said the tallest of these, in a sickeningly sweet voice that reminded me of that pegasus who used to make deliveries to Mount Aris. What's her name. Oh, right, Sour Sweet. 'Your companion has most kindly provided us with most amusing entertainment for the past five minutes.'
"'You'll think it's pretty amusing all right when I stuff my fist into your ugly snout!' Ember yelled, making me cringe.
"'Right,' said the tall monster. 'Well, now that the hippogriff is awake, we can skip the pleasantries and move on to the fun. Can't we, girls.' The monsters behind her all laughed in the most nauseating manner, making my fur stand on end. We had to get out of there. But how? I began scanning the place for an exit while Ember continued yelling at them.
"We were in some sort of very, very large cavern, lit by multitudes of very bright moss glowing on the floors and roof. All around us were many strange, twisted houses, the homes of the monsters. High above us was a large black hole, no doubt the tunnel back to the surface. If only I could get us up there before they all caught up to us...
"I picked up a small rock in my hand while Ember was distracting them with her 'pleasantries', turning it over in my claws and trying to create a plan while half-listening to the Dragon Lord's amazingly articulate speech.
"'THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!! AN OUTRAGE, I TELL YOU! WHEN MY DRAGONS COME TO RESCUE ME THEY WILL BURN DOWN YOUR STUPID CAVERN AND YOUR STUPID HOUSES AND YOUR STUPID UGLY SNOUTS - '
"'Ember, duck!' I yelled, throwing the rock at the monsters.
"The monsters all gasped, their gazes following the rock as it flew straight over their heads. The biggest one actually stumbled back a few paces as if she had been hit by it, before blinking and turning back to us. 'Nice try, you - ' she began, before realizing with a start that we had disappeared. Only a glimpse of Ember's tail whisking up the tunnel gave them a hint where we had gone. I could hear her screams echoing through the cavern as we flew out of the crystal and tumbled into the snow, the opening to that horrid rock swinging shut behind us."
Silverstream had squeezed her eyes shut the entire time I had been telling them that part of the story, but now she opens them and looks back at me. "Wow," she gasps. "I can't believe you DID that!"
"Me neither," I admit. "And neither did Ember."
"'I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!!" Ember cried as we laid on the snow, panting. 'I take back EVERYTHING I said about you.'
"'Thanks,' I said, grinning at her. 'Um. What did you say about me?'
"She was spared an explanation as we were suddenly interrupted by the sound of running hooves. The blizzard had cleared up, for the most part, and we could clearly see the pony that was approaching us. He was wearing a dark cloak and pulling along a small wagon that seemed to contain some sort of large bundle. As he got closer we could see that he was visibly terrified.
"'RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!' he screeched. 'THE BABY'S COMING!'
"'What the hay?!' said both Ember and I as he ran past us, ditching his wagon in the process. We jumped back as it tipped over, scattering its contents across the snow. The largest of these was a lumpy black sack that looked about the size of a pony.
"'Uh, Ember...' I said just as a bright yellow light suddenly appeared in the clouds directly in front of us. 'EMBER?!'
"'What?!' Ember snapped. 'I didn't do anything.'
"The clouds parted with an enormous whooshing sound, and both Ember and I looked up in terror as something small and pink and horrifyingly terrible emerged. Its small body was cloaked in the sun itself. Its horn was alight and blazing with more magic than I have ever seen one pony use. Its eyes leaked fury and vengeance. Its giant wings seemed to be on fire with yellow light and beat ominously up and down, as if sounding the drum of death.
"'GIVE ME MY MOMMA BACK,' it bellowed.
"'Nice...baby...' I said nervously.
"It let out a terrible roar and dove down towards us, landing directly in front of my face. 'I AM NOT A BABY!' it cried. 'I AM FLURRY HEART, AND I HAVE AN INTELLECT SUPERIOR TO KING SOMBRA HIMSELF. NOW, I REPEAT. GIVE ME MY MOTHER BACK, AND I SHALL GRANT THEE THY FREEDOM. REFUSE TO DO SO, AND FIREY VENGEANCE SHALL BE RAINED DOWN UPON BOTH YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES UNTIL THE END OF TIME.'
"'We don't have Princess Cadance,' said Ember irritably. 'If you were so smart then you'd know that already.'
"'You're right,' said Flurry Heart in a surprisingly friendly and reasonable tone, all the fire and vengeance disappearing. Soon she looked like just an ordinary foal - if ordinary foals were alicorns, that is. 'Please don't tell my mom about what I said, the whole family thinks I'm just an ordinary baby and can't talk at all. Don't want to ruin that, you know, especially not for Auntie Twiley.'
"'Uh, of course not,' said Ember, looking rather bemused, at the same time I said, 'Wouldn't dream of it.'
"The alicorn went over to the large lumpy sack, gingerly untying it to reveal an unconscious Princess Cadance, bound and gagged. We both gasped, but Flurry seemed completely unaffected. She simply cut loose the ropes and disposed of them with her magic. 'Now, all we need to do is make up a story about you saving the princess, and tell it to my dad,' the foal continued.
"'Wait - what?!' cried Ember and I, but Flurry Heart had already teleported us straight into the heart of the Crystal Empire."
"Wait," Silverstream interrupts. "She teleported you guys INTO the CRYSTAL HEART?!"
"No, just to the center of the Crystal Empire," I laugh. "Directly underneath the castle."
"Ohhhh... so, what happened next?"
"Wait a second," I say. "I need to get a bit more tea."
Author's Note
I liked the idea of Ember and Skystar becoming good friends so I decided to write a short story about that. It isn't going to be any long, epic saga - three chapters at most - but I think ya'll might enjoy it anyways. :D
