In the darkness, a large package rattled and shook. The sounds became a rhythmic thudding, which grew louder and louder. Finally, a hoof poked out through the side of the package.
A knife and a pair of scissors enlarged the hole, until a unicorn filly's head peeked out. The filly's horn softly glowed.
"I don't see anypony, just some more packages. I think we're in a storage room."
"Good!" said a mare inside the package. "Is everything crystal?"
The filly looked around. "The walls are made of crystal. Some of the furniture is made of crystal. But I don't think the packages and envelopes are made of crystal? Well, mostly not."
Dinky reached out with one hoof, and touched a translucent, shiny box. It fell over, shattering noisily along with the fragile vase that had been packed inside it. "There WAS a crystal package? But I guess now there isn't."
"Close enough," the unseen mare said. "Can you read any of the addresses on the packages?"
"Crystal Castle...Crystal Castle...looks like everything's for the Crystal Castle, Crystal Empire."
"Good. We should be in the Crystal Palace's mailroom." With more tearing and ripping and kicking, the mare struggled out of the other end of the torn package, revealing herself as Derpy.
Lights came on, and a crystal guardpony approached. "Who goes there?" he shouted.
Derpy asked him, "Are we in the Royal Crystal Castle, Crystal Empire?"
"Intruders! What are you doing in the Crystal Castle's mailroom?"
Derpy smiled guilelessly. "It's a secret."
"Identify yourselves! Who are you?"
"Secret!" Derpy insisted. "The letter says it's a secret. But have somepony describe us to Princess Cadance or Prince Shining Armor. They should know who we are."
"Why won't you save us some time, and tell me yourselves who you are?"
Derpy's eyes wobbled. "What part of SECRET don't you understand? We were asked to come here SECRETLY. So tell Cadance and Shining Armor that we're here!"
Two more guardponies joined the first. "Was I hearing correctly?"
The third guard said, "You two guard these ponies we found sneaking around. I'll go make sure the royal couple get the message. Maybe they'll have something to say about this."
Derpy insisted, "They certainly will!"
***
About fifteen minutes later, Shining Armor walked into the room, wearing his full formal uniform for state occasions. He grinned. "I hear we have some very special mail."
"Twilight's brother?" Dinky Hooves said. "You're a prince?"
"Prince Shining Armor, Royal Consort of Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire." He looked at the two ponies who had infiltrated the royal castle. "Haven't I seen you two in Ponyville?"
"I think so," Dinky said. "I've seen you visiting Twilight. Wow, is everypony in your family a prince or a princess?"
"Our mom and dad aren't. I guess our royalty isn't THAT hereditary, even if my daughter Flurry Heart is a princess too." He reached out a hoof to muss Dinky's mane. "So to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"
Derpy used her mouth to pass a scroll to the prince. Shining levitated the letter to unroll it. "Seems legit," he said. "It looks like the scroll Cadance and I sent out. How did you receive this?"
"Our house caught fire," Dinky said. "It was a strange green flame. After my mommy and I grabbed buckets and put it out, there was this scroll where the fire had started."
Shining looked embarrassed. "Sorry about that. We wouldn't have done that, but we didn't know who you were."
Dinky shouted, "You set our house on fire because you didn't know who we were? That's the worst excuse I ever heard!"
"I'm very sorry. How IS your house? We could send repairponies to fix it."
Derpy snorted. "We replaced the burnt roof thatch already. But why did you set our house on fire?"
Shining explained, "It was very important that we reach you. But we didn't know..." He looked at Dinky. "Is this your daughter, Mare'm?"
"She certainly is," Derpy said.
Shining sidled up close to Derpy, and whispered. "Does she know...um, you know...you DO know?...who her father is?"
Dinky jumped up and down with foalish annoyance. "What are you ponies saying about me?"
Shining said in a normal voice, "So...how was your trip? I feel we should try to show you some proper hospitality. Are you hungry? Would you like a guest suite for your personal use?" He looked at Derpy's wings, which were a bit ruffled from traveling in a box. "I and my wife would like to do whatever we can to make you feel welcome and comfortable. Anything aside from letting everypony see you and find out you're here, that is."
Dinky said angrily, "Why are we a secret? Are you ashamed to have us visting you?"
Derpy tried to soothe her daughter. "Honey, I told you we had to visit secretly."
"And why are you going along with this, mom? Just because they treat us as second-class ponies doesn't mean you have to go along with it!" Derpy stomped her hoof. "Let's go home! And this time, I want to take the train! I'm sick of not having any view my whole trip except my mom's wing in my face and her flank up against my nose!"
Shining turned to the two guardponies. "You! Go out and have the corridors cleared for our secret visitors! And you, go arrange for our best guest suite. The one Celestia and Luna use."
The second guardpony said, "But what if Celestia and Luna are using it?"
"Tell them we need the suite for special honored guests. Once these two ponies have moved in, the ponies can decide whether they want to share with Celestia and Luna, or if they want the rooms all to themselves."
The guardpony looked confused. "Yes, sir. I don't understand, but I'll do it." He and the other guard left.
Shining smiled at his two visitors. "Now...please forgive me having to ask. Honored guests, who are you?"
***
An hour later, in the Royal Guest Suite, Derpy and Dinky were freshly washed, with their manes wrapped in towels. Somepony knocked on the door. A mare's voice said, "I'm here to deliver dinner."
After exchanging glances with her mother, Dinky used her horn's magic to open the door. A crown-wearing pink alicorn with yellow and magenta accents said, "Welcome to the Crystal Empire! May I come in?"
Surprised, Derpy and Dinky nodded.
"And may my husband Shining Armor join us?"
"Why not?" Derpy said.
Princess Cadance pushed a serving cart into the room, as she and her husband walked in behind it. Cadance smiled brightly. "So! Have you had the talk with your daughter yet? About where she came from?"
Dinky Doo sighed. "YES. When a mare and a stallion love each other very much, but don't you DARE do this until you're properly married, young filly--"
"Oh!" Cadance said, "That wasn't QUITE what I meant. What I meant is, who is Dinky's father?"
Dinky fumed. "Why does everypony keep asking that? I don't HAVE a father. Why can't everypony accept it? I have a mother who loves me very much, and that's better than some ponies have, and I'm grateful! Grateful except for all these ponies bothering me about it!"
Cadance nodded. "I'm glad you're grateful for a mother who loves you very much. That IS better than some ponies have." She took a deep breath. "May I start over?"
Derpy smiled goofily. "Maybe I should be the one to start over. Dinky honey, little mini-muffin? I never really told you about my crazy college days."
Dinky huffed. "You partied instead of studying, so you had to drop out, so Dinky don't you make the mistakes your mother made. That cover it?"
"I think you and Cadance are ready to hear a bit more," Derpy replied. "It seemed like everypony was going south for Spring Break to the same sunny resorts, and everything would be overcrowded. So my college soarority decided to do something different. We were pegasi, so we could fly anywhere we wanted. We decided to fly NORTH for Spring Break. Maybe we could go skiing!
"I just don't know what went wrong." Derpy's eyes moved as she thought. "Maybe it was because we were all flunking geography.
"It seemed like we'd been wandering forever, and we were really worried, when finally we saw some lights. There was a huge crystal-looking house, like a castle. And a village around it. When we explained we were looking for a Spring Break resort, everypony was SO excited, and very welcoming. You'd think they hadn't had any visitors for a thousand years."
Cadance had an odd look on her face. "You DON'T say."
"I DO say! Because they all seemed so happy to see us! When we explained Spring Break to them, they did so much to help us have a fun vacation! They got together an old-fashioned polka band, and they rolled out barrels of booze, and some really wild party potions..." Derpy blushed. "I'm afraid I got pretty drunk. And I tried a few too many potions. What can I say? I was young and foolish."
Derpy shrugged. "Me and the headstallion of the village did some wild stuff. But my whole soarority was wild and crazy like that, back then. We got lost again on the way home, too. I didn't think anything of it until a few months later, when I started gaining weight and my flight balance got all funny. So when I gave birth eleven months after my vacation, I didn't even know how to find the father."
Shining and Cadance looked at each other. "I can't believe it," Shining said.
"I have to believe it," Cadance insisted. "This is the mare who showed up with the letter sent by magic dragonfire mail, addressed with magical runes to any surviving family of King Sombra. Dinky is the closest living relative to King Sombra, who was banished to the Frozen North for a thousand years. She's King Sombra's daughter." Cadance gently touched Dinky Hooves' shoulder with one wing. "Dear, you are the daughter of King Sombra. Anypony who thinks King Sombra's dynasty is the hereditary ruler of the Crystal Empire, thinks you are the heir to the throne."
Derpy argued, "But everypony knows King Sombra was evil. You two are so much better rulers!"
Shining grimaced. "If only everypony was as nice as you are, Derpy."
"What?" Derpy exclaimed. "They must be nuts!"
Cadance sighed. "Some ponies will do anything for money and power. Some ponies would support Dinky Hooves' claim to the throne, if they thought they could use her to get something out of it for themselves. They might not even want to give Dinky a choice."
"But everypony deserves a choice! Especially my daughter!"
"That's true," Cadance agreed. "That's why it might be best to let your daughter have the choice to marry Flurry Heart someday."
Dinky Hooves screamed, "WHAT?"
Derpy put a hoof over her daughter's mouth. "Little muffin, don't scream indoors. Even though you're right."
Dinky shouted, "I haven't even ever MET Princess Flurry Heart. And you're already trying to get me to MARRY her?"
Shining grinned. "No pressure."
Dinky shouted, "My mom is right! Everypony here is nuts!"
Cadance said gently, "Dinky dear, you're right that it's far too early for you and Flurry Heart to commit to marry each other. But you should be aware of the possibility that it might come up. As the heir to Sombra's dynasty, you might need a powerful protector, to keep somecreature else from trying to use you." Cadance looked fondly at her husband, one of the best shield mages in Equestria. "Especially if you consider Aunties Celestia and Luna, our family is just about the most powerful protector anywhere in Equestria. And maybe beyond."
"How could I marry some princess I don't even know?"
Cadance smiled slyly. "I AM the Princess of Love, you know, with magical powers to match. Anypony who marries my daughter with my full approval, will have some powerful advantages in making her marriage work."
"And that's another thing! We're both girls! Maybe I won't even WANT to marry a mare!"
Cadance looked mischievous. "NOW you both are. But our Empire has a very large magical library. Our Crystaller is a first rate magical researcher. His childhood friend Starlight Glimmer might help out too. We might even be able to get Twilight Sparkle in on the project, if we need her."
Shining agreed, "I think Twilight would do a lot to help her niece have a happy marriage. If it even comes to that."
Dinky Hooves knew her mother a lot better than anypony else in the room did. She, unlike Cadance or Shining, could recognize the odd little expression on her mother's face, with the tip of her mother's tongue just barely sticking out of the side of her mouth. It meant her mother was thinking very, very hard.
Derpy marveled, "Wow. My daughter a real princess. With royalty lining up to marry her."
Cadance smiled. "I'm sure it seems amazing. But it's true."
Derpy said, "I didn't even know Sombra was a green pony who wears a red suit, who lives with hundreds of miniature ponies and a big herd of reindeer." Derpy giggled. "And who knew Sombra was so very friendly and jolly? The nicest pony in the world! Cadance, if you'd met him, and you weren't already taken, you might have done just what I did." Derpy sighed happily. "I'm sure he would have made you very happy."
Shining said, "Nicest pony in the world?"
Cadance looked amazed. "Friendly and jolly? He would have made me very HAPPY?"
Shining stared, his mouth open. "Cadance? Please tell me you wouldn't leave me for SOMBRA."
Cadance patted her husband on the withers. "Everypony? I think we've had a misunderstanding."
***
Cadance carefully reread the scroll that had been sent to Derpy and Dinky. "I guess I can see where the wording of the magical addressing runes is ambiguous. First-born child of the male ruler of the farthest-north crystal kingdom from a thousand years ago."
Shining agreed, "Even if most ponies say he's just a silly foal's tale, everypony who believes in him says Crystal Kringhoof is practically immortal. I'm sure he IS from at least a thousand years ago." He leaned towards Derpy. "Is he an alicorn? When I was a little colt, I used to try to stay up late to see him. But I always fell asleep before he arrived."
Derpy giggled. "I'll never tell."
Shining snorted. "Figures. I finally meet somepony who's seen him with her own eyes, and I STILL don't get to find out what he looks like."
Cadance nudged her prince. "He HAS to keep his true appearance a secret. Otherwise, whenever he goes anyplace where other ponies are, he would get totally mobbed."
Shining insisted, "I STILL think there must be some city guardponies who know what he looks like. Anypony who sneaks into so many houses every Hearth's Warming Eve must get caught at least a few times every year."
Out of Shining's line of sight, one of the guardponies carefully tried a bit TOO hard to look perfectly innocent. The guardpony next to him elbowed him, whispering, "Don't overdo it."
***
Derpy and Dinky took the train home, just like regular ponies. Cadance and Shining Armor had offered them the loan of a pegasus-pulled flying chariot. But both mother and daughter had agreed the train seemed likely to be warmer.
They sat side by side in the train car, each with her own little cup of hot chocolate. Dinky cuddled up close to her mother, getting extra warm.
"Mom? That stuff you said about my father living at the North Pole? Was it really true?"
Derpy wrapped her wing more tightly around her daughter. "You have a mother who loves you very much. And love is what matters. A father and a mother are ponies who love their foal and take good care of her. Anypony who wasn't around for you isn't your father, if you ask me."
"But Mom? If what you said wasn't true--"
"Hush." Derpy whispered, "Nopony's going to make my daughter marry anypony before my daughter is good and ready to decide who she really wants to marry. And no little filly is ready. To protect my little filly, I'll do whatever it takes. Even if it means I have to tell somepony a fib or two. But if I might have lied a little, please don't tell anypony that I was fibbing."
Dinky smiled, her face pressed into her mother's warmth. "Who can prove I'm NOT Crystal Kringhoof's daughter?" She giggled softly, and whispered. "But now I know why you call me honey, or mini-muffin, but you never call me princess, like some other ponies call their daughters. You're protecting me and my secret identity." Dinky giggled again.
Her mother giggled too.
Author's Note
Originally I planned to end the story here. But then I had another idea...
After Dinky fell asleep, somepony a few seats back stood up, and walked down the train's center aisle to stand beside Derpy. The stallion wore a long coat and a wide-brimmed hat, which cast a shadow across his face.
Derpy said, "I know it's you."
"I'm so sorry."
"I'll bet you are. We were so stupid to get drunk at that party."
"Don't blame yourself." Shining snorted. "I was the stupid one. I held the most beautiful mare in Equestria in my forelimbs, and I didn't know enough to hold on tight forever."
"I didn't really give you a chance. When I caught on that I'd...caught, I panicked and left town. I thought, I can give birth someplace where nopony knows me, and give her up for adoption. And then I can come back to Canterlot, and pretend like nothing ever happened."
Shining smiled, looking at the sleeping foal. "I can understand why you couldn't give her up."
Derpy nodded. "I couldn't. She was perfect and precious and so, so beautiful. She was the best thing in my life."
A tear ran down Shining's face. "I'm sure she is. I wish I could have helped raise her."
"YOU weren't even out of high school yet. It was...the wrong time. If we'd been more careful...but we weren't. By staying in school, you did the right thing. And it's not like I gave you a choice."
"I wish I'd known. I wish I'd had that choice."
Derpy gently poked him. "But look at you now. You became a shield mage, and a royal guardpony, and now you're a prince, married to an alicorn princess. Be honest. If you could go back and change everything, knowing what you know now, would you?"
"I have learned a few things, working in royal courts for years."
"HAVE you? Have you learned how to...be diplomatic? How to get what you want? How to say and do whatever it takes to be successful at court?"
"Ouch. That's not what I was thinking of. I was thinking, in all my time around Cadance, watching Cadance work, and being married to her myself...I've learned a lot about how to recognize true love. I can tell you and Dinky love each other so much." Shining smiled.
"It's about time you learned how to recognize true love. If a little late."
"I know I've learned a bit late. More than a bit late. But better late than never." Shining's smile turned serious. "I understand, now, that you truly loved me. Because of how you loved me, to protect what you saw as a responsible future for me, you chose to run away. You chose to give me up, and not even give me a choice in the matter. But now..."
"It's too late, Shiny."
"I know. Once upon a time, you loved me very much. And I really think I loved you too. But I can look at you now, and listen to your words, and I can tell you don't love me that way anymore."
Derpy snorted. "Once, I didn't know what went wrong back then. But I've learned. I've learned to make better choices."
Shining grinned. "You don't even have to tell me who he is."
Derpy shoved him, almost toppling Shining Armor over. "You knew?"
"I could guess. You don't seem the least bit lonely, not even in that way. After you and Dinky talked with us, Cadance told me she can feel you have a very special somepony back home. In Ponyville, I assume she meant."
"I do. He's a...time scientist. But if he could give me the chance to go back and change my past? I wouldn't change a thing. Somehow, when I look at how everything turned out, I feel like my past was perfect. Perfect for getting me where I am now. Perfect for helping me get wherever it is that I'm going. Wherever WE'RE going. Me and Dinky and Whooves."
Shining chuckled. "I never knew it could feel so good to get dumped twice in a row."
Derpy poked Shining again. "That's because you know you deserve it."
Dinky moved, making a small sound. "Mom? Who're you talking to?"
Derpy adjusted her wing around Dinky. "Just an old friend, Dinky. From a long time ago. Even before I had you."
"Wow," the filly said sleepily. "That IS a long time. What are the odds you'd happen to see each other on the train?"
Derpy stroked her daughter's mane. "He wasn't in Ponyville. So he had to be someplace else. This is someplace else."
Shiny whispered, "I should go."
Derpy nodded. With her free wing, she waved her prince goodbye.
