The Shadow in the North

Cadance stood at the window, looking out over the Palace square where ponies were still working on cleaning up from the previous day’s battle while the pale sunlight of an artic spring shone through the shield around the city. With Sombras’ … destruction? None of the Equestrians were sure what had actually happened to the tyrant, but with his apparent defeat the demons had vanished, while the golems collapsed back into mounds of snow and ice, and the yetis and frost drake had fled the city back to their own lairs in the frozen wastes. Which was a good thing, because the Crystal legionnaires and victorious rebels had been too stunned and confused by the sudden wash of conflicting memories to fight.

But, overwhelmed or not, the crystal ponies had seen to the injured, and the remnants of the Empire’s privy council – newly released from the mines – had met with Cadance and Shining and declared the young alicorn their new ruler – over Cadance’s objections. Eventually, the exhausted mare gave in. The first orders of her new regime were to return the Crystal Heart to the Great Hall where it had once sat, and to move HellCaller’s petrified form to a place of honor in the Palace square, while Kragor – who had said not a word since her sister’s loss – had been carefully, ever so carefully, brought into the Palace by magic … Cadance well remembered what had happened to the luckless changeling drone that had picked up the soulblade during Chrysalis’s invasion.

“Cady? The others should all be in the Great Hall now.”

Turning from the window, Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess-Empress of the Crystal Empire smiled at her husband, “Alright. Let’s go, then.”

Twilight looked up from talking with Spike to smile at her brother and sister-in-law as they entered the Hall, “Hey, how are you doing?”

“As well as could be hoped, I guess,” Cadance replied, “I still don’t think I should be ruling the Empire, though.”

“I think that’s why they chose you, darling,” Rarity countered, “‘Those who are best suited for power are those who want it the least’, as they say.”

“Yeah, but they don’t want the power,” Rainbow pointed out, “So why should they stick around for something they don’t want? Not that you would ever run out on these ponies, Cadance,” she hastily added.

“It’s okay, Rainbow,” Cadance gave the weathermare a tired smile, “Besides, there’s still a lot of work to do, and that’s without trying to locate all of Sombra’s hidden laboratories, reintegrating the Crystal Empire into the world, or getting enough therapists to even begin to help the crystal ponies deal with what they’ve been through.”

“Do we know why tha Elements turned ‘Caller ta stone?” Applejack broke in, “Or how long she’ll be like that?”

Twilight’s muzzle creased in an unhappy frown, “I think it was because ‘Caller, even though she is on our side, is still a demon, so the Elements contained her, just like they did with Discord. As for how long …,” the librarian shrugged, “Luna was banished for a thousand years, but Discord was sealed for over fifteen hundred, so I don’t think anypony can really say.”

“But she’ll still be herself when she does get free, right?” Pinkie asked, “She’ll still be ‘Caller, right?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight sighed, “There’s no records of any cockatrice victims being petrified for more than a few centuries, and all of those went mad. Only one person can really say what its like to be turn into stone for so long …,” she turned an inquisitive eye to Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, Pinkie,” Fluttershy replied dejectedly, “Discord refuses to talk to me about when he was a statue.”

“So, what does this mean for Trixie and Kragor?” Shining wondered, looking at the heavily bandaged illusionist sitting, unusually quiet, off to one side and then over to the table on which the soulblade rested.

“I am staying here,” the sword declared, “Sane or mad, vhen my sister returns, she vill need me, and I vill be vaiting for her.”

When it became clear that Kragor would say no more, the assembled ponies and drake turned their eyes on Trixie, “Yes, well, while the Valiant and Injured Trixie does have access to Trixie’s master’s abode, Trixie suspects that with HellCaller … indisposed … that those doors will soon seal themselves. Still … Trixie has replaced her wagon, and it has been some time since Trixie went on tour ….”

“Well, if that is what you want … but maybe you could come back to the library from time to time? Or even regularly? To have a place to call home?” Twilight offered shyly, feeling as if her blush was burning through her fur, “I mean, if you don’t mind calling the library home, with Spike and I ….”

Trixie smiled at the flustered unicorn while Cadance and Rarity beamed at the pair, “Trixie thinks Trixie would like that very much.”