The first two days went... well, Airy wanted to say fast, but it was slow and boring. It wasn't like reading a book, where she could easily memorize the context on the first reading; no, she had to wait as Princess Amore explained all the enchantments and what they did, how they interacted with each other and so on.

She hadn't been that bored since she was at high school, listening as the teacher talked about boring stuff she had already learned. Still, it was quite informative; now she knew exactly how the Crystal Heart worked, so she could start planning on how to install it as the center of the spell Grogar had given her.

Of course, while most of the lesson had happened in the first day (something that would have taken her maybe three or four hours at most, if she read a book), most of the second day was spend Princess Amore trying to remember what she had forgotten; the oath was quite handy that it reminded them if the princess forgot something, yet a hindrance as it didn't tell either of them what she had forgotten to tell Airy. Eventually though, at the end of the second day their lesson was complete, with Princess deciding that tomorrow, both of them would start working on the enchantment.

And so, they had arrived at the third work day. The work was pretty fast, as by dinner they had finished the basic design; all that was needed was an incredibly complex calculations to make sure everything worked in harmony with each other... Well, they were complex to Princess Amore at least; to Airy they were more like advanced math you take in college, a rather simple if time consuming process considering there wasn't any computers or calculators around.

This left her with plenty of time to herself, thinking while she exchanged idle chatter with Princess Amore.

When Princess Amore had first recovered the Crystal Heart, it was mostly a weapon intended to strike against evil. So, the princess and her ministers had spent time reworking the mechanics so that instead of destroying corrupted beings, it merely banished them from the Crystal Empire. The feeling she had felt during the activation few days ago was the Crystal Heart identifying if she was either an umbra or someone corrupted by foul magic; it couldn't identify good or bad, so it merely identified them by their magical nature.

Basically, if someone was corrupted by magic into becoming a monster, it wouldn't matter how innocent or evil they were; the Crystal Heart wouldn't banish the creator, only the monster (unless said monster's creator was also corrupted). Of course, she'd need to test if her other forms counted as 'corrupt' but if they didn't.... well, she could use that to her advantage.

The barrier on other hand was working exactly like it was designed to; protect the empire from snow and ice, while providing warmth to those within. As the ancient Crystal ponies had used huge towers all across the ancient kingdom to do the same, the Crystal Heart had made such ancient and forgotten clumsy things obsolete.

Princess Amore mentioned that according to the information she had received from the medallion, the idea for the barrier had first come to ancient Crystal ponies when they had encountered some kind of black bug pony, that ate magic (or as the monster had screamed, 'love of weaker races') and could change shape to pretend to be something else. Of course, it wasn't until later that they discovered that this lone monster hadn't been a new form of umbra, but rather something else. Either way, the ancient Crystal ponies had not taken changes, so they made the barrier to keep evil out.

Airy suspected (though didn't mention it) that this was how the ancient Crystal ponies accidentally learned to harvest emotions. There were parasites in her world that could do some amazing things (like the one which took over snails), so why not have some freakish magical bug pony parasites as well? The books on different magical creatures certainly supported the idea in her opinion.

Though they must have been either extremely rare or very good shape shifters; no one had ever heard of these bug ponies before, even Princess Amore hadn't known about them (or discovered any in her long life, despite even asking researchers and adventurer’s years ago in what was now Equestria).

There was also the possibility they were extinct; ponies could be surprisingly racist even at near-pony races, let along bug monsters that looked like ponies...

Lastly, the crystalline coats that the ponies that the Crystal ponies (and her, temporarily) had was the result of thousands of years of exposure to the raw magic and crystals, changing the ponies with each generation till it was permanent. The Crystal Heart merely restored these qualities and gave them to non-Crystal ponies temporarily, as it didn't possess the mutating properties of raw magic of old times.

That's why the Crystal Ponies were a proper sub-species, like thestrals.

At least, that what Amore had said were the results, after extensive multi-decade research... which Airy questioned, considering this world's understanding of biology. Still, no ponies, Crystal or otherwise, had ever shown signs of horrible mutations.

As the third day started to close, an idle chatter on how crystals can be fused together with magic gave Airy an idea...

"What's the happiest day of one's life?" Airy asked, causing Princess Amore to turn her attention from her calculations to the little fairy confidently sitting on a pile of papers, who was looking back at her with thoughtful expression.

"What?" Princess Amore asked, feeling confused as to why Airy would ask about that out of nowhere; the last thing they had talked about had been about how the process of fusing the crystal with enchantment to Crystal Heart worked, which had nothing to do with happiness.

"Well, I was just thinking..." Airy began, pausing as she stood up and flew to the table, landing in front of the princess "That the 'Crystal Faire' might not have to be the only occasion to add positive emotions to the Crystal Heart. If we fuse pieces of crystals into the Crystal Heart filled with only the positive emotions, we could create a new tradition through which we could recharge and strengthen the Crystal Heart even more" Airy finished, as Princess Amore started to ponder.

"Hmm.... That is an excellent idea. Once we've finished installing this enchantment into the Crystal Heart, it would not take much to create a separate spell to store positive emotions into a piece of crystal and fuse it with the heart, like we're already planning to do. What did you have in mind?" Princess Amore asked, as Airy idly glanced at the calculations she had interrupted.

"Well, originally I was thinking weddings, but..." Airy paused as she turned back to look at Amore's face "Those are quite rare. After that, I started considering different holidays, but increasing the number of holidays might decrease the special meaning of the Faire, which is why I dismissed birthdays as well. However...” Airy paused once more, as she flew up to hover in front of Amore's face.

"That gave me the idea of celebrating the birth of each and every new foal born into the Crystal Empire; A time of happiness for parents, family and friends, to see the newborn foal begin their life in the arms... hooves of their mother" Airy said, as she used her hands to mimic holding a baby in her arms "That way, each and every new foal would be connected to the Crystal Heart, so that when the population keeps growing, the Crystal Heart's power will too" Airy explained.

Princess Amore stayed silent for a moment, before answering "That is an excellent idea. The citizens would no doubt be proud and happy having their foals connected to the Crystal Heart in a special ceremony... but before we start planning it, we should connect the rest of the Crystal Ponies as well. I'll need to modify the enchantment a little, but..." she paused, as she looked at the calculations "That would mean that we'd need to start the calculations all over" She finished, as she glanced at the mostly filled page on the table.

Airy giggled, as she smiled at Princess Amore "Oh, those silly little calculations are easy. It would not take long to calculate all the factors" she said, as Princess Amore looked at her in confusion "They're easy to you? Then why...” she didn't finish as Airy giggled again "Because you were so proud about your hard work, I didn't want to interrupt by simply saying the answers. Besides, I did promise not to tamper with the Crystal Heart in any way; asking you if any parts of the enchantment contradicted with other parts counted as part of the education, but I can't help you with the math itself: that would be tampering" Airy answered the question she had interrupted.

Princess Amore opened her mouth to reply, before closing it as she gave a small smile to the little fairy "Well, maybe you could write a book later; I’m sure you have plenty of knowledge that ponies have not yet developed" Amore said, as she gathered the unfinished calculations, before casting a spell that made them disappear in smokeless fire.

"Well, about that... I think it would be best if I were to limit what I teach to others" Airy said, landing on the table as Princess Amore set down the paper that held the enchantment they had spent most of the day designing next to her "The inventions I have planned to create are technically things unicorns could already create, but if I were to teach things they had not yet discovered yet, it could make ponies dependent on my knowledge, instead of researching their own" Airy explained, as Princess Amore glanced at her.

"But would it not be a simple matter of teaching someone the basics? That way, you'd merely give them the inspiration and they'd be able to study and discover more advanced things by themselves. Besides, it's simple math; I doubt there's much harm in it" Princess Amore asked, as Airy placed a hand on her chin.

"Well... I guess when you put it that way, there's no harm in writing down the basics... though I’d need to research first what they current think 'advanced' even is" Airy answered, before turning her attention to the paper next to her "But we can deal with that later; how about we figure out the alterations to this enchantment tonight, so you can start fresh calculations tomorrow morning?" Airy asked, as Princess Amore widened her smile.

And thus, the rest of the evening was spend figuring out minor alterations to the enchantment, before the princess and her little fairy friend retired for the night.

The next two days were absolute boredom to Airy; most of the time, she spend her time reading a book on different magical creatures that Princess Amore had in her private study (a book written by someone named Silver Mane; Airy didn't ask who that was), while also exchanging idle chatter with Princess Amore... when she wasn't busy concentrating on more difficult parts of the calculations.

...Alright, Airy had to admit, it wasn't completely boring; the book gave her plenty of interesting ideas to test out, as it explained different magical animals (who looked like someone had taken two or more creatures and mixed them together; After all, Airy doubted things like bugbear, a mix of bear and a bee, was a natural creature) who could wield different magical abilities, from simple electricity of flash bee's, to petrifying gaze of cockatrice... or even being unnatural entirely, like the Timberwolves made literally out of sticks and leaves.

She was more than interested in acquiring samples of these animals, if only to study how they worked. Already, she was making a mental list of creatures she wanted to study, with plans to research more on elemental magic; a visit to the vaults once more maybe?

She was going to be so busy, once everything with the Crystal Heart was finished.

"There, it is finally done" Princess Amore said, sighing in relieve as she set down the quill onto the table.

Airy raised her attention from the book she was reading, glancing at the other side of the table as a piles of papers were haphazardly spread all over Princess Amore's side, taking nearly half the huge table. A result of two days of working on calculations with inefficient methods and without calculator assistance, a task Airy didn't envy as she took flight.

"Great! With this, we can finally put the enchantment into good use. You’re a pretty smart pony, Princess Amore" Airy said as she flew across the table, stopping in front of the smiling princess.

"Thank you, Airy... though I doubt I’m as smart as scholars in your world, if comments about this math being easy are true" Princess Amore said, before yawning as she covered her mouth with her hoof "It's been a pretty taxing task, mentally at least. How about we retire for the night?" she suggested, before standing up from her chair as Airy nodded in agreement and took flight.

And so, the study fell silent once more, as the candles were blown out and the door closed behind them with a click...

Sombra yawned as he walked through the hallways with Radiant, following Princess Amore and Airy as they exchanged meaningless chatter about crystals and foals. Radiant was smiling brightly next to him, humming an old song from their orphanage days; a subconscious sign that she was really happy.

The last five days had been... concerning, to say the least. While his experiments with dark crystals had shown some interesting results, it had revealed some... disturbing aspects of himself, especially the affinity to what Sombra was now certain counted as 'dark magic'.

The feeling that coursed through his body when he used his magic that way made him feel great, yet afterwards he felt terrified of how Radiant and Princess Amore would react. Frequently, his dreams were of them looking at him with shock, fear or anger, though those were beginning to fade as other kinds of dreams took place. Dreams of not being feared but rather celebrated and encouraged as he performed his magic to help the ponies around him with Airy's encouragement.

Sombra glanced at the little fairy, one who had seen him at a moment of weakness; she certainly didn't judge him, but he knew deep down that Radiant and the princess would not be so... supportive of his decision. Still, the dreams left an odd sense of longing within him.

Maybe he should talk with Airy again; it would be nice to hear words of encouragement at least once more....

His thoughts were interrupted as Glimmer appeared between him and Radiant "So, what ideas do you have planned for the Faire, Radiant? I was thinking it would be nice to bring the ewes from the farms as something foals could pet and play with..." she began talking, with Sombra giving the two mares a glance before slowing his pace, letting the two walk ahead as he resumed his original pace with Thunder Shield next to him now.

"I've got to say, your wife can be..." Sombra paused his whispering, trying to think how to describe Glimmer before Thunder interrupted "Quite a hoof full when she gets excited about something? Believe me, I know.... you should have seen our wedding" Thunder said with a low whisper, chuckling to himself as Sombra nodded.

Both of them silently watched the two mares ahead of them, before Thunder's eyes swept to where a tiny ball of light was flying next to the princess, before frowning as his thoughts went onto the last few days.

After a moment, he stepped closer to the grey stallion next to him "Sombra, I have a question I need to ask, but you have to swear to not tell anyone we had this discussion" he whispered, as the stallion on question turned his head slightly to look at him, before nodding "Alright, what is it?" he whispered back as Thunder's eyes tracked the little fairy in front of the group.

"What are your thoughts on Airy? I know it's been a month and there hasn't been signs of anything malicious on her part... but I just can't get rid of this feeling like I’m missing something; she appeared out of nowhere a month ago, has given vague information with no evidence of her origins. I know others have started to befriend her, but I just want to be sure that..." he trailed off, trying figure out what to say.

"You're worried she'll turn up like Snow Antler, don't you?" Sombra whispered, before shaking his head "Quite a few noticed that something was wrong with him from the start, but you were blinded by a change to make a new friend, never noticing the way he looked at ponies or how he talked about them with slight disdain. Airy on other hand seems to genuinely care about the ponies she's started to befriend; she did help watch over your foal when Rose Pedal hurt her hoof, right?" Sombra whispered back, before lightly patting Thunder on the back when he lowered his head, feeling little ashamed.

"Maybe you and Swift Clean are right; maybe I’m just too paranoid after what happened with Snow Antler and my own blindness, that I’m projecting my fears on Airy... Alright, it's decided" he said, straightening his pose and head as he looked forward "Once the Faire is done, if Airy hasn't done anything bad by then, I’ll start to trust that she doesn't have any malicious intents" He said, though he was still uncertain, a tingle of fear within him.

Sombra smiled as he looked at the little fairy happily chatting away with the princess, even as the castle doors opened and they started walking down the stairs to the plaza below towards the Crystal Heart...

Airy hummed happily as she took a bite from the crystal berry she was snacking on, sitting on the soft pillow as she watched Princess Amore, Radiant, Sombra, Glimmer, Thunder and couple of ministers discuss their plans for the 'Crystal Faire' as it was now called. Everything from ideas to finances and safety precautions was being discussed, while she happily relaxed.

When they had asked her for ideas, she had explained that she didn't have anything else to add that they hadn't already discussed, with exception of knight tournaments she knew some people did in her world (the make believe sword fights with real armor and weapons), though Princess Amore had dismissed that idea; they wanted ponies to enjoy themselves, not be afraid at the sight of wounds or blood that might happen.

Airy's thoughts briefly crossed back to the installing of the enchantment; it was basically the same as using a spell, so it wasn't really that noteworthy. She had expected some... grand scene or something, but all that happened was a small spell on the crystal piece and that's it, it just... sank into the Crystal Heart. No light show, no waves of magic, just... sink in and it was done.

Magic was weird sometimes; small things could produce grand looking effects, while big things looked as easy as lifting one's finger.

"So, let me recap; you'll play the anthem, do some jousting, offer food and drinks, free artworks and 'flugelhorns', whatever those are, while also having a petting zoo and party games. Then finally, we'll gather the crystal ponies to the Crystal Heart... but why do they have to bow?" Airy asked, as she interrupted couple of ministers talking about finances that she couldn't care less about.

Princess Amore turned her attention from the papers in front of her towards Airy, who was idly swinging her legs back and forth while looking back at her "The act of dozens of ponies bowing triggers the enchantment, focusing their love and happiness to the Crystal Heart, thereby allowing it to more easily gather the energies by moving it through the streets below them. By my estimates, the streets will literally glow blue, before all of it drains into the Crystal Heart" she answered, before turning back to the ministers as they resumed their financial talk.

Airy happily hummed as she resumed eating, taking another bite off the crystal berry...

Celestia let out a relieved sigh as the carriage door closed behind her, before taking her seat as her magic wiped the fresh snow off her mane and coat, straightening and drying her mane and fur as her sister looked at the light snow falling upon the rocky terrain below.

"What did the lieutenant tell thee, sister?" Luna asked as she turned her head from the window, looking at her sister just as she was taking a bite from her travel ration sandwich.

"Since we've now officially entered the frozen north, by their estimates we should arrive at the Crystal Empire the day after tomorrow. Depending on how the weather is, it's going to be between early noon and dinner dine" Celestia answered, before taking a bite from the bland tasting sandwich, quickly chewing it and swallowing as she took another bite.

Luna turned her attention back to the view outside, as her thoughts started to wander once more.

Ever since that one night weeks ago, she had more than once traveled the realm of dreams, observing the dreams of others in the Crystal Empire, though unlike the dream bubbles of the ponies, the... unknown dreamer's dream bubble was the one she did not dare to approach once more, at least until she knew exactly whom or what the dreamer was.

The dreams of other ponies in the Crystal Empire that she had observed in secret had been quite uninformative about the creature, only showing it as a background character in their dreams. The only reason she knew what it properly looked like was due to her visit to dreams of the Princess Amore's nice, Daisy Glow, where she played with an enlarged version of it.

The creature's appearance was like a mixture of a Minotaur and a monkey, standing straight on two primate legs instead of hooves like Minotaurs and having a flat face, like a monkey's. The two white butterfly wings with black edge reminded her of breezies, which made her wonder if the Dreamer was a ... breezie version of whatever race inspired its look.

She had heard others compare breezies to be like miniature ponies with insect wings, so was the dreamer a similar kind of creature? If so, what was the larger species like and where were they? The world was vast, so an unknown species could easily be hidden in some corner of the world, but what if there wasn't such a larger specimen? Would that mean that the tiny... breezie-like creature was unique or was there another entire race of tiny sentient creatures, just previously undiscovered?

She had so many questions, yet she knew that she wouldn't get answers before their scheduled arrival in the Crystal Empire... unless she went back into the creature's dreams, an action she was not willing to do until she learned if it was hostile or not.

Luna once more glanced at her sister, who had by now finished eating and resumed reading some romantic book she had paused earlier. As Luna observed her sister, she felt a feeling of... something, as she turned her attention back to the weather outside, making a decision in her head.

When they'd arrive, she'd take charge of the research project into whatever was ailing the Crystal Empire; it was time to show that she was just as capable as her sister...

Author's Note

Did you like the six week break? I did, had fun writing dozen chapters for future. Decided to post on sunday because prologue was released on a sunday.

You might have noticed how overly trusting Princess Amore is with Airy; it's my way of mocking a lot of fics where ponies become instant friends with otherworldly beings, such as humans or monsters.

On other hand, realistic reason as to why ponies would trust Airy is simple;

Airy, being a tiny breezie-like creature, flies under lot of ponies radar because they literally can't see her as a threat, especially since she fakes a friendly, helpful behavior pretty well (in the eyes of the ponies, at least).

So you know, i'm using Amore's trust to mock other fics while rest of ponies have genuine, believable trust.