The Fairy Flies

A soft humming echoed through the backroom of the workshop as Airy hovered near the back wall, watching as the paintbrush painted white runes into the crystal walls. All around her, the ceiling, the floor and the rest of the walls were already painted with similar symbols, while the back wall was almost complete now. If her calculations and designs were right (and she was pretty sure they were) she'd soon have her very first hidden workshop.

Yes, it was a pain to experiment on how to create a dimensional pocket that stayed within the walls marked by runes so that it occupied the same space as the real room. The amount of research, experimentation and calculations she had to do thanks to lack of knowledge was annoying to say the least; the books she had read in the vault had explained dimensional walls and pocket dimensions (Thank you Star Swirl) yet they were so incomplete.

Clearly, the book must have been a first draft, since it had notes about how Star Swirl couldn't figure out why the creation of pocket dimensions sometimes worked and mostly failed; Impressive work for a medieval society, yet no understanding of how physics of the very universe worked. If Star Swirl had lived in her world, he would no doubt have wielded his magic like a god, shifting time and space to his whims like the self-proclaimed god of chaos Discord by using the scientific knowledge of her world.

His work on so many fields were based upon dangerous and mostly lethal experiments by his fellow unicorns, learning from their mistakes and doing actual research... yet somehow, he couldn't understand how atomic structures and magical energies interacted with dimensional energies, even if he had managed to blindly stumble upon a somewhat stable yet unstable way of interacting with dimensional energies for his experiments with portals and pocket dimensions.

He probably researched it further and refined it to far greater degree, yet Airy was certain that those books were hidden somewhere within Equestria... she'd have to see if she could liberate it from those foolish Princesses. At least the knowledge that Star Swirl had gone missing nearly a decade ago gave her some comfort, due to the fact that she probably wouldn't need to worry about a wise wizard prodigy like him standing in her way... though he probably had quite a lot of magical knowledge she'd have liked to learn and discuss.

Well, at least the last three weeks had been fruitful; she had gained a vast understanding of wielding dimensional energies to create her pocket dimension and the portal to enter it, even if she had to spend as if a simple stove and heater took more than a minimal of designing in her part; a crystal here to work as a battery that drew magic passively from environment, a rune array there to keep the metal from melting, a second rune array to actually produce heat and a third one to control the heat. She easily re-used the same design for all three parts (the oven, the stove and the heater), after which she had to draw up the instructions for the ponies to replicate her designs.

To say that the nobles were impressed was an understatement; to have a place to cook food without wood or dangers of smoke was a great benefit to an empire with few trees as it was, to also have a movable box that gave them the same warmth as a fireplace with no danger of hurting anyone (well, unless they opened the box and poked at the red hot heating coils) was another great treasure. Princess Amore had been more than impressed when Airy had presented her products, the manufacturing instructions and the user manual to the court, which had caused them to start bickering about which of the nobles would get the rights to manufacture them. Princess Amore had brought an end to it by asking them to submit their proposals and she'd review them in order to choose the best pony for the job.

Airy honestly didn't care which of them would get the rights to them; she had plenty of more designs to create and a lot of bits to make. She already had plans for her next creations; the freezer, the fridge and the combination of two (a relatively easy thing she'd do in a couple of weeks; just switch the rune patterns to draining instead of producing heat and boom, a fridge/freezer ready. Rune arrays would always maintain the set temperature and the ponies will be pleased that their food is no longer dried and salted just for preservation). After that, she'd start working on those self-rewinding grandfather clocks and then the delicate pocket watches for nobles to lord over peasants and their employees about working on time... A relatively easy thing once she designed the rune array and the clockwork parts to split the time charm some unicorns like Princess Amore to wake themselves up each morning... a primitive alarm clock made of time charm and sound producing spell.

Airy stopped her humming as the paintbrush finished drawing the last of the symbols, before she waved her hand as the paint instantly dried up. As she examined the freshly painted runes, she took her time to make sure that everything was to perfection; she wasn't going to do some sloppy work just because she was eager to start her work, that's how a lot of villains or scientists in media caused trouble; no proper research and sloppy results that inevitably backfired due to rushing their designs and work.

She was in no hurry, as no one had even a slightest reason to suspect her of ill intentions, yet alone evidence of anything. She could take her time, build up resources while researching and scheming, gathering knowledge of magic and anything else that was part of and outside of this world for her use... and once all was set and done, she'd just have to wait for a perfect opportunity to strike.

Airy hummed in satisfaction at her work, before turning around and flying across the room to the door and closing it behind her with a wave of her hand. The door let out a slight click as it locked down, before she turned around and faced the image of herself painted on the door, this one a human-sized unlike her real self.

Airy took a deep breath, relaxing her nerves before letting it out as she raised her hands towards the door, casting the final spell as the words of old magic slipped through her mouth with a slight echo.

The ominous feeling spread through her body as the painted version's eyes glowed green for a moment, before dimming out as a brief sense of magic passed through Airy's body as the runes within the room activated, emitting a low hum for just a moment before disappearing. Airy hovered there for a moment, simply observing the door before waving her hand as the lock clicked open as the door slowly swung open.

Inside, the workshop looked exactly like it had before, with sole exception being that the painted runes had disappeared completely. A satisfied smile appeared on her lips as she waved her hand once more, the door closing and locking by itself as the eyes of her painted image glowed slightly blue. Airy turned her gaze to the small painted pendant hanging from the neck of her painted counterpart, before flying to it.. and through the door as if it was nothing but a fancy hologram.

Airy smiled as she viewed the exact replica of her workshop on the other side, with the slight exception being the lack of any furniture and the glowing runes carved into the walls, the ceiling and the floor above her.

She finally had her hidden workshop ready for action...

Now that her workshop was ready for action, it was time to turn her attention to her other schemes. Airy hummed some ancient melodies to herself as she turned the pages of the book about curses in her hands, scanning the pages. Petrification? useless. Flaying of the living? not interested. Curse of the rot? meh, maybe someday.... Ah, there; mare-to-monster, a spell to turn the living beings into monsters... oh, the page merely noted the effects and directed to another book for full details.

Airy let out a disappointed sigh before closing the book, placing it back to it's proper place before scanning the the rows of books around her for the noted book.

Her attention was drawn to the guards however when they stiffened and drew their weapons, standing ready as the sound of hooves against the crystal echoed down the hall. Airy quickly backed away from the door, before waving her hand as a spell of invisibility swept over her, making her disappear completely from sight. She didn't have the time to transform, so she dearly hoped she wouldn't have to consider murder already; she had so much to accomplish without hiding a murder on top of it.

Normally, the spell of invisibility had limited use since the keen eye could spot the outline of the person or object that's become invisible, while not doing anything for smell nor sound. Thankfully, she knew how light, smell and hearing worked through the eyes, nose and ears as well as the science of how light, smell and sound traveled through the air and other physical mediums, so it was incredibly easy to fix those amateur errors in rather useful spell; she now possessed true invisibility. It wouldn't stop her from being spotted if someone accidentally walked into her (a likely occurrence in this small vault) but at least it would give her an edge to strike first.

All she'd need was one strike to the neck...

Airy noted how the guards stiffened and resumed their guard positions, though they still held onto their weapons tightly as they greeted the new arrival "Greetings, your highness. Another late night reading?" The guard on the right asked, his grip on the sword tightening as he and his partner eyed at the Princess Amore as she stopped in front of them "I'm afraid not, for I am here to browse the frost of the night lilies" she answered, before the guards relaxed as the put their weapons away.

Apparently, that was a correct password for whatever reason she was here for.

"Good evening, Ma'am. How may we be of service?" The guard on the left spoke as the guards saluted to the princess, who merely smiled in response "Nothing of importance. I merely felt a little restless with my thoughts and decided it would be productive to see how the guards of the vaults were doing. I presume there's been no trouble?" she asked, glancing through the bars to the 'empty' vault before turning her gaze back to the guards.

"Nothing to report, Ma'am. None but yourself has passed here since the shift change and no signs of anything out of ordinary, Ma'am" the guard on the right reported, with Princess Amore nodding her head in response "Good, keep up the good work. I hope the rest of the night goes as smoothly as always" she replied, before turning away from them as she continued to walk down the hallway past the vault, her hoof steps growing distant as the guards ceased their salute and resumed their regular duties.

Even as the sound of Princess Amore's hooves disappeared, Airy didn't dare to move until at least ten minutes had passed. Cancelling the invisibility spell, she let out an relaxed sigh as she resumed searching for the book she needed. Luckily, it didn't take long before the green covered book caught her eye, with the title written in the spine with blood red letters (Clearly, the author of it was a bit dramatic).

Looking at the book, it was clear that the dramatics didn't end at the spine; a pony skull was painted with white on the front with red 'tears' leaking out of the eye holes, while the title was minuscule in comparison at the top of the book. Opening it wasn't any better, since the cursive text within that was written beautifully clean did nothing to correct the eyesore that was bright red letters on the white (well, starting to yellow) pages. Even the normal black-and-white pictures here and there were painted with that same red paint (She had to make a quick check that yes, it was paint and not preserved blood).

With an annoyed sigh, she flipped through the pages of the book, stopping for a moment to read if she came across something interesting.

Truthfully, while the book was filled with interesting plants, artifacts and spells, most of it didn't go too much into detail how they worked. Instead, the pages were filled with theories about how they were created and folktales that surrounded them. One of the pages that she found interesting was about Breezies, a race of tiny ponies around her size that had transparent butterfly wings, antennae and carried pollen around. One of the many theories that the author had researched was that it was possible that they had been a tribe of ponies that had either been cursed to become tiny creatures to replace the beehives they destroyed or some voluntary (or involuntary) experiment let loose into the wild.

The best theory in her opinion however was the possibility that they might have been victims of Poison Joke, a flower that bloomed in the Everfree Forest and caused practical jokes that appeared as physical illnesses; the author theorized that since Poison Jokes effects were tailored to the physical and mental characteristics of the victims, the natural chaos magic might have turned a tribe of strong pegasus or thestral soldiers into tiny race of weak flyers that couldn't speak while glowing like a firefly.

A familiar flower indeed, considering she had read a few scraps of notes while researching the World Trees.

Airy made a note to herself to study and experiment on those flowers when she got the chance; Since chaos magic was the most difficult yet powerful kind of magic to control, learning from how those flowers worked could make her unstoppable; she had heard how powerful Discord had been, altering reality like it was his personal toy box. With that kind of power at her fingertips, she could reshape reality itself to suit her needs and make even Grogar himself tremble in fear and for him to kneel before her like a stereotypical bad guy that he was... she would also need to study how to counter it of course; since Discord was merely petrified, it was most likely he'd return some day and she'd rather be prepared.

Media had taught her that any ancient evil not destroyed would eventually return; she wasn't as naive as the princesses to think Discord would never return, they always did. What was the rule again... oh yes, the thousand years. Always a thousand years ago, a thousand years of darkness or something similar. Well, if that held true in this world, she'd have plenty of time to make herself invincible.

As Airy turned her attention back to the text and read what the author of the book had researched on Breezies, even a pony counterpart of herself were pathetic; the tiny creatures did not speak known languages, they couldn't fly without aid of the wind and their 'magic' ended a slight glow of their antennae. Still, she made a note about investigating them later; with a little modification by her, they might make an excellent slave race for her to rule.

Hmm.. antennae and butterfly wings. They really were similar to her, as most of her forms had butterfly wings and her perfect form had antennae on her head. Unlike Breezies however she'd also have a butterfly abdomen sticking from her her back like a tail but she'd cross that bridge once she unlocked her perfect form.

Airy resumed flipping through the pages, before near the end of the book she came across the Mare-to-monster spell; a magic that someone had learned from Grogar himself in exchange for unnamed trade. The spell could transform anyone into anything one desired, as long as you had enough magical power to finish it; the page had a dozen examples of unicorns attempting to create an ultimate warrior, only to fall short due to their lack of magical power that ended with results that looked like The Thing, except they were dead.

It was an useful spell, as it was a branch of flesh crafting that Grogar had used on her but not taught her.

Apparently the effects of the spell were permanent, so the author advised to use it only on heavily disfigured individuals who would not want to change back. A theory on the book was that it was based upon Swamp Fever, a fatal disease released by poisonous swamp flowers that caused ponies (and other creatures) to suffer an incurable illness that eventually turned the victim into a tree that bloomed even more such flowers.

Airy idly wondered if there were any real trees left or if all of them were former victims of the illness... a morbid curiosity also made her wonder if the victims remained self-aware as trees; how horrifying it must be to see someone come near you and be unable to warn them, yet even worse if the individual or group of people who came across the person-turned-tree decided to cut it down; would they fell pain or bleed blood? the book didn't answer these questions, instead they mentioned a brief existence of a cure that was created by an earth pony named Mage Meadowbrook, though the cure had recently disappeared with her.

Airy checked the date written on the book; if she was right, the book was written at most mere eight years ago... around the same time Star Swirl had disappeared in fact. A coincidence? well, like the old saying went 'once is a coincidence, twice is happenstance but three times is enemy action'.

Hmm... The Swamp Fever was quite interesting, yet risk of falling victim to it was too great for her to seek it out. However, the author also noted a lesser theory that a rare flower called Twisted Sugar could also have been an inspiration; it was a safer option for her to seek out, because it required the individual to actually drink a tea made from the flower to affect anyone; first the victim would feel great euphoria for weeks, before it turned into a sense of dread that grew until finally paralyzing the victim. Apparently, the plant converted the victims from inside out, eventually turning them into a rosebush in the shape of the victim that bloomed these flowers.

The other method that the flower affected people was when it was eaten instead; within hours of it happening, they'd feel great pain before starting to bleed heavily as roots and branches started to emerge from within, eventually killing the victim as they were rapidly consumed and turned into a rosebush that curiously did not produce the flowers. That's why the flower was rare; one would have to either drink the tea (or water contaminated by it) for one to turn into a rosebush that produced it. Author noted that usually they were found in water filled caves or small ponds where the leaves of the plant would contaminate the water within.

Hmm... now that she was reading the book, she realized that she didn't need to make a choice; If she created a curse which would transform the entire world's population into anthropomorphic creatures, she could also use a mix of magic and mutagenic virus to edit their genetic structure so they'd stay anthropomorphic even if the curse was broken. Both the curse and the virus would reinforce each other, becoming a genetic trait that would pass from parent to child for endless generations and correct any attempts to change it; a mixture of science and sorcery this world has never witnessed before.

However, there was also a change that someone might escape the effects of her creation, so she needed to make sure it would spread... an easy fix by making it transmittable by air, touch and body fluids. A pony holding a transformed individual would get infected by air or touch, while the body fluids (blood, spit, sexual fluids) would also transfer it between individuals.

Finally, she had the beginning pieces ready, all she'd need was to find that Twisted Sugar flower... luckily, the author researched it quite extensively, with most common place where one could find it being Everfree Forest. A quick visit there would mean she'd easily get her hands on both Twisted Sugar and Poison Joke, thus killing two birds with one stone. Three actually, if she were to get herself some of those Timber Wolves she had heard about.

Airy was sure she'd have an opportunity to visit the place someday... or hire some fool to get them for her.

"Are you sure I'm even allowed in here? This is the guard barracks after all, aren't those places restricted to guards and their superiors?" Airy asked as she sat on top of Shard Tackle's head, looking at the guards who passed by while her unofficial ride kept walking through the hallways of the castle towards their destination.

"It's alright Airy, plenty of guards have had lovers, family and even couple of friends visit them in the barracks, as long as they've been properly escorted and the guard takes responsibility should anything happen. Besides, it's not like we're visiting the armory or the vaults, just the barrack where Glint Hoof is staying at; just a quick visit between friends and acquaintance in your case should be no trouble at all... as long as we do it before the inspection starts" Shard Tackle answered as Airy casually waved at one of the guards, receiving a nod in return as the guard walked past them.

In truth, Airy couldn't care less about Glint Hoof... yet since he was friends with Shard Tackle and had spend quite a while guarding her room at night, it had given the mare a false sense of them becoming acquaintances at the minimum; truthfully she hadn't had more than a handful of proper conversations with the stallion, whom she found as boring as an gossip article explaining different ships in fake reality shows. So what if Glint through himself clever by pulling pranks on others or making jokes of cringe worthy quality? He was a mindless sheep in her eyes, with her thoughts always wandering to better things whenever they actually had those few conversations.

The stallion was a total bore... still, it always helped to fake a friendship, even if she wanted to jam her fingers down his throat and pull out his vocal cords....hmm, was there a spell that could do the same effect without killing the victim? she'd need to research that; casting a spell that stops others from screaming could be very useful indeed, especially since you never know if one of her victims had a way to cancel the silence spell she knew; one might cancel a sound muting spell but one can't simply 'cancel' having your vocal cords ripped away or melted away.

"Ah, here we are" Shard spoke, snapping Airy out of her thoughts as they stopped just outside a barrack that had the door slightly ajar.

Airy glanced at the doors around them, all neatly closed and identical with no marks on which one was which. If she had to find this place blindly, she wouldn't have been able to without at least asking someone for directions. Now that Shard had escorted her here however, she could easily find it (though Airy doubted she'd ever need to). Airy turned her attention back to the door in front of her as Shard knocked on the door, before stepping forward as she pushed it open.

"Hi guys, guess -" the world seemed to slow down as door swung open, with shocked looks of the three guards inside (Which included Glint) staring at their direction, eyes widening as they tried to mouth a warning far too late; a shadow swept over them mere moments before the splash as they were showered in purple liquid.

Airy didn't have the time to react before she was swept off Shard's mane by the slimy liquid, before impacting the floor as Shard took a step back from the door "Ah, what the heck?!" she yelled out, keeping her eyes closed as she tried to brush off the stuff covering her face while the prankster guards held their sides while laughing to their heart's content.

"What is going on here!" A commanding voice echoed as the laughing ceased, with Glint and others feeling the cold sweat sweep over them as they turned to look at rather angry lieutenant staring at them from the doorway...

Airy was seething as she rubbed her hair, feeling the dried gunk of watered down jelly flaking off from her hair and skin while her clothes hovered on the other end of the bowl, with tentacles of water giving them a firm scrubbing. Do they have any idea how hard it is to get rid of purple stains on white clothes in medieval times? She was furious enough to murder those bastards: how dare they inflict such harm on her. She had saved their worthless lives from cold and hunger, yet this was how they dared to treat her?

Airy's jaw was tense as she ground her teeth against each other, before taking a deep breath through her nose. Her vengeance would be far greater than they would know. Screw her plans for that tourist attraction, they deserved none of it: She'd give them the absolute minimum in advancements and when she was ready, she'd scatter their ashes to their precious fields before burning them to the ground... but it would be a waste to destroy so much resources in mere retaliation.

Airy turned her head towards the Nightshade plant sitting on the nearby table, considering the level of toxicity she should increase it to before another idea came to her mind.

Yes, why should she waste her efforts in murdering the foolish guards and destroying valuable resources in petty revenge, when she could tear apart the core of the lives: their very careers. The nightshade had very minor hallucinogenic properties, it wouldn't be too hard to remove the toxicity and create a brand new drug by increasing those hallucinogenic properties to maximum safe tolerances, get her victims addicted by dosing them with it and then getting them thrown out from the royal guard. They'd beg for mercy and declare their innocence, yet no one would be willing to hire someone caught using drugs while on the job.

Airy waved her hand, causing the water to wash over her body and sweep away last of the filth before she took flight, ignoring the chill of the cold air against her bare skin as she flew across the room and landed on the table, right next to her precious new weapon against fools who dared to humiliate her.

As the magic left her hands and started to transform the nightshade plant according to her desires, Airy didn't even notice her own manic laughter as her eyes practically glowed with gleeful malice...

The door of Airy's bedroom opened, before a light pink stallion with brown mane stepped in, closing the door behind him as he glanced around the room before stepping towards the desk, where Airy was hovering with careful attention towards him.

"Here you go, miss Airy" Glow Glass spoke as he set down the box on the desk, opening it and showing the vials inside "Fifty glass vials with corks, set in five rows of ten. Does this satisfy your request?" he asked, smiling as the little fairy moved her hand and one of the aforementioned vials left the box, levitating in the air as Airy inspected it before waving her hand again, with the vial returning to it's position before the box closed itself.

"Yes, thank you. This will work nicely" Airy replied as she waved her hand, causing Glow Glass to take a step back as the desk drawer opened and a small bag levitated out of it. Glow Glass took the offered bag as the drawer closed, opening it and glancing at the bits inside, making a quick count before closing it back up and turning his gaze back to Airy, before noticing that she was now hovering right in front of his face.

Airy snapped her fingers, smiling as the glass worker rapidly blinked his eyes as they glowed slight pink, before speaking "I think it's best we keep everything here just between us: it's a secret to everybody, got it?" she ordered, winking as Glass Glow smiled as the magic faded from his eyes, with the compulsion magic taking effect "Of course ma'am, you can count on me" he replied, before turning as she dismissed him with a wave of her hand, opening and closing the door behind him.

Airy couldn't care less about the glass worker she had hired few days ago, just happy that she'd have the tools of her revenge. With a wave of her hand, the box hovered off the desk and followed her to the Nightshade plant, opening as the vials within had their corks removed. Another wave of her magic caused the Nightshade to shiver before a stream of pinkish liquid left the plant, gathering in the air in a large sphere while the plant shivered till it was bone dry, crumbling into it's pot. Last wave of her magic had the sphere of liquid split into fifty equal smaller spheres, before they entered the open vials, with corks sealing them shut once the process was done before the box closed itself and hovered to the bed, before floating under it.

With that done, Airy turned her gaze towards the crumbled remains of the plant, before using her magic to turn it into dust and leaving the pot empty and ready for a new plant to replace the stolen one.

The next morning, the gardeners were curious about a missing plant from the gardens, cursing at the youngsters always sneaking in to steal flowers because they didn't want to spend bits at the market while at the same time, the maids tending to Airy's room saw nothing out of ordinary...

"Thank you miss Airy. You're welcome anytime!" the spa owner said as she waved the little fairy goodbye, with Airy waving back as she sat on Shard Tackle's back as the guard walked out of the establishment and into the streets.

"So, where shall we head to next, Airy?" Shard Tackle asked as she glanced at their surroundings, watching as the ponies went on with their business, some giving the little fairy a curious glance but too shy to approach "Well, I've been thinking: it's been two months since I first arrived and we haven't explored all of the Crystal Empire yet: How about we explore cultural sites, I'm curious as to what a society less than a century old consider 'cultural and historical significance' as some scholars might say it" Airy replied as she flew to hover next to Shard's head, who put her hoof on her chin as she thought about her request.

"Well... I know I don't find it interesting, but we could visit the museum of founding: I hear they have hoof drawn portrays and mane clips of the most influential ponies from when Princess Amore gathered the stray crystal pony tribes and formed the Crystal Empire" Shard answered, before starting to walk down the street as Airy followed.

"Oh, that sounds interesting. I was curious as to what the crystal ponies were like before Princess Amore founded the Crystal Empire" Airy replied as she waved her hand at some curious fillies near some stall selling crystal berries.

"Oh, I wouldn't call it that interesting. From what I know, it was just a lot of unicorns and pegasi who led and protected the crystal ponies who provided the food for them, even if they were a minority at the time" Shard answered as she kept walking, glancing at the street signs as they passed them by and trying to remember where the museum was "Well, it's only natural: unicorns and pegasi seems really rare but they have magic and flight, so it's natural that they'd protect the people who produce their food: you can't eat pure energy or fill your stomach with clouds after all" Airy replied, before raising her eyebrow as Shard shook her head.

"That's not what I meant: back when the Crystal Empire was founded, most of the citizens were pegasi and unicorns" Shard said, stopping and turning to Airy who had a look of confusion on her face as she glanced around her at the crystal ponies: They had neither horns nor wings, merely the crystal empire's variation of Earth ponies "I...I don't understand. If most of their ancestors were pegasi and unicorns, then why are most of the crystal ponies without wings or horns?" Airy asked, genuinely curious at the contradiction.

"Ah, yes, you might have not heard of it before since it's a topic no one really speaks about these days. See that old earth pony without a shiny coat over there, by the stalls?" Shard pointed at a old stallion with grey mane who was talking with a customer, showing different colored fabrics "He's a normal Equestrian earth pony, who has magic in his hooves. Crystal ponies are different, as our magical connection to the crystals and the Crystal Heart makes our coats shine" Shard paused, indicating at her own shining coat

"Now, since most of the pony tribes were living in northern Equestria back in the day, they didn't have access to lot of crystals nor the Crystal Heart: That's why our magic concentrated on other spots, such and wings and horns. Of course most of those didn't even work, as we were technically 'magic starved', thus while we had more pegasi and unicorns, most of them were no different than the crystal ponies today: incapable of magic. So, when the Crystal Empire was founded, most of the new generations that were born here had neither horns nor wings, being born as normal crystal ponies: Grandma used to tell me about it because it gave quite a lot of couples a scare, thinking foals weren't theirs just because they lacked horns or wings... at least until Princess Amore one day gathered all the ponies and explained all this to them" Shard finished, watching as the Airy glanced around them with curiosity.

"fascinating... but what about the pegasi and unicorns after the founding? I heard that they were rare, that's why I was confused when you said they were the majority less than a century ago" Airy asked, turning back to Shard who nodded in reply "Well yeah, they are rare: real crystal unicorns such as Radiant and Sombra are extremely rare, with most of the others fleeing the city as soon as the trouble started" Shard said, pursing her lips "And technically Captain Thunder Shield is only half-blood, so his pegasus side comes from the Equestrian pegasi, not the crystal pegasi; same might be true to Daisy Glow, as everyone else pretty much left or retired" Shard said as she turned her gaze to the crowd.

Airy hovered there silently for a moment, considering things before speaking once more "Do you think those who left will come back to the Crystal Empire?" she asked, watching as Shard Tackle shook her head "Truthfully, I don't think so. Most of them sold and got rid of everything that kept them in the crystal empire and moved away as soon as the trouble with the crystal heart started. While I don't know specific reasons, it's my guess that they just took it as an excuse to take the opportunity in making better lives to themselves in Equestria, to serve the Alicorn princesses. Some ponies might return but I doubt anymore than a hoof full of unicorns and pegasi might even consider returning: better to serve as nobles and royal guards in big kingdom rather than a small city state like the crystal empire" Shard answered as she turned to look at the little fairy.

"hmm.... I think you're right: they're probably never going to return" Airy noted, before smiling as another idea came to her mind "Oh well, that just leaves more opportunities to us. Tell me Shard, have you ever wished to fly above the clouds?" she asked, watching as the confusion spread on the guard's face "I... Well, not really..." Shard answered, unsure of what the little fairy was thinking. She was a crystal pony, she didn't have wings like the pegasi or Airy: to dream of flying above the clouds was something she had never considered before.

Airy's smile widened as she flew next to the guard's ear before whispering "Well, I have some fantastic ideas about making a flying ship: I'll tell you more later" she spoke softly into the guard's ear, before flying up and landing on top of Shard's mane, sitting down as she pointed at random street "Now onward, my friend! You promised to show me that museum of yours" Airy said, with Shard chuckling as she resumed her walking, heading towards the aforementioned museum of founding.

And for the first time in her life, Shard Tackle's thoughts drifted to consider the very idea of soaring through the skies, her eyes drifting to the blue sky above her as she wondered what it was like to fly like a bird among the clouds....