Cadance The Crystal Princess

Lieutenant Cobalt Onyx continued the group through the bustling streets of Canterlot, the ponies occasionally greeting them as they passed by.

Queen Seraphine, King Fire Blaze, King Crestwing, Stormfeather, Au Hasard, Thunderhoof, Nimbus Dash, Grimhoof, Clover the Clever, Commander Hurricane and Dew Nourish were all looking around in astonishment, taking in the grandeur of the city. The intricate architecture, the beautifully adorned buildings, and the vibrant atmosphere captivated their attention. They nodded politely to the ponies who greeted them, appreciating the warm welcome.

Soon, the group entered through the castle and walked through the hallway toward the throne room.

On the way to the throne room, Princess Cadance, Prince Shining Armor, Lieutenant Flash Sentry, Spike, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and her friends talked.

"So, what are you going to tell our parents, Twily?" The Prince asked her sister teasingly.

"Shhhiiinnny!" The Princess of Friendship let out a high pitched whine.

"You know, if you want, I could marry you two. After all, I am the Princess of Love." The Princess of Love smirked.

Both Twilight and the lieutenant's faces turned bright red, making the Mane 5 and the dragon laugh. Pinkie Pie bounced in excitement, Fluttershy smiled at them while Rainbow Dash flew up and pumped her hoof in the air.

"I think it's a wonderful idea!" Rarity exclaimed, her eyes shining with delight. "A royal wedding would be simply fabulous!"

Applejack chuckled, tipping her hat. "Y'all better start planning, Twilight. Looks like everypony's on board."

The Princess of Friendship covered her head with her wings as her faces turned even brighter red while Flash rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, causing the Mane 5 and Spike to laugh again.

Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Amore turned and watched the scene with warm smiles while walking.

"I think Flash Sentry will be a great husband to Twilight and a great son-in-law to me." Amore stated with certainty and affection.

Both the royal sisters giggled. "Now, that's something we all agree." The solar princess said.

Before long, Cobalt had led the group to the throne room's ornate doors, which the group stopped chatting.

The two royal guards stationed at the entrance bowed and raised up before pushing the doors open.

Within the throne room, Captain Crimson Chaser, Captain Night Shadow, Starswirl the Bearded, Mistmane, Rockhoof, Meadowbrook, Flash Magnus, and Somnambula, along with Furx, Midnight Blossom, Yeth, Mallow Sear, Sunwing, and Ironclaw.

"Your highnesses." Both the captains and the crystal creatures said to the five princesses as they bowed down while the Pillars smiled.

"At ease." The lunar princess and her sister said, prompting the captains and the crystal creatures to raise up.

"Ah, Celestia, Luna. It's good to see you two again." Starswirl greeted his former students.

Both the royal sisters nodded their head. "Starswirl, Flash Magnus, and Rockhoof. There are some ponies who want to meet you." Celestia said, the five princesses moving aside.

The three stallions' eyes widened at the sight of Clover, Dew, Nimbus, and Grimhoof.

The seven ponies just stared at each other for a few minutes while the rest of group stood silent as they watched.

Starswirl slowly walked toward his former student before stopping just a few metres away from her.

"C... Clover...?" He stuttered.

Tears welled up in Clover's eyes. "Hi, Starswirl. It's been so long."

The bearded unicorn pulled his former student into an embrace, to which she returned.

Next to the two, Magnus slowly approached Nimbus and Grimhoof while a single tear streamed down his cheek.

"Nimbus... Grimhoof..." Magnus spoke as he embraced the two pegasi. "I missed you two."

"We missed you too, Flashy." Grimhoof said as he hugged back tightly.

"It's good to see you, Magnus." Nimbus added, her eyes welled up with tears of joy.

Meanwhile, Rockhoof stood still, staring at Dew while she slowly approached him before stopping just in front of his body and lifted her head up to see his face.

"Hey, Rockhoof." She started, prompting the giant stallion to smile, tears brimming in his eyes.

"Hey, Nourish." He spoke as he bent down and pulled her into a hug with a hoof, which she returned. "You still looked the same the last time I saw you."

"You too, big guy." Dew replied, prompting the stallion to chuckle as they part ways.

The rest of the Pillars wiped at their moist eyes as they watched the touching reunion, and stayed quiet so they didn't interrupt it. The rest of group also smiled warmly, sharing in the joy of the reunion.

After a few minutes, Starswirl, and Magnus parted off Clover, Nimbus, and Grimhoof, as they wiped the tears off their eyes.

"I'm glad that you're still alive, Starswirl. I thought you died from old age. I didn't think you would trapped yourself together with the Pony of Shadow to the Limbo just to imprison him." Clover stated.

"Us too, Magnus. When we heard from Captain Ironhead that you were perished at the hooves of the Pony of Shadow, we and Bella Breeze were devastated." Grimhoof said.

Starswirl and Magnus chuckled a little. "Well, it was the only way to stop the Pony of Shadow from spreading darkness across Equestria. But now I think about it, I probably should have asked Stygian what was he going to do with our artifacts instead of accusing him of stealing our powers without asking him." The bearded unicorn stallion admitted as he rubbed he back of his head sheepishly.

The group shared a collective chuckle, the tension easing into a comfortable laugh.

The doors of the throne room opened again, getting the group's attention to see a royal guard stallion.

"Your highnesses..." Corporal Steel Facade started as he bowed down before standing. "The visitors who have received the letters from Princess Twilight Sparkle have arrived at the train station and are now being escorted to the throne room now."

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Thorax, Pharynx, Ocellus, Gilda, Gabby, Gallus, Queen Rain Shine, Autumn Blaze, Queen Novo, Princess Skystar, Silverstream, Sky Beak, Yona, Dragon Lord Ember, Smolder, Sandbar, and guards from the respective races walked toward the throne room while being escorted by another royal guard.

While the leaders of the races walked casually, the Young 6, Princess Skystar and Autumn Blaze happily chatted with each other.

"What games do you think the Friendship Festival will have for us to play?" Ocellus asked eagerly, hovering in the air.

Smolder smirked, crossing her arms. "I'm pretty sure the festival will have plenty of games for us to play, Ocellus. Chill down."

The young changeling blushed, prompting Gallus to giggle. "Smolder's right. There's going to be tons of fun stuff to do."

"Yona can't believe that Yona is actually participating this festival! This is Yona's first time!" The yak squealed.

"I agree with you, Yona." Sandbar happily stated.

Princess Skystar and Silverstream were busying popping questions to the Kirin.

"Oh my gosh. You look so pretty with all the furs."

"And beautiful."

Autumn's face turned brighter red from the compliments made from the two hippogriffs.

Before long, the group had reached the door of the throne room, where two guards saluted before opening the doors for the group to enter.

The group excluding Ember, Smolder and Sandbar all stared at the group in the throne room, mainly just staring at Queen Seraphine, King Crestwing, King Fire Blaze, Stormfeather and Thunderhoof.

They just stared at each other for a few minutes in silence before it was broken.

Skystar stared at Crestwing with teary eyes. "D-daddy?"

The King of the hippogriffs smiled. "Hello, my dear Skystar."

The princess hippogriff leapt forward and tearfully hugged her father, who returned the embrace while Novo stared at her supposedly deceased husband in shock. Both Silverstream and Sky Beak stared at the king with opened jaws.

"How... how is this possible? I thought the Storm King killed you back at Mount Aris." The Queen of the hippogriff asked, her voice trembling with emotion.

Crestwing gently released Skystar from the hug and approached his wife. "It's a long story, which I would tell once we are alone and you fully explain why you refuse to help the ponies to fight against the Storm King when he invaded Canterlot." He asked, his voice carrying a bit of anger and disappointment.

Novo winced back from her husband's voice, but composed herself before sighing. "Very well, Crestwing."

Both the husband and wife slowly walked out of the throne room, closing the doors behind as the three hippogriffs glanced at each other with worried look while Sunwing winced.

Next to them, Rain Shine was embracing her supposedly deceased brother, Autumn standing aside as she watched the reunion while wiping her moist eyes with her hoof, with Mallow Sear putting a hoof on her shoulder.

"Oh, Blazey... I thought you were perished when the village burned down after the two of our subject turned into Niriks in anger while they were exchanging hurtful words." The queen of the Kirin said with teary eyes.

Fire Blaze chuckled. "I thought the same about you, my dear sister. I'm just grateful we found each other again."

Rain Shine hugged her brother tighter.

As the kirins shared their emotional reunion, the changeling brothers and the young changeling approached the changeling queen, confused look in their face, while Furx stood aside.

"Uh, who are you? You looked like Chrysalis." Pharynx asked with an arched eyebrow.

Seraphine giggled. "Close. I'm actually Chrysalis's elder sister, Pharynx."

The three changelings stared at the changeling queen and their mouth fell open in shock. "You're... you're our former queen's elder sister?! Chrysalis didn't... didn't tell us that..." Thorax stuttered.

"You know me? I never met you before." The dark cyan changeling asked in shock.

The changeling queen smirked as green flames surrounded her and her tall form was replaced with a unicorn mare, which Pharynx recognised that form.

"It's... it's you. You're the one who gave our former queen's diary to me and my soldiers at the outskirt of the Crystal Empire a year ago." The dark cyan changeling stuttered, taking a step back as Seraphine shed her disguise away, while the green changeling and Ocellus glanced between the changeling queen and Pharynx.

"Pharynx, you know her?" Thorax asked, walking toward his brother.

The dark cyan changeling looked at his younger brother and nodded his head. "Yes and no. I only know the unicorn mare. I didn't know that she is one of us, let alone to be a changeling queen."

Pharynx turned his head back to Seraphine with an apologetic look. "Queen Seraphine, I apologised for my hostility back at the outskirt a year ago. Had I known that you were the changeling queen and our former queen's elder sister, I would have acted differently."

"It's ok, Pharynx. You didn't know and you made the right choice of disposing my younger sister for good." The changeling queen smiled warmly at the dark cyan changeling.

Pharynx smiled before Seraphine's attention was directed to the young changeling.

"And who you might be, little one?" She asked with a hint of confusion.

Ocellus's eyes widened when the changeling queen took notice her, but quickly composed herself and introduced herself. "My name is Ocellus."

Seraphine bent down to meet the young changeling's eyes while smiling. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Ocellus. I assumed you want to get to know more about me with all the staring you made."

Ocellus' face turned red before slowly nodding her head. The changeling queen giggled.

"Well, maybe later, once we finish up here." She stated.

The young changeling nodded happily as she bounced while both the changeling brothers chuckled.

Meanwhile, the three griffons and Yona went to greet Stormfeather and Thunderhoof with Ironclaw and Yeth.

"Hi there, I'm Gabby. What's your name?" Gabby asked.

Both the crystal griffons chuckled. "Well, my name is Stormfeather and this is Ironclaw." Stormfeather introduced himself and Ironclaw.

"And we yaks are Thunderhoof and Yeth." Thunderhoof introduced themselves to the young yak.

"So, you're like a crystal version of us!" Gallus remarked, examining Stormfeather's shimmering feathers.

"Exactly," Stormfeather replied with a smile. "We share many similarities but also have unique traits."

"And you two are like crystal yaks?" Yona asked Thunderhoof and Yeth, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"That's right," Thunderhoof replied. "We're a bit stronger and more resilient, thanks to our crystal nature."

The young yak's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Yona want to know more about crystal yaks!"

Yeth chuckled. "We'll be happy to tell you all about it."

While the groups continued to exchange stories and learn about each other, Magnus and Somnambula were talking with Commander Hurricane.

"It's truly an honor to meet you, Commander Hurricane," Magnus said, saluting.

"Likewise," Hurricane replied, nodding. "I've heard many tales of your bravery, Flash Magnus."

Somnambula smiled. "And your leadership has inspired generations of pegasi, Commander."

As Commander Hurricane and the two pegasi of the Pillars continued their conversation, Clover joined them, smiling warmly. She nuzzled Hurricane's neck affectionately.

"Hello, honey," she said softly, her eyes glowing with affection.

The Mane 5, Spike, and the Pillars of Equestria all turned to look at Clover and Hurricane in surprise, their reactions varied and vivid, while the rest of the group either smiled at their interaction or whistled, having already known about the relationship.

Starswirl arched an eyebrow. "Did I mishear that, Clover? Did you just call Hurricane 'honey'?"

His former student blushed, her face turning a deep shade of red. "No, Starswirl, you didn't mishear. Hurricane and I have been married for four years." She nuzzled Hurricane's neck again, her affection evident.

Starswirl stared at her evenly for several long minutes, his expression unreadable. Finally, he smirked. "If I recall correctly, didn't you once say that study was more important than relationships?"

It took a moment for everything to click in Clover's mind. When it did, her face turned even brighter red, and she exclaimed, "St-Starswirl!"

Her exclamation caused the entire room to burst into laughter.