As The Sun Sets

The Thestral stallion Cadance yelled up to nodded and pulled the stand back a few paces. Cadance used her horn to pull the tarp up to the top, pulling each of the three corners to its associated stand. She held it in place as another pair of Thestrals who tied the tarp down over the stands.

One more down.

"Looks good!" Cadance pulled open another box with her hoof, ignoring the process of removing the nails in favour of ripping it open. More packaged poles came out in pieces, and Cadance began assembling them with her telekinesis. Her magic had been getting the workout of the lifetime during the setup of the fair grounds, but whatever magic build up she was putting in the numbers for her.

Two more stands went up, and Cadance glanced over at the map, only to find that it had fallen from its place (That is, its place haphazardly set on top of a random box) and found its way onto the floor. She shrugged, looked at it, and leaned back up to move the stands to their roughly correct spots. A bit of jigging with her temporary crew, and another tent was up.

Only half of the fair grounds had tents, partly for the Thestrals themselves. There was a break tent for getting out of the sun sitting in the center of the impromptu construction zone.

Everything was coming together. The pony power of the Thestral guards working alongside her organization crew turned most of the open space into what was quickly starting to look like an actual celebration. A veritable train of wagons had sprouted off the actual train station, delivering all the materials faster than they could put them up. Ponies had already started to marvel.

Some businesses had already arrived too, that, and the crafts section of the fair was already full of ponies either setting up, or walking around for the sake of exploring. The publishing had drawn in half the hoof traffic they currently had, and the festival hadn't even started yet. Thestrals kept having to shoo' away onlookers who were in the way.

"~Heeeeeey," A voice said from behind her, she was lost enough in thought that she didn't recognize Shining until she turned to see him trotting up behind her. "Concerned husband here, how are you doing?"

"Conc-" Cadance set down the stands in her magic. "What? I'm fine, why?"

Hmmm?

"I bet." He smiled and walked up to her, "Just wanted to remind my pregnant wife that even though she can setup the entire fair by herself tha-"

Cadance snorted, "Okay-okay" She tossed her mane. "Break time! Thank you!" She got three salutes, and they all fell into a gliding formation back towards the center tent. "There. I'm taking a break-" Cadance sat down to better sarcastically articulate her point. "See?" The sarcasm was in good jest. She did need a break. Her hooves were killing her. Apparently boosted earth pony magic didn't translate into making her hooves not ache when she rapidly gained the weight of a child in under a month.

Shining's answer was to lean in for a quick smooch.

"How goes prep?"

Cadance gestured around, "See for yourself."

"I know. Practically overnight."

"Oh!" Shining flinched back from Cadance's shout, "Sorry, but that reminds me: Luna. I had this idea for a special night themed stage, she said she wanted to do her own speech or presentation and I was won-"

"Breathe Cadance."

Cadance sent him a look

He chuckled in fear, "Just... reminding you that you're on break."

Cadance levitated two pairs of gemstones out, "Do you think Luna would prefer?" She led. Shining had been part of the guard for nearly a whole year after Luna's return.

Surely he has to kn-

"Ooh, neither. Here," He turned and grabbed at the map. Lifted it up, and pointed, "This colour."

Cadance looked.

"Really?"

He shrugged.

Sure.

Cadance made a mental note and leaned back further onto her haunches. Taking in the activity around her. It was exactly as it should have been. Cadance was just another face in the crowd, when ponies needed help, there were teams upon teams of others in charge of managing the event. Cadance was an extra hoof, from here on in.

I may even get to enjoy the festival myself.

As soon as everything went up, her job was over, until opening ceremonies, her...

Announcements.

And introducing Luna, and perusing the grounds as a face to see before she could do anything on her own.

Shining sat with her, wondering what she was thinking about.

"So, why'd you really come looking for me?" Cadance eventually asked, once her hooves felt a little better.

Shining responded with no surprise, Cadance being able to tell there was 'something else' wasn't out of the ordinary. "I know it's only adding more things to your list but, Twilight's friends are here- actually they're at the palace, but they wanted to talk to you."

Cadance lifted a hoof, "They're not here for the festival?"

"They are, they came early because something happened with Twilight, something they said they needed you for."

Cadance tilted her head, "You seem distinctly unconcerned. Usually you'd be throwing a fit if there was something going on with Twily."

Shining thought for a second before answering with, "Is that a bad thing?"

"Of course not. I'm curious."

"Hi curious, I-"

Cadance interrupted, "Don't you dare finish that joke."

For the fiftieth time.

Shining chuckled.

Cadance gently closed her eyes and exhaled, trying to make herself seem more exasperated than she was. "Ten more relaxing minutes, then I'll go talk to them. Will you check on Homeward for me?"

"On it." Another smooch, and Cadance watched as Shining walked away.

Another few minutes passed before Cadance whapped herself over the head with her wing.

I forgot to ask him what floor they were on.

Cadance smiled as she approached, grimacing internally at how long it took to find them all. Twilight wasn't with them, of course, so she couldn't just pinpoint their location via emotion. They were in the dining hall, helping themselves and talking to a gathering of equal parts Thestral guards and ponies either staffing the Spire or helping with setup. They'd opened their doors for anyone who wanted to volunteer, treating anyone with lunch and dinner, should they want it.

Apparently Thestrals loved the Crystalian palate, as if they weren't out in the 'command tent' they were here. Something Cadance learned from Shining: A guard can always eat, doesn't matter where, when, or what condition. A good guard knows how to eat and sleep in any position, at any time. It was almost comical how much food they were going through, but the castle staff loved it and Cadance was focused on her destination, and the story Pinkie was telling about a rubber chicken and a cheese sandwich.

"Hey girls!" She called out as she approached

Pinkie sucked in a massive breath halfway through her sentence, and the ponies that looked away got a surprise when she yelled, "PRINCESS CADANCE!" Pinkie was no longer on the table, she was standing in front of Cadance, "Your mane looks a-mazing! I thought only Luna and Celestia's manes did that!"

Cadance giggled from the attention and flipped a hoof, "Well, yes but, the doctors say it's only in passing. Once the baby's been-"

"Oh my goodness!" Rarity exclaimed, cutting off Cadance's explanation, "Darling! You weren't lying when you said that it would be an..."

Applejack helped Rarity not be insulting. "Quick pregnancy?"

Cadance nodded, and glanced out towards the crowd of Thestrals for a split second before looking back to the assorted colours of Twilight's friends. "Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash. It's good to see all of you."

Pinkie waved rapidly, Rainbow Dash had something on her mind. All of them had some latent emotion lingering.

That'll probably be what they're here to... Where is-

Cadance looked back towards the crowd, sweeping her gaze over the ponies until she caught a pair of eyes she couldn't mistake. Selene, at least, a Thestral version made eye contact shortly before Cadance took a quick inhale and waved the group forwards, "Well let's not waste any time! I'm sorry I couldn't be up sooner."

"Don't worry about it none, this here's a big old festival you've been planning."

Cadance started walking, and waved a wing towards the Thestrals who did what soldiers do when being noticed by their princess. They cheered and drank. Selene sent her a smile and a wave.

"Like! Reeeeeeally big!" Pinkie pronked high enough to be eye level with Cadance. "I mean, I saw the pamphlets in the foal free press, but WOW!" She spun in midair, "It's way bigger in person!"

Person? Wh-

Cadance cut off her thought, "Thank you Pinkie, that means a lot, coming from the best party pony I know."

Pinkie dropped to the ground and did a strange series of motions.

"Uh-oh" and a pair of "Oh dear"s sounded out from the group behind her as Pinkie's body did a series of... things.

"What is it Pinkie? Somepony in trouble?" Rainbow asked.

Pinkie finished and tapped a hoof to her chin, "Nope! Somepony just said something they didn't know was wrong! Happens all the time." Then she spun and pronked down the hallway. Cadance looked to the rest, who only had shrugs to answer with in response.

"So, aside from the obvious. What brings you all to the Empire?"

"Ahm sure Shining Armor said something to ya, right?"

Cadance inclined her head, "Very little, something about Twilight?"

Fluttershy nodded, taking up the walking space next to Cadance. Her stride was a little long, but she was also walking far slower. Pregnancy and all that. "She's been stuck inside her library for a while."

"She's real beat up about something."

"Dreadfully so, we're not sure what to make of it."

"It's about some book."

A pair and set of eyes turned towards Rainbow Dash. "Princess Celestia gave her some dusty books to read through, and it's got her all..."

"I think the word you're looking for there Darling is Frazzled."

"OOoooOOo, Frazzled is right! I tried to throw her a big party with sparklers and streamers but she got all scared and really really upset and super frowny and I had to take it all down because Twilight said-" Pinkie's mane turned into Twilight's, colour included, "Pinkie Pie! You can't light fires inside a library! Especially one made out of wood!-" Her hair turned back to normal, "Except the Friendship Castle isn't made out of wood, it's made out of crystal, and I couldn't figure out why she was soooooooooooo-" Pinkie paused to take a deep breath, "ooooooooooooooooooooooooo upset about something else that made my party not help! It was awful!"

Cadance stared for a moment, working through what Pinkie actually just said.

"So you tried to throw her a party in her castle, and she was frightened because she thought there might be a fire? That sounds..."

Bad. Really really bad. Twilight gets neurotic sometimes but not...

"Uh- How did you follow all of that?" Rainbow asked

"I've been practicing keeping pace with face talking ponies." Cadance commented, "Nobles" she clarified at the looks. Rarity nodded to Applejack knowingly, who was deadpanning the whole situation away. "But it sounds bad, what's this book? A spell book? Does Celestia ha-"

"No, nothing like that." Fluttershy interrupted, "She said it was... a historical recount from hundreds of years ago."

Rainbow flew in front of the group. "Yeah! Except that was when she was still excited about it, a few weeks went past and she wouldn't even talk about it anymore. What gives?"

Cadance frowned and tilted her head to the side.

What aren't you saying yet?

She narrowed her eyes and took a few more steps towards Rainbow Dash, who seemingly remembered who she was talking to. "What makes you all think I know anything about it?" She turned towards the rest of the group, "If it's not... What is it?"

They'd all adopted guilty looks.

Applejack pulled her hat down over her chest, "Well, we may have broken into the castle late at night."

"It's not really bad! We're all allowed after all."

Applejack sent Rarity a look. "We also snuck into Twilight's study to see what it was all about. There were a whole bunch of letters penned out to Celestia about... Immortality and Alicorns and magic that we couldn't make any sense of."

Historical book. Alicorns... Celestia...

"Discord was acting strange about it too."

"You mean stranger than normal." Rainbow added

"Stranger than normal." Fluttershy clarified, "When I asked him about it, he said 'well she'd have to learn someday' and then when I asked him 'what' he got all jumpy and confused; then he turned into a sword that fell into a stone and that burst through my cottage wall and flew away."

"Ya didn't tell us that part sugar cube."

"He did fix the wall before he left."

Rarity raised a hoof, "Annnd, saying this as politely as possible, but it all started a while ago when... Something dreadful happened in Canterlot involving you and Princess Luna? Twilight didn't speak much of it, but we know she took a few surprise trips to see you after..."

"That is when everything changed!" Pinkie smiled, seemingly remembering.

Pinkie's emotions were... not unreadable, but majoritively unintelligible. They told of something deeper going on in the mare's head, though anyone who knew her with any depth would notice that anyways. Kind of like how Cadance could never grasp Celestia, but could still identify her by her unique emotions.

Cadance glanced between Pinkie and Applejack.

"We were hopin' you'd know something about it?"

Thing was, Cadance did know something about it. As Silver had said, and Luna had only vaguely verified, the entirety of history had been doctored carefully by Celestia. History that was distinctly not something that should be shared, not something Cadance could share. A history that would have shattered poor Twilight's worldview, if what Silver was spouting was to be believed.

Except why would Celestia have told Twilight?

The question she was really asking was: 'why Twilight instead of me?'

Then there was that public debacle in Canterlot. Twilight's friends thought it had something to do with Quick Silver, even if they didn't know that that's what they were asking about.

...

Cadance's mouth set itself into a straight line. "I'm sorry girls, but I can't say anything about the subject."

Applejack's eyes narrowed, and the quintet expressed a series of equally disbelieving looks.

"Twilight's coming to the fair right? I promise I'll make time to talk to her-" Cadance held up a hoof to interrupt Applejack opening her mouth. "Really; talk to her. I... Do think I know what's going on, but it's better to not talk behind her back, right?"

She got a trio of nods, "Then it's settled. Thank you all for letting me know, but I'm going to talk to Twilight."

"Ah guess I can't complain about that." Applejack muttered.

"What she would like to express-" Rarity said gently, sending Applejack the same look she sent Rainbow Dash. "Is how upset we are that we can't be involved. We understand that Twilight is an Alicorn now and we're not, but-"

"Horseapples." Rainbow helpfully clarified, "We're her friends! We've always faced stuff together, and now it's all 'royal secrets?'"

"Rainbow Dash." Cadance cleared her throat, "It's not like that at all, and I'm upset that you'd accuse me of something like it."

Applejack stepped in, "She's right Dash, it ain't right going around behind Twilight's back like we did, like we're doing."

Rainbow crossed her hooves, but didn't comment.

Cadance tried changing the subject, "You're all welcome to stay in the castle until tomorrow, I can have rooms or a room set out for all of you."

"Ah- you don-"

Rarity interjected, "Stay in The Crystal Spire? We'd LOVE to!" and shot Applejack a look that said 'don't take this away from me.'

"We'd be mighty pleased to accept your kind offer." Applejack quickly rephrased, laying it on a bit sarcastically thick.

Pinkie twirled her hoof with eyes wide as dinner plates, "Does this mean!?"

What does it-

"SLEEPOVER PARTY WITH THE PRINCESS! AAAA!"

Aaaaaand she's gone.

"I'm not sure that's what she meant."

Cadance shrugged, "I could go for a sleepover."

Shining was great, but the only mare friend Cadance had outside of work was Silver.

And that wasn't exactly... suited for 'relaxation'

"Alright!"

Cadance spun around on the now shimmering grey scale stage. Crystal magic works wonders when you have a team of crystal ponies well versed in construction. "Look at this place! Right?" There were cheers, Cadance looked over the teams. The sashes to identify leads, the Thestral guards having perched themselves on whatever they could find. Twilight's friends, who had joined in on the construction efforts, Homeward, Point Flare, and their respective teams.

"Can you believe that this was a month in the making?!" She projected, followed by more cheers and stomps. "All of you, and I really mean all of you. None of this would have been possible without every hoof, wing, and horn. Be it Crystal, Thestral, or whatever. Thank goodness you were all here." She joked, and got a few chuckles.

"Tomorrow is the biggest celebration Equestria has ever seen!"

Hoots and hollers mixed with the thumping of hooves and whistling. Cadance glanced at the blue tinted moon through the shield, wondering where Luna was in the crowd, if she was anywhere. "Tomorrow! We remind Equestria why we're called an Empire!"

More cheering, more whistling

"Tomorrow we show Equestria what the Crystal Ponies are all about! Because-" Cadance said immediately after to cut through the screams, "of all the ponies, of everyone who helped put this together, none of it would have been possible without the Crystalians of old."

There were nods, and Cadance dropped her voice, "Nobody needs reminders about Sombra. About the state of things, this Empire, less than faded memory ago. The places these ponies were in."

The crowd's excitement died to near a pin drop, totally unprepared for the direction Cadance's speech had gone.

"They were slaves." Her voice echoed and she let the comment hang in the air like a blade. "And look at this place." She gestured out, "I've never seen ponies so strong. With so much hope for the future. It's almost impossible, but here they are, glittering like stars, changing the world."

She let another beat pass

"So as the first event of The Crystal Solstice; for all of you who worked so hard, I'd like us to forgo the normal celebrations of a job well done. Instead, tonight, I would like us all to remember the Crystal Ponies."

Cadance's gaze swept across the crowd until they rested on Amber, at the edge of the stage.

"What they lost."

She turned again, until her eyes settled on the shield in the distance

"Their hardships."

She looked down at her own hooves.

"The pain."

The last word drifted into the air until a shrill whistle pierced the night. A Thestral had taken to the air and let off a noise the other Thestrals had joined in, screeching into the air. There was defiance in it, violence, grief. They pounded their armor with their hooves in tune with what Cadance was projection. Ponies stomped, and those that didn't understand were swept up into the emotion.

"Tonight! Let us remember the Crystal Ponies! Let tomorrow be for everything they created! And tonight, for everything they had."

The stomping turned to cheering, and the beat lost its cohesion. Cadance watched the non-Crystalians resting hooves on those that were. A few had broken into tears, the Thestrals kept up their screeching beat of violence for those that might try to harm them again.

Cadance felt the spark, and she opened her mouth.

"For friends that end
And time that goes
The Lives we've lost
To ice and snow"

This was not a song, but it was from the heart.

"The world untamed
In wilds aflame
To prey upon
the things we know"

She felt like she finally understood their struggle. Breaching the impossible, fighting something so unfair. Not so much as winning as surviving.

"While Fate reveals its wicked wrath
For us who walk the Starlit Path
To time apart in endless chase
I called my dreams in my own faith"

Defiance was just an act of Love. A choice you made that could not be unmade. Funny, how it always came back to choice.

"I carved my name in sky above
For power beyond apart in Love
The rules inside the laws sublime
To be in the time I cannot find"

A promise, is what it's called. It was something Cadance was starting to know; she'd save these ponies. She'd stop Silver, she'd help Twilight, she'd help Luna, Celestia, she'd do it all. Her voice raised to a shout, echoing over the rest of the noise her mind had tuned out as she half sang, half yelled her heart into the sky.

"For Will is run and burned to ash
By mine who’s heart and soul align
May not my hopes and dreams be dashed
But manifest by my design!"

Cadance's horn didn't light, her hooves didn't glow and her eyes didn't shine.

Because it wasn't an extravagant thing, a promise. Love.

It was quiet, paradoxical, impossible, unprovable.

Cadance's mane whipped in the ethereal wind as the Crystal Heart spun faster and let off a wave of crystallization magic as grey as the stage she was standing on. It was the second time she'd triggered it herself, maybe. She wasn't looking at the other ponies, she probably should have, but she was far more focused on the new emotion the heart had channeled.

Grief.

Cadance understood now. She left the stage with a flap of her wings, leaving the silent festivities of remembrance to continue without her. She had somewhere to be. She needed to have been there long before. She touched down only moments after taking flight, the tent wasn't far. Cadance landed in front of Homeward and co, surrounding Blue Skies, who was crying her eyes out with a smile. The Alicorn twitched a little, wanting to do this quickly, but also not wanting to disrupt the moment.

Symbol and Marker had the first looks of caring Cadance had ever seen on them.

"Thank you Princess." Was all Skies said.

Guess they heard me from all the way over here

They were all shiny too, the Crystal Hearts magic having done what it does.

"Could you show me where Silver is?"

Homeward's ears twisted around, "Quick Silver? The... Tack & Co. mare?" Cadance felt surprise she wasn't expecting.

"Yes, that's the one." She clarified.

"I thought I saw her helping set up the buffet tables over there, a few minutes ago."

"Thank you Homeward." Cadance flew away without warning, only taking a few steps away so as to not buffet the ponies. Homeward watched her go, and Cadance felt the fleeting confusion as she went. Silver had started a hoof wrestling contest with the Thestral guards, and was pretending to struggle in a way that, to Cadance, was a complete and utter exaggeration of what was going on. She landed, and the Thestral in question got just distracted enough for Silver to spin him over the table. The Guards laughed, of course.

"Princess! To what do we owe the pleasure?" Silver stepped forwards, "I promise we'll be back to work quickly."

Of course, I give a speech about remembrance and Silver starts a hoof wrestling competition instead of setting up the buffet table. Why is that the norma- err, normalest(?) thing abo- Focus Cadance.

Cadance raised a wing, and gestured for Silver to follow away from the crowd. "May I have a word with you in private?"

Silver followed, and kept up her 'noble' voice for just long enough to be far enough away, "Lovely speech you gave Prin- and we're out of earshot. What do you want?"

Cadance kept walking.

"Please don't do this. I can smell the apotheosis all over you, this isn't a stage play Cadance. I shouldn't have to keep making that comparison. Your dramatics' and poetry aren't welcome in my head."

Cadance made a face, "What about your dramatics' and poetry?"

Silver scoffed, "I'm no poet, and my drama is always in good taste." She sighed, "Can we please just go back to the celebration? I don't want to do this right now, or ever."

"You don't even know what I wanted to say."

"Y-er-" Silver gave Cadance a once over, "Odd, I guess I don't, but that's besides the point."

They walked in silence for a few moments.

Silver tried to change the subject, "So you've finally noticed the Heart can channel emotions other than 'hope' and 'love'."

"Why is that?" Cadance genuinely wondered out loud.

"Well, Sombra still used the Heart to create the shield while everyone was enslaved, so obviously there's something deeper there for you to think about. Magical artefacts are like that, you get old enough, and they basically have a will of their own."

Cadance hung her head, "I'm sorry for telling you that you didn't have to do this."

Silver frowned and went silent. That is, she stopped breathing, and her hooves stopped making noise as her crystalline form struck down on the crystal road.

"Of course you have to. You wouldn't be doing it if you didn't."

Silver rolled her eyes, "I already forgave you. Stop with this heartfelt apology nonsense. It's sappy and unnecessary."

"I'm going to prove you wrong." Cadance clarified

Silver rolled her eyes again.

"I don't know how yet... but I Will."

...

"Okay." Silver planted her hooves, "Welcome to the game then." She lifted one up and offered it to Cadance. Cadance took her hoof and Silver gave it a hearty shake that probably would have hurt a normal pony. "May the best of us win."

Cadance smiled, "Well let's hope." She joked

Silver snorted and let go. "Don't you have a pre-cel to run? And a spontaneous sleep over you're missing?"

"Yes, and stop spying on me." Cadance opened her wings and gave a parting glance to Silver's silent glare, mixed with the smile on her face. Then she took off for the Spire.