Prologue
"Let me get this straight - you're not joining the Buckball team this year?"
A young unicorn mare, with a shiny silver coat, stood in shock as she stared at her friend; a slightly shorter, slightly kinder mare.
"You're the best player the school has ever seen!" Aurora couldn't believe what she had heard escaping Regina's mouth mere moments before.
The mare's short, green-pink hair fell over her face as she swayed it back and forth, refusing to believe what was happening.
Regina, whom Aurora had been friends with for four or so years, shook her head as she giggled at the mare's shock. She placed her white hoof over her mouth as she laughed, her white-patched, purple body shaking from her laughter.
"Not this year, Aurora. I wanna pass our exams. They're our finals, after all."
Regina spoke with a funny little accent - like a princess from an old mare's tale. A mix of a Trottingham accent, one that was very polite and proper, and a typical Cloudsdale accent that was rough and jagged. It was almost a trademark for the sweet pegasus that was Regina, who tried to share and give to those around her who she loved so dearly.
It was true that Aurora's accent wasn't native to their current home, Ponyville, either. The mare had been raised there, but her family hailed from the village of Mistmane - accurately named after the mare of beauty - located in the east of Equestria.
Her family, all calm and collected, spoke carefully. Aurora, on the other hand, spoke like she thought. An ambitious floralcorn, she knew that honesty was harsh but right.
"Buckball keeps you moving, though, Regina! You're only tiny," she said teasingly, "a good sport will serve you well!"
Regina scowled, knowing Aurora hardly ever partook in sporting activities. The mare was more concerned with her appearance and watching Regina's teammates than exercising.
"I'm a seventeen year old mare! Whatever have I got to do to impress you more Reg?" Aurora said, blushing from embarrassment. "Besides, the team will be awful without you, and games will be so boring to watch."
"Convincing." Regina said bluntly.
She turned around, Aurora following her at her side, as the mares walked towards a window. The pegasus mare pointed outside, showing her friend what was happening on the courtyard.
"The biweekly training match happens here, every Monday and Thursday. See all those young fillies and colts in the sky? They're training to do what I did for so long." Regina proclaimed, as if she was about to make a powerful speech about her great successor.
"Regina," Aurora started to say, to which Regina replied with a hum, "I know what days you trained. I literally see you every day."
The silly powerful music that was playing in Regina's head came to a pause. She laughed, "Always the blunt one, aren't you?"
The mares giggled as they walked away from the window.
"What do we have now, Reg?"
"An Apple Bloom Friendship lesson, again. Why must we have two today?" Regina sighed.
She didn't really know why she sighed - she signed up to this school three years before to learn all she could about her biggest inspiration in her life - Princess Twilight Sparkle. The one who set up the school over twenty years prior, Twilight Sparkle was even the inspiration for Regina's favourite nickname - Twi.
But when she joined the school, she realised it was a school of friendship, as the title smartly suggested. A school of learning about friendship, the biggest power the land had known, and making friends.
It was a breeze.
Joining the Buckball team was an easy task for the mare, with Rainbow Dash as a part-time coach every Monday and Thursday.
It was a dream come true!
Exams were not. But they were compulsory.
Of course, Regina picked the essay based subjects to take for her final two years at the school.
"Blame yourself. You do them all. I only do this one. Apple Bloom is so inspiring, don't you think?" Aurora asked as Regina nodded in reply.
The two mares reached a grand door, made from pure oak. It smelled like daisies on a happy spring morning, as the autumnal wind picked up outside, whistling and roaring as the younger students played Buckball.
"Ah, Ms. Bloom's door smells just like a beautiful spring day in my home!" called an unfamiliar voice.
Aurora looked at Regina, half concerned, half confused.
"Do you know that voice?" she tried to whisper, but instead, asking it loudly. Regina's face became one of pure embarrassment, as she carefully placed her hoof over Aurora's mouth to conceal her question.
"Oh, you won't know my voice!" came the soft jingle of the voice once again. It was coming from behind the two ponies. It was beyond soothing.
It was almost rather uncanny, how soothing and calming it was.
The two friends turned around.
Carefully. Slowly.
Regina locked eyes with a mare with the most stunning green eyes. They were like emeralds, trying to enchant you with every shimmer the sun gave to them.
Her coat was a luxurious, pale yellow-ochre colour. She looked like a goddess from the ground beneath their hooves. Her mane was short, bouncy, and brown in colour. It looked as sweet as chocolate.
"Oh! Where are my manners?" the mysterious figure said suddenly, snapping more music, this time sparkly and godly, out of Regina's mind.
"My name is Saturn Blossom. I believe this is the lecture room for Ms. Bloom?"
Aurora stared at the earth pony mare stood before the two. She had rather long legs, much longer than Regina's, and had an aura about her that screamed power. It was as if she was some sort of Princess of a nation, just like Twilight Sparkle or Cadence of the Crystal Empire.
An Earth Pony nation.
"It is!" Regina replied enthusiastically, joy taking over her face. "Are you new? Well, what a silly question, you must be new! I've never seen you before, and I feel like I know everyone!"
Aurora's eyes flickered rapidly between opened and closed as she stared at Regina. Again, her friend had shocked her within a day. That was rather rare.
"Yes, I just arrived here." Saturn replied, smiling sheepishly. She seemed rather shy, almost as if she wasn't ready to expose herself to the wide world that was the School of Friendship.
As if she was there for a transaction, as Aurora quietly thought to herself.
Regina pushed the grand oak door open delicately with her hoof. She extended her wing out as if she wanted to hold Saturn Blossom's hoof, seemingly trying to invite her into the lecture room.
"C'mon in then, Saturn!"
The earth pony mare trotted towards the two friends. She looked at Aurora, flashing a somewhat convincing smile. A smile that Aurora didn't like too much.
A smile that could charm a nation, but not a fool.
Aurora couldn't help but notice the scent of the pony. A scent of flora that was all too familiar to the floralcorn.
Material Amity - a sacred flower held only by Aurora's family.
Or so she thought.
Maybe, she thought, as she shook her head, it was just a new perfume she hadn't heard of. Although a rare occasion, it had happened a few times before. Maybe it was just a very similar smell to the Material Amity flower she thought she knew oh so well.
"That could strike up a conversation!" she again tried to whisper but failed.
"What was that, Aurora?" a tall, strong griffon said, towering over the mare.
She could smell the pure sweat he had produced and covered his feathers with, probably from playing Buckball or Baseball with his friends.
"Nothing!" she said, looking at him, a feeling of disgust taking over her.
It was at this point when the unicorn mare realised she was standing in the way of at least six or seven other creatures, all waiting to enter the lecture room before Apple Bloom arrived.
Dashing away from the door, the pony's golden eyes were immediately pulled into the emerald eyes belonging to Saturn Blossom. It was almost frightening how their eyes locked immediately as she stepped into the room, but she assumed she would have to get used to it as Regina constantly talked to the new mare.
Those emerald green eyes were just like a gem found in the Crystal Empire. They felt like they had been carefully carved by the best gem miner in the world to complete such a beautiful pony.
But, they didn't seem right.
Author's Note
"Floralcorn" and "Unicorn" is used hand-in-hand when referring to Aurora throughout this piece.
"Floralcorn" is just the name I've given to the unicorns we see in Mistmane's village in season 7, with their curved horns.
Saturn Blossom is a character whose name is inspired by Sailor Saturn from Sailor Moon! Originally, the character was supposed to have an outfit/ sailor fuku in the colour Orche, but this was later changed to purple!
All of the original characters in this prologue are mine!! My main oc/ponysona is Regina!
I'm also British so all British English spellings are used here <3
a gaggle of gossiping princesses
Chapter 1
"To the left!"
The voice Princess Flurry Heart heard when she delicately trotted through the Crystal Gates was a true sign that she was home.
The voice, whilst harsh and loud, also held a sense of delicacy; her younger sister, the strongest Crystal Guard, Princess Borealis.
"Home." the Princess of Unity, who had been living in the Southern country of Hippogriffia for two years or so, said contently.
It was no secret that she had missed living with her family in the Crystal Empire, but her role as the Princess of Unity had seen her living far away from home. She had become accustomed to the warm, tropical weather in Harmonising Heights' peaks; the cold breeze that welcomed her home sent a shiver or two down her spine.
Flurry couldn't help but smile. It was nice to be home after so long, and it seemed so peaceful. Her pink cheeks lifted as she smiled, a huge grin taking over her face.
A screech, that the Princess couldn't distinguish between a yelp for help or a scream of a fangirl watching her favourite Canter-pop group live, broke the peace Flurry had relished in.
"Seems like Radiance missed me. Don't you think, Sweet Corn?" Flurry cooed, bending her neck slightly to talk eye to eye to the Crystal Guard who had been escorting her back home.
The earth pony mare simply nodded in reply. She didn't make eye contact with the Princess, for that would have been an embarrassment of sorts.
"You've never been a big speaker." the Princess laughed.
"FLURRY!" came the happy shout of a unicorn mare, whose white coat shimmered amongst the snow and crystals. Her curley mane, yellow and purple in colour, bounced as she trotted to meet her sister after so long apart.
Her hooves, with little blue patches at their tips, moved like a raging fire as she ran. There was no need for the silly pony to run, for her sister wasn't going anywhere. But she ran regardless of what embarrassing moment she was going to create.
"Be careful, Rad, watch the puddles." Flurry carefully said as the younger Princess lept into the air, as if she was half kangaroo.
Despite her new found role as the Empire's next long jumper, there was no sand or snow for the Princess to delicately land in. All Radiance had was an awfully mud-filled puddle.
Her white coat had immediately become brown and patchy, as if she had visited some sort of chocolate emporium before Flurry Heart returned.
Mud splashed around the area, lightly dripping onto Sweet Corn's right cheek.
"Delightful." the mare muttered silently, hoping the two princesses didn't hear her.
Flurry Heart looked down, staring at her hooves. Her regalia, ever so silver and shiny, was now splattered with brown slush from the puddle that once lay in front of her. She groaned, contemplating if she should complain.
"What's with all this noise? I'm trying to train my guards, but all we can hear is you making a scene, Radiance."
It was that rough yet delicate voice again. The voice that belonged to the Captain of the Empire's Royal Guards. She was the strongest the Empire had seen in the modern era, taking over from her father's role not long before. She didn't sound too impressed.
Radiance blinked rapidly, still swimming in the puddle of mud and mess. The Princess was used to mud baths that cleaned her, not those that would dirty her. It didn't smell nice either.
The mare's vision was blurred as her magenta eyes came back to life.
"Borealis!" Radiance exclaimed, embarrassment taking over her body. She could feel her cheeks becoming warm, pink seemingly becoming her new coat colour, as she looked directly at her sister's brilliant purple eyes.
She stood up almost immediately, trying her best to clean herself off. It was as if she was a common school pony who had gotten in trouble with her teacher - Borealis had become ever so strict after her instalment to the Empire's Royal Guard. But her anger was justified, the young princess thought. It was the Eve of their parents' coronation as the Empire's new, independent rulers. Empress Cadance, Emperor Shining Armor, and their three daughters. It sounded perfect.
Borealis, with her new role in hand, was tasked with the leading of the Guards. It was essential that everything was perfect. She had spent hours, days, and nights practising with her troops. It seemed like she hadn't slept for days, as if she was preparing for The Confluence at Sweet Apple Acres.
The pegasus mare stretched her wings as if she had just rolled out of her bed and sighed.
"You're eighteen, Rad. You've gotta get out there instead of jumping into muddy puddles all the time," the exasperated Princess said as she dipped her left wing under Radiance's stomach and lifted her out of the puddle. "What're you even doing in this mess anyways?"
Borealis had failed to spot her older sister.
"Sweet Corn, be a doll and check the weather schedule for tonight. I have a feeling a cosy, rainy day in front of the fire would do us three perfectly." Flurry Heart cooed yet again, bending down her neck to be at eye level with the earth pony mare she had walked through the grand, crystal city with.
Corn nodded, a slight blush taking over her face. She wasn't expecting such a moment to happen, so the eye contact with the Princess remained. She couldn't divert her sight away - that would have been ever so rude. Sweet Corn trotted away, knowing that the weather was set to be rather dull.
"Flurry!" Borealis exclaimed, finally sounding happy for something.
With Radiance still cleaning herself with her magic, the two eldest sisters hugged one another. It was a loud hug, as Flurry's regalia met Borealis', but it was a hug of happiness and joy. The unification of two was Flurry Heart's main aim as her role as the Princess of Unity. It was as if everything became whole again, even if Radiance was still a muddy mess.
Backing away slowly, Borealis' hoof met with her helmeted head in a salute.
"Princess Flurry Heart, welcome home." she proclaimed, as if there was a crowd of Crystal citizens lining the streets to welcome the Princess home.
Flurry couldn't help but giggle. She enjoyed embarrassing her younger siblings when she still lived in the Empire, and this seemed like the perfect time to do so.
Rising her hoof to her head, Flurry Heart hit her hoof against the ground once.
"Thank you, Ma'am!" Princess Flurry Heart bellowed.
She stamped her hoof again, even louder than the last time.
"What are you doing!" Borealis whispered, knowing Flurry had likely woken up every sleeping baby across the Empire. "This isn't funny!"
An awfully red blush appeared almost instantly on Borealis' face as Flurry stomped one final time.
"The stuff you learn from dad, hey Bore?" Flurry laughed.
The final hit of the hoof on the ground was so strong that the mane that Borealis had kept neatly in her helmet had become straight and floppy, covering her eyes. It was an embarrassing scene, as even Radiance's coat was even more muddy. The poor unicorn had fallen back into the disgustingly muddy puddle, which seemed to be a part of her now: it had all gone!
"Oh my!" Sweet Corn quietly whispered upon returning to the scene.
Quickly regaining her form (although her mane had similarly flopped and frazzled like Borealis') the guard quickly announced a rain storm was to arrive in the Crystal Empire that evening.
"Great, as soon as I get home too," the elder sister replied, "Shall we wonder through the castle halls for good time's sake?"
Radiance seemed convinced, "I do need a bath," she admitted, "I became one with the puddle."
Borealis looked to the ground as if she was ashamed of what she was thinking.
"Our training session hasn't finished. We have under seventeen hours 'til the coronation. We have to be ready for this."
Radiance sighed loudly, like a dramatic school girl.
"Oh, come on! You've been 'training' for weeks on end. I'm sure they know what they're doing!" she snarled quietly, slightly afraid, slightly angry.
Flurry's yellow magic aura filled the scene, lifting Borealis by the tail.
"Dismiss your guards until sunrise tomorrow, sister." she said sternly. She could be quite patronising when she did such actions, but she got her point across either way. Borealis nodded and was teleported away when Flurry's magic popped and sizzled.
"Did you see the cover pony for Pone? She's gorgeous!" Radiance said, staring dreamily as her body flopped and floated in the mud bath she had been waiting for.
"You wouldn't believe she's the daughter of Rainbow Dash and Applejack, would you?" Flurry said lightheartedly, "She seems like she came from a family of fashion ponies!"
"Sydia has always been keen on fashion: Aunt Twily told me moons ago. At least one of us listens." Borealis scoffed, her blue hooves becoming as shiny as a crystal from the deepest crystal cave.
Borealis was used to throwing herself onto her bed after a day of heavy training, not spending the evening in the Crystal Spa. It was ticklish on the base of her hooves, but she secretly enjoyed it. For old time's sake anyways.
"I must say, and pardon me for doing so, Princess," started the spa worker, who was making Borealis look ever so sparkly, "You should come more often! Your coat is so soft - what is your secret?" she said happily but shyly, a slight shake in her voice.
Borealis couldn't help but laugh softly. She didn't quite know just what to say. Did she say 'thank you'? Or did she take the compliment in her pride and say nothing else, like the true guard pony she was?
"Thank you, Golden Crisp."
She listened to Flurry Heart and Radiance, who were talking ever so loudly, as they reunited once again after so long. Borealis hadn't seen her older sister in the same amount of time as the youngest but didn't feel any strong connection as the two had surely felt. She stared at the floor, wondering how they did it - how the two clicked.
"Why, it's a big day tomorrow, Princess Borealis!" said an aged mare, whose mane was being treated and pampered. "I remember when your mother brought back this nation with the help of Spike the Glorious. We wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for your family. Oh, you must be proud!" she exclaimed with glee. She wore the biggest smile the pegasus mare had seen: even bigger than Pinkie Pie's biggest smile.
The Crystal mare's body shone as her happiness grew, a Crystallisation taking over her body. It was common for the Crystal Ponies to shimmer and shine as their happiness embodied them, no matter when or how. It was a recent trait the ancient ponies had taken on, but it was loved and appreciated.
'Oohs' and 'Ahhs' filled the air whenever a pony Crystallised in the streets that shone and shimmered in the summer and winter sun. It was a happy place, and Borealis was happy to a protector of the sacred land she called her own.
She nodded, smiling softly at the mare.
"What's that?"
Borealis snapped back to reality, her dream of the perfect realm she lived in over. She watched the glowing mare finish her treatment, paying for it and leaving with a smile.
Flurry Heart's voice filled her ears as the Royal Messenger spoke to her. The alicorn's yellow aura shimmered as she removed the curlers that were lying in her mane. As her hair popped into place, falling slowly over her eyes and cheeks, her face contorted into a face of pure shock and concern. As she made eye contact with the golden pony, the Messenger's coat became darker as a tone of seriousness overtook the happiness the Guard had just witnessed.
"And when was this?" she asked, the informer quietly relaying information to the eldest sister.
Leaping from her seat, Borealis knew something had happened: Equestria had bad news for the Empire. She ushered the workers away, telling them to quickly go home, for danger may have been imminent.
"Captain Borealis!" Golden Hooves turned her attention towards Borealis, saluting in her direction. "News from Ponyville, I'm afraid."
"Whatever could happen in Ponyville?" chirped Radiance, who wasn't able to hear Golden's words with Flurry.
"Three students from the School of Friendship are gone." the Crystal mare, who was slightly aged and clearly wanted nothing more but to sleep, stuttered as she delivered the message. "The cold weather we usually experience here has been moved away, making sure the weather would be gorgeous for here tomorrow. Ponyville and the Everfree Forest have become its victim instead."
The three sisters exchanged stares of concern.
"Ponyville isn't designed for our weather!" Flurry Heart had been overtaken with shock, sliding out of the chair she was still sitting on. "Who exactly has gone?"
"Two young mares, who have been studying at the school for a matter of years: Aurora and Regina. Two inseparable friends. The third is a mare who is widely unknown. Saturn Blossom had only been a student at the school for mere weeks before..." Golden's voice trailed off, concern taking over her. It wasn't normal for the mare to lose her composure, but she wasn't sure she had ever heard such a story happening in her modern day.
Radiance, ever the most empathetic of the three recognised Hooves' pain.
Ushering her home, assuring the sisters had the knowledge needed to retrieve the information their family had received moments before them, the unicorn Princess knew they had to return home.
"A ponynapping in Ponyville! Unbelievable." Radiance looked out of the window she stood next to in the throne room of the Crystal Castle.
Her family had all piled into the room, travelling to the Empire from Canterlot for her parent's coronation.
"The coronation is cancelled." her mother, Cadance, sighed heavy heartedly.
It wasn't the choice she wanted to make, but it was the necessary choice.
The decorations around the Empire became meaningless. The decorations at the Castle became useless - the ice would melt soon enough. The decision was hard.
Ponyville's harsh weather was now rendered pointless - the fast travelling, fast approaching snowstorm would have to be brought back to the Crystal Empire.
"Oh, Ponyville." Flurry sighed. "For a peaceful place, ponies going missing doesn't sound pretty peaceful. Especially in our weather. At least we know what to do."
Twilight Sparkle's flowing mane and tall stature shone a shadow over Flurry Heart's words. The Ruler of Equestria, who had lived in the beloved and somewhat infamous village for some time, knew that it was never a place fully of rainbows and buttercups.
"Ponyville has been a haven of villainy since that Summer Sun Celebration. One Thousand Moons without Luna proved tough, and her release opened up boarders for villains to enter and attack." the Princess recalled, seemingly finding it easier to talk about her own personal experiences when looking at the bright light lighting the room. "It was only time before some creature encountered it and attacked once again."
She sighed heavily, a sense of guilt taking control. Twilight glanced out of the window, the moon rising further each time she blinked.
"If our guards aren't needed for tomorrow," Borealis coughed as she entered the scene once more, "We can send them to Ponyville. We can guard the village." She smiled slightly, feeling her face flush. Was she embarrassed? Quite so.
It felt weird saying such a thing. Usually, that was her father's job.
"A noble offer," Flurry said, a joking tone in her voice.
But that tone was received with stares and judgement - Flurry had now been embarrassed.
"Great job, Flurry."
The three sisters, even as silent as Radiance was in the moment, had now been sent to their bedrooms. They were still the children of the Empire, it seemed. Huddled in the room Flurry Heart once called her own, they sat in what couldn't be better described than a playtime circle filled with fillies singing songs about friendship.
Radiance looked out of the window solemnly, as if she was wishing upon a star. Borealis stared at toy figurines of Twilight Sparkle and her friends that her elder sister once played with. Flurry Heart sat next to a box of magazines she had read when she was Radiance's age.
Minutes of silence followed Borealis' heated words - the sisterly reunion had become an awfully awkward one.
"Why do you think it happened?" Radiance had broken the silence, turning back to look into the darkened room, its only source of light being the beaming full moon.
Flurry's blue eyes gleamed as she looked at Radiance. Borealis' wings springed out of a fold, Radiance's comment being sudden and frightening.
"Sabotage." Borealis grumbled as if she was angered by the pure thought of it. "Sabotage of the Empire's special day."
Radiance and Flurry exchanged a look of confusion. Why would three mares go missing because of the Crystal Empire's independence?
"We don't even know if it was a ponynapping." Flurry reminded the two mares. The Princess was right. No one knew what had happened to the missing mares.
Only the missing mares knew.
Radiance looked out of the window again. It looked lonely and dark. The moon's sole company was the stars in the shimmering night sky. The Empire seemed cold and dark.
Banners celebrating the coronation took flight as a sudden wind whistled through the city Radiance called home. Ice sculptures would soon be removed: there was nothing to celebrate now. No fancy party was to take over their night. Everything was to be perfectly normal again.
But nothing was normal.
For three mares were gone. A unicorn, a pegasus, an earth pony. Gone without trace. There was nothing normal about that.
Radiance's head twirled with ideas about what was happening. From a happy reunion to this, it was not how she anticipated spending the Crystalline Holiday her parents had created mere weeks before.
Her head twirled. Her head twisted. Her head throbbed.
The windy whistles peeled through her ears.
A message. A sign.
The truth.
"Radiance?!"
Author's Note
In this chapter, Flurry Heart is 22 years old, with Borealis close behind at 20, and Radiance as 18 (two-ish years between each sister!) 
:3c I wonder, I wonder how the three mares were ponynapped!!
