Beyond My Years

My friends and I spent a good portion of a month in the Crystal Empire. We stayed at the Crystal Palace as Cadance’s royal guests, since I was Princess Celestia’s student. Being the royal student had its perks, but I never felt right using them. Just like Twilight had been, I wanted to stay out of the limelight. Besides, it was easier to hide my lack of cutie mark if I stayed out of public eye, something Princess Twilight had never had to worry about, since she gained her royal personal student status and cutie mark essentially at the same time.

During our stay I learned more than I ever dreamed about the history and magic of the Crystal Empire and its citizens. The magic was old and deeply rooted, not in each individual pony, but in the soul of each pony as they intertwined. This was the power that allowed them to soul-bind, and join together in any situation.

Even being located in the frozen wasteland of the north, the Crystal Empire itself was situated on a small piece of paradise. The Crystal Heart not only spread love and unity throughout Equestria, but also kept the boundaries of the Empire at a comfortable temperature. With this, ponies were able to trot about without the need for coats and scarves, until they needed to use the train to travel. Since it was out of the boundaries of the Empire, the train station was as cold as the rest of the north.

Since the Empire was so warm we were able to relax as though we were at the beach again. Crystal ponies milled around us, their daily duties a testament to how much royal status the Empire had had back when the world knew readily of its existence. The Crystal ponies who worked firsthoof for royalty shined the walls and windows of the palace every day, and most of the rest of the crystal ponies sold wares or practiced trades.

The school was advanced, I was happy to see. Ever since the return of the empire, Princess Cadance felt the need to start her own royal school and try to catch the long-lost crystal ponies up to the technological advancement of the rest of Equestria. They had never even seen a train before the day the station was completed and the train pulled into the station for the very first time. Because Cadance realized that none of these ponies knew anything more than of crystal magic and the basics of economy and survival, she employed a number of newly graduated teachers from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns to work in her own school in the Empire.

There was a bit of a barrier between the unicorns and the crystal ponies at first, because the magic that unicorns are taught, the magic that comes from within, is harnessed and released through the horn that all unicorns are born with. Crystal magic differs from that, because the crystal ponies need an outside source to channel their inner magic. Learning this new idea intrigued me.

When a magical crystal pony is born, it is hard to tell at first. Unlike the rest of Equestria, where a unicorn is born with a horn and a Pegasus is born with wings and an earth pony is born with neither, a magic crystal pony has to discover the magic he or she possesses within. They call it “The Crystal Calling”.

When the crystal pony feels The Crystal Calling, they are drawn to a specific piece of crystal. That crystal is then attached to the pony in a way of their choosing, and they must not lose it. If a Channeling Crystal is lost, a magic crystal pony will never be able to use his or her inner magic again. Basically it’s one pony per crystal, one crystal per pony.

Some ponies choose to simply have a pendant or an earring or a bracelet fashioned with the crystal as the centerpiece, but some of the more extreme ponies take drastic measures to ensure the crystal is not lost. These ponies have a dangerous procedure done where the crystal is actually filed down smoothly, and then inserted into the chest cavity next to the heart. This is because the crystal ponies believe that true inner magic comes from the heart.

The greatest risk of the procedure is that the medical technologies are lacking, so each time it is done, the risk of death is great. This risk has gone down since the technologies have been updated. For whatever reason, the procedure does cause the magic to be stronger. The crystal is what the crystal ponies use to channel their inner magic outward. You will never see a unicorn crystal pony, but that doesn’t mean that magic doesn’t abound. It is all around in the Empire.

Not every crystal pony has the ability to channel their inner magic, just like unicorns are the only ones who can channel magic when compared to pegasi and earth ponies, yet we are all ponies. I learned that the Crystal Calling may come before or after a cutie mark is gained and the mark may not even have a thing to do with the ability to channel magic. I was not particularly surprised to hear that, given my own situation.

I also learned of some rare and thought-to-be lost diseases and afflictions concerning cutie marks. The one everypony knew of that still exists is the Cutie Pox. Quite common for young fillies and colts. However, there are two different strains of a supremely dangerous cutie mark disease thought to have died out two hundred years before the Era of the Ruling of the Royal Pony Sisters. They didn’t die out; they simply vanished with the Crystal Empire, the last known place of infection. And as the Empire returned, so did the disease.

The first strain affects fillies and colts on the cusp of receiving their cutie mark. The infection is slight, no signs or symptoms, but when the pony begins to receive their mark, a burning sensation engulfs their flank on either side, where the mark is supposed to appear. The burning sensation continues until the mark is fully received, which, for infected ponies, can take hours or even days to appear, rather than instantaneously, like healthy ponies.

There is no cure, prevention, or treatment. There is no way to tell if a pony is infected. The disease can’t even be studied. There is no way to tell if it’s passed on genetically or if it’s a bacteria or anything. It just happens. And there’s no way to stop it.

The worst part is the burning increases as though the pony’s flank has been set on fire. Newer medicine can’t even temper the pain from the flank. Anesthesia wears off in minutes. It wholly makes the experience of gaining one’s cutie mark an undesirable one. Once the cutie mark fully appears, the burning sensation disappears, as though it never happened. Usually.

With the second strain, it begins like the first, no symptoms, affection young fillies and colts who have yet to gain their marks, no way to stop the pain… however, the second strain continues far into adulthood. It’s a painful sting that can last up to three hours periodically. It doesn’t happen every day or every year, and may disappear for years at a time but it always comes back full force. And there’s still no cure.

I began keeping a journal. Foamy and Dewy encouraged me to try more activities in the Crystal Empire but nothing I tried worked. Three and a half weeks passed and I was ready to try something else. Dewy suggested I travel to other nations. I agreed. The next stop was the grasslands and desert nation of Zehara.