TWILIGHT
1. The walls brighten up the room.
Fortunately, Twilight's guards were forbidden to be in her private coach during trips.
A good thing too, she finally had space to think things over. Twilight's mind still had a hard time fully processing what really happened to her. Had she really become an alicorn? Did she really become a princess? All in one package? A month had just barely passed by and she still prays that all of this is just a bad dream. All she wanted right now was wake up and feel the warm sun's raze beaming down on her through the window of her nice cozy library. Free of any burdens she had recently obtained, and she has yet to wake up.
Though she was in Ponyville at the moment, but only just leaving it. Twilight was in her private coach—and for what it was, it wasn't too flashy. It was a decent size and had the typical essentials that would be expected for her stature: The coach was supplied with a small desk, a quill and ink cup and a small stack of paper, along with a small sofa, bunk, and restroom. It wasn't the most fanciest thing she's been in, but she didn't mind.
Twilight heard the conductor outside. "All aboard for the Crystal Empire, now departing!" He shouted as he walked on to a coach waving a flag. WHEEEEEESH! The whistle responded. The entire train jerked forward increasing in speed rapidly. It started out slow, but in only a few seconds the train had just left the station. Twilight was impressed—these new crystal streamline engines might be as fast as the papers say they are. Before she knew it they've already left clear of the station, but that only caught her attention for a moment, she was too focused at what was outside.
Twilight gazed on in sorrow at the little village drifting farther and farther away as they sped up. This was her home—she was leaving her friends and her life behind she felt. Sure her friends came to send her off knowing she would be back in a few days, but trips like this were becoming more and more frequent. Twilight was afraid that soon she would have to leave Ponyville and stay in Canterlot or the Crystal Empire, away from the country people and back into high-society.
This was becoming a very big pill to swallow, she had to at least tell somepony who would understand her grief. Twilight mustered the courage to speak her worry's to Princess Celestia, her mentor—only a short while ago, but her answer wasn't one Twilight was really looking for. Celestia told her that everything would make sense to her in time, and that everything would make more sense the more she explored her new position. Twilight never doubted her teacher's advise before and she still doesn't, but she was still very scared. Twilight was overwhelmed with fears of her future, she had never done anything like this before. She had lived a good amount of her life watching at first hoof the ways of royal duties, and this would put all her knowledge, skills and patients to the test. She didn't know if she could do it.
Twilight watched as Ponyville vanished behind a large cloud of steam through her window, staring at her own reflection in the window.
'I hope I'm not gone too long, Its getting harder and harder to stay away.' She thought to herself miserably. She slumped back down onto her sofa and sighed, as much she trying not too, she was on the verge of tearing up. Twilight felt like she always had to force her feelings back for a long time now—but now they were starting to make their way out, they were getting a little harder to hide.
It wasn't fair. If Twilight had the option to, she would consider resigning her post, but she was afraid she would let everypony down: Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, her friends, and all of Equestria? What would everypony think of her? They would look down on her in shame for sure. Twilight felt trapped with no hope of escape. She hoped Celestia was right, because she didn't know how she was going to make it through this. She wanted to know that everything would be just fine.
The train was gliding along the tracks smoothly and fast, then suddenly Twilight could hear muffled voices outside her door. The locks to her door started clicking. Twilight faintly gasped, she didn't want anypony to see her looking like she was upset. Twilight thought quickly, then looked too her bathroom. She levitated a box of tissues over to herself and acted as if she was blowing into them. The door opened, it was Spike. In his right arm he was holding a basket with a towel over it (he looked like he was having trouble carrying it) and in his left he was holding that same wrinkled booklet he had been carrying around all morning. He set the load down and cracked his back.
"Hey, thanks guys."He said. The guards didn't reply, one of them only slid the door closed. Spike shook his head. "I can never get them to crack."He sighed. Spike turned to Twilight and blinked. "Hey, are you okay?"He asked. Spike must have taken notice that she looked distressed.
"Yeah, I'm okay Spike," She sniffled. "You know how allergy season is."
"But allergy season is over."
Twilight shifted uneasily. "Well, I don't know, it might be dust mites." She conjured.
"Uh huh." Spike said, looking skeptical. Was she really being that obvious? "Anyway, I had some bits I could spare so I got us some snacks for the road. Or, rails, I should say." He comedically shrugged. Twilight smiled and levitated the basket over. Warm vapors evaporated out from the towel. It smelled hot and fresh, she could tell she was going to like this. She removed the towel to reveal a banquet of fresh baked Canterlot bread. Twilight licked her lips.
"Wow, this looks good Spike! You even got raspberry swirl, my favorite!"
"They had a pretty big selection up there at the snack bar. It all looked so good, I couldn't resist."
"Thank you Spike, I'll be able to sleep a lot better now."
"Tell me about it," Spike replied. "These business trips feel like they're getting longer and longer, we could use all the help we can get."
"You never have to come with me you know." Twilight pointed out.
"Why would I do that? I'm your little assistant aren't I? I should always be ready when you need me." Spike then looked side to side. "Also," He gulped. "The library gets pretty spooky at night without somepony there." He scratched his head looking tense. Twilight smiled—was he still afraid to be there by himself?
"What about Owlowiscious? She could keep you company." She suggested.
"That's the thing! She really creeps me out." Spike admitted. Twilight couldn't help but chuckle.
"It's okay Spike, you've known her long enough, she wont bite."
"She just keeps staring at me..." He quivered.
"She's probably just watching over you. Besides, she doesn't sleep at night." Twilight said. Spike just shrugged and climbed on to the guest chair.
"Doesn't it creep you out just a little that there is a creature in your house that can almost turn it's head completely around, is watching you sleep?"
"Not really." She replied. "I actually feel safe knowing that she's guarding the library at night."
"Well, you look at it how you want to. When we get home I'm going to tell her to mind her own business—I don't like her looking down my neck when I'm doing my thing." He answered, then covered his mouth and looked at Twilight. As if he just let something out. Twilight thought about that, what did he mean by 'his thing'?
"Say, what do you do at night?" Twilight raised her eyebrow. Spike looked a little worried.
"What do you mean?"He asked worryingly.
"I always here you muttering to yourself when I'm trying to sleep... Not only that, you always have a little lit candle. What exactly are you doing under your sheets?" She squinted. Spike's face turned red, he closed his eyes and sighed.
"Okay you caught me!"He confessed. Twilight blinked.
"Huh?"
"Remember the time you told me to get some lettuce from the market across town? Well, on my way there I found this in the front of a magazine shelf and I couldn't help myself." Spike held up that wrinkled thin booklet. Twilight didn't like where this was going.
She sat up. "Spike,"She said. "Let me see that." Spike kept it behind his back, refusing to give it up.
"Spike... Give it to me."She demanded. Spike grimaced, he finally surrendered the booklet and Twilight levitated it towards herself. She took one last look at Spike who sat motionless in the chair twirling his claws. Twilight opened the book. To her surprise it was one of the popular comic series Power Ponies comic books she used to read. Twilight was surprised and also relieved.
"Oh, I love this series!" She announced. Spike turned, looking confused.
"Really?"
"Hay yeah! I loved these stories when I was little."
"You... You don't think I'm weird?"
"Why would I think that? I read these stories like crazy when I was a filly! When did you start reading these?" She asked. Spike struggled to speak a little.
"W-Well, a little while ago I was cleaning some of your stuff while you were away in Canterlot and I found a whole box full of them. I thought they were pretty cool, but I didn't want you see me reading them, because I found them In your old kids stuff. So I didn't want you to think I was weird reading things you used to read as a kid."
"I don't think you're weird at all, Spike, These were the coolest things to read back then, is it still going?"
"Oh yeah, I've been trying to catch up."
"Well in that case, you can have all mine if you want."
"Really?" Spike said with a smile perking up his face.
"There all yours." Twilight grinned.
"Awesome!" Spike jumped. He ran over and gave Twilight a big hug. "Thank you so much Twilight! Your the best!"He hugged tightly.
"Your welcome Spike, but... I cant breathe."She croaked.
"Oh, sorry." He pulled away. Twilight felt deep claw marks on her neck and tried to smooth them out. Spike was a strong little guy when he wanted to be. "Well if you don't mind, I got some reading to do!" Spike beamed. He jumped back on to the chair, laying sideways and crossing his legs on the rest.
"Well, enjoy your comic Spike." Twilight said, stuffing her mouth with bread.
"You know I am! In this issue the Power Ponies are fighting Dr. Unagi, he's tricky one though. He has an army of-"
"Giant mutant crabs with laser eyes?" Twilight guessed. Spike blinked.
"Yeah... How did you know that?"
"I know my Power Ponies." Twilight winked.
"Cool," Spike gazed thoughtfully. "You could be my own Information source." He pointed out.
"It's been a little while since I've read them Spike, I can't remember every little detail." Twilight said. Spike groaned in disappointment.
"But you can memorize the ingredients needed to make the enchantment spell for binding, why can't you remember-"
"You know, I can still change my mind about those book's..." Twilight said, tapping her hoof.
"Never mind," Spike quickly said. "I'll figure stuff out on my own." Spike sank back into his chair and glued his eye's to the pages of his book.
Twilight was happy to still have Spike with her while she was trailing around Equestria, he always knew how to make her feel better when she felt sad. Twilight hoped Spike would never have to leave her and stay with her where ever she went. She probably wouldn't feel the same motivation she would have for even the smallest tasks without Spike. There was a stronger bond between her and Spike, he wasn't just her first magic strength test that got her into Celestia's fields of wisdom, he became like little brother to her. Dragon and pony differences aside, that bond between them was sure.
From what Twilight could gather up about the many stories shes read about, dragons are all selfish, greedy and raid or destroy villages for fun. How could Spike grow up into that? He cant, he's too sweet. Twilight could understand why other ponies would think that way about dragons—her previous encounters with dragons have not been pleasant ones. But Twilight couldn't see Spike stooping to that level. Spike was always a joy to be around, even if childish antics did start to annoy her at times.
Twilight watched him read his comic intensively, it looked nothing could come between him and his book. Though she could tell he wasn't reading it, he was just pretending to read it so she could stop looking at him (which Twilight didn't realize she was doing). Twilight turned herself to face her window and rested her head on her front legs. She watched the landscape fly by, then before she knew it, the train was already zipping past a little valley. Its streams and fields of flowers was a beautiful sight to be seen, and the towering peaks of the Gruntianal mountains in the distance overall made the valley look even more magical. Finding the views very breathtaking, she stared out the window. After a while, her muscles started to relax and her eyelids became heavy. Twilight let this sleepy sensation overtake her and drifted soundly too sleep.
"Psst, Twilight." Twilight felt like she heard a voice. She looked around her room and saw that nothing was there. She shook her head and continued writing the report she was working on."Twilight." The voice said, sounding more agitated.
"Okay, I know I hear somepony." She stood up from her desk in annoyance. "Who's there?"
"Twilight!" Just then her room turned to black then she suddenly woke up in her private coach.
"Huh...Wha..?"
"Hey, Twilight, we're here!" Spike said.
"We are?" She said, rubbing her eyes. She looked out of her window, her eyes adjusting to the brightness of day. She saw the station platform, where she saw ponies getting off and several crystal guards standing by the exits. Twilight was surprised, they were here already, but she was a little bummed about it. "Wow, we're here already? That only felt like a few minutes." Twilight yawned.
"Well you were lucky you managed to get some sleep, getting here took forever." Spike said. Twilight got up and stretched herself, and flexing her new wings gracefully. Twilight wiped the remaining drool from her face.
"Well, I better get cracking on those plans for tonight. There is hardly any time for anything when you are a princess like I am." Twilight halfheartedly said. Spike looked up at her.
"Are you still upset about being a princess?" Spike asked. "I don't think you're really giving this a chance, you should take advantage of this."
"I'm sorry if you don't think I'm using my position to spoil myself with riches and glory Spike," Twilight said, sounding offended. "But I have real responsibility, real issues to solve, and the weight of the entire country is on my shoulders, maybe many others." Twilight rubbed her forehead angrily. "I feel like I'm doing over a million things at once, but at the same time I feel like I'm not even doing as much I'm supposed to."
"Hey, I wasn't even implying you should go crazy with power, I was just saying you should be happy about this." Spike implied. "Try to feel good about this for once. I mean, your living every filly's dream!"
"If they only knew what it's really like to be a Princess. Maybe they would give it a second thought." Twilight's ears sank. She sat down and sighed, drooping her wings to the floor. Twilight didn't mean to get angry at Spike, she knew he didn't need to go through the troubles she was going through, but it did make her cross when it seemed like he wanted her to roll around in mountains of gold to wash worries away.
Spike slowly walked up to her and hugged her leg, which surprised Twilight in a way.
"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound so harsh."
"It's alright Spike. I know your only trying to help me see the good things in all this, but... I'm just, confused by all of this, that's all." Twilight said sadly.
"No, I shouldn't be so selfish. I know you're really upset about this and I can't possibly speak for you on how you should handle this, because I never could." He said. Twilight smiled and put her hoof on his shoulder.
"Its okay Spike, I just want to be sure that I'll always have somebody who will support me. And I can't think of a better person than you." Twilight admitted. Spike looked up, and Twilight saw a glint in his eye.
"You really think so?" Spike asked.
"I do." Twilight replied. Spike then held his arms out, then brought the two of them hugged each other, ending whatever argument that was about to start.
Suddenly, a guard slid the door open, then Spike jumped and hid behind her. "Princess, we have arrived. do you need help carrying your luggage?
"Oh, no I'm fine," She smiled. "I didn't bring much anyway, I'll be out in a minute."
"Take your time Princess." The guard nodded, then slid the door closed. Spike peeped out from behind her. Twilight scooted him up besides her.
"Do you have everything you need, Spike?" She asked.
"Oh yeah." He grabbed his comic off the chair, he was about to leave but he paused at the door to look back at her.
"You coming?"Spike asked
"Don't worry, I'll be out in a sec." She said. Spike grabbed his things and left the train. Twilight levitated her saddle bag on to her back, then she took her crown. The crown was laying by itself on the small night stand next to her bunk. She levitated it over to herself and stared at it. The element of magic. This crown was the only thing anchoring herself to her friends in Ponyville, the other elements. As long she had this crown she would always have a connection with them. 'No matter what happens to me, or where I go, I will never be disconnected from my friends as long as I have this. Hang on to that one, Twilight.' She thought to herself.
Twilight took the remaining things she had and put them in her bag. She exited her coach, a cloud of steam blocked her vision. When the steam cleared away, she found that her older brother, Shining Armor, and her sister in law, Princess Cadence, were just outside waiting for her. Twilight's face lit up at the sight.
"Twily!" Her brother cried happily.
"Shiny!" Twilight shouted back. Twilight ran over to greet them. Shinning Armor was wearing his captains attire. A little odd, but not unexpected. Maybe he came while on duty. Twilight ran up to him and hugged him tightly and he hugged back.
"I missed you, kid," Shining Armor said hugging her sister. "How was the train ride?"
"I was surprised, it was actually very quiet."Twilight said.
"Well then, it looks like our mechanics have done their job."Cadence brightly chimed in. "They've just given the wheels an oil change a few days ago."
"Did they? Well that might explain why I was able to sleep this time." Twilight guessed.
"Well that's good to hear. So are you ready for tonight?" Shining Armor asked.
"I sure am! I've been practicing for this for two nights."Twilight said. "After all I am the new princess, and there will be dozens of the highest and the classiest of ponies, and they will be be wanting to talk to me, get to know me. This is going to be fun!" Twilight said trying to sound upbeat about it. Shining Armor seemed excited to hear that, but Cadence just looked at her. Cadence's normally joyful smile changed to mutual, Twilight hoped she wasn't being to obvious, she still tried to look like she was excited in front of them.
"So since I'm staying until tomorrow, do you know where I stay?"Twilight asked. Shining Armor grinned.
"Don't worry Twilight, we got you all set up."
Twilight felt peaceful walking through the Crystal Empire.
All the little vendors, houses, buildings and people were all so happy and bustling about. Shining Armor escorted her and Cadence towards the crystal palace, with dozens of crystal ponies bowing in their wake. Twilight tried to act as confident as her more experienced sister, but that didn't keep her from feeling out of place. She still wasn't used to this kind of attention, despite being princess for almost a month now. As much as she pained it, she still politely waved back.
Eventually, they made it into the palace. The crystal heart spun around its pedestal humming its powerful energy. Once they came into the palace, Twilight discovered that they crystal throne room was already being prepared for the Crystal Empire's first annual summit they've had in a thousand-years. It was no wonder the crystal ponies were excited, they haven't done an event like this ever since Sombra came into power. Twilight felt relived that everything turned out alright for the empire now, because her brother and sister were now in charge of it—Twilight new there wasn't a duo of ponies more fit for the job.
Twilight came up to a door at the end of a hall of state rooms. The door looked different than the other ones; the door frame was outlined in gold and the door was purple with a pattern of diamonds and the Equestrian seal of royalty on it.
"Well, here we are!" Shining Armor said. The door looked brand new and freshly polished. Twilight noticed that it didn't the door didn't match up with the pattern the other doors were in. It was strange—Twilight looked back at the door and studied it, the door even had a different style design as opposed to the other ones in the hall. Twilight's train of thought was stopped when Spike walked up next to her.
"Cool! Is this room ours?."Spike asked as he finished chewing a crape he got from a street vendor. Cadence smirked and rubbed him on the head.
"It sure is Spike. And believe it or not, you two are the first one's to stay in it."
The first one's to stay in it? That made Twilight more curious. Shining Armor opened the door—Twilight and Spike were the first two to enter. They both entered the room and were surprised; the room was large in both width and in diameter. The bed was too big for for Twilight (she didn't complain) and it had long and tall velvet curtains to cover the bed with. The light coming through the tall windows made the room feel warm and inviting, but there was just something a little off about this room. Spike definitely was the excited about this room.
"Alright!" Spike skipped around the room. "This is probably one of the better rooms I've stayed in I don't know about all of you." He jumped around, trying to take up space. Twilight always loved how animated he gets when he's excited. Spike calmed back down. "Well I better get myself settled down for a little..." Spike grabbed the open air on his back. He panicked and felt all around his body. "Oh no!"He gasped. "I left my stuff back at the station! I-" Twilight just remembered. She levitated his bag from her bag (his bag was small enough to fit in hers) and levitated it front of him. His shoulders slumped down and looked smugly back at Twilight. Twilight snickered cheekily. Spike broke the dark pink aura around his bag and grabbed it out of thin are, breaking her hold of it.
"You like showing me up, don't you?"Spike sneered sounding annoyed. Twilight grinned
"I just like taking care of you." She said innocently. Cadence and Shining Armor chuckled softly behind her. Spike rolled his eyes and shrugged.
"Well if you all don't mind," He grumbled. "I need to use the bathroom." He whipped out his comic and walked over to the bathroom. Twilight stopped him before at the door before he went in.
"If you need any help in there just let me know!" Spike turned back in disgust.
"Eew, no!" He said as he slammed the door shut and locked it.
'Okay, that might have been a bit much.' Twilight felt a little embarrassed she just blurted that out. She smiled nervously and looked back at her kind hosts. "So really? We're the first ones to stay in this room?"Twilight twitched.
"It's neat isn't it?" Shining Armor presented. "We got this place all set up just for you."
"Wow, I'm flattered." Twilight crossed her hooves. "But, the last time I stayed here I had to stay in a normal room. Was this room just recently added?" She asked.
"It's a funny story actually,"Cadence said. "We actually didn't install this room, we found it."
"You found this room? But I've been down this hallway before and I never saw the door to it. Was this room hidden?"
"Well, a little while ago our guards came to investigate an anomaly that was being felt by every unicorn in the palace." Cadence continued. "Me and your brother both felt it too, soon the guards tracked down the current and they've found the source of the disturbance was right here. The guards examined this strange event and discovered it was a strong masking spell. From what we could feel from the pulse it was emitting, the spell was getting weaker."
"A masking spell?" Twilight asked spaciously. "Well, why would anypony put a masking spell on this door? Who cast that spell? Was it hiding something?"
"That's a good question," Cadence put her hoof to her chin. "When we've finally managed to crack the spell and finally open the door, the room looked completely preserved. Not even the fruit in the fruit bowl we found was rotted out."
"It looked like it was preserved for a real long time," Shining Armor added. "We found a few things in here that dated back a real long time ago, maybe more than a thousand years or so."
"Really?" Twilight eyes widened. "A thousand years? What kind of things did you find?"
"Now that you mention it..." Shining Armor said. He looked at the small table next to the bed. He used his magic to pull the drawer out, a small cup was in it and he levitated a small round object out of the cup and closed the drawer behind it. The object floated in front of Twilight, it was a coin.
"Here Twily, we found one of these in here, you might like it." Twilight's own aura took hold of the coin—it looked like it was just printed yesterday. She studied it. On the edges of it was in scripted with some older form of writing, and the the center of the coin was a snowflake surrounded by four dials. The bottom of the image was a phrase. Twilight did study older equestrian languages before, and she was pretty sure it said, Amore. Safe keeper of the heart. Twilight just realized what era this coin was from.
"Princess Amore." Twilight spoke up. "This was from her reign of the Crystal Empire."
"The last crystal princess." Cadence confirmed. Princess Amore. She was the last crystal princess to be in power before King Sombra's siege for power over the thrown. Legend states that her rule of the Empire was a beautiful one. She brought hope and love through out Equestria and she was widely regarded to be one of the greatest to ever rule the Crystal Empire. But the end of her rule was gruesome; Princess Amore was killed by a young Sombra. He turned her body to black crystal, then smashed her to pieces. It is rumored that Amore's spirit still roams the grounds of the empire, forever trying to ensure hope to her people. That was a sad story. Twilight always felt so bad for her.
"She was ruler before Sombra was." Twilight said
"She was indeed,"Cadence nodded. "Probably the greatest ruler of the empire to date."
"That's not true,"Shining Armor interrupted. "I'm married to the greatest crystal princess right now." He grinned. He wrapped his front leg around his wife and pulled her towards him. Cadence smirked and lifted his leg off her.
"Thank you for the compliment, dear, but I can't be compared to her. My contribution to the empire has been very little compared to her's."
"Come on, I'm just showing my support." Shining Armor said. He stared to lean in for a kiss but Cadence put her hoof to his mouth before he could.
"Now now, don't get to mushy. Your sister is here, remember?"
Twilight giggled at her brothers that what he was like when his little sister wasn't around? His muzzle flushed and looked away from them.
"So, uh..." Shining Armor struggled think of something to say. "We better let Twilight get situated. The summit is starting soon."
"Right, the summit! I need to remind myself to stop forgetting." Twilight yelped. She took her bag off and started unpacking her things in a storm of floating supplies. She started to panic about her preparation. "How's my mane? Do I need it fixed? Oh, I hope I'm not that battered. I mean, I left in a hurry, I didn't have to much time too... What If I left something important at home!? What could It be?"
"Hey, Twily, calm down." Shining Armor stopped her rant. She looked up at her floating mess of things and noticed what she was doing. She noticed that she pulled the laces out of the straps of her bag and tied them in knots and her note books were open. Her spare quills were writing and random notes were being jotted down, despite having no ink on the quills. Twilight's face felt hot. She gently levitated her things back into her bag and untied the knots effortlessly.
"Heh. Sorry." She squeaked, setting her bag down.
"It's okay Twilight," Shining Armor assured. "Tonight's going to be fun, you'll see."
"I hope so,"Twilight sighed. "It's just that I'm still a little nervous is all. There are a lot of important ponies coming to see me and are coming to know more about me. I just want to leave them a good impression and let them know that I'm willing to help them in anyway I can."
"There's no need to worry, Twilight," Cadence smiled. "You'll do great tonight. This isn't as hard as you think, I promise."
"I'm sure it is." Twilight managed a faint smile .
"Well I better get going soon."Shining Armor announced. "My train leaves in a about a half-hour."
"Huh?"Twilight darted up. "You're leaving?" Shining Armor put his head down in his hoof.
"Oh. I'm sorry, sis, I should have told you. Princess Luna requested my presence in Canterlot."He said with a regretfully tone.
"Why?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know, she says its urgent though. I guess I'll find out when I get there."
"Won't Princess Celestia be there?"
"Well, Princess Celestia has just been called to Trottingham for an emergency meeting concerning the trading issues in the area. With her absence in Canterlot, and with the celebration happening, she might be gone longer than a few days unfortunately. I still don't know the full details. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
Twilight did feel like a small flame inside her just blew out.
"Oh, no, It's okay, I understand." Twilight said. "I know that plans get changed. I mean, your captain of the royal guard after all, you must be pretty busy keeping Canterlot from falling into chaos." Shining Armor looked at her with big eyes sad eyes.
"You're not mad at me?"
"No, of course not. I'll be in Canterlot Tomorrow anyway, I'll catch up with you then." She said. Shining Armor still looked upset.
"I was supposed to be here with you tonight Twilight, It just came up out of nowhere, I forgot to tell you. I feel terrible now." He pouted and looked away from her. Twilight didn't like seeing her big brother upset. She walked over to him and gave him a hug.
"Hey, Don't worry about it. You have orders from the princess, I know you can't back down from that."
Shining Armor turned back to her.
"Could I make it up to you somehow?" He asked.
"Well, I am going to Canterlot tomorrow"Twilight said
"You want to meet up somewhere?" Shining Armor asked. "I think I got time off at about noon." Twilight thought about a good place. She tried to remember of a place she loved to go to with her brother in Canterlot when she was young. There were a lot of great places she loved: the courtyard, the playground, the feeding pond. Those were all great places, but there was one place that came to mind. A smile slowly crept up her face then looked back up at her brother.
"Honeydew's ice cream?" She asked. Her brother smiled warmly and nodded.
"It's a date." He happily confirmed. Twilight gave him a warm hug and he hugged back. Twilight took a quick glance a Cadence. She had her hoof to her lip. Twilight could never really tell if Cadence was just using her magic to increase ones feelings for each other, she's demonstrated that to her a few times to her. But she could just be happy that Twilight was getting along with her brother. Twilight and her brother broke there bond.
"Well then, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Twilight said.
"You got it." Shinning Armor winked. "Well, I better be off now," He said, adjusting his captains attire. "Don't want to miss my train."
"Don't leave before I can send you off." Cadence wrapped her purple stained wing around her husband.
"I wouldn't dream about leaving without saying goodbye, dear." He smirked. They both kissed each other passionately. Twilight softly giggled at the couple—she thought it was kind of funny to see Cadence doing what she prevented Shining Armor from doing a minute ago. Maybe she could fall for her own power. Though, Twilight could tell either of them weren't doing any kind of magic to make each other do this, this was real. They both broke their kiss and resumed them selves.
"So, do you have everything you need?" Cadence asked.
"I got all I need." Shinning Armor replied. Cadence looked down at his chest and frowned.
"Not quite dear." Cadence smiled. She conjured her magic, she readjusted the caller on his uniform. She finished off by buttoning his vest pouches. Twilight just realized how sloppy her brother was dressed. He was never that good at making himself look fancy
"There!" She announced. "Now your set."
"Thank you, dear. I look much better." Shining Armor posed impressively.
"Like a million bits." Cadence complimented.
"Thanks a bunch, honey."He smiled. The couple both hugged each other, for a real long moment. Twilight found that when her brother gets distracted he tends to forget what he was doing. Twilight didn't want to break up their little session, but if Cadence didn't remind him to go, he'll stay there forgetting what he's was doing. Twilight got under them then squirmed her way in between them.
"Hi." Twilight popped her head up between their hug. "You better go soon. Your guards are outside." Shining Armor looked outside the door into the hall; Two royal guards stood direct at the opposite end of the hall.
"Oh, right, I completely forgot." He smiled nervously.
"Hmm. Your welcome." Twilight chuckled. One of the guards ran up and presented her brother his sword. Shining Armor levitated the sword from his guard and tied the sheath to his side.
"Alright, I have to go now." He rushed. "See you later, Spike!"
"Uh? Bye!"Spike muffled behind the bathroom door. Spike might have been a little grouchy about the blurt Twilight said a minute ago.
"Spike still upset?" Twilight's brother asked
"Oh. You know how he get's." Twilight shrugged "Now get going you! You don't want to be late!"
"I'm out the door now! See ya!" He quickly hugged his sister and kissed Cadence goodbye one last time. He trotted out the door where his guards were waiting. He looked back and waved at Twilight and Cadence. They both waved back at him and stood out of the hall and watched there colt march out with his guards.
Cadence put her hoof to her chest and sighed at the sight of her husband leaving. Twilight decide to use this to spark conversation with her, to let Cadence see that she was fine. Twilight leaned up against her.
"Well there goes our stallion," Twilight said. "Off to do his hard work as not only captain, but also prince."
"He is good at what he does." Cadence sighed dreamily.
"That's my brother." Twilight smirked. "But from what I just saw, he's just as good as a charmer."
"I always thought so." She started to wake from her gaze. Twilight just remembered a funny moment her brother did to impress Cadence before they were engaged. Twilight waited until her brother turned the corner and was out of sight.
"Hey. Remember the time when you were still my foal-sitter, and you took me to the feeding pond that one afternoon?"
Cadence blinked.
"Well, yes. That was our favorite place to go."
"Well, remember that one time Shining Armor said he was staying after that night at Canterlot Academy?"
"Yes. He did have to stay after getting the sports equipment moved often."
"There was that one time he pretended he was staying after only to hide and impress you by saving the ducks from a fake crocodile he made?" Cadence took a second to think about it. Then she started laughing.
"Oh right, I remember!" She chuckled. "He tackled it and all the stuffing started to fall out."
"Yeah. He kept hitting it but he didn't notice all of it falling out. He was acting so heroic too, wasn't he?" They both laughed themselves out, remembering his bold act to impress Cadence. When she was young, Twilight wondered if her brother liked her foal-sitter. Shining Armor always denied to Twilight that he liked Cadence, but Shining Armor was being very obvious. Twilight always admired how many lengths her brother would go just to impress Cadence, even if he got himself completely humiliated in the process. Twilight loved him for trying so hard.
The two princess's began to regain their composure.
"Yes. He was quite the charmer indeed."Cadence answered. After Twilight regained her composure, she glanced up at the large clock that was set upon the wall in her room. The time was close to six, sundown was approaching. The summit was starting in about an hour. Twilight had to get ready soon.
"Oh my. Look at the time!" Twilight pointed her hoof at the clock. "The summit begins soon, I better get myself in order."
Cadence looked over and saw the time. "Your right. I don't know where the time went." She said. "At any rate, I should start getting ready too. The delegates arrive soon. We have to be ready so we can greet their arrival."
"I'll get right on it." Twilight said acting confidante.
"Alright then," Cadence smiled. "The royal dressers should be coming soon. In the meantime, do you need any help getting ready?"
"Nope. I believe I've got everything sorted out."Twilight gestured. She pulled a large scroll out of her saddle bag, it floated across the room then presented unfolded itself in front of the pink alicorn. "I've already thought ahead and listed all the guests showing tonight." Twilight grinned. Cadence stared at the paper. Her eyes scanned the texts and her eyes widened.
"Twilight," She said. "Are these all the guests that are coming tonight?"
"Well, not all of them." Twilight shrugged. "Only most of the delegates. Most of those names are delegates from major cities, so I already prepared a list of all of them that would be coming so I could be prepared to meet them properly." She grinned positively. Cadence looked back at the scroll. She squinted at the smaller ink smudges bellow each of the names of ambassadors that were attending, her head kicked back slightly in surprise.
"Twilight," Cadence said again. "Are these all the names and descriptions of all the ambassadors that are coming?"
"I had a little time to spare last night." She explained. "Just a few minor details."
"Minor details?" Cadence raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Twilight, these are the smallest and longest description I've ever seen." Twilight rolled her eyes slowly the made a small nervous smile.
"Well... I might have been a little worried how much I could remember from the pamphlet information of the delegates for tonight, so I kind of wrote It all down down the best I could. A princess always has to be prepared right?"
Cadence just stared at her for a moment while her eyebrows narrowed, Twilight was a little worried she did something wrong to make her mad. Her eyes darted from side to side. Cadence then broke the silence by laughing softly, Twilight wasn't expecting that.
"W-What's so funny?"Twilight gulped.
"Twilight, you over prepare when your nervous don't you?" Cadence giggled. Twilight felt a little embarrassed, her cheeks lightly blushed.
"Well, how could I not feel nervous?" Twilight asked. "This is my first real event I am attending, everypony who's coming will want to see me. If I don't show my proper respects and know who everypony is, my image as princess might be affected by how I handle things tonight."
Cadence only smiled at Twilight. "Everything is going to be fine, I promise." Cadence rolled up the scroll then levitated it back to Twilight's bag, then and carefully sealed it back up. "Tonight will be a piece of cake, just you see."Cadence guaranteed. Twilight shrugged, wanting to be convinced of Cadence's enthusiasm. Twilight gave a faint smile and sighed.
"Alright."Twilight looked back at Cadence. "I guess I'm just working myself up. It's just this is my first time attending a real royal event without the constant surveillance of the royal guard. I'd just like this to work out, that's all." Twilight said. Cadence made a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry about it, I know you'll do great. I know being watched by the royal guard constantly can be very irritating, and coming out of that supervision can be a little spooky. But trust me, you'll learn to get used to after awhile. You start to feel like a you really are doing something, and not being monitored like a child." Cadence smiled. "Besides, I'm going to be with you most of the evening anyway. I could let you in on the basics. Would that help?" Twilight felt a small bit of worry fall of her chest. She felt a little better knowing that there will be somepony she knew would be with her tonight. Twilight rubbed her leg and looked back up at Cadence.
"Yes. I think it would help."Twilight said. "I'd like somepony to remind me that things aren't always as bad as they seem." Cadence gave a warm smile.
"I'd be more than happy to help." Cadence nodded. The two princess's ended their discussion by nuzzling each other kindly. A natural bond between two sisters, despite not really being related. They both broke each others grip and stood a front.
"Well, I would love to stay and talk, however, the clock is ticking." Cadence prompted.
"Right."Twilight said. "There's no time to lose. Don't want to be late!" She raised her hoof.
"Alright, I'll meet you down at the throne entrance whenever you are ready. The royal dressers should arrive any minute." Cadence said.
"Sure thing." Twilight assured. She stepped back into her room. She turned back to close the door only to find Cadence's magical aura already taken hold of it before she could close it. Cadence paused the door to the crack and shot Twilight a wink before she closed it. The door closed and Cadence's light-blue aura faded from it.
Twilight sighed, she at least felt a little better about her concerns at the moment. It was a shame that she hadn't kept up to date with Cadence for awhile, they used to be the closest friends. Maybe now she could have a better chance to see her more often now that she was up to her standards in a political field. That was one pro Twilight could think of being a leader, she could see her family more—both royal and real—but she was still worried about how she could handle both of her lives clashing together. She never told anypony of her worry's, she only told them privately to Celestia. Spike already knew she was having second thoughts about this and tried to be supportive to her.
But now she had a little knot in her throat about Cadence—she had been giving Twilight a lot of these puzzled looks ever since she got here. Twilight kept telling her that she was excited about her part in the royal family, but maybe now Cadence was starting to see that she wasn't happy. Feeling emotions were Cadence's specialty, so maybe hiding your true feelings from her wouldn't a be very easy thing to pull off. Twilight considered that maybe she would confess her worry's to her eventually, but for right now, she had a party to get ready for. Her first official event she would attended since her coronation—her worries would have to wait a little longer.
Twilight looked to her dresser saw the old coin. Twilight levitated it to herself again and stared at it. The polygonal snow flake was the sign of Princess Amore, most likely her own cutie mark. It was amazing that Shining Armor found this room. Shining Armor said that this room was full of relics of the golden days of the Empire, before Sambra's reign; well preserved and looked like it hasn't aged a day. Twilight looked around to see if anymore was around, but she remembered that Shining Armor said they moved all of it somewhere else before they fixed up the room.
But why was this room and all of those things preserved? Why was it sealed off and who hid it with a masking spell? Was this room like a time capsule? She stared at the coin, flipping it from side to side looking over the ancient texts that were imprinted on it. Scanning the old words etched on the edges surrounding the snow flake that was in the center of the coin. Then she stared at the snow flake that was in the middle. The sign of the reign of Princess Amore. Twilight kept thinking about the story of Amore's fall to Sombra, removed from her throne by force when she was only trying to help him.
'Poor Amore,' Twilight thought to herself. 'How could that have happen to you? Your own kingdom taken from you, by the pony you only tried to help.' Twilight had heard many stories about Sombra, but there was never a real concrete idea on how he came to be like that, though a lot of those stories agree that Amore was once a mentor to him.
Ponies all over the city wept and the loss of their beloved princess when she was killed all the centuries ago—even when brought back to reality for a thousand years, the cruel and bitter rule of Sombra was still fresh in their minds. Shining Armor told her that now everypony in the city will soon start a yearly memorial day to remember all the good that Princess Amore did, and all the previous rulers have done, and remembering all the ponies who have been crushed by Sombra. The crystal ponies are still recovering and are still a little shaken by things, but with the crystal heart returned, and its magic spreading through Equestia, Cadence and Shining Armor both agreed that there is a very bright future for the Empire.
Twilight was happy to see that other ponies were having better luck than she was. She put the coin down and looked around the room. It was pretty quiet with the room still a little empty. She diverted her attention to the floor. The floor below her hooves was so well polished she could almost see a perfect reflection of herself in it. She then noticed something at the corner of her eye, she saw a reflection of something moving. She looked up and saw the drapes were moving slightly. They were moving to a light breeze that was coming from outside. The tall window was open slightly. Twilight walked over to close it up, but then she saw the view below. She opened the window a little more to slip her head through.
The view was incredible, she could see the train station from where she was. Twilight looked down at the plaza, she saw ponies already finishing up for tonight's event. The last few workers were already putting the last touches on decorations. Twilight looked over the the city below. The houses and buildings glinted in the evening sunlight. The sun was just setting over the crystal mountains, the sky was painted with many colorful streaks: blue,orange and yellow to name a few. The stars were just starting to dot the sky. Twilight remembered nights like this in Canterlot. After long and intense study sessions, Princess Celestia would occasionally bring her on top of her throne room roof to watch the sun set. Those kinds of nights always made her feel happy and relaxed, and this night was no exception.
The breeze was starting to pick up. The wind blew through her mane as she felt it, but she was interrupted by a crashing sound down below. Twilight averted her attention back to the plaza and saw that a ladder that was on one of the buildings fell over into the fountain in the center of the plaza. Somepony must have been putting up banners and the wind must have knocked it over. Twilight hoped nopony was hurt. Then a colt surfaced from the water. There was a moment of silence hanging in the air, until he started laughing out loud. The ponies around him started laughing along with him. The others grabbed help him out of the water.
Twilight was relived to see that nopony was hurt—they lifted the ladder back upright and started cleaning their things up. Twilight was happy to see everypony having fun and being happy. She remembered how gloomy and morose everypony was when they and empire returned. In one day, the return of the crystal heart had fully restored the love and light to the city, it was truly remarkable. A mysterious thing the crystal heart was. She didn't know if the heart powered the people or the people powered the heart, but one thing is for sure, is that both of them are powerful and play big roles in spreading magic throughout Equestria.
Twilight thought back to Amore. She wasn't sure if those little rumors about her spirit still echoing here were true. Twilight never really believed in old ghost stories like that, she always assumed they were just made up to scare little foals from staying up to late at night. Where ever Princess Amore may be, Twilight hoped that she wasn't worried. Twilight hoped that Amore knew that her empire was safe from evil and that her ponies were alright.
Twilight looked over the city and sighed, then looked to the sky.
"I don't know if you can even hear me, but I just wanted to let you know something. In case you don't know it already."Twilight spoke silently. "Your people are alright. They've have broken the shackles of Sombras evil. The crystal heart has been salvaged, and the Crystal Empire has been restored." There was no response. "The crystal ponies are happy that they're back and have a new ruler, but they haven't forgotten you. Sombra may have taken your throne and enslaved your people, but the hope and courage you have given them is what made them overthrow Sombra and made them the ponies you wanted them to be." Still no response. Twilight continued to speak silently. "What I'm saying is, don't worry. I'll try my best to help the empire and it's people. I am rather new at this whole princess thing, but I will continue to try and help Equestria anyway I can." Twilight sighed. "Princess Cadence is ruling the Crystal Empire now, along with my brother. They are some of the best ponies I know. I promise, your empire is in good hooves."
Still nothing. Twilight wasn't really expecting any kind of reply anyway. Twilight didn't really know why she just did that speech, Twilight just guessed that she wanted some way to tell Amore that her empire was okay in some way. Twilight looked around her, checking to see if anypony was watching.
'Well that was a little silly of me.' She thought to herself. Twilight shrugged, then turned to close the window. Before she could however, the wind blew through harder. It lasted only for a moment but she felt the presence of something, something graceful. Twilight felt the wind flowing around her.
"Thank you." The wind very faintly whispered bye. The breeze stopped. Twilight didn't really know what just happened, be she knew she had a response of some kind. Twilight blinked, then curved a smiled, whatever reply she got, it was a friendly one. She closed the window and with her magic she drew all the drapes closed. The room instantly darkened.
"Wow its dark." Twilight said. She adjusted the dial on the wall next to the bathroom door. Twilight always liked this, there were no lights anywhere, the crystal walls, floors and ceiling magically lit up the whole room. She adjusted the lighting just the way she liked it. "Who needs lights when the room can just light itself?" She snickered to herself. "Well, no time standing around admiring magic self-lighting rooms, I've got a-" Just then, there was knocking at the door.
"Princess Twilight?" A mare's voice asked.
"Yes?" Twilight replied.
"Oh. I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm your royal dresser tonight. Unless you're too busy..."
"Oh of course not. Come in." The door opened, and a green-maned white unicorn stepped in pulling a trunk full of what Twilight assumed was an assortment of clothing. The unicorn closed the door and nervelessly smiled—her red eyes burned against the soft purple and red streak in her well done mane and tail, and her cutie mark sported three brown maple leaves being blown in the breeze.
"Good evening, Princess." The mare bowed politely. "My name is Gusty."
"Nice to meet you, Gusty." Twilight greeted. Gusty smiled bashfully. "I have acquired the most exquisite choice of dress wear in Equestria. Would you like to start?"
"Oh, sure thing." Twilight said. "I've been pretty eager to see how good the royal dressers are."
"Oh thank you kindly, but..."
"But what?" Twilight asked. Gusty rubbed her leg.
"I'm actually a new member of the staff, and tonight's my first job. You can replace me with a more experienced dresser if you prefer." Gusty looked down at the floor. She must have felt nervous, Twilight could relate.
"No of course not. I know you'll do great." Twilight said. Gusty looked back up and pushed her hair out of the way of her eye.
"Besides, this is my first night on the job too."Twilight reassured. "I feel like we're both the new ponies tonight."
"Hmm, I guess so." Gusty smiled. Twilight new what she was feeling; the first time in a new field, its always a little scary. Twilight fluttered her wing slightly. Her wings always got a little twitchy sometimes, and it annoyed her.
"So, may I see what my options are?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, please do. We have a wide selection ready." Gusty replied. She stood aside to make room for Twilight. Twilight didn't really have an eye for fashion, that was Rarity's case. But she has learned a few tips from her on what would look nice for formal occasions, so she had a few ideas on what would be good to wear. She approached the chest and opened it. She looked into it and blinked. 'A wide selection?' Twilight thought. 'There's not that much in here. Well, this shouldn't be too hard.'
There were a few neatly stacked piles of clothing organized by color. Organization: Twilight's happy place. Then she noticed a small button on the top center of the inside. She curiously looked at it then pushed it. Mechanical clicking noises started to sound. Suddenly, drawers that weren't there before appeared revealing new assortments of clothing and other essentials. Twilight took a step back.
"Whoa." She stood in wonder.
"That was my reaction when the others showed me this." Gusty chuckled. "This is a spacial chest you know, it has some magic in it."
"Does it?" Twilight perked. She looked down into the new drawers. It had plenty of new assortments to add alright, but all of it seemed way to big to fit into it. She thought about it, and she found out what spell this was enchanted by, she loved this one.
"An ample spell; probably the handiest spell I know." Twilight grinned.
"Correct."
"I can't tell you how much inflation I avoided in my library with it."
"I'd imagine so." Gusty smiled. Twilight levitated a crisp silk cloth out. She had no Idea what to do with it. She turned to Gusty and grinned in embarrassment.
"I'll be completely honest, I'm no good at dresses. Could you help me?" A twinkle appeared in Gusty's eyes. A smile was crawling up her face.
"I'd be honored, Princess Twilight." Gusty happily squeaked.
"Thank goodness." Twilight sighed in relief "Should we get started?"
"Of course, Princess."Gusty nodded. Gusty pulled the cart with her magic and the two walked over to the mirror and started getting ready for the summit.