A Great Day

Today was a great day for freedom. Today was a great day for love and Harmony and Reunification. I couldn't believe that so much had happened in the span of so little time. The Stallion of my dreams was by my side, my husband dressed in his smart Uniform with a smile on his face that matched the smiles of everypony around.

I was in an elegant dress, my crown shining atop my brow and my happiness could not be understated. King Sombra had been officially destroyed for over a week now, the crystal heart, the heart of the Empire was back in it's rightful place and now the Empire was unified with Equestria. The future was looking bright for everypony and I hoped that it would continue to shine for a thousand years.

"What do you think of the reception?" my husband smiled at me as the roar of the crowds kept intensifying. I get waving and replied "Simply wonderful, I had no idea that Crystal Ponies would be so accepting. "This is the way I want things to be… forever" I said truthfully, tears coming to my eyes through sheer joy.

Shining smiled at me, those loving eyes coming out, one of the things I loved about him. "I'm not going anywhere" he replied and leaned forward as we kissed, a short kiss after all we were in front of our new Empire but nevertheless it was as if it lasted forever.

The crowds faded as we went inside, into the throne room where some generously lent guards sent by my Aunt were keeping watch, happy and content to be wearing the Crystal Armour co-designed by the fashionista Rarity, one of the saviours of the Crystal Empire.

An officer stepped forwards, I couldn't remember his name but Shining seemed to know him. "The castle is all secure sir, we have some patrols around the major attractions and the Crystal Heart and there is nothing unusual to report" the officer smiled as my husband looked at me. I knew he wanted to start his reminiscing with old friends so I nodded, rolling my eyes and replied "I'll be in my office" stepping away and letting stallions be stallions.

I decided to take a stroll through the castle, my new castle. It was hard to believe how grand it was. How many rooms, libraries, offices, dungeons, kitchens, ballrooms, dining rooms, throne rooms armouries and trophy rooms there were all with a Courtyard underneath where the Crystal Heart shone to the ponies.

That would likely become a sight of splendour in time when the tourism picked up. Aunt Celestia had already been so generous, sharing specialists and technicians with the local tradesponies to help them get back up to date whilst a small influx of small business ponies from Manhattan had already moved in and begun buying into the local market, flooding currency into the local economy.

In truth I imagined it would be a hard uphill climb but eventually The Crystal Empire would be the beacon of Equestria. It already stood as a symbol of love but in time it would be of love and prosperity with it's roots digging deep and it's ponies spreading throughout Equestrian.

I did a few circuits of the second floor and inspected some of the strange art of King Sombra we were still taking down in many places. He seemed to have a really bland taste as all his pictures were either of himself or the Crystal Empire as a Dark Capital with some kind of red Crystals rising to the skies.

I really had to stop thinking about Sombra though, it was a negative topic and negativity led to more negativity so I stopped and instead trotted to my office whilst wondering if Twilight was getting on alright now that she was back in Ponyville.

My hooves clopped on the marble floors, the only part of the castle not made of the strong crystal substance that made up everything else around the Empire and I entered it stunned to find another pony inside.

"Oh hello your majesty" the maid who'd obviously been cleaning the place said to me and I smiled. A crustal pony with a bright pink coat that easily outshone mine, covered by the ridiculously outdated maid attire she was wearing and a lovely golden mane that suffered similarly with a frilly hat, was staring at me with a feather duster in her mouth and an almost frightened expression on her face.

I was quick to remedy that saying "Please just call me Cadence, I know that it's a little strange to be back to work after 1000 years of limbo but don't worry I don't bite. What is your name?" I asked her.

She gulped and took the feather duster out of her mouth, replying "Sapphire you hig- I mean Princess Cadence." I chuckled and sighed well it's better than some of the things ponies have been calling me, like your excellence or your most divineness, anyway Sapphire I'm afraid this is my personal Office and only my hoof maiden can really clean here.

She seemed a little deflated and embarrassed, the blush still coming our of her crystal cheeks as she murmured "I'll just go and uh… clean the ballroom then your highness" but I held my hoof up to silence her. "Ridiculous, I don't as of yet have a hoof maiden, you're hired Sapphire and also please go and get changed out of that ridiculous uniform and into something more befitting the times, tell everypony else you meet that as well please."

The deflation and fear had all but gone and Sapphire now beamed and bowed "At once P-P I mean Cadence" and with that she rushed off as happy as a little filly. Turning frowns into smiles was naturally a speciality of mine but I was always pleased when I did it.

Now that I was here I could get some work done I supposed. Aunt Celestia had asked that I take the first few weeks easy, telling me "The Crystal Ponies are hard workers Cadence and have great pride in the Empire, they will easily fix any damages left by the King of Monsters and then work on building up the prosperity again" and as much as I believed that I still wanted to do my part.

So I began to fill out letters and invitations to foreign business ponies in Equestria. My hope was that they would open up chains and firms here and hopefully provide some of the services that we didn't have whilst generation some more revenue for the state.

I also hoped that some ponies would migrate and integrate with the Crystal ponies, hopefully sharing their knowledge of the world today with them and of the great Equestrian culture I knew and loved.

I was a little confused however when I couldn't find my primary stamp of authentication. My Royal seal if I was to use the proper term. I'd thought I'd left it on my desk but it was nowhere to be seen, then again the desk was a bit of a mess so it was likely buried.

I opened the drawer underneath and levitated out my backup seal, inking it up with some red ink before stamping it over the parchment. Then I rolled it up, put it through a band and put it to the side in what would become a pile of a few hundred by the end of the day.

Of course by the end of the day all the writing and stamping had blessed me by giving me a headache and a sore hoof. So after finishing the pile I yawned and stood up, deciding to go meet my husband for dinner.

I'd hoped his day had been more fun than mine, hopefully hanging out with old friends, hopefully not getting up to trouble as he had in his former years when we were both in school and so young, though that seemed as if it was forever ago.

He had been always glancing at me, afraid of direct eye contact, always trying to work up courage to finally talk to me and always blowing it if he did. It was a good thing that he had a baby sister or else I'd have never gotten close enough to him.

So of course I picked her brains for information on him, Twilight more than happy to share with me every little detail about her brother, swearing to never tell him. I wondered briefly if she still remembered that silly little oath as I entered the dining room where I found Shining talking with a palace chef.

"Yes that will be fine thanks, no we're not a hundred ponies just that thank you Penine" I heard him finishing up as the Chef whisked himself away and Shining lovingly strolled over and planted a kiss on my cheek.

"Somepony's been very bust" he mused, looking at my hooves, slightly stained with ink and I chuckled "Well Somepony had to do some work today, what kind of rulers would we be if we had the day off everyday?"

"Extremely happy Rulers?" he asked and I laughed and replied "Bored out of our minds rulers more like it Shiny, but it's cute that you think we wouldn't kill each other if we had nothing to do for a week."

Shining smiled as he brought me over to the large dining table that could seat over a hundred ponies, now only set for two. "I could think of some things to do" he whispered into my ear before we sat down facing one another.

I blushed, I couldn't help it but smiled back at him as our food came along, carried by the staff of the castle, all bearing smiles on their faces. "You know we should have a feast for all the staff one day where we serve them all the food and they get to enjoy themselves" Shining chuckled.

"I think that's a great idea Shiny! Heh, it would be a busy night but what better way to show our appreciation to them?" Shining smiled that nice smile again and joked "We should ask them to set the table so that I'm at one end and your at the other, we'd need messaging birds just to talk to each other."

We talked about other great ways to take advantage of the huge dining table as we finished our food, severely pampered and happy.

"You want to go to bed Shiny?" I yawned, stretching and unable to help myself, shoving royal etiquette to the side. Shining smiled but a sudden frown crossed his head and he shook himself slightly.

"Is something the matter dear?" I asked a little worriedly but he shook his head and grinned "No Cady, just feeling a little light headed, it's all this I mean to think about it I married the mare I love, became a Prince after helping defeat an evil tyrant and found out that I should have been on the javelin team at school."

I chuckled, remembering how he threw me from the balcony with enough force for me to catch Spike the dragon with the crystal heart and win the day. "Well I'm tired, you going to come to bed with me honey?" I asked but he shook his head.

"I… I'm going to take a small walk, I just need to clear my head it's fine I'll be along in a few hours" he said as he touched his horn and smiled, "Goodnight Cady, I love you. Don't wait up" and with that he stood up and walked away.

I didn't plan to but nevertheless I asked "You sure you don't want company?" He shook his head and I could see that he needed some alone time. I could respect that, so much happened in such a short amount of time my head was also swimming with thought and my imagination just kept growing for what would happen next.

"Well I have the Prince, I have the Kingdom and the loyal and happy subjects… I suppose the only thing left is a family, a foal or two maybe and maybe a royal pet, like Aunt Celestia or Twilight have."

The thought of having foals excited and scared me but it was guaranteed to terrify Shining much more so maybe a few months would be required before we made the front page of Equestria Daily, the hit newspaper.

Which reminded me that the Crystal Empire needed its own newspaper, though that of course could wait. I stood and trotted over to the balcony, all was quiet and dark now, the stars out and shining bright in the night sky.

"Goodnight Crystal Empire" I murmured and was surprised when I saw a few blotches of light flash at me from the middle of the city. I chuckled and imagined some kids were playing with flashlights, I turned my back smiling, never having felt more happy than now.