Chapter 64: Preparing to Visit the Crystal Empire

Lucky looked back at the Princesses.

"What about you two? Did you know about the 6 Alicorns of old?" They nodded.

"We knew, and they're not around anymore because they also sacrificed themselves to save Equestria from a dangerous threat, like the Pillars of Equestria did. There's really only one recorded book on them, which it seems your future self had found, somehow, somewhere.

"No pony really knows of them, so it's good to see more ponies getting to know their history. Luna and I only know of them because the Pillar of Sorcery had received a magic projection of his predecessor once he gained his Pillar and he told us two," Celestia explained.

"Wow... poor Foundations... Well, I'm gonna keep their memory alive, I promise."

"Me too!" Pyro hopped. The Princesses all chuckled. "Mama, do we have time to look at Canterlot?" Lucky looked at the clock above the fireplace. It read 4:12.

"Sure, we can walk around. Thank you Celestia, Luna." They smiled and hugged Pyro and Lucky good bye. Pyro and Lucky went out of the castle. Lucky took Pyro around Canterlot, showing her every place. Pyro was very awed by everything. "Hopefully tomorrow, I can take you to the Crystal Empire. That place is beautiful."

"Ooo, I hope so too!" They finished the tour of Canterlot and Lucky took Pyro to Terra's house. Lucky knocked on the door. "Where is this?"

"You'll see." The door opened. "Hi, Terra! This is my future daughter, Pyro Heart." Terra smiled.

"Hi, Pyro, nice to meet you. Come in." They followed Terra into her house. Her mom was here.

"Hi, Golden Quill." She looked over.

"Hi, Princess Lucky. What brings you to Canterlot?"

"Princess business. I'm done now, so I can hang for a little bit, then I gotta go back home. Tomorrow, I'm heading to the Crystal Empire on Princess business, too."

"Wow, busy, huh?" Lucky nodded.

"Gotta take down the Dark Magic Squad. I asked the Elements of Harmony and the Princesses here for help, and now I gotta ask Princess Cadance and Shining Armor if they could help."

"I see. I'm sure with their help, you'll get the rest of them. How many are there left?"

"11. Actually, between 6 Elements of Harmony, 4 Alicorns, plus Shining Armor... Dude! It's gonna be 11 on 11! That'll be an even playing field! We can totally take the rest of them down! Yes!" Golden chuckled.

"That's great, Princess. You guys can do it, I believe." Lucky smiled and inclined her head in 'thanks'. Lucky looked over to Terra and Pyro. Pyro was asking a million questions. Lucky chuckled.

"Seems Pyro's excited about making a new friend." Lucky and Golden Quill talked while the fillies played. Lucky had told Pyro of Terra before, so Pyro knows to be gentle and careful around her. At 5:30, Lucky called Pyro to her. "We gotta get going, kid."

"Ok, thanks for playing, Terra." Terra smiled.

"Thank you for visiting, Princess, Pyro."

"Thanks for having us." Lucky led Pyro outside. Lucky sighed.

"I might as well be brave. I can't always rely on Aunt Twilight for help in teleporting with you... especially with my fire reading. They really are getting older... and so am I."

"I trust you, Mama, and I also bewieve in you." Lucky smiled gently and nuzzled Pyro.

"Thanks, squirt." Lucky took a deep breath. She knows she can teleport multiple ponies, Pyro's no different. She's just smaller. Lucky closed her eyes, focusing on teleporting her and Pyro back to the apartment. Lucky focused for a little bit more and decided she might as well teleport them now. She let loose the spell and teleported them both back. She opened her eyes and Pyro was next to her and they were back at the apartment!

"You did it, Mama!" Lucky grinned.

"Now, what should we plan for supper?"

"Hay burgers and horseshoe shaped fries?"

"That sounds really good, not gonna lie. That'll be after my paperwork, though. I gotta finish this." Pyro nodded and played with her toys as Lucky did her Princess work. It was 8 when Lucky finished her work. Lucky put her work in the mailbox and brought Pyro to Sweetie Belle's restaurant for their hay burgers and hay fries.

When they walked in, Sweetie Belle was singing. When she saw them, she got a surprised look. Lucky grinned and Pyro bounced with excitement. Sweetie Belle smiled gently. Lucky and Pyro were shown to their seats and given menus. After this song, Sweetie Belle went over to their table.

"You guys, what are you doing here?"

"Getting dinner. I asked Pyro what we should plan, and she wanted a hay burger and horseshoe shaped fries."

"So you came here. Aww, this is such a nice surprise." Sweetie nuzzled Lucky and Pyro.

"Also, Pyro and I are gonna leave early tomorrow for the Crystal Empire to talk to Princess Cadance. Would you like to come? I know you've got tomorrow off."

"I'd love to! Let's talk more when I get home from work. I've gotta get back up there." She nuzzled them both again and went back on stage. After they got their dinner, Lucky and Pyro went home with Sweetie Belle. They waited there until 9 when Sweetie gets out of work. When they got home, they put Pyro to bed and went to the living room to talk. Lucky told Sweetie of her fire reading, which Sweetie Belle was shocked about. Lucky grinned and moved on to the plan to visit the Crystal Empire.

"So, Crystal Empire. I need to ask Cadance and Shining Armor if they would like to help me take down the rest of the DMS. The Elements of Harmony and the Canterlot Princesses all agreed to help. Then we gotta make a day to do so. It'll be 11 on 11, so we can take on one DMS member each. I hadn't realized that until Golden Quill asked me how many DMS members were left. After I answered, I had come to the conclusion that it would be an even playing field. So I really hope they both say 'yes'."

"I'm sure they will, Lucky. They probably would be honored to aid the Princess of Prophecy in taking down a big ring of enemies. I know I would." Lucky grinned.

"Thanks, Sweetie Belle. I wouldn't want you to help, though, even if you were a Princess or an Element of Harmony. I don't want to lose you."

"How do you think I feel whenever you go up against them?! I almost lost you once, already! I don't want to lose you, either." She hugged Lucky close. Lucky hugged her back.

"Trust me, you won't lose me so easily. Plus, I had seen the future. Oh! I hadn't told you, yet." Lucky sat back and recalled her fire reading. When she finished,

"Oh my. So this is the last thing the Elements of Harmony will be doing?" Lucky nodded. "Wow... this is so surreal... I-I can't believe it..."

"Me neither... but... it had to happen at some point. They are getting older..."

"Yeah..." They sat in silence for a little bit. "Lucky, you really have a student of your own a thousand years from now?" Lucky nodded.

"Sunset Shimmer. She's really cool looking. She has fire colors, much like Pyro. Though she's a little bit of a lighter orange than Pyro, but same exact mane colors... hmm, I wonder if she's a descendant of Pyro? My, er, our, however many greats, granddaughter? I wonder if that's why she's my student?"

"Whoa, maybe. It's possible. Though she could also have a promising future as a magic user, too, on top of being a descendant." Lucky nodded thoughtfully.

"I also wonder what became of Celestia and Luna? I didn't see them in my fire reading."

"I wonder if Alicorns do eventually pass on? That they just have an extended life."

"That is a very good question. Cadance might know the answer to that. We can ask her tomorrow." Sweetie Belle nodded. "Well, we should get to bed. We gotta get our rest." The both of them got up and went to bed. In the morning, Pyro bounced on Lucky's bed.

"Mama, Mama, it's morning! It's Cwystal Empire day!" Lucky groaned. Pyro got off quietly and went over to Sweetie Belle's bed, bouncing on it when she got on it. "Mommy, Mommy, you too!" Lucky felt Sweetie's surprise. Both of them yawned and stretched.

"Alright, alright. What do you want for breakfast, Pyro?" Lucky asked.

"Eggs and toast. I wanna say waffles, but dey'll take foweber." Lucky chuckled.

"Eggs and toast it is." The three made their way to the kitchen. Lucky started on breakfast, but Sweetie Belle stopped her.

"Lucky, you always make our food. You do so much... let me do something for a change. You take a rest. If we're gonna be a household, let's split chores evenly. We can come up with a plan on the train to the Crystal Empire."

"Ok. I'll just help Pyro choose some toys to take on the train while she's travelling."

"Ok, that sounds good." Lucky brought Pyro over to her toys.

"Alright kiddo, pick out a few toys. It'll be a few hours to get to the Crystal Empire." Pyro looked through her toys and picked out her favorites. Lucky picked them up in her magic and put them in her saddlebags. Lucky also went to the mailbox and grabbed the missed mail from yesterday. She looked through them and sorted them. She set the bills on the coffee table before placing her Princess work in her saddlebags so that she can do them on the train. She went through the bills and wrote checks for each one.

"Breakfast, Lucky, Pyro," Sweetie informed.

"Ok, lemme finish these last two bills, then I'll get some breakfast."

"Alright. Pyro, you coming over?"

"Yup!" Pyro trotted to the table and Sweetie helped her in her high chair and get her breakfast for her. Lucky finished the bills, put them in their correct envelopes, made sure they're in their correct envelopes, and put them out in the mailbox so the post pony can take them.

Lucky went back in and sat at the table, eating her breakfast now. Sweetie had set her plate up for her, which Lucky appreciated. After Lucky finished, she helped Sweetie Belle do the dishes while Pyro played with her blocks. When the dishes were done, they grabbed their bags in their magic and put them on.

"Alright, Pyro. Time to head out," Lucky informed. Pyro squealed in delight and followed Sweetie and Lucky to the train station. Lucky also had her Princess stuff on to tell ponies she's on official Princess business. When they reached the station, they went to the ticket booth.

"Three tickets to the Crystal Empire, please," Lucky said. The ticket pony grabbed three and gave her the price. She handed over the needed bits and took the tickets. "Thank you." He inclined his head in return. Lucky gave Sweetie her ticket and they made their way to the train. Once there, Sweetie gave hers to the conductor, saying where she's heading and Lucky gave him hers and Pyro's, saying they were going to the same place.

He nodded and the three went to find seats. Once they found seats, Lucky started doing her paperwork. Lucky was sat between Sweetie and Pyro. Pyro was next to the window. Once the train started moving, Pyro was super excited. She looked out of the window and watched the scenery go by. A few hours passed and Pyro went to playing with her toys. Lucky finished her Princess work and was watching Pyro.

"Lucky, let's make a plan on dividing chores." Lucky nodded.

"Alright, what were you thinking?"

"Well, I am better at cooking now, so I'd like to cook sometimes, too. I'd also like to have a schedule set up. That way one of us isn't doing more than the other. I know how busy you are with Princess work, so you need breaks. I appreciate you doing a lot, but let me help, too. And maybe even Pyro can help with some stuff a filly her age is able to help with."

"That sounds good. It'll teach her responsibility at an early age. Ma and Mom did well with me about that. It also helped that I grew up on the farm for a little bit," Lucky chuckled. Sweetie Belle giggled.

"True. So, that sounds good. We can come up with a schedule when we get back." Lucky nodded, agreeing happily. A few more hours passed and Pyro started getting bored. She laid on the bench she was on and sighed heavily. Lucky patted her back gently.

"I know, but we're getting closer."

"I just wanna be dere aweady..." Lucky kept patting her back, understanding her boredom. The train started to slow down about 20 minutes later. Pyro perked up, looking out the window again. "Da Cwystal Empire!" Lucky put Pyro's toys in her saddlebags again and her and Sweetie put on their saddlebags, getting ready to disembark once the train fully stopped.