//------------------------------// // A friend from the past // Story: Crystal Note - The Crystal Faire // by TalkingToMyself //------------------------------// Chapter 3: A friend from the past The sun had long crossed its highest point when Crystal Note finally thought she could talk without sobbing again. She sat up but didn’t dare to look into the eyes of her friends when she whispered “I’m sorry.” She felt two hooves poking her muzzle at the same time and Lyra and Bon Bon called out in unison “Stop apologizing!” Crystal Note blinked, then all three of them fell into a soft giggle and Crystal Note got up on her hooves again, her colours somewhat back to normal “Thanks girls. I guess I needed that.” “A good cry or a poke?” Bon Bon rolled her eyes “Probably both.” All three friends giggled, not because it was particularly funny, just to relieve some of the tension. Crystal Note threw one last look at the graves, then they headed back towards town. When they reached the first houses again, Lyra’s tummy started making loud grumbling noises. Bon Bon threw one of her famous looks at her and Lyra blushed “Hey, I was so excited this morning I skipped breakfast and we missed lunch as well.” “Well, seems like we’re gonna miss dinner too, it’s already getting dark.” Crystal Note nodded and tilted her head “I guess Princess Cadance even scheduled an early dinner since she knew we were arriving past lunchtime. Oh, well.” She turned to head into one of the smaller streets instead of following the broad main street that led straight to the palace. When Lyra and Bon Bon didn’t follow, she looked back at them with a smile “Come on, I know a nice café on the other side of the market. My treat.” For Lyra, that was all she needed to hear and she more or less pushed Bon Bon after Crystal Note. The two best friends giggled and after a quick nuzzle followed Crystal Note through a series of smaller streets and alleys. From time to time, Crystal Note told them a little about the buildings they passed along the way, like the famous library or places she knew from her foalhood. They passed a good number of crystal ponies on their way and most of them ended up staring at the trio. Crystal Note had not reapplied her bandana to hide her horn but even so, with Lyra being a unicorn and Bon Bon an earth pony, they stood out enough to be noticed anyways. Most of the crystal ponies just went back to whatever they were doing. A minor few of them slipped into their houses or into another street when they came close. Some of the crystal ponies smiled and waved, some even greeted Crystal Note with her name. The trio smiled and waved back, Lyra in her usual carefree manner and Crystal Note understandably a little more subdued, although she returned each greeting she received. No pony stayed long enough for a chat and everypony seemed busy despite the late hour. After a while, the three friends reached a big circular plaza, not too far from the palace. In the middle, Lyra and Bon Bon could see a spire made out of blue crystal. The few ponies who walked by stayed away from the middle and when Crystal Note led them closer, they understood why. On the tip of the spire, they saw heart-shaped crystal, floating and spinning slowly “So this is it. The famous crystal heart that was used to defeat King Sombra and that protects the Crystal Empire.” When Bon Bon didn’t get an answer, she turned her head to look at her friends. She saw Crystal Note bowing down her head towards the heart, her forehead even touching the ground, but a peaceful smile on her face. She remained in that position for a few beats, then stood up again and nodded “Every crystal pony is connected to the crystal heart in some way. When it shines brightly like now, it means the Empire is safe and the crystal ponies are happy.” Without any further explanation, Crystal Note led them towards another, way bigger plaza. On the far end of it, they could see the main entrance to the Crystal Palace “This is the market place. Normally it’s full with stands and ponies but I guess since the faire will be held here the day after tomorrow, market ended earlier today.” Lyra and Bon Bon nodded, they could see a big stage already set up closer to the palace and Bon Bon shuffled a little closer to Lyra as the nervous jitters she had in the train returned at this sight. Luckily she didn’t have to watch it for too long as Crystal Note now headed to a small café. The inside was empty no tables were set up in the front anymore, but Crystal Note went to knock on the door anyways. After a few moments, a stallion opened and broke into a big smile at their sight “Harmony! Welcome home. Should have told me you’d be here already, didn’t expect you this soon. Oh, you brought friends?” Lyra and Bon Bon snickered a little when Crystal Note was pulled into a tight hug and blushed, then they smiled and nodded “We all arrived early so we could prepare for the festival. Sour Berry, meet Lyra and Bon Bon, from Ponyville. We’ll perform together at the faire. Um, we kind of missed dinner with the others, so…” Crystal Note didn’t even finish her sentence before she was pulled inside by Sour Berry, the door was left wide open for Lyra and Bon Bon as well “Come on in, grab a seat, I’ll fix you something real quick. Business is off because of preparations, but if you give me a minute I’ll make it worth your wait.” The three friends walked in and took a seat on one of the smaller tables in the middle of the room. The room was normally lit by candles and a few lamps, but right now there was only the dim light from outside. Without thinking about it, Lyra used her magic to create a small glowing orb, a mage light. It floated up to the ceiling and spread enough light to illuminate the entire café. Lyra looked around and smiled at the simple but nice decors that gave the place a cosy and homey feel. It took her a minute to notice Bon Bon’s angry glare and Crystal Note’s fearful expression before she realized what she’d done. After what she heard from Crystal Note’s stories, she had no idea how Sour Berry might react to magic, especially in his own house. At this point, the door to the kitchen opened and Sour Berry froze in the doorway with wide opened eyes. Lyra blushed and rubbed the back of her head and threw an apologetic smile to the crystal stallion while Bon Bon took a deep breath to apologize for Lyra’s thoughtlessness. Crystal Note just turned her head away so Sour Berry couldn’t see her horn, and looked at the ground. Sour Berry surprised them all when he just shrugged and put away the few candles he’d brought. He made his way to their table and put down a cup of tea for each of them along with a plate with candies. “I’ll be back with dinner in a few. Have some of these for now, as long as you tell me what you think of them.” He refused to talk about the light floating above the table, even though he glanced up at it once or twice. Bon Bon picked up one of the candies but instead of eating it she held it in her hoof and stared at it like it was some rare species of unknown origin she’d just discovered “Are these homemade?” “That’s right. Whipped them up myself, old family recipe, although I admit I’m not reaching my grandmother’s quality.” With a last glance at the light, Sour Berry returned to the kitchen and soon the scents of baked goods filled the café. Lyra, now relieved and even more hungry, shoved a few candies into her mouth but then her face turned into a silly grimace at their taste “Uh, sour! But not in a bad way.” Crystal Note was chewing on one as well by now and smiled softly, her eyes closed “They’re made of crystal berries. I remember those, but something is missing I think.” Bon Bon, always the professional when it came to sweets, still held the candy she picked up earlier and turned it in her hoof. She took a sniff and tilted her head, before she finally put it in her mouth. A few moments of savouring the taste, she shook her head and grinned “Oh, I know what’s missing. Be right back.” Leaving behind a confused Lyra and Crystal Note, the candy maker from Ponyville made her way to the kitchen and soon they heard them two ponies talk and discuss over recipes. Lyra just shrugged and went for another candy to appease her grumbling tummy. Crystal Note giggled as lips twitched from the sour taste again and stayed with tea for now. They didn’t have to wait long for Sour Berry and Bon Bon to return with different pies and cakes, almost all of them made with crystal berries. Together, the four ponies sat down and enjoyed their extensive dinner. Lyra finally pushed away her plate and slumped back on her seat with a contend sigh “Oh, if I take one more bite, I’ll explode.” “Don’t you dare, Lyra. Think of all the mess you’d leave behind for us to clean.” Sour Berry and Bon Bon had just returned from the kitchen, Bon Bon was visibly pleased she could give the crystal stallion some pointers on his berry sweets while Lyra had still been shovelling cake inside her. Crystal Note volunteered to get the dishes back into the kitchen and picked everything up with a glow of her horn, now less shy to use her magic. As she left for the other room, Lyra and Bon Bon shared a quick nod before Bon Bon addressed their host “Sour Berry, you called Crystal Note ‘Harmony’ when we arrived. That’s her old name, right? You know her from before..?” “Before she turned into a crystal unicorn? Yeah, I knew Harmony, the earth filly from Canterlot. Wouldn’t say we were as good friends as we’re today, but we got along well enough, most of the time. Of course, everypony worked together when it went against the dark king.” “So you were both in the rebellion?” Sour Berry gave a bitter laugh “Rebellion? That’s too strong of a word for what it was. We were more a band of thieves than anything. My father worked for King Sombra’s army, he had been a trader before and back then, he was responsible for deliveries, mostly weapons but supplies and food as well. Sometimes, he made a ‘mistake’ in his lists so a delivery would be short a few crates of food. Other times, he’d accidently tell me about a shipment that would happen soon, and I passed the info to the other ones. My father and I couldn’t actively do anything, it would have been too obvious and the king might have found out. That’s when Harmony and the others came in.” Lyra and Bon Bon listened attentively when Sour Berry talked so casually about things that made Crystal Note almost cry whenever they asked her about it. Bon Bon reached over the table to put her hoof on Sour Berry’s “That was very brave of your father and you. You risked your lives for other ponies.” “Not really.” He looked up at Lyra and Bon Bon, fixing them with a sad glare “My father was just a simple trader who sometimes disobeyed a minor order. I was just a colt who was too stubborn most of the time. Compared to what Harmony did, it was nothing.” He sighed and took a drink from his by now cold tea “Did she tell you her father summoned her to the palace every week, to an audience with King Sombra? And you know what she did when she was inside? She convinced some staff ponies from the royal kitchen to help her smuggle out some food, right under the king’s muzzle. Sure, she always claimed she was safe because her father was a royal advisor, so the king would never punish her even if she got caught. But didn’t change the fact that Harmony had guts like no other pony back then. And she used it to inspire us, most of us, to keep resisting in whatever little ways we could.” Lyra and Bon Bon stared at Sour Berry, then at each other with unbelieving expressions. Sure, they had seen Crystal Note drive and give her all for her friends, but she always had that aura of insecurity around her in nearly everything she did, except music. Unable to hold back, Lyra blurted out “So, what happened to her?” Sour Berry laughed bitterly again and shook his head “She left one day, or that’s what we thought back then. One day, she was just gone and we got scared. King Sombra had hit the pony we all thought was one of our strongest, so our little resistance fell apart within days. Many joined the army in hopes to keep their families and loved ones safe. My father was executed a year after for speaking out of line and I took over the trading business. Never dared doing anything shady though. Been too afraid of those cursed crystal unicorns the king let loose on us.” Lyra flinched when Sour Berry suddenly slammed his hoof on the table and his voice filled with anger and frustration and his coat turned a few notches darker even “When she came back and we saw another crystal unicorn, I was one of the ponies who demanded for her to be punished. Then Rose Quartz told us she was actually Harmony and that she’d been cursed like the rest of us. Most were confused on how to feel about that. Me? I felt guilty above everything else. That filly risked her tail for us more than a dozen times and even when she got cursed, she took a hit far worse than we did. How low was I to hate Crystal Note, even for a few hours?” He took a deep breath and blue colour of his coat returned before he continued “We all suffered, from the war, from the curse. Many a pony did something they regret nowadays. But we stick together and get over it, that’s how it always worked in the Crystal Empire. Harmony though? She was suddenly one of the beasts we all hated, or at least feared. More than a few didn’t know how to react when we learned she was one of us, one of the best of us if you ask me. And I guess you’ve seen what that led to.” Lyra nodded sadly and Bon Bon spoke out what they both thought “When ponies don’t understand something, they’re afraid. And they stay the heck away from it.” The room went silent for a minute, the only sounds came from the kitchen were Crystal Note was still busy with doing the dishes. Then Lyra looked up and stared at Sour Berry “You said you’re better friends with her now than back then. How come you’re not afraid of her?” Sour Berry shrugged and managed a slim smile “Frankly I have no idea. She showed up at my doorstep one day and asked if we could talk. I thought least I could do was let her say what she needed before I would apologize for avoiding her. I was floored when she suddenly apologized instead.” Both Lyra and Bon Bon glanced towards the kitchen, they focused back on Sour Berry “She blamed herself for the death of my father. The last time we saw before she vanished wasn’t the nicest of moments. Gave me a good beating with her crazy earth pony strength and threatened to reveal my father’s ‘crimes’ to the king if he didn’t give her food. Don’t blame her anymore, ponies do weird things when they’re desperate and Rose Quartz’ father was almost starved to dead. He was like a father to Harmony as well, she’d have done anything to save him. In the end though, we both couldn’t save our fathers. When King Sombra was gone, I dropped my father’s business and started up this here café. But the past has a way to come back and bite your flank eventually. You can either accept it and move on or it’ll haunt you forever. Guess which side of the weigh Crystal Note’s on right now.” Lyra nodded and asked “Is that why you didn’t freak out when you saw my magic?” Sour Berry nodded with a grin “Princess Cadance has magic, best pony ever to rule the Empire. Shining Armor has it too, mighty nice fellow that one. And Crystal Note got magic now as well. Can’t be all bad then, right?” The three shared a hearty laugh and most of the tension that had built up faded away before Crystal Note joined them again. Sour Berry swiftly changed topics and they talked about the upcoming faire, but soon the three ponies from Ponyville said their goodbyes and left. The arrived at the palace when everypony else had already retired but Crystal Note knew the way to the guest wings and quickly found their rooms for the night. Lyra and Bon Bon went to their shared room and only Bon Bon noticed Crystal Note heading down the corridor deeper into the castle. Too tired to be worried, she yawned and followed Lyra inside and enjoyed her comfy bed.